David Moyes’s Master Plan

Winning tips and improving bet slips is our plan at Clever Bets, but what is David Moyes’s plan?

“What I know of David is he’s hard-working and has integrity. He’s also got a work ethic about him and he’s a serious football man. I think these are the qualities he’s going to need,” Sir Alex Ferguson on Moyes replacing him at Old Trafford.

There is no doubt that the legendary manager had a huge say in who would replace him at the biggest job in football, but does David Moyes have a master plan to lead Manchester United to more silverware? And if so what is it?

After spending 11 successful years at Everton and earning 3 managers of the year awards, Moyes moved to Manchester being hailed as one of the best coaches in the country.

Moyes generally favors a 4-5-1 formation with players working hard, closing down the opposition fast, and players working for one another. He has been criticized for not taking games by the scruff of the neck and lines up his teams to avoid defeat. This is not going to cut it with the locals (and not so locals) of Manchester. As a club that is excepted to win every game playing attractively, Moyes will have to change his ideology to fit in with “the United way”.

It’s fair to say that Manchester United didn’t have the most successful summer in the transfer window. This culminated in comical dealings such as the pursuit of Ander Herrera, Cesc Fabregas and Thiago Alcantara. Moyes will need to prove to United fans that he can make good deals in the market. After signing Fellaini who has potentially flopped, United has been linked with a £30million move for Atletico Madrid midfielder Koke. There have been rumblings in the press that he may raid former club Everton for Leighton Baines and will pay £50million for Ross Barkley. Wow. Only time will tell if Moyes does really have transfer targets and what sort of ambition he has in terms of “star players”

On a side note, let me ask you this question. If you were a world-class player and you had the choice of working with Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho or David Moyes, who would you go with?

Luckily he has been able to bring in Adnan Januzaj from the youth ranks who has been impressive thus far. The future Belgian/Albanian/England star has flourished and will be a great Man Utd player in the future.

Has Moyes shown that he has a master plan at United? In my honest opinion, he hasn’t. He has brought in one youngster to play in the team on a regular basis but the rest of the team is still Sir Alex Fergusons’, not his. He has added Phil Neville and Ryan Giggs to the coaching staff to help him, but only time will tell to see if the move pays off.

I’m going to stick my neck out and say that United will finish in the top 4. Who knows, on current form they may even mount a challenge late on in the season. Weirder things have happened. Write off Manchester United at your peril.

In terms of Moyes and his master plan. Manchester United shall be a force as of next season when he gets his opportunity to let go of the players that lack the quality and consistency to play at this level. He will bring in 2/3 outstanding players that will really strengthen the club, in particular, a strong center back to replace Rio Ferdinand who seems to have lost his sharpness this season and an obvious world-class central midfielder. That midfielder will be revealed sooner or later. Stay tuned to Clever Bets so you can find out who we think this special missing piece of the jigsaw will be.