Daily Mail Article

[Louis]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/...oss-United.html

 

There are those who believe managers like Sir Alex Ferguson have it easy. That all he needs to do most weeks is pluck 11 random names from a hat, sit back and collect three points for Manchester United. To which, two words: Aston Villa.

 

As plucky outsiders, Villa were flying. When they were everybody's second team taking on the supremacy of the established elite four Premier League clubs they played football for fun. The pressure was on Arsenal to hold them off, minus their inspirational fulcrum, Cesc Fabregas.

 

Then a strange thing happened. Aston Villa overtook Arsenal and looked set fair for that fourth Champions League spot, at which point what had previously been a prize to win became a prize to lose and the players began to feel the pressure. Expectation rose, hence the booing that followed Sunday's defeat by Tottenham Hotspur, and Villa wobbled. It is not easy being top dog, or even in the top pack. It brings different stresses, an entirely fresh set of challenges.

In recent weeks, there has been much talk of Ferguson's successor at Manchester United, sparked by Rio Ferdinand's endorsement of Jose Mourinho. The reaction to that has been the championing of a domestic candidate, most popularly the impressive David Moyes, manager of Everton. Therein the conundrum: how can the career of a manager punching above his weight at a small club prepare him for the Premier League's upper echelons?

 

Moyes has done a superb job at Everton. Since 2003, Everton are the only club beyond Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal to have finished in the top four, and were unfortunate to have their thunder stolen in 2005 by the fact that Liverpool, the team they edged out, won the Champions League.

 

More recently, Moyes has established his club as the best of the rest. Everton are consistently in the UEFA Cup qualification places and, domestically, will contest a second semi-final in consecutive seasons when they take on Manchester United in the FA Cup on April 19, having lost to Chelsea over two legs in the Carling Cup last year.

 

In comparison to the top clubs, however, Everton are financially weak and, as a result, play their football a certain way. Even against inferior teams Moyes favours caution, which is understandable, but hardly the best grounding for career promotion.

 

A top four club need to play on the front foot, they need to make the game, even away from home, and they need a manager to embrace that style. Could Moyes do this? The Manchester United board would have to take his word for it, because he will not be able to call on many examples that demonstrate a penchant for the cavalier at Everton.

 

Sam Allardyce was the last manager to achieve a similar level of respect in the game for over-achieving at Bolton Wanderers. His success was also built on dour determination and a team that lined up 4-5-1 and when he went to Newcastle United, a club with a tradition of open football, the relationship quickly soured.

 

Largely this was down to unrealistic expectations - Newcastle fans want the team to play like Manchester United even if the players have more in common with Manchester City - but there was fault on Allardyce's side, too. Nothing in his recent career tended to fantastic football and he was uncomfortable with the demands. The same was true of Alan Curbishley, who switched from Charlton Athletic to West Ham United and disappointed with his conservatism. Allardyce and Curbishley rightfully expected top jobs after what they achieved but found it hard to adapt after so many years winning games with the odds against them.

 

It does not seem to be such a problem in Spain, where even lesser teams favour an open style and managers progress up the career ladder without the struggle to acclimatise. Having said this, could some of Rafael Benitez's caution at Liverpool be explained by formative years with Real Valladolid, Osasuna, Extremadura and Tenerife? Even his successful Valencia team were not known for their abandon.

 

The Champions League clubs enjoy great advantages. Superior wealth means better players, deeper squads, bigger grounds, and, taking this into account, coming sixth with Everton might be a superior achievement to coming second with Chelsea or third with Liverpool. It is a certain type of achievement, though, one that does not necessarily school a manager for the task of committing a team to attack or for circumstances when another win will only attract barely stifled yawns.

 

We expect Manchester United to take the game to and defeat Fulham this weekend and, if they do, the event will pass unnoticed. Lose, however, and alarm bells will sound, heralding a seven-day inquest into the crisis. This is the pressure the elite handle every week and it is what ate away at Villa the moment it was assumed they were part of that group.

 

Moyes is no doubt a very good manager, but the question of where he goes from here is not simply a case of onwards and upwards. British Rail once blamed delays on the wrong kind of snow. For Manchester United, might Moyes be the wrong kind of good?

 

In short, he reckons Everton are a small club with an overachieving manager...

[zequist]

The uncalled-for "small club" poke aside, he is right about at least one thing, and that's the fact that managers at top clubs are frequently expected to not only win, but "win pretty." Most famously in recent years was Fabio Capello leading Real Madrid to their first league title in five years in '07, and getting fired anyway because he didn't win it with enough style.

 

I see at least two problems with this writer's premise right away, though.

