EPL Game week 5 Winners And Losers – Rodgers humbled, City earn bragging rights, Wenger feeling smug and Moyes difficult to understand

David Moyes

As a friend mentioned to me after the game, United with Moyes in charge is just a regular team. Without Ferguson, they have lost that special something. As much as I want to disagree, based on Sunday’s performance against City, United certainly looked like a team that should be 8th in the EPL table. I mentioned earlier in the winners section that half of a coach’s job is finding the right formation to counter your opponent’s. Moyes clearly lost that round of tactical battle. The other half is making tactical or personnel changes to the team based on how the game is going.

During the mid-week win over Bayer, Moyes’ talked about how he liked to field his strongest 11 for as long as possible barring injury and fatigue. Is that to say that he will not make changes to his team when a match begins? Because if there was ever a game this weekend that required the manager to salvage the game from the bench, this was it. Below are some issues that should be of concerns to United fans:

1. Moyes’ stubbornness: I was inclined to call it his ‘tactical inflexibility’ but I am all for giving him the benefit of the doubt. Just how he reasoned failing to make a player change after going down 2 goals in the first half and two more when the second half started is beyond this humble writer’s comprehension. Yes, he switched to a 4-3-3 and moved Welbeck to the left where he proved a much better attacking alternative than Young but that was too little too late. Is this him sticking by his players? If so, I guess their manager’s confidence should do them some good but just how much good when the team has suffered such a demoralizing loss?

2. United’s lack of creative spark: Rooney was the only bright spark for United. Smalling did little to justify his selection over Fabio as his height advantage counted for little (he was culpable for the defensive mix-up leading to Yaya Toure’s goal). Up front, Young was ineffective at best and Valencia found an amped up Zabaleta willing to match him for pace. It is unfortunate that with a bench containing Nani and Kagawa, the manager opted to bring on Cleverley. Moyes has spoken of not having the opportunity to assess Kagawa and Hernandez. He is running out of excuses as to why that is the case as he has had 5 games. 5 games which translates to 5 opportunities to give these players a chance prove themselves.

The huge elephant in the room after this loss is, does Moyes have what it takes to lead a team like United? Again, it is too early to tell but if ever he wanted an easy trophy, it is this season. All the other top six teams minus Arsenal are still tinkering with the squad and/or have new managers still settling in. He is on a 6-year contract, so let’s assume the expectations for year one is to win some domestic trophy and qualify for the Champions League.

Repeating this weekend’s performance and including the transfer market fiasco will see his tenure cut short. Ferguson had the backing of the club, players and fans. It is safe to say Moyes has lost the fans or to be generous, they are yet to be convinced. The #FreeKagawa Movement might have failed but he shouldn’t take his chances with the #MoyesOut movement.

Ashely Young

Ashley Young made only eight successful passes in the first half against City. At this point, United fans will prefer a crocked Darren Fletcher on the field than Ashely Young, one of Ferguson’s stranger acquisitions. He must be really good during training because despite his diving antics and general all round poor performances, he appears to be one of Moyes’ guaranteed starters. Mind blown.

Newcastle United

Just how they conspired to throw away a one goal first half lead and lose to Hull by 3 goals to 2 is indicative of the general state of affairs for Alan Pardew and his Toon army. It is one step forward and two steps back. The rest of the season is damage limitation and the Magpies should hope to avoid a relegation battle. A mid-table finish will be a successful season. In some positive news, Loïc Remy looked sharp against Hull and helped himself to a brace.

West Ham

Sam Allardyce must be counting the days to the January transfer window. Losing Carroll all season was a blow and he needs to either find a stop-gap replacement or plan for the long-term by signing a player that can complement Carroll when he returns from injury.

Norwich

They really should have got a point against Aston Villa. Their next game is against Stoke. Then they face off with Chelsea at home and then the Gunners at the Emirates. Already 17th in the table, the Canaries need to win or at the very least get a point against mid-table teams. Relegation battles are never fun and I would hate to have Nathan Redmond leave the EPL.