Manchester United Superthread 2014 Mod warning Post #1880 #2613

Nice piece Jonnyfingers you've done well since you left the Rats. I know we should get behind Moyes but he is so defensive and the opposite of what we stand for and unfortunately City and Liverpool are playing and winning with the style of football we were famous for, I wouldn't be sorry if he was gone in the morning.

keane2097 wrote: »

That Mourinho thing is nonsense. He went barrelling down the sideline fistpumping and kicking imaginary balls to celebrate - you can practically see the moment about two thirds of the way down the pitch when the hamster starts running in the wheel and he realises he has a chance to pretend all that's on his mind is a tactical masterstroke so everyone can see what a guru he is.

He then whispers in Torres' ear... what, exactly? He's quick to tell us in his post match interview that he had his team drilled for every eventually with one, two and three strikers all week because he wants us to acknowledge he's a pre-match guru as well as a during the match guru so really, he ran all that way and dragged Torres out of the goal celebration to say "remember Friday when we were pretending to be a goal up and I put you defending - do that now".

He's a great manager but he's got some serious personality issues, between attention seeking and an overweening need to be praised - that sprint down the line was just a vaudeville encapsulation of them.

I would tend to agree with most of that, however you're underestimating the effect of him "appearing" to give tactical instructions would have, even if he gave no such instructions. Firstly it wastes a bit of time between the goal and the kick-off, time the opposition then have to think about how they might not win this game. If the opposition players think he's giving his team some tactical instructions they may start to believe that Chelsea are going to be switched on to defend this lead and some doubt might creep into their mind. The Chelsea players will see that the manager seems to be trying to focus their minds on the job ahead and they may start to think about that rather than celebrating the goal further. And I'm sure he would have given some tactical instructions, even if the thought to do so just occurred to him on his little run down the pitch.

I'm not for one minute suggesting that Moyes should have done anything like this last night, but it would have been enough to call over one of the senior players and give him some instructions to relay to the rest of the team. I always think that if someone like Roy Keane was on the pitch he would have shouted at everyone to get their head's straight and keep things tight for the next few minutes. That didn't seem to happen last night.

Reus is boyhood Dortmund fan isnt he? He wont be leaving them any time soon and Shaw will go to Chelsea.

Klopp will prob end up at Barca.

I'm sure Moyes can get us back in to the top four next year or the year after but I doubt he'll ever be challenging for the league or europe.

Still can't shrug the feeling that if the players took a bit more responsibility, took charge of the situation and showed their class, this season would be looking alot different.

I mentioned after the RVP post match outburst away to Olympiakos, that he was forgetting how Uniteds fortunes in the three matches previous where in his doings.

He buries his open goals against Fulham, Arsenal and Olympiakos the whole mood around the club would have been different. While there was always grumblings, there was no intense focus on Moyes if I'm honest, before that run of Fulham, Arsenal and then Olympiakos where the heat really turned on.
A bit of composure, class and responsability of a senior member of the squad and the outlook is totally different.

There is no doubt, and I won't debate it anymore, that Moyes has made some blunders this season, mainly in his media facing and choice of words, but also in team selection at times. But I can't fault his approach to this tie. The side put out was pretty much EXACTLY the same as I'd posted in the hours proceeding, even sighting Smalling would be prefered to Ferdinand to give that side of the defence stamina and pace.
Evra's inclusion was a suprise considering what Buttner had done, and it was all to predictable what happend. You can actually go back and find that post, and read my words at how Evra will get sucked into breaking forward, and struggling to get back into position. There was numerous times last night where he just went walkabout and I'm now convinced the issue with Evra is his legs and they are just at that age, not down to a failure in attitude or lazyness.
Early in the match he made an incisive interception in the box from Muller, while the move was flagged offside, his brain was in one with his legs, he knew the danger and he got himself into the position to snuff it out.

For the equaliser, you can see he identified the danger, but his legs just didn't get him there infront of Mandzukic, a relatively slow player, but with clever movement he doesn't get credit for.

For the third goal, it was laughable and indictive of the problems Moyes has inherited and had to deal with. Robben doing what EVERYONE knows Robben will do, cut in side, and keep cutting util he fires a show. Evra let him go by without a whimper, and Vidic noticably lost pace over 10 yards before a last gasp outstretched leg caused the deflection.

There is alot of experience in that team, ALOT. Fletcher, Carrick, Rooney, Vidic, Valencia,Evra. These are all guys who have played CL finals, challenged for titles, played on the big occasions. It was utterly embarrasing to see an equaliser that quick. You could see Fletcher being called over to the sidelines by Moyes after the goal and it was very audible on the stream I watched " Get the ****ing ball back and keep tight". Like he should have even had to EXPLAIN it to the team.


The gameplan was obvious, it was good, and I wouldn't critise it. While it was heavily defensive, some pragmatism is required to appreciate your going against the best team in Europe that if you go swashbuckling football against them will gobble you up. This is a team that beat Barcalona 7-0 when they tried to go toe to toe. We had a genuine outball with Wellbecks pace, Rooney was dissappointing for reasons well known, and Kagawa was brilliant in possesion bringing a calming prescence. (And by the way, few times, shot past Bayern players like they werent there).

I just feel it's in someway being the story of the season and how the smallest of margins you would expect experienced pros to box off, end up costing us big time. Moyes went with a plan, that plan obviously worked and one of the best teams in Europe looks clueless at how to break us down. And after getting the goal, like in the first leg, where the plan has worked and now you need to keep that resolute defending, you have a brainfart in less then 25 seconds.


If Moyes is removed from his post in the summer there will be joy and celebration and good riddance to a manager who in many eyes has dragged the clubs reputation through the mud this year. But personally while I couldn't overly complain as the buck stops with the manager, I won't ever shake off how I feel the clubs predicament has been caused by our so called senior players, completely abjecating responsability, and failing in those fine margins that could have made this year so different.

redbaron_99 wrote: »

If we want to fast track a return to the top the board needs to put this fabled warchest in the summer. Get over to Juve and slap 50m on the table for vidal. Make big bids for the likes of Coleman, Mangala, Shaw, Kroos, Reus. We're too bloody cautious in our approach to players.
Otherwise it's a long haul rebuild. Maybe look to develop a young team with the likes of Wilson, Powell, Janko, and Januzaj as part of it.

Come on man thats never going to happend. Its not football manager, we'd be lucky to sign one of those players.