Is the Manchester Derby debacle the final nail in the coffin for David Moyes?

From Champions last season to a lowly 7th place in the table now, Manchester United are rotting from within. Manchester City did not beat United, they taught those on the pitch and on the bench, a lesson in 'how to play football'. The very fact that City did so without their star strikers Aguero and Negredo speaks volumes of our degradation under David Moyes. 

Let's face it, Moyes had no plan, as has been the case through the season against the Top four. I mean why else would he station Cleverley on the right wing. If at all he wanted to play 4-3-3 with wide men, why not start with Valencia and Januzaj but alas! Januzaj was not even on the bench. Why not just stick to the winning combination from the last game against West Ham? Why start Rio against the pace and slick passing of City? There are so many tactical blunders that I have run out of patience now. 

Every time I think things can't get worse, Moyes finds a way. First he declared Liverpool as favorites at Old Trafford and yesterday he went one step worse - he said 'City are playing at the sort of level we’re aspiring to'. The embarrassment of hearing a Manchester United manager say that is nonpareil. We can't continue to rot from within. The man did not have a clue after we were two goals down and continued sulking in his seat rather than barking orders from the touchline. I hope it's the final nail in his managerial coffin because the fans don't deserve to see more of this disaster. 

Follow me @nileshsurana for regular updates on Manchester United, sports, technology and marketing.

The last time Olympiakos beat Manchester United was in 2014 BC. What went wrong?

Considering the way this season has been for United, an upset was never out of the question but this was not even Milan or Zenit, this was Olympiakos and the last time Olympiakos beat MUFC was in 2014 BC. Exactly. Never.

So we are here to analyze what went wrong.

1. Team Selection: We played our best football of 2014 against Palace (I know that's not an achievement but nonetheless) and should have ideally stuck to the same squad. Instead, Moyes chose to bench Fellaini, not even pick Januzaj and played Young, Valencia and Cleverley, who, you will agree, are not fit for the United jersey, if you have seen them play this season.

2. Defensive lapses: Rio Ferdinand played worse than our U-19 defenders would have played in this situation and Chris Smalling kept slipping on the field. On top of that Patrice Evra was so busy going forward that at one point of time Rooney had to track all the way back to make a tackle. Due to them, an average looking Olympiakos attack (without striker Javier Saviola) was made to look menacing around the penalty area.

3. Wayne Rooney: He just failed to combine with RVP (who himself had a game to forget after missing that sitter), mustered just one shot in the game, had to drop alongside Carrick to pull the strings after Kagawa replaced Cleverley but all this to no avail. It just was not his night and it did not help that his teammates decided not to turn up for the match.

4. Why not make a 3rd substitution?: As in earlier games we lost this season, Moyes decided not to use all his substitutions and the two he did make were not entirely correct. He replaced Cleverley with Kagawa and Valencia with Welbeck which definitely added pace to the right wing as Welbeck made some great runs but it also meant that Rooney had to play DM which just did not work out. Here is what he could have done - he could have made 3 instead of 2 substitutions and replaced Cleverley with Fellaini, who had an excellent game against Palace, and Rooney with Kagawa, considering Rooney was way off his game.

All in all, a forgettable performance and I have only this to tell Moyes: get some courage and start taking some risk. You don't park the bus at Olympiakos as if they are Munich or Barca and definitely not leave out the most promising player this season (Januzaj). We don't sack managers after just one season, so you will survive the summer to build your own team but from whatever we have seen, we are disappointed with your tactics.

Have your say in the comments below.

Follow me @nileshsurana for regular updates on Manchester United, sports, technology and marketing.

"The most romantic club in the history of world football and that will never change"

I tripped and injured my right hand badly while coming back from the badminton court on Sunday night and then watched the 20 times champions Manchester United draw a match against the bottom placed Fulham 2-2 and I still don't know what hurt more - the injury or the match.

