Nothing stays the same in football for too long, unless you're an under 30 united fan who will have no idea what that means, but even SAF had to come to an end. So, Moyes is the choice, and for me very odd, for one main reason (apart from never rating him anyway), as far as top players around the world go....who is he? do they want to play under him?, don't look like it to me. Lewandowski for example was apparently nailed on a year ago, he and others now giving them a previously unthinkable bodyswerve en route to a club with better prospects. United have put themselves on the other end of the barge pole imo. Is Everton playing better football and being the only remaining team unbeaten a coincidence? You're not going to like this Luke but forget the last two decades, thats gone, and all your warbling about continuity, thats gone too, all backroom staff cleared out by Moyes against 'other' advice. Pellegrini, in charge of the best squad in the PL, but has had a few too many dodgy games already I think, his stubborness in the Bayern game keeping 2 strikers on while Fernandinho and Toure got steamrollered was, well just can't understand it, 30% possesion after the first half at home, and sent them out the same way 2nd half. I think he's a bit of a ****er myself, doesn't come across well in English, and an unemotive character, always looks like he'd rather be on a golf course somewhere warm, no wonder this assembly of names looks disjointed at times. Have Manchesters top brass got it wrong?, if they have how long before they admit it? in Uniteds case if they leave it too long accepting average they could slump just as quickly as Liverpool did. Early days I know, but all points so far are valid to date and up for debate!
Pelligrini shouldn't have to do a lot with the players he's got at city, but IMO, he's going to be another foreign manager who won't understand English football. Lucky for him that he's got the quality in the team to bail him out. Or is it lucky for him?! - overpaid players with huge ego's didn't work out too well for Mancini at times! However, they'll still finish in the top 2-3 I think. (Unfortunately) There's definitely something going on behind the scenes at old trafford. They didn't manage to bring anyone or "man united quality" in over the summer and it looks like Rooney has been a complete pain in the arse for months now. Whatever one's opinion, there's potential for a big shake up this season. I have a feeling that arsenal fans might be saying "if only we had squad depth" at the end of this season. - if they did, they'd stand a bloody good chance of winning the league, sadly.
The way Arsenal are playing they deserve to be champions IMO. Obviously it's early days, but if they keep it up then it will be hard for Chelsea and City to close the gap. For me those three are nailed on top 4, it's between us, Liverpool, utd and Everton for 4th. I agree re moyes. Continuity is great, but only when you have the right person. Wen her is still around because if what he has achieved, and the way they are playing. They needed to get a proper manager in first, then give them the 6 year contract or whatever it is. 6 years of moyes will look not to different to the years of Roy Evans.
I don't agree,i think Arsenal are punching above their weight,at the moment,and they haven't abig enough squad,to carry them though,the C/L,P/L and cup comps
Ferguson stated that he's 100% behind his fellow Scot and that says it all, complete nationalistic bias. He wanted to give the job to another Scot.............period. Pellegrini inherited an inconsistent team who have had their good periods in the past but don't last. Utd have it wrong but the jury is out on City.
I was surprised City got rid of Mancini. Seemed quite popular with City fans from what I could tell and wasn't exactly doing a bad job. Pellegrini is a decent manager though, however couple of his signings are looking questionable in my opinion. Fernandinho at £30m is way too much and Navas hasn't looked like the Sevilla player who was causing full backs nightmares. Negredo on the other hand looks like he's fitted in well. Has Jovetic even played a game yet? Moyes was the person I wanted at Spurs but I did feel Utd was too much of a step up for him. Things aren't looking good at the moment but in fairness, we looked dire under AVB for the first bunch of games so I'd say he needs time.
Moyes was a fine choice and I think if you look at the players he was targeting, he was aware of the problems United have in midfield. The big blunder is the time they took going after players and then the time it took them to identify someone else. I'm not sure how much of that falls on Moyes' head but now there's a bit of pressure starting to come and they will almost certainly have to spend big in January when players are more expensive anyway. If they're not in the top 4 coming into January then that's when players really start to think twice about whether they want to go to United. Tactically Moyes is no mug and he's got a great record off limited budgets at Everton but these two assets are undermined when he doesn't get the transfers in he wants. He's already having to resort to playing Anderson in midfield for a bit of guile which affects how Moyes can set up his team. The biggest difference for Moyes is that at Everton he had a squad of players that he knew what he could get from, this helps no end when he's setting up how he wants the team to play but then at Man United he's got a lot of players who aren't even getting the bread and butter right. You look at Valencia against City, his form has wavered in the last season but one constant was that he remained solid defensively so Moyes picks him for just that and Valencia lets City players run past him all game. I fully expected United to spend big over the summer and it seems like they've made a huge mistake there already, no matter whether you think Moyes is up to the job or not it's hard to argue he's been given a fair chance so far. Yeah you can say he had a squad that won the league but you need to buy new players in just to stay at the same level these days and no summer could have been more important than this one where everyone was signing new players and more expensive ones than before with transfer records being broken repeatedly by clubs.
Just saying 'United will spend big in Jan' is a statement based on what? they were supposed to spend big in the summer, and those players linked didn't want to go there, I go back to Lewandowski, you're not telling me he hasn't spoken by phone with his old team-mate Kagawa about life at United...just the bloke to put him in the picture! Obviously Uniteds form till then will have some bearing aswell so we'll see nearer the time, but if Rooney out the door is the first business United do in Jan that'll send a bad message. There were just as many seasons of 17th for Everton under Moyes as there were 7th. Great job on a limited budget a few times for decent finishes....what about the rest?
I wasn't saying they will spend but that they will have to. As in they will have to if they have ambitions higher than just competing for a top 4 spot, which you'd assume they do. As for Lewandowski, he's been Bayern bound for ages and whilst I actually thought Chelsea might try their luck and throw money at him to change his mind, United simply don't need a striker. It's the play before the ball gets to the strikers that needs improving so they'd have been better off getting Kagawa talking to Reus, Gundogan or the Polish billion points Scrabble score guy. Everton didn't spend any seasons in a relegation battle under Moyes, did they? I certainly can't remember any but he did build them up into a quality side on several occassions only to be stripped of his best players by bigger clubs and not be allowed to spend much of the money gained from that. As far as I'm concerned anyone that gets Gravesen playing so well that Real Madrid should be burnt at the stake for sorcery.
I have been a little harsh on the lower half finishes, there were more top half, but as mentioned not too many in Euro spots so I'm not sure about lauding 9th/8th place as that should be minimum target for a club like Eveton imo. I found this on a Toffee forum, even he only puts him in the 'good' category, is that enough for a top side, I'm not so sure, but we'll see. "David Moyes has been in charge of Everton for more games than any other manager not to win a trophy at the club. However, taking over from the relegation-threatened Merseyside club in 2002, and with limited resources in comparison to the majority of the clubs who have won the trophies during his tenure, Moyes is considered to have done a good job. In fact, many say great. Some say he’s a fantastic manager and Sir Alex Ferguson’s replacement at Manchester United. I’ll stick to calling him a good manager. In 10 full seasons at Everton, Moyes has guided Everton to an impressive eight top half finishes. An improvement on where the club was when he took over, narrowly above the drop zone before steering them to 15th position and safety at the end of the 2001/02 season. Of those top half finishes, only four have resulted in competing in Europe the following season. His best season was arguably 2004/05 where he guided the Toffees to a 4th-place finish and a Champions League berth. However, qualification proved too tough for David Moyes’ side who lost both legs to Spanish side Villarreal in the playoffs and had to settle for another UEFA Cup experience. That competition only lasted two games too, being thrashed 5-2 on aggregate by Dinamo Bucharest." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I've heard he's going to try something new to' 'try' and improve Uniteds home form... please log in to view this image
I like Moyes and I think he's a good manager, but the step from Everton, where he had about 2p to spend every summer and the press didn't give a crap about him, to Utd is massive. He's gone from little or no European football to being expected to challenge for the Champions League and from muddling through to chasing the title. Too much too soon, I fear.
I remember commenting when the news of SAF's retirement broke that I would like Mourinho, but I understand why the board will pick Moyes - and they did. The risk with Mourinho was that he would change too much too soon and if it went belly up, the damage would be hard to rectify quickly. Ironically, it is Moyes who has made too many changes behind the scenes, but not enough to the team. Mourinho would have demanded and spent £100M+ and would have brought in 2-3 world class stars (Ozil included, I think) which would have shifted the focus from the past to the future - what the team could achieve rather than what SAF's old team had done. Moyes can still succeed, but he needs that renowned win at all costs mentality to resurface quickly in the players he has got and he needs some new blood in January to improve areas of the team. Pellegrini is an unknown quantity in English football. He has a big squad of talented players, but they need time to be coached to his ways and they need to perform more than 3 out of every 5 games. That latter point must worrying for City fans. That complaceny is still there among all the players. Hart, Kompany, Toure and Aguero are four of the best players in the PL yet they've all had more off days than they should have over the past 12 months. They don't seem to want to put in a shift away from home.
For all this money that ManU "might have spent" over the summer, I see little evidence that it is really available. A lot of is is assumed by pundits to be there, but relatively little has been spent in recent seasons compared to turnover. Obviously a lot of income goes paying debts, but I am not sure why a lot more is not given to the manager. The best conclusion would seem to be there is nowhere near as much money available as people assume there is, OR the owners won't let the manager spend it. Either way the result is the same and the club is going into relative decline as other teams improve. However there are a still enough inbuilt factors and stars left to allow them to challenge for the top 4, but certainly not the title. But unless they invest in January and next summer, perhaps the decline will be more obvious. The problems would be manifesting themselves much more strongly by now had they not managed to get RVP. As for this supposed £100m bid for Bale, I seriously doubt it!
