HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM CALLED MOYES FEAR?

The misery is complete. Abject surrender to a plucky but ultimately limited Greek opposition means this season has lurched from troublesome to downright pitiful. And from the embers of this defeat there appears little hope of salvaging any positives from this season. A true baptism of fire for a beleaguered David Moyes. We all knew it would be tough. It would be an almost impossible job to replace Sir Alex, to get remotely close to maintaining his incredible standards, and replicate what he has achieved as manager of Manchester United. Yet even the most impartial commentator simply cannot believe what we have witnessed this season. The current champions of England are on their knees, 11 points shy of a Champions League place. I think that is worth reiterating. Not 11 points shy of the leaders, 11 points behind the current 4th placed team and with only 11 games to go, very little opportunity or indeed expectation to qualify automatically for a place in the Champions League next season. That the team with the best momentum currently occupying this spot is Liverpool is all the more galling. This is astonishing. There have been warning signs but it is unfathomable how a club steeped in glory with virtually the same squad that galloped to an unprecedented 20th League title only 9 months ago could have plumbed such depths and lost not only unquestionable belief but worse the hunger and desire that epitomised Fergie's reign. It is easy, of course to lay the blame squarely with David Moyes, but blame him we must. The tired excuses of inheriting a poor squad have worn thin. Moyes has had time to assess the talent available to him, to nurture it and to stamp his mark and authority on those players at his disposal. Tuesday night proved that he is nowhere near the goals he must surely have set himself, whatever they may be. And you see that's part of the problem. What is the Moyes’ way? If we reflect back to his Everton days he built a team with a strong ethic to work for each other. It was not always pretty but it was largely effective and he was rightly applauded for his achievements there, however modest. Man U is a whole new ball game. A global brand, a football superpower. There’s an expectation to win. Success has bred expectation, that is natural. The club needs a strong manager. A manager with swagger and borderline arrogance which Moyes has now demonstrated he does not possess. Instead Moyes looks intimidated by the challenge. We might have forgiven him if he fronted up and told the world that it would take time to get it right, that we should not expect instant success, that he was the right man and we would are that. Instead his obvious difficulty in adjusting to such a challenge has been painfully etched across his face and in every media briefing. He is over cautious, defensive and frankly out of his depth and his own natural caution and reticence has transmitted itself to the team and to the players. His instinct is to manage with a philosophy of we must not lose rather than we must win. It’s the opposite of Fergie and you already wonder if he could ever be the right man. Many have been unsure for a few weeks now and after Tuesday night, many more are voicing concern. Let's consider the season to date. In truth it was a fabulous start away at Swansea and clearly the players were unaffected by new methods and picked up where they left off last season. Business as usual. A cagey boring home draw against Chelsea has gone on to set the tone for the season but at the time it was acceptable. Neither manager wanted to lose so early on. However a disastrous transfer window too painful to explain and question marks over Rooney’s future helped the rot set in quickly. Back to back away defeats at Liverpool and Man City saw United adrift by mid September but still these were deemed hard games and the fixture calendar as much to blame as the lack of cohesion in the team. There remained a sense that some time was needed for new ideas and formations to be adopted. The first real warning came with an unthinkable home defeat to West Brom. Yes the West Bromcurrently on a hideous run and fighting relegation. At the time Moyes batted away criticism to say we should expect it to get worse before it gets better. Hardly words to inspire. Certainly not what the fans would expect to hear. This is a big club. Fans need optimism and leadership, and this was defeatist. In early December, back to back home losses against his old club Everton and then Newcastle neither of who had won at fortress Old Trafford for a combined 50 years appeared to question the spirit at the club. Where was the famed bouncebackability. It did not go unnoticed that whilst both were narrow defeats these are games Man U never lose and indeed no goal was scored in either game. A worrying sign. As we entered 2014 there were genuine signs of recovery. 6 wins in a row and almost ridiculously Moyes was nominated for manager of the month despite those 2 early home losses. United entered the new year with much to prove but with confidence renewed, a cup semi final to negotiate, a new transfer window to help boost the squad and simply the knowledge that historically United (and indeed Everton) always have a strong second half to the season. If we could step back to New Year’s Eve, the half term report would read as follows: “Some teething problems, few areas are work in progress but overall better momentum as we approach the half way point and reason to be optimistic for the second half of the season”. I’m sure someone will have written words to that effect and they simply couldn’t have been more wrong. January was a disaster. In 2014 to date Man United has lost more games than they have won. Another home loss to Spurs on New Year's day was swiftly followed by a wretched home defeat to Swansea in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. A meek surrender to a club that had NEVER before won at Old Trafford and had been beaten so handsomely on the opening day of the season. Moyes was setting some very unwelcome records. The famed Fergie time where so many late United goals had been scored to either win or rescue games was now working in reverse. The club was conceding late winners on a far too regular basis. This was followed by a miserable yet inevitable defeat at Chelsea where despite Chelsea strikers boasted the worst goal record in the top 8, Samuel Eto'o still managed to score a hat trick. A microcosm of