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Moyes has finally reached tipping point

Round, Moyes, Neville v Olympiakos Feb 14Amid the different reactions to Tuesday’s shambolic defeat in Athens, there was a common theme to be found in the feelings United generated – and have generated throughout the season –  for the way the result arrived – more than the result itself in fact – sparked an array of different emotions: from disgust to indignation, from anger to shock.

The one feeling that was almost never mentioned, however, was the one we as fans, have been desperate for this season: relief.

The only positive anyone could draw by watching United being humbled by also-rans such as Olympiacos over 90 minutes – during which David Moyes’ men looked a paltry imitation of Sunday league team – was that Tuesday night was the moment when English football’s most successful club hit rock bottom, for the ship surely can’t sink any lower.

Disheartening though it might have been, it was also perversely refreshing and relieving to see how far the mighty have fallen, after months spent toiling away in the shadow of our rivals, while Moyes and the club’s hierarchy continued to trot out their party line and some fans harboured dreams of an improbable comeback in the race to fourth spot or, even more bizarrely, of winning the Champions League.

United were exposed with sheer brutality in Athens, the deficiencies that had surfaced throughout the season were again horrendously displayed in what was United’s only hope to salvage something from their season in what must have been the tipping point for the team, the players and the club as a whole.

Manchester United, as things stand, are a squad made up of a couple of excellent players and some exciting prospects, but the remainder of the squad, quite plainly, is a combination of has-beens and never-will-bes, players who should have been moved on a few seasons ago or should have never worn a red shirt in the first place.

Relief, however, also came in the notion that David Moyes, unfortunately, is not the right man to lead the club forward and allowing him to remain in charge for another season could be even more detrimental to United’s long term future than his dismal inaugural campaign.

A large number of Reds – me included – have defended Moyes from the day he was appointed to replace Sir Alex Ferguson, supported his decisions, argued in his favour and fought his corner, but Tuesday night was the final straw for many of us – as he cut a forlorn figure on the touchline, Moyes look incapable of altering the course of event, just as he’s been throughout his first nine months at the club.

There are multiple reasons behind United’s failures this season and Moyes is only responsible for some of them, for he can’t legislate for the clowns running the club, nor can he be held responsible for senior players shying away from their duty and producing the sort of performances professional footballers should be ashamed of.

Apart from looking tactically clueless and in desperate need of a crash-course in PR, however, Moyes has committed an even bigger mistake, one that was considered a cardinal by his predecessor.

Sir Alex Ferguson often spoke of the need for a manager, particularly a Manchester United manager, to exert control over his team, for without it, reckoned Fergie, the manager is at his players’ mercy, an untenable situation at any other football club, let alone one of United’s tradition and expectations.

For months, admittedly rather foolishly, many of us desperately hung onto the parallel between Fergie’s  and Moyes’ early days, but where Fergie, even during his tentative first steps at the club, exuded control and self-confidence, Moyes has looked like a rabbit in the headlights. Where Fergie demanded control and earned respect, Moyes himself was surprised when the club chose him as Fergie’s successor, an aspect many elements of the team must have undoubtedly picked up on.

Tactically limited, devoid of a clear strategy in the transfer market, Moyes appears to have lost the dressing room, given the utterly inept and flat performance United delivered on Tuesday and unless he grows a pair and musters enough courage to finally embrace the club ethos and win some respect, his future is doomed.

“Sometimes defeats are the best outcome,” said Fergie in his biography.

“To react to adversity is a quality. Even in your lowest period you’re showing strength.”

Moyes and United have not done so and the way Tuesday’s defeat matured, cleared the deck from any lingering doubts over the quality of the squad and the manager and lift the veil once and for all over the real conditions of Manchester United: an institution in drastic need of major surgery.

A sense of relief indeed, after all even defeats can be the best outcome.

Dan