 

The first problem is that in his rush to declare Moyes unfit for Man U, he's forgetting or ignoring the fact that "too negative" was also a criticism that was frequently directed at Mourinho when he was at Chelsea, and supposedly one of the factors in Abramovich pushing him out the door. So IF for the sake of argument we were to accept his assertion that Moyes' tactics are too conservative for Man U, then we must also disqualify The Special One for the job (as well as many other big-name managers), for the same reason.

 

The second problem I have is the underlying presumption in his article that a conservative manager will always and forever be conservative. That may be true of some managers, but then you'll have others like Otto Rehhagel, who had a very successful 15-year run at Werder Bremen playing up-tempo, flashy, attacking football, and then turned around and led the Greeks to the Euro 2004 title by playing a very negative, defensive, and (in many people's opinions) boring style of football. So I don't necessarily buy that premise either.

Edited March 18, 2009 by JD in DC

[marcopaulo]

play to your strengths with what you have

if we had 4 or 5 flashy players like you united he'd play like that but we don't! the fact is he plays with what he has and does it brilliantly and thats what makes him a great manager! but i hope they dont think hes up to it then he can stay!

[EFC-Paul]

You could pull that artical to pieces in so many ways but i really can not be arsed with tools like that who write these things one of the most contradictive and untrue piles of shite i have read.

[carlmc25]

I can see the logic in the article, it's something I've often wondered myself - will Moyes be seen as a successor to Ferguson or a risk by Utd, he is only used to being able to buy players in the region of £2-10m, some of his more expensive signings, Beattie, AJ, Fellaini and in particular Kroldrup haven't really done the business (Fellaini is still here at least) whilst it has been the players he has bought from the lower divisions or on the cheap who have really shone. It's unfair on Moyes but no one really knows how good a job he would do if he suddenly had £60m to spend, how he would do with a room full of ego's and when you need to win in style. The only thing is, I can't see many managers who do win with style, Wenger did for a period but now seems to obsessed with style that he seems to forget you need grit as well, whilst Mourinho and Scolari were both seen as having teams who played rubbishy football and Benitez is often seen as ultra negative.

 

I personally think Moyes plays to his and the teams strengths and if he had more money available he would do a brilliant job but whether the Utd board see it that way is another matter, they may just appoint a big name who has won a lot of trophies.

[Blue 250]

How the hell do you follow Ferguson?

 

Sure there will be many willing to try, can't really beat getting sacked on a big fat contract if it goes wrong.The risk is all Manchester Uniteds!

[EFC-Paul]

When it comes to spending large sums in the transfur window Moyes has as much chance and is as much a risk as where Mourinho and Benitez prior to joining Chelsea and Liverpool, at Porto Mourinho would not have spent such amounts in one window and neither Benitez for Valencia they more then likely spent more then we do but nothing like Liverpool Chelsea or any other of the Top clubs.

So both managers could have been labled as Moyes has and both have done well one more then the other, look at some of the signings Ferguson has made down the line he has bought absolute shite in the past so have all top managers at big clubs it is a poorly written article with just speculative shite.

Edited March 18, 2009 by EFC-Paul

[Wall Writer]

Articles like this do not bother me in the slightest. In fact more articles like this would be a blessing. The more the light is taken off Moyes as the 'automatic succesor' to Fergie the better for us. Frankly I do not want Moyes to go to OT, not now, not ever, and anything that takes him out of that spotlight is a blessing in disguise. All us Evertonians can see what a quality manager he is, it makes no difference what some tit writing for a tit-ass paper says to the contrary.

We may not play the most attractive, attacking football in the league, but then we don't have the most attractive, attacking players to play that way. We play in a way that suits us best, but I still have to say we do play some nice football

more often than not. I'm sure that if Moyes had the money that managers of richer clubs have then for sure we'd see better players and better football. What needs to concern us Evertonians is keeping hold of our best asset and finding a way to give him the resources he needs to compete with those richer clubs.

[Guest efctaxi]

This is a brief insight into what the United supporters think about Moyes :

 

http://www.redcafe.net/f7/how-good-manager...d-moyes-234935/

 

One thing about the mancs is that they seem to have a lot of respect for Everton , and David Moyes .

 

 

My own ' unselfish ' opinion would be that I would be delighted should Moyes get the United job . It would almost be like bringing home a little silverware in a strange way . He absolutely deserves his chance , and Everton are certainly not a small club , so his achievements here have been worthwhile .

 

My ' selfish ' opinion is that I would gutted if he left , as with a few extra quid , I think he could take us on to the next level whatever that may be and have huge respect for the guy . Moyes is about as good a role model as there is in sport , regardless of genre , and I can't think of a better manager in the league at the moment .

Fergie has had plenty of time , and plenty of funding to achieve his own standards , and also that of the team , and I think he and Moyes would do very well together , presuming SAF stays on in another capacity .

 

Always said Moyes stood a chance with United . Time will tell , but in the meantime ............ COYB !!!

[Sprooly]

i always thought david moyes could be there for ever lol