Where it went wrong for Moyes

Where it went wrong for Moyes
So, David Moyes has been sacked from his position as manager of Manchester United. Am I surprised? No.

Many fans of the club felt that Moyes wasn’t the correct choice to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson as manager, but obeyed the commands of the former boss, and backed Moyes thoroughly for the majority of the dismal season for United.

Now the former Everton gaffer has left the club, the owners and board members will have to again, find the man they believe is right for the unenviable task of succeeding SAF successfully.

What happened to make David Moyes’ tenure as Manchester United manager, the shortest since 1927? Well we’ll see.

1. Transfers
The well publicised failure to land his preferred transfer targets in last summer’s transfer window meant that Moyes paid well over the odds, at £27.5 million to land former Everton midfielder Marouane Fellaini. Not only is the Belgian a player hardly suited to United’s philosophy or playing style, but he also could have been recruited earlier in the summer for up to £8 million less than the price paid on deadline day.

2. Early losses
United started the campaign with an impressive win away at Swansea and a valuable point at home to Chelsea. A defeat to Liverpool followed, with a shocking 2-1 home loss to West Brom not helping Moyes’ cause. Being totally humiliated by rivals Manchester City added pressure to the manager in a disappointing start to his debut season in charge.

3. Home form
Old Trafford. The Theatre of Dreams.
Often a fortress for United in the past, this season it has been anything but. With defeats to West Brom, Newcastle and Everton coming at home before Christmas, Old Trafford was anything but intimidating to opponents as United often felt pressure playing in front of 76,000 expectant supporters. The home defeats have doubled since the turn of the year.

4. Cup defeats
United have been very successful in the League cup during the last decade. They were progressing well as they made it past Liverpool, Norwich and Stoke to reach the semifinals. A 1st leg defeat to Sunderland was hardly promising, and an embarrassing 2nd leg penalty shootout sent the red devils out of the competition during a poor start to the calendar year.
A home draw in the FA cup 3rd round to Swansea. A relatively comfortable fixture considering United’s matches at the same stage in the previous years. Moyes’ team were far from convincing and were knocked out of the competition by a late Wilfried Bony winner. Another year without the FA cup.

5. Return of René
As former coach René Meulensteen returned to Old Trafford as boss of bottom team Fulham, nothing but a victory was expected.
Domination of possession with the Fulham defence camped in their penalty area meant little as two counter attacking goals either side of United’s double meant that, once again United had dropped points after conceding late goals.

6. Rival humiliation
Having already been defeated by Manchester City and Liverpool earlier in the season, United needed some encouragement for the rest of the season, in the form of victories against their biggest rivals. Two 3-0 home defeats lost Moyes a large amount of the fans’ backing. United were completely outclassed in both fixtures, and the failure to score didn’t help the manager, who possessed a potent attacking force, after the recruitment of Juan Mata in January.

7. Back to Goodison
Sunday’s match at Everton saw David Moyes return to Goodison Park for the first time as United boss. The team he left to join the Manchester club inflicted another embarrassing defeat on the team, completing a league double. The previous time was in the season of 1969/70.
Again, failure to create chances and score proved grim viewing for United fans. Nail in the coffin.