David Moyes has been Man United boss for a few months now and already he seems to be on the receiving end of criticism from fans and media as some of his methods and decisions are being questioned. As with any new manager it takes time to settle in and for Moyes is has been a huge change for him to move from Everton to Man United and the first few months were always going to be tough. Is the criticism Moyes is receiving fair so early into his Old Trafford career?
Man United struggle to bring in any signings during the summer and left it until deadline day to sign Marouane Fellaini for £27.5million just weeks after his £23million release clause run out. It was considered a bad move and not many people agree that Fellaini is worth that much especially when they could’ve got him for less, but at least it was a signing in the position that they needed to fill within the team and that was the important thing. Fellaini works well under Moyes so make no mistake it was a sensible option if it was a panic buy, he will slot well into the new formation that Moyes has introduced and will hopefully fill the void left by Paul Scholes.
After missing out on the signing of Ander Herrara which ended up being a fiasco that no-one really knows what happened in that situation, the late moves for Özil, Khedira and Coentrao also fell through and this grouped with failure to sign Fabregas and Alcatara has left Moyes wanting to change around the scouting system and changing things so this doesn’t happen again. In my opinion I think he is jumping the gun a bit, these scouts have been responsible for some of the best players that have played in this country. I think the lack of signings is down to the fact that not only did Man United lose Ferguson, they also lost Dave Gill and that will have some effect on who will sign for the club. I think most players will want to see how the first season pans out before they move to United. It is a very big change and time is the essence in this situation, if Man United have a good season under Moyes then he will attract players with ease next summer.
Another criticism aimed at Moyes this week has been from Shinji Kagawa who spoke of his frustration at not playing regular football in an interview after the Japan game. Kagawa who scored a goal in his their 3-1 over Ghana was asked by reporters why he wasn’t playing for United and he told them
“ask David Moyes why I am not in the squad”
Despite being affected by not playing football as much he has vowed to continue his hard work in training in the hope that he will be picked for the team. I honestly can’t see a reason Moyes would bench Kagawa, he is a fantastic player and all that talent is going to waste just sitting on the bench and it would be benficial for him to start playing when he returns back, if not they’ll risk losing him in the next transfer window if he doesn’t get playing time and it will be a shame.
Moyes has come into United to follow one of the greatest managers in their history and probably one of the best in the world, it’s a hard reputation to live up to for anyone but it is clear that this is going to be a very hard job for the scot. A shaky start as well as a loss to Liverpool is never going to earn praise from fans but he needs to persist and get through the season unscathed and he will be able to make a proper start on his own vision next year.