Ahhhh, wall of text!!!! Highlighted bit's the only part that makes much sense to me - the rest is a bit rambling. SAF didn't leave a great team, certainly not one of his best, but it was still good enough to win the league last season, and could have competed this season with a couple of additions and decent performances by the players. Problem was we got hit by something of a perfect storm: 1. A manager who pulled the plug on two big planned signings (Thiago and Garay) and failed to replace them, thus causing stagnation which is always bad for a team 2. A change in manager and style, which didn't go down too well with a lot of the senior players 3. A manager who ended up being out of his depth and not able to cope with the pressure and the expectations 4. A lot of the older players getting injured, possibly luck, could be due to changed training methods, or just Moyes not being familiar with them and thus not handling them as well as SAF did 5. Tactical naivety from the manager at vital points. It was noted throughout the season that Moyes wanted to try and be attacking like SAF, but just didn't know how and couldn't overcome his natural conservatism The net result was that a squad which would have easily been good enough to make the top four, and possibly compete for the title with the right additions and good management has been poorly managed, demotivated, and generally underperformed, all at the same time. It was much like Chelsea in 2012 - their squad was good enough to win the CL and FA Cup, and would have competed in the league but for poor management and players underperforming and generally not being arsed. This season has definitely been a wake up call for all those Utd fans who claimed our players were somehow different or 'classier' than Terry and Co undermining AVB at Chelsea. Turns out Utd players are just the same as regular players, and it was only SAF who managed to keep them in check all this time. Somebody please clone that man
I think a lot of the problem was the board tried to get another SAF, a manager that could spend a lot less than the Chavs and City and still compete, and more often than not beat them. David Moyes had obviously shown at Everton that he could punch above his weight abit, as he had the lowest net spend of any club that remained in the PL in his time at Everton, yet had established them as a top 6 club. The board though are not going to find another SAF, as there is only one, and he's retired. So there going to have to put there hands in there pockets and spend similar amounts of money on players to the likes of a City and Chelsea or there going to get cut adrift. People blaming SAF have got it all wrong, you can't blame SAF for being to good at his job, that he managed to punch above his weight for many years, which hid all the cracks in our squad
He was pony and without any light at the end of the tunnel only one thing was coming. Uncanny how similar this is to Roy with us. Both stagnant, poor British managers.
SAF has now put in a good word for Giggs, that should be the kiss of death if i ever knew one. But of course the players will perform for Giggs the old pals act. If Man U win there next game then supporters should be requesting there monies back for this season for being ripped off by a bunch of dummy sucking babies. Moyes never stood a chance. What other business would the employee's get paid bucket loads of ££££'s and still be employed for not performing. Are we really saying that one man alone (Moyes) makes them gel. Stitched up good and proper.
From the onset of the slide I have said that the players had to take a huge share of the blame. No matter how inept Moyes may have been. The dramatic slide from champions to chumps ( and that's a kind word to use for these players at Everton ) cannot happen by the action of one man. Even if Moyes had DELIBERATELY set out to **** united up in 10 months it cannot happen if the players play to their optimum. in the end his position became untenable but the players have been really ****ing **** and has ****ed him up.
Hang on, slow down - you are playing Norwich. Moyes must have had a good record against the 'smaller' teams as you are on nearly 60 points having been stuffed by basically every big opponent you have played. The form guide from the season probably says Moyes' team would have beaten Norwich relatively comfortably (no disrespect to Norwich). With regard to 'are we really saying that man alone makes them gel' - look, if the manager wasnt important man utd wouldnt have won 5 out of the last 7 league titles. It is a very complex business because it does not matter how hard any individual is trying - if the team isnt 'working' then results will suffer. It is the easiest thing in the world to judge the players after 10 months of rubbish, but I will try and draw the following parallel that most can relate to: IMagine you had a really, really strict, tough, no nonsense teacher in your maths class at school. Everybody listened to that teacher, nobody crossed them and you learnt loads with them. Strict teacher leaves, new teacher comes in and the sleeping giants in the class start playing up. Slowly but surely, the class deteriates from one week until the enxt, until you arent learning a thing in any of those lessons because they resemble scenes from a war movie. Everybody is telling you, the student, that you should be working no matter what but no matter how hard you try you arent learning anything. What happens? You give up, or go else where. What more can you do? Werid parallel I know - but that team were not winning enough. They had enough individual talent to, by and large, see off the Villas, the West Hams, the Swanseas, the Palace's, but every, single time they came up against a big team they got turned over ( i know it wasnt every single time but you get the jist) - now whether that was due to lack of confidence, tactical discipline or training, whichever spin is put on it it comes down to the manager. Levelling 'lack of effort' as a criticism is a load of nonsense when they have just been spanked by Liverpool. They are proud, confident, ego-driven players. There is not a single player in that squad that wasnt bothered about turning over and having their bellies tickled by Liverpool and Man City. What it boils down to is, every individual in that squad knew their manager was out of his depth. They knew his methods weren't working and they knew that they were going backwards. They presented a united front to the world (as far as I know - I havent seen all your games but I dont recall many if any players openly criticising Moyes, implicitly or explicitly) but lost all confidence within the camp. Judging from the outside is the easiest thing in the world..
sweet fal - 'Hang on, slow down - you are playing Norwich' - I thought my lot lost 3-1 to Preston today!