the 2 teams’ divergent paths laid bare in one game. There were some mitigating circumstances with injuries to key players but the squad should have coped for other games. Yet worse was still to follow when United managed not only to lose the Carling Cup semi first leg at bottom of the table Sunderland but then contrived to lose the return leg on penalties. And trust me this was the worst penalty shootout in living memory. The last realistic chance of silverware gone, though even the most one-eyed fan would not have relished the prospect of battling an unstoppable Man City to claim that title. It was probably a blessing. Another transfer window came and went without the signing of a central midfield player. What about Mata you say? Surely an outstanding signing for the club, you say. Surely a positive sign that the club can still attract the biggest talent despite the current demise. And of course Mata is a very good player. Chelsea’s best player for 2 seasons and it seemed incredulous they would be willing to sell such a talented player to a main rival. This is a significant demonstration of the power shift in the post-Fergie era. Chelsea were willing to sell Mata because they no longer see Man U as a major threat. This is a huge statement. They were willing to sell a player who was a clear fan’s favourite because he did not fit the philosophy the returning Mourinho wanted to employ. There is such trust in Mourinho as a manager that this decision has hardly been questioned. Mata’s signing may ultimately prove to be shrewd but as things stand it was merely opportunistic. A message to the world to say “now look here, things may seem bad but we are still a big club and can attract big players”. If you look at the club’s resources, however, United have signed a player they do not desperately need. Another no 10 and not a central midfielder that is so obvious to all is desperately required and craved. Rooney already occupies Mata’s favoured position. Kagawa too though he has been mistreated and is shorn of any confidence and his days as a United player seem numbered. And there is Januzaj who is the one bright spot this season and he looks set to play there eventually. Man U do not need Mata for footballing reasons, they signed him to send out a statement. They need a whole new midfield and 2 transfer windows in have registered a panic buy in Fellaini as the only new signing in that area and that has not worked, yet. Incredible. It certainly doesn’t take a genius to work out where Man U’s problems mainly lie. The galvanising effect that the Ozil signing has given Arsenal is already on the wane because they didn’t really need him either. However it was worth it as they are still challenging for major honours and maybe Mata will be too but for now United’s continued malaise shows no signs of let up. And the club hierarchy have to take responsibility here, from the owners to the manager. Predictably then, the pain didn’t stop there. Fulham came to Old Trafford in disarray. Bottom of the table and in real danger of relegation. They took the lead early and held it until the 78th minute when United finally mustered the required energy and attacking flair to score 2 goals in quick succession. Game over, right? No of course not, another late goal conceded and a draw at home to the worst team in the league. Much of the post match commentary centred around United’s predictability. Get the bal wide and cross in without much end product. No guile, no real playmaking. By now it wasn’t a surprise. And so we come full circle to last Tuesday night, the return of the Champions League, the knockout stages. The only chance to play in this premier competition is to do what Chelsea did a couple of years ago and win it outright. It seemed improbable for them then, it’s impossible for United now. Not because Man U can’t overturn the 2-0 deficit. They can. I’m not sure they will but they can. However the teams that lie ahead are too strong and would relish the prospect of facing United. Luck alone will not suffice and quality is distinctly lacking. Man United went into Tuesday’s game having won their qualifying group easily. They had been afforded a plum draw too. It was the one competition Moyes was perhaps expected to find tough but he had led the team to navigate the group well, the 5-0 win in Leverkusen being the one highlight this season. However the tag of favourites in the last 16 was just too much. There are no sufficient words in the English language that I can use here to explain how poor the performance was in Greece. This was the most important game of the season and with Mata ineligible, the team and especially the midfield tasked with taking the field was found horribly wanting. Januzaj was criminally not even in the squad. Cleverley who has become a scapegoat for the decline was included at his expense and it didn’t work. The intensity was poor from the start, the passing sloppy, the lack of quality and leadership exasperating. This was a chance to redeem something from a forgettable season and the performance to a man was dire, the worst European performance in perhaps a decade against a spirited but ultimately average Greek side. The chance has virtually gone and with it any lingering trust in the manager. Moyes manages with fear. The squad play with fear and the future looks bleak with him at the helm. United will not sack him, they will give him time but is this time well invested? Is he the right man for the job, long term? Do we believe the players will respond to him when he has a chance to rebuild? I think we can already say no to all of the above. Sometimes you have to be ruthless in life and this, I’m afraid, is something that needs to be done to safeguard the immediate future of this club. And who, you ask, would I suggest replaces him? Well at this stage of any season candidates are sparse. The decision should not be rushed. The season can hardly get any worse so why not just put Giggs in as caretaker – at least the players will play for him, for the shirt, whilst the club invests time wisely in marketing the club to a manager who can handle it and then give him the funds to really turn things around. My recommendation, for what it’s worth, is Jurgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund. He plays football the United way. He has domestic and European pedigree. He can do no more at Dortmund than he has achieved, especially with Bayern Munich so dominant, and this might still be seen as a dream job, at least until this summer.