Apart from his first couple of games, which included a Community Shield victory and a perfect start of the season away at Swansea, David Moyes has struggled ever since in his reign at United. And in hindsight of the two embarrassing losses against City and Liverpool, both by a 3-0 scoreline, a decision is, for me, inevitable. He must depart and here are nine reasons why:
Not a winner
People may say things will turn out right if the gaffer is given time, as United succeeded to do with Fergie in the late 1980s. The reason why this worked out well was simply because Ferguson was a proven winner. The dynamite Scot is still the only manager who has won back-to-back titles with another side than Celtic and Rangers since Lawrie Reilly did it with Hibernian in 1950/51 and 51/52. Added to the two consecutive titles, Fergie picked up another one, in 1979/80, as well as four Scottish cups, a Scottish League Cup, the Drybrough Cup (whatever that is), a famous Cup Winners' Cup (where they even faced Real Madrid in the final) and a UEFA Super Cup. Prior, he guided St Mirren to the championship in the Scottish First Division, the second tier of Scottish football.
David Moyes hasn't won a single trophy at Everton, let alone Preston North End. After the ginger Scot was appointed at Merseyside, clubs like Middlesbrough, Birmingham, Swansea, Portsmouth and Wigan have managed to go all the way to domestic major silverware. Moyes wasn't capable of this at Everton, and absolutely nothing indicates that he'll turn that trend at United.
Not a team builder
A man who was a candidate for the United job last summer was a Portuguese guy dealing successfully with tenures at Porto, Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid. The rock in Inter's defence, Marco Materazzi, cried when he parted company with José Mourinho in 2010. A very decent midfielder in West London, Frank Lampard, suddenly turned into a world-beater under Mourinho's reign. From a Real Madrid point-of-view, promising centre-back Raphael Varane stated that the charismatic (former) Galáctico manager was "a winner, a competitor, and he transmits that to his players." Wherever you go, people crave working with this manager, because he raises the standards of the work and people surrounding him. That's hardly anything you can say about David Moyes, who has carried United to the level Everton used to be, and rumours are certain players can't stand him, presumably because of this among other factors.
No belief in the squad
In the end with the lack of team-building abilities, there is a place where nobody believes that anything is possible. That's exactly where United are these days. You may mention the West Ham and Olympiacos games of late, but they're hardly going to win the Champions League within the next ten years, and not the kind of opposition United should apply to measure standards. When some proper opposition turn up on the other half of the pitch, the players look paralyzed, sharing quick unconfident looks, strolling carelessly around in a gutless manner. The players don't look like they have anything looking like a plan around, let alone the ability to translate it from the blueprints and onto the pitch. This confusion has to go down to the manager. After all this basically same lot of players were fairly decent last season.
Somebody out?
As a result of the two previous paragraphs, there might be somebody looking for the Old Trafford exit signs. We've got some top quality players around, like Van Persie, Mata, Rooney and De Gea and it's naïve to think they will stay on board for very much longer if the decline maintains. In other words, either key player(s?) will leave or the manager must leave. Choosing which of the two to hope for isn't exactly the hardest decision in football history.
Clueless media appearances
Less than two weeks ago, the 50-year-old claimed that "Liverpool were favourites" before the Old Trafford showdown, and after getting hammered 3-0 by City he stated that United must "aspire to City's level". And that's just the icing on the cake after the "we must try to make it difficult for them"-esque quotes on a weekly basis. That's simply as far off the Manchester United mentality as you could possibly get.
Accepting limits
In his latter half at Goodison Park, Everton were the predictable table furniture between fifth and eighth. Their manager claimed they didn't have the financial muscles to outgun the sides further up the pitch, which might have been partly right, but if you're satisfied with being trapped inside your limits, how do you expect to evolve? The same manager is apparently on the brink of carrying United to such an Everton state of mind, and United should simply avoid that at all costs.
Another limit Moyes seems to accept is that he's tied up by the lack of time he has spent at the club. That hasn't been an issue for, and barely even mentioned by, the likes of his Everton successor Roberto Martinez and the away side manager from Tuesday night, Manuel Pellegrini. Probably because they have a game plan and know how to utilitize their squad from more or less day one?
Tactical ineptitude
Almost a entire season into his tenure, the gaffer is apparently still struggling to figure out United's strongest line-