adminMANCHESTER. — The naked numbers make uncomfortable reading for David Moyes, while on the pitch his side’s frailties are being laid brutally bare.
Beaten 1-0 by former club Everton with Manchester United having slumped to ninth the table, the Scot is under mounting pressure at Old Trafford.
The shadow of Sir Alex Ferguson is a pretty lonely and chilly place to reside right now as a winter of discontent looms in M16.
There is no talk yet of P45s, and nor is there likely to be in the short term, but United – the champions, no less – are an impotent imitation of the one which dominated the domestic landscape under Ferguson’s rule.
Their current position is their lowest ever at this juncture of a Premier League season, a seemingly insurmountable gap of 12 points to league leaders Arsenal having been allowed to develop. They have scored less goals at home than bottom club Sunderland and have already succumbed to four defeats, that compared to five during the entirety of last term. So what has gone wrong for United under Moyes? Sportsmail takes a look at some of the key issues.
No Fergie
They say Sir Alex alone made a difference of 10 points to United’s tally. On the evidence of this campaign, we may well have underestimated his influence. The Fergie Factor has faded at Old Trafford and so, too, has the fear factor. For, on Wednesday night, Everton refused to accept the role of jittery junior visiting the senior school; if anything, they were the playground bully.
Dissent from the terraces during Ferguson’s reign was muted, a mild muffle at worst. In the wake of defeat to Everton, those who had not already stormed for the turnstiles delivered a verbal volley in the direction of their manager. Such unrest was unheard of under Ferguson.
The visiting fans, meanwhile, could not resist, ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ cutting its way through the thick blue smoke which had engulfed the away end following Bryan Ovideo’s late winner.
A squad in decline
Moyes, of course, inherited the champions. But was Ferguson canny in the timing of his withdrawal from the dugout? For this is a squad whose mediocrity is masked by medals.
Would the likes of Jonny Evans, Anderson, Ashley Young, Tom Cleverley, Antonio Valencia and Danny Welbeck command a starting jersey at Arsenal, Manchester City or Chelsea? In short, no. Coupled with that is the ageing and waning influence of Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra and Ryan Giggs, while Nemanja Vidic was terrorised by Romelu Lukaku on Wednesday. Fergie always was the master of good timing.
Marouane Fellaini
The Belgian has flopped since his big-money move. And, at £27.5million, it was big money.
United coach Phil Neville said in the build up to the game against Fellaini’s former club that he was ‘one of the best young midfielders out there’. He’s 26, the presumed peak in this game.
And don’t forget, this is not a player making the transition having landed from foreign shores. Indeed, United should feel like home from home given the presence of Moyes, Neville et al.
Going into Wednesday’s match he was yet to score or start a game in which his new employers had won; both of those statistics still stand today.
Fellaini cut an awkward imitation of a defensive midfielder, out-muscled and out-thought on too many occasions by his former team-mates.
The sole signing of Moyes’ maiden summer, it is fair to say he has not improved the United side. — Mailonline
Online Reporter