Unbelievable showing. I've been one of those fans that has been frustrated with Moyes, but when I am calm I tend to say he should stay as I don't think any manager in the world would have had us playing as a dominant force given the man who just retired and the squad he left us. However, it's not even the results that gets me so angry with Moyes, it's the damn clueless factor that he appears to possess. We haven't put in ONE acceptable performance this season due to the SAME reasons which I will explain in my next paragraph. Moyes has actually recognised the problems - apparently so anyway, given some press conferences I've heard - but makes no managerial changes to fix it. Good managers fix the problems their teams have: Pellegrini fixing Manchester City's away form, Ancelotti fixing Real Madrid's performances and defensive issues, and Mourinho is seemingly on his way into making his Chelsea team - filled with players he didn't buy - play how he wants them to play. Moyes doesn't change anything but is expecting different results.
Before the season even started we had critical issues: an absolutely poor centre midfield, an ageing left-back responsible for many of the goals we conceded, no replacements for past legends like Scholes & Giggs, A HORRIFIC 4-4-2 SYSTEM, and playing players in positions they're not used to be playing in. He could have fixed every single one of these issues when he arrived for work on July 1st. Let me break down the issues and how he has attempted to fix them.
Cetral midfield:
His answer to our midfield problem is playing centre-back Phil Jones in that position, and forty year old Ryan Giggs. Not only is our personnel not good enough in the central midfield, but the system wasn't either. We play a very wide 4-4-2 system which leaves TONS of space in the middle of the park. To play a system with only two central midfielders, you need very good energetic CM's like Ramires or Fernandinho alongside world class possession-keepers. He tried to sign Thiago and Fabregas in the summer with embarrassingly low bids (seriously, he made a fool out of us). He made no attempt to get rid of players that just have no right being at a club like United now (Anderson for example). If you have a midfield as poor as ours, you really need to change the system and have numbers to account for the lack of quality. Buying Fellaini was an absolute embarrassment and I'll go into that later.
Left back:
Evra is arguably one of the most overrated players in the BPL, as he is probably one of the most awful left-backs defensively in the league. Defensively the guy is shocking and has no clue what to do any more, or the stamina/pace to do it. Sure, he's good going forward (sort of), but most of the time him being forward results in the most Moyes-like random cross that NEVER hits from miles away from the box which means we get countered and he can't get back. When I say sort of, I mean he can get forward and make decent runs creating space, but if he gets the ball then we lose it 9/10 times from his absolutely diabolical delivery. Moyes knew how poor Evra was - anyone with a bit of sense should - as he tried desperately to sign Leighton Baines. He must've known after multiple bids that Baines wasn't coming, but he made no real strong attempt to get a 2nd choice Fabio Coentrao who was not only willing to move, but was a 2nd choice at Real Madrid and is probably the best left-back on the planet (or was at the time; Alaba is now). The fact he didn't use the limitless funds he was given to get a player he knew he desperately needed showed unnecessary risk and poor decision making.
The system & philosophy:
Moyes was known for some pretty ugly football at Everton to be fair, but I thought it was harsh to criticize him for the way they played at a club with basically no funding. He was taking over the champions of England who all know how to play football, so I didn't expect him to turn us into complete dog shite, but he has. 9/10 times the defenders just launch it up field or pass backwards when under any sort of pressure whatsoever. Who the fuck are they launching it to: Hernandez, Rooney, RVP? All of whom are pretty small or aren't players you should be launching balls towards. Manchester United are known for fast football, counter attacking football, and relentless offensive football. We currently play like a technically poor team that constantly crosses the ball in from any and every position on the pitch hoping for the best. Our offensive play is so fucking slow and the players with the ball don't have the technical ability - or numbers - to do anything with it. He insists in playing CB's in midfield or right-back so we can't even utilise or full-backs to help us. Our players are constantly knackered as 4-4-2 results in so much open space so they're constantly running to try close them down. When we do press, we don't press as a team, and teams like Swansea just pass around us.
I've been bored watching United so many matches this season simply because of how we play, and I've never said that once in my life. This is how I'd set up my team if I were manager:
De Gea
Rafael - Smalling - Jones or Evans - Evra
Carrick
Valencia - Cleverley - Kagawa - Januzaj
RVP or Rooney
I understand playing this system leaves out RVP or Rooney, but that is what is needed. They've performed awfully together this season because there is no support. This system will result in numbers and energy in midfield, and if you so desperately do not want to sub one of those two then you play Rooney in Kagawa's position. Regardless, we need energy like Kagawa and Cleverley accompanying Carrick in midfield to make it a three. Also, this would be temporary. This is the team I would use after a busy summer of ins and outs (obviously presuming we could buy them [I've used realistic targets]):
De Gea
Rafael - Smalling - Jones or Evans - Baines/Shaw/Coentrao
Carrick - Gundogan
Kagawa
Januzaj - Rooney - Reus
or
De Gea
Rafael - Smalling - Jones or Evans - Baines/Shaw/Coentrao
Carrick - Gundogan
Rooney
Reus - RVP - Kagawa
Whilst they are big signings, we'd also need more, but we can buy them due to how many I'd let off. List of players I'd sell:
- Ferdinand
- Anderson
- Young
- Hernandez
- Nani
- Evra
- Buttner
- Fellaini
- Giggs (retirement, not sell obv).
All of them can be replaced by a new CB, a LB, a LM, two CM's. That might take more than one summer, but that's the bare minimum of transition that needs to occur. All of those players up there are way below United standard (or not utilised enough in Hernandez' case and could be used to persuade Koke to join us; a much more needed player).
Managerial presence, tactics, and fear factor:
If I was a player, I wouldn't want to play under Moyes and he certainly isn't a scary figure. Ferguson had complete control at the club and if you crossed him, you knew you were out. The last thing you wanted to do was put in a performance which would result in Ferguson releasing the hair-dryer treatment on you. Moyes just seems clueless and uninspiring. He can't motivate the players to win a fucking game at home when the crowd are desperate to see one. He can't motivate the players to do their absolute best to defend the title or fucking stay in the top 4! His substitutions are always clueless, the way he utilised our best players is clueless, and the players do not care at all about letting him down. Do you think someone like Mourinho or Klopp would let them play this way? The fucking press-conferences after games is teh most depressing listen ever: "oh, the referee had a poor game", "oh, it wasn't the players fault, I thought they played well today", "we got a bit unlucky but need to kick on in our next game" - I'm done listening to them.
I can rant for ages on Moyes and I will be a lot more this season I expect. I don't think he'll be fired but I do think we'll finish out of the top 4 without a single trophy to show for it. Rooney reportedly won't be playing for us if we don't get in the UCL and I understand why considering he's the only half-decent player that's fucking trying. RVP is constantly injured because of Moyes' strict training regime; he clearly has no idea how to manage one of the best strikers on the planet with a history with injury problems. With no UCL football, what top players like Reus, Gundogan, Koke, or Fabregas are going to want to come to Manchester United?
/rant
TLDR: fuck moyes, fuck our old/shit players.
