None of us have any idea what would happen if United sacked Moyes, so let's not use it as a stick to beat anyone with, eh?
He did well. About as well as Roberto Martinez is currently doing (which is subject to change, of course), just with less attacking flair and unattractive football. Take from that what you will.
Yeah well that's wrong. Most United fans were well aware of the squad's many flaws.
Ha. "The entire backbone of the squad is ageing but the REST is fine!"
But importance changes in situations like this. At Everton, keeping a good handle on funds was of paramount importance. At United? Nowhere near as much. Moyes has comparatively limitless funds compared to what he had at Everton and so far all he's done with them is made speculative low ball bids at impossible targets, buy some random young defender and then panic buy Fellaini for about ten million more than he is worth after passing him over earlier in the window. Some managerial skills - man management, tactics and so on - are applicable to every club. Some, like financial acumen, aren't, and maybe Moyes is suffering a bit now because he was able to outperform his own levels of competence by being hamstrung by funds.
Just because no-one knows for sure, it means that it can't be used to argue a point? So because no-one knows
for sure what'd happen if Su?rez left us, you can't say it'd have a negative impact on the team? Of course I don't know for sure what'd happen, but I'm pretty sure it'd be bad for team morale - if you've had a manager for 27 years, and you then have two in a season, I'm pretty sure it'd destabilise the club a fair bit. Mart?nez has only been in charge for half of season, but he's obviously done well. However, Mart?nez had a better squad to start with than Moyes had, not to mention the fact that he had the funds from Fellaini's sale to spend too. And yeah, some fans were saying how the squad was lacking in certain positions, but now people are saying how the squad is terrible
everywhere, and that
everyone is ageing. RVP, Vidić and Evra are all starters; but Giggs and Ferdinand are playing a somewhat bit-part role this season (Carrick/Evans are playing instead of them a lot of the time).
I never said the squad is terrible, just it's weaker than the teams that are realistically going to be challenging at the top for first. It was quite obvious last season that players were needed which is why a CM was top of the shopping list, a striker, cb, lb and a half decent wide player are all needed too.
Wide players failing to abjust, yet they weren't exactly amazing last season..
Evra, Rio, Vidic, Giggs, Carrick, RVP, Rooney, Valencia, Nani, Young, Fletcher, all over 27 most into their 30s.
That's the entire spine of the club getting on a bit with no real replacements around for half of them.
Why a striker? United have four of the best strikers in England, arguably, and only one who is seriously ageing. I agree a centre-back and left-back are needed, but on the wing, the problem isn't entirely with the players, but with Moyes's tactics. Oh, and 27 isn't old, it's only when players are 30 that they can really be considered 'old'. Most players peak at 25/26/27.
Because I doubted Moyes' capability to handle a top club I'm a glory hunter? It's not even the end of the world if we ended up sacking Moyes. He might be doing a Souness for all we know.
Yes, I know Moyes did a decent job back in Everton, but he actually had a bad transfer record for big signings. His biggest signing for both Everton (15m) and United (27.5m) were Fellaini. Turned out to be a great signing for Everton but a terrible one for us. His second biggest signing for Everton is Yakubu (11.25m), who is mediocre at best. His third biggest signing is Bilyaletdinov (8.9m), very underwhelming at Everton and is now nothing more than a bench player for Spartak Moscow. His fourth biggest signing is Andrew Johnson (8.5m), who spent more time being injured than actually playing. His fifth highest signing is Beattie, whom had a bad spell at Everton too. Even his other high profile signing - Jelavic, had found it hard to cope with the pace of the PL after his good first season.
Moyes still hasn't been given enough time, even if he's been far from inspirational so far. I know that when SAF joined the club, it was a completely different situation to Moyes's, but he needed time to mould his squad and stabilise the club. Imagine how hard it must be for Moyes, having players who're probably disheartened by the loss of SAF, and some who are ageing/not players Moyes wants. And on the matter of his biggest signings, they weren't great, but he was good at spotting a bargain: Baines (?6 million); Jagielka (?4 million); Mirallas (?6 million); Coleman (?150k) and Howard (?3 million). And those are only the good signings in the current squad, there's probably a lot more he's made through the years which I've not mentioned.