A team, which were champions last season, are playing worse than mid-table teams played last year. Top class defenders like Vidic and Evra are making amateurish mistakes, wingers like Valencia and Nani have lost their mojo, and even the super sub Chicharito has lost his killer instinct. Half the fans have called for the manager's head while the rest of the lot are divided between abusing (yet giving him a chance) and standing by the new manager (as Sir Alex had asked the fans).

But what hurt the most was the tactical blunder by Moyes in replacing Rafael (RB) with Valencia on the wings and then after getting the lead, deciding to park the bus with a 3-man defense out of which Vidic and Smalling were so off their game all night. And this was not the first time this type of blunder had been committed. Even in the match against Stoke, he had got on Hernandez instead of RVP instead of getting the in-form Januzaj for the out of form Young (who starts match after match despite doing little or nothing at all).

So what do I think? I'm still skeptical of the choice of Moyes as a manager (since he has never won anything ever in his career) but I believe in SAF and we have all seen the work Moyes did with Everton without funds/great players. You can always contradict by pointing at Everton's style of play this season under Martinez but then if United had managed to retain the lead against Cardiff, Southampton, and Fulham, they would have been at 47 points, same as Spurs and just 3 points off the 4th place. Anyways, let's not talk about ifs and buts; the fact is more than the midfield, we have lacked depth in defense and Moyes should have invested in a CB and a LB during the January window but still he got that marquee signing of Juan Mata who should be a key player in the years to come considering he is just 25.

So, let bygones be bygones and lets hope that Mata, RVP, Rooney, De Gea and Januzaj can help us finish top 6 because frankly 4th seems distant now especially with the way Liverpool have been playing. And when the summer comes, I expect Moyes to build 'his' squad by replacing the likes of Evra, Vidic, Rio, Cleverley, Nani, Young, Anderson and promoting Zaha, Powell, Lingard, Keane to the 1st team like he has done this season with Januzaj.

For the time being though, with away games to Arsenal, Liverpool and City before the end of March, I just hope that Fulham was the beginning of a new Manchester United (81 crosses, 79% possession) and we will add more finesse to the crossing and shooting with each new game and restore pride to the most romantic club in the history of world football (and that will never change).

Have your say in the comments below.

Follow me @nileshsurana for regular updates on Manchester United, sports, technology and marketing

The curious case of Shinji Kagawa

My heart skipped a beat when I read this - "Man United Ready to Use Shinji Kagawa as Bait In Pursuit of Borussia Dortmund Center-Back". A constant attacking menace at Borussia, Kagawa had scored 29 goals in back to back successful Bundesliga campaigns which led to Sir Alex Ferguson parting with £17 million for the attacking midfielder. Since then he has played only 30 matches and scored 6 goals, in the process becoming the first Asian to score a hattrick in the EPL and has been named Asian Football Confederation International Player of the Year in 2012.

So, when I read that David Moyes was ready to offload him to get Mats Hummels, I was perplexed for a number of reasons. First, Kagawa is the only creative attacking midfielder in the United side. Second, he has never been given his favored no.10 role in which he had excelled at Dortmund and even Moyes agrees his best position may be number 10. Third, he has played just one league match till now against West Brom where he was fielded in a wide left position and was strangely substituted at half-time. Fourth, why get a center back instead of Kagawa when you can develop Smalling (who was brilliant in the win against Liverpool), Jones and Evans.

To conclude, he is an immensely talented player who brings a level of creativity and flair that is lacking in the likes of Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia. His attacking prowess was there for all to see when he rattled the crossbar from 20 yards against Liverpool in the 1-0 victory in the Capital One Cup. It might be that Moyes has to change a few things in order to make it work or Kagawa will have to adapt to a less favorable position on the left wing but either ways, United are better off with Shinji on the field than on the bench as was evident in both the wins over Bayer and Liverpool in which he had started because he adds a new dimension to the attack whenever he drifts inside.