The 2013-2014 season in the Barclays Premier League has not gone according to plan for defending champion Manchester United and first-year boss David Moyes. Previously the manager at BPL affiliate Everton, Moyes was tasked with the job of replacing legendary Alex Ferguson, who stepped away from the pitch after claiming 39 trophies in a highly successful 26-year run over the summer. Taking over a squad that possessed top talents in Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra among others, Moyes was supposed to lead the Red Devils back to the top of the competitive twenty-team league, but with United only able to earn 45 points through 27 league contests this season, things are not looking great for Moyes and company at Old Trafford.
While the club continues to struggle in the English League, a recent 2-0 loss in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 to Olympiakos made matters worse since United will now be forced to play from behind in the second and final leg against their Greek opponents when the tournament resumes on March 19. Referring to the loss as the worst performance by his side this season, David Moyes took blame for the defeat while noting that he still believes his team is capable of playing better moving forward.
“It's the worst we've played in Europe, that's for sure,” he said. “A really poor performance tonight. We never got going from the start and we didn't deserve anything because of the way we played tonight. We just never really got to grips with things. We came into the game in good form, a good mind set, but we didn't show that tonight. I take responsibility, it's my team and I'll always front it up. We didn't play well tonight and we have to play better. We can do. The one good thing is that there is the second game to go.”
Tuesday's loss did not sit well with Man U higher-ups either and according to multiple sources, the first-year boss will now have 12 matches to prove that he is the right man for the Old Trafford gig moving forward. The obvious goal for Manchester United looking ahead will be to claim another Premier League championship and with a £200m in transfer money available to team higher-ups this summer, the Glazer family is giving David Moyes a series of games to place the club in good standing while also showing the value they believed he possessed when naming him full-time Manchester United boss.
If Moyes is not able to please United's owners and stabilize a poor European season, expect names like Ryan Giggs, Jurgen Klopp and even former Man U boss Sir Alex Ferguson to enter the mix as possible replacements on the Old Trafford sideline.
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