Football genius has been sacked, say it ain't so... Dammit, confirmed. David Moyes is out as manager of Manchester United. Listen to this pathetic press release: But in a statement on Tuesday the club said it "would like to place on record its thanks for the hard work, honesty and integrity he brought to the role". Oh pull the other leg, it's got bells on it. You gave him a decrepit midfield and an aging squad in general and then you fire him after 10 months.
Honestly it was long overdue. Everyone wants to play the loyalty card, "we give managers a chance", "we're not Chelsea!", "we do things differently"... yeah, well, see how long that lasts when a Moyes (or a Hodgson) comes along.
I don't think he was given enough time. Ironically, his predecessor should have been fired and was on the verge of being given his walking papers when he received a last minute reprieve. He went on to become Sir Red Nose. As history repeats itself, instead of giving him a chance to succeed, they decided to ignore the history, and fire him and start from scratch. Sadly I was looking forward to seeing whether it was the squad's fault or Moyes' fault next season. Now we won't know.
Haha, don't even pretend. Sadly, you were looking forward to the continuation of Moyes leading United down the sewer next year too. I don't blame you, I didn't want Hodgson fired either. One good way of knowing what is a good decision for United is doing the opposite of what a Liverpool fan would suggest. Enjoy the title this year, you guys deserve it, but we will celebrate today because it can only go up from here.
Talk of Klopp, Simeone, & Conte is pretty hillarious. All are well set for the next several years and have much more to look forward to than an average united squad. They'll do well to get Van Gaal in, but he's only a 2-3 year stop gap before he pisses off everybody; if he follows his typical MO. But what happens to Van Gaal when he can't get into the CL next year? His transfer record is not amazing and he would have a ton of holes to fill.
Klopp is apparently feeling like trying to keep up with Bayern is futile. Wouldn't be surprised if he left Dortmund after this year. He's losing Lewandowski after all and it won't be long before someone comes along for Reus, Gundogan, Sven Bender, or Hummels. Either way, rebuilding Utd is going to be an expensive and timely undertaking. A new manager won't get anything done as long as the old dogs that fill the roster are around. I don't know much about their youth squad but Utd needs someone who will give the youngsters a chance a la Brendan. Whoever Utd choose though, I don't think they'll be better than our man Brendan.
Klopp apparently already publicly turned down the job. The BEEB has a leak that says they are going to "discretely" see if Pep wants the job. Don't you love it? Discretely as on the BEEB! And why would Pep leave the best squad in the world for a rebuilding project that almost guarantees getting sacked while in the shadows of the Big Red Nose.
Hope this is true, Klopp is the one that worries me. Really rate him as a manager (okay who doesn't) and could see him leaving Dortmund this summer. Feels like they have peaked and it's clear that they won't be able to keep his teams together. So does he want to push that rock up the hill again only for his best players to go Bayern? And even though United are out of the Champions League what other club will be able to offer him the money and in theory the time to build? Plus he is no longer replacing Red Nose, he will be in the same position that Brendan was is with us. All he has to do is show improvement, and better this season. Of course Barca will probably be looking for a new manager, rumor is PSG will as well, and there are a number of other clubs in the Champions League that I am sure would gladly part with their current boss if he became available. Will be fun to follow. (Just a thought, Klopp to Arsenal, Wenger moves upstairs? Gives Wenger an exit strategy, and leaves the club in good hands. Klopp moves to a club with more money, a history of stability AND in the Champions League. I have about as much evidence as a typical daily fail report but it makes some sense.)
However, Klopp has ruled himself out of the job, the 46-year-old telling The Guardian:"Man Utd is a great club and I feel very familiar with their wonderful fans. But my commitment to Borussia Dortmund and the people is not breakable." http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27107795
I didn't like how Pep said he wanted to stay at Bayern for two more years. Where's he go next? Interesting that Klopp said he's not interested. Have to wonder if he's saying that to appease his fan base while he may be open to discussions going on underneath the table. He's a class manager and the Bundesliga is better for having him at Dortmund. Hopefully it stays that way.
Yeah, getting rid of Moyes may have been inevitable, but I don't think this will magically solve all their problems. ManU are in free-fall right now, confidence is abysmal and players are agitating to leave. I expect that a significant amount of the so-called 150 mill transfer kitty will come from sales of current players. This means it will be even more important to establish a plan for re-building the team, but how is that going to be accomplished when you are likely going to be undergoing a wholesale sweeping out of the current coaching and development staff? When and how will the incoming manager and his staff be able to evaluate current players? I don't think simply watching their performances in matches this last year are necessarily going to be reflective of their real abilities... and many of them will be off at the World Cup while their agents are trying to line up new clubs for them. Frankly, I think ManU are likely closer to the place that Liverpool were when we sacked Benitez, and replaced him with Hodgson, than when we pushed aside Dalglish and replaced him with Rodgers... Hodgson was clearly a horrible fit for the players and the style of play they were assembled to carry out, but probably no matter what, the person who came after Benitez was going to be a care-taker. It took bringing in Kenny to stabilize the team, and start to clear out players that weren't going to be able to take the team in a new direction. In retrospect, I think having Kenny in there for a year likely provided Rodgers with a clean slate to start re-building the team. I just don't see that being the case right now with ManU. Whoever comes in is going to be under as much or even more pressure than Moyes was to deliver wins quickly... and that is going to be a recipe for further instability. Match this with a messed up summer transfer window due to the world cup, and I think ManU may be in for at least one more year of disappointing results.
This.. Whoever that lot bring in next is going to need more time than Moyes, that squad needs a massive overhaul.
Jose picks an ultra defensive team to face Atleti, and Torres gets the start against his former club. Cech, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Terry, Cole, Mikel, Luiz, Lampard, Ramires, Willian, Torres
Tells you E'too and hazard aren't fit yet and we will see Ivanovic, Oscar, Schurrle and probably Hazard.