I wanted Moyes at Spurs too (Martinez was my second choice and Rodgers 3rd), still think he's a very good manager to be honest. Fergie was an incredible manager but he also left Utd at the ideal time. Many players are well past their peak now and it was obvious that before long, even if Fergie had stayed, Utd would've needed an overhaul of talent at some point. The one thing Fergie could do that set him aside from pretty much every single manager was that he could make any half decent, average Joe look like a world beater which has made Moyes' job even harder as not only as he had to deal with ageing players but he's also noticed at just how poor others are. Moyes has walked into Utd at their weakest state in around 10-15 years in my opinion and while he has made some odd choices, especially in terms of not strengthening much in the summer, he's come in for some unfair flack. As for AVB, the man was a poison to this club. I and many others (even if some didn't want to admit it at the time) could see he wouldn't fit well us, his Chelsea stint was a major warning sign but unfortunately Levy clearly missed it. The poor football AVB imposed on us over the 18 months (Bale's heroics papered over a lot of it) has sunk in to the point where we can't just suddenly snap back in to the free-flowing Tottenham we were used to seeing prior to his tenure. I do partly blame him for the poor impacts of most of our new lads too, getting players who had exciting reputations prior to joining us to play a boring, defensively-minded system was never going to help their settling in process.
There's a caveat to my "liked this post" ....apart from wanting Moyes at Spurs, he's toilet, I made that one quite clear, not gloating either....much!
In simple terms, Moyes has tried to carry on in SAF's image and get the maximum out of the players who had brought success. But nobody can be SAF and get players to respond in the way he did. As we've seen aleady, this season was a step too far for many of those experienced players and the players coming through haven't been ready to step into their shoes. As I said on another thread, if Mourinho had been appointed he would have demanded £150M to refresh the team and mark it out as his own. Moyes needs to do the same this summer, but it doesn't bode well with £65M already spent on two square pegs in round holes. Mata is good enough to find a role and be successful; Fellaini looks a waste of money.
Luke, stop using following SAF as an excuse for a crap choice. Never mind all that, try explaining why Everton are instantly better with predominantly the same squad? Most people have this opinion' he did wonders with fuk all budget'...really, how about held them back for 10 yrs (what did they achieve?), like he's going to do to United, its happening right now in front of your eyes and you cannot see it, clinging to yesterseason. Wake up mate, its sad to see in a way.
Lol toilet's a bit harsh, he's a good (not great) manager that's found himself in a **** scenario I'd say. Though definitely looks toilet during this scenario.
Everton have had new life breathed into them. Instead of Iron-rule Moyes and his dour approach, Martinez is a motivator, conversely how bad are Wigan since he left. I firmly believe they'd still be in the Prem but for their FA cup run which stretched their squad and distracted their usual end of season heroics....Wigan....now that is fuk all budget!
It's too early to form a judgement about him at Utd. Has it been the players themselves or has it been his management which has seen such a drop in performances and results? There have been games (Olympiakos being the worst) where the players have stopped doing what they did for every minute of every game under SAF - closing down, making runs, playing with pace, tempo and enthusiasm. Why have their standards dropped? Is it down to the manager? You'd think not when you look at how Everton played for him because they were renowned for hard work and togetherness. Moyes also showed an eye for a player too; he never had big money to spend, but managed to find players on the cheap who are recognised as good quality PL players - Baines, Jagielka, Pienaar, Distin etc etc. It's easy to blame the manager, but players with multiple titles shouldn't need motivating just months after a change of management. They have to look to themselves, not find excuses. Moyes deserves a chance to sort things out. There is no guarantee any other manager would do any better from this position and making rash changes is not the way for Utd to do things. Neither a decent replacement for Moyes, nor the quality of players Utd want to sign would come to a club which gave the impression of being in turmoil and ready to make changes at the drop of a hat.
Martinez is a superb manager though, I've said this for a good couple of years now and it was a miracle he kept Wigan in the Prem for as long as he did, let alone the FA Cup triumph. Technically you could argue that Everton aren't much better off than they were last season, Utd's current downfall has meant they're currently sitting a place higher than they finished last season and while the football has been better on the eye, I don't think they'll finish any higher than 5th or 6th which is where they were realistically aiming for with Moyes (always seen as the outside bet for a top 4 finish), .
Said I reckoned the Fergie factor was worth around 15 PL pts. When we get to May, we can see what the final tally + 15 would look like.
Thought Everton in 2005 would be the ones to push on and usurp one of the Sky 4. They did lose their way a bit and allowed Spurs to slowly consolidate to do so.
You're right, I think RM may have already hit the buffers at Everton, obviously there's only so far they can go on their means, but his first 11 is a match for any PL team as we've seen on its day. They've been without Lukaku for a while which has showed I think. I also think this could be the hardest season yet to finish 4th.
I think that, just like at Wigan, Martinez has done a great job with the resources at his disposal. Makes you wonder what he could achieve given a decent budget.
Oh yeah definitely and the problem there lies with Lukaku going back to Chelsea at the end of the season, on Everton's budget it'd be hard to find someone as good Lukaku within their price range. His goals has been a major reason they sit 5th and so it'll be interesting to see what Martinez does next season. Without a doubt the toughest season for a 4th place finish. It great entertainment for the neutral.
Sunderland can match anyone on their day. I don't think Martinez has proven anything special yet, he might have lost Fellaini(who didn't really fit in to RM's plans) but he's got 3 players on loan who are worth far more and has spent money elsewhere too but there hasn't been any noticeable improvement. There's still time for Martinez to prove himself this season but at the moment it looks likely to be another Everton style season, challenging up the top for a half a season and then slipping away. People can laugh at Moyes' bad season at United but it doesn't undo all the great work he did at Everton. He put together a quality squad on bottom half of the table resources and kept Everton up there despite losing so many of his best players to bigger clubs.
"I reckon letting Howard Webb go at the end of last season cost them at least 15 points" Well, at least 3 pts.
On another matter, I see the F.A. has finally cottoned on to the antics of Mr. "Psycho" Adam ( better late than never, I suppose!) and he has been charged with violent conduct for his stamp on Giroud on Saturday.
He's the only one to do it consistently. Under Moyes they were getting better value for every £1 spent than anyother club in the league, they were finishing above Villa when their wages were half Villa's.
Assault Spurs players for season after season and that's fine, but step on one little Goon... I'm not convinced that the charge will stick anyway, but Stoke have pointed out that it's a far less cut and dry red than Toure's kick against Norwich. [video=youtube;BWkWUoHz-S4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWkWUoHz-S4[/video] Adam's a thug, but he's got away with far more blatant attacks on players than that. Mainly ours, unfortunately.
