Moyes Needs To Toughen Up If He Is To Be A Success At Manchester United

A couple of days after Wayne Rooney signed a massive four year extension to his Manchester United contract, him and his side travelled to Greece for the first in the two leg round of 16 Champions League match against Olympiakos. And well, we all know what happened next.

Once the match was over, I actually heard one of the commentators on Fox Sports describe it as the worst performance Manchester United has ever displayed in the Champions League, which of course I had quite a laugh at. But why did this happen? What went wrong? And most importantly, what can be done to fix this issue?

I actually think this is quite funny coming right after striker Rooney pledged four more years to the club. He seemed pretty unhappy there a few months ago, why the sudden change of heart? The performance that Manchester United displayed on Tuesday night was, if anything, worse than what they have been doing in any domestic match so far this season.

A few months ago Rooney wasn’t the only unhappy United player, apparently, as I was hearing rumours about the likes of Nemanja Vidic, Partice Evra, and Javier Hernandez all potentially being on the move. Before the Champions League match I thought that maybe since Rooney decided to stick it out at United, that perhaps some of his teammates would as well, but now, I’m not as sure.

The match against Olympiakos was just in a word, awful. The final score was 2-0, obviously with Olympiakos claiming the victory, and both goals were definitely at the fault of United. The first went past David De Gea far too easily, at a speed that could probably be seen during one of my six-year-old niece’s football matches - the result of sloppy, unorganized defending by the United back four.

There is no reason that the ball should have made its way into the net.

The second Olympiakos goal was actually not bad on their part; it was a hard crack from range, an easy shot to take with the slow United midfield failing to press. United couldn’t even muster a single goal from this one and are forced to host the Greek side at Old Trafford at the return leg with a -2 goal deficit.

However, the real problem wasn’t the match itself, it was the aftermath. Van Persie was heard telling journalists that his teammates were in his way while he was trying to score goals and that the team is lousy, which is not a great thing to say when team morale is probably at an all time low.

The United players should be bonding together, not blaming one another for the loss. I also heard ridiculous rumours that David Moyes would be sacked after this match. In my opinion, the whole reason why United is having this rocky season is because they had a change in management after Sir Alex Ferguson retired, and for me changing managers mid season would only make matters much worse.

So what can be done? First off, Moyes needs to man up and not let his star players push him around. United needed goals during this match and if Rooney and Van Persie weren’t delivering they should have been taken off and replaced with fresh legs.

I’ve brought this point up several times and I will until something is done about it. Where on earth was Javier Hernandez? I may be a Chelsea fan myself but I have always loved Chicharito, I totally have a huge crush on him and first and instantly fell in love when I saw him play (and with those gorgeous green eyes of course).

Under Sir Alex Ferguson Chicharito always delivered, whether it was starting or coming off the bench, he was responsible for a lot of important United goals. I believe that his lack of club play is starting to affect his international play as well as he has definitely not been the same player for Mexico.

He’s a talent that needs to be used or sent elsewhere. United has a lot of work to do if they want to advance in the Champions League as well as even qualify for it next season. The outcome is in the hands of Moyes - hopefully he makes the right choices. 

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Comments

[bruce]

Don't blame the players! With the 1970's - Allardyce - Graham Taylor tactics that Moyes is trying to foist on the players he may as well mancle the players' legs to a ball and chain.

Give those players to Klopp, Conte or Simeone and you'd have a win ten times out of ten. Put Moyes in charge of Bayern. Real or Barca and they'd finish fifth. Moyes needs to man up, recognized he's completely out of his depth and resign -- before he wrecks the club beyond repair.