Without a win in 2014, the pressure mounts on David Moyes at United.
Coming into the Premier League's Christmas fixture period, it looked like David Moyes had finally gotten some things tuned up at Manchester United. They had finally found a decent bit of form in the league, they had advanced relatively easily to the group stage of the Champions League, and they had hit the semifinals of the League Cup, where a seemingly favorable tie with Sunderland awaited them. Not bad after the way they started the season.
Then the clock chimed in 2014, and things have gone south again in a hurry.
The first three matches of the new year have not gone well for Moyes and United. They have lost each one by a 2-1 scoreline including a league loss at home to Spurs, a loss in the FA Cup third round to Swansea, and today they dropped the first leg of the league cup semifinal tie away to Sunderland. Oops.
I suppose that wouldn't be so bad for many clubs in the league. After all, it's been a few years since United has had a great deal of success in the FA Cup, and they had won their previous four in the Premier League before the loss to Spurs. Also, a 2-1 away to Sunderland isn't the worst result in the world, especially since Sunderland's second came off of a rather soft penalty in the second half. They still have the second leg at home. Is all of this "Moyes out" talk a bit of an overreaction?
Actually, I think it is. First off, the domestic cups are hardly the crown jewels in the eyes of the EPL's big clubs. Yes a trophy is a trophy. but these clubs, especially United at this point, have bigger fish to fry. They were impressive in Champions League group play, albeit in a group that wasn't the most challenging. Still, Europe is still Europe, and they played pretty well. Let's also stop and realize that RvP has spent most a good portion of the season injured, and Wayne Rooney has been out some as well.
Still, that does sound like papering over the cracks a little bit. The midfield has not been good. Tom Cleverley is exhibit A, as he had another horrible match against Sunderland, including conceding the penalty that cost United the match. Giggs is still Giggs, but he's another year older and can hardly be the answer at this point. Where is Kagawa? The former Dortmund man seems to have been lost in the shuffle and Carrick has been injured as well.
Defense? Vidic is forever suffering injury after injury and Ferdinand is on the downhill slope of his career at United as well. Smalling does some good things, but continues to underwhelm, especially when he's made to play at outside back.
That discussion points back to the last summer transfer window and what an abject failure it was for United. As metro.co.uk points out, United were all over the map, and a lot of their bids weren't really considered seriously at the prices that they were tossing out. 30 million for Fabregas? Really? Pity, because he could help them out. Lets also not forget that Wesley Sneijder is perpetually linked with Old Trafford as well, but to what end?
I think you can do good business in the January window, though it might cost you more money to do so. If I were United, I'd loosen the purse strings a bit and let Moyes seriously go after some talent, especially in the midfield. If you can strengthen that facet and get Rooney and RvP healthy, this club can still do some damage. Honestly, I'm not sure Sir Alex could get much blood out of this turnip right now, but this is all pretty easy for me to sit back and say, because I'm not a United fan.
So do you agree with me that Moyes should get more time, or should be sacked immediately? Feel free to leave a comment or hit up the poll out of the pull out menu on the right side of the blog front page.
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