adminLONDON. — Manchester United have been going steadily off the rails since David Moyes took over, but defeat to Swansea on Sunday has turned their season into a train wreck. It was only the second time since 1984 they have been dumped out in the FA Cup third round — it only happened once under Sir Alex Ferguson — and the records keep tumbling for Moyes like the Old Trafford empire crumbling around him.
Ferguson’s shadow looms large over the new United manager from the directors’ box at every home game — and he will not be impressed with what he is seeing.
All good things come to an end — but it’s an issue when they all start coming to an end at the same time.
This season at Old Trafford Moyes has overseen United’s first defeat by Newcastle since 1972, the first defeat by West Bromwich Albion since 1978 and the first defeat by Everton since 1992.
Add their first home loss to Swansea in 82 years and Moyes has ended a total of 179 years of utter domination on their own turf over four top-flight clubs.
Ferguson never lost four out of six home games, and that was in 27 years at the helm. His replacement has ‘achieved’ that within eight months.
The defeat by Swansea was their fifth home loss in all competitions this season, already equalling their title-winning campaign last year.
Fans are getting disgruntled. Old Trafford emptied when Wilfried Bony headed Swansea’s last-minute winner. Under Ferguson most would’ve stayed in the belief they could still get something from the game.
Moyes is not helped by having Ferguson sat in the directors’ box, looking down on proceedings like a Roman emperor overseeing a gladiatorial battle at the Colosseum and deciding at the end who lives and who dies by sticking his thumb in the air or pointing it to the ground.
There is a flash of fear in the United manager’s eyes after every defeat at Old Trafford as if he knows Ferguson could give him the thumbs down at any moment and he would be for the chop.
Everyone says Moyes deserves to be given time like Ferguson, but they are forgetting that Ferguson didn’t inherit a title-winning team when he got the job in 1986.
It took four years for him to win his first major trophy — the 1990 FA Cup — but when he took over they hadn’t won a top-flight title in 19 years. This United have won it five times in the past 10.
Andre Villas-Boas had three more Premier League points after 20 games in charge at Chelsea than Moyes’s 34 now. The Portuguese lost his job shortly afterwards. Being brutally honest, Moyes simply doesn’t know how to compete with the giants of the game when it comes to transfers.
His first marquee signing, buying Marouane Fellaini for £27.5million weeks after a £23m release clause expired, has so far been a disaster.
But Moyes doesn’t know how to play with this kind of money. The average net spending per season during his 11 years at Everton was a mere £803,000. Ferguson would shell out tens of millions every summer like he was handing out sweets. Moyes’ admission after the defeat by Swansea that United’s transfer targets might not be available in January is alarming. Ferguson would never have come out with a comment like that. If Manchester United wanted a player, Manchester United got a player.
United’s credentials for finishing in a Champions League spot are being seriously questioned now, let alone challenging for the title. Moyes has presided over their worst points total from their opening 20 games in 22 years and they have won only two matches — versus Arsenal and Hull — against sides in the top half. — Mailonline.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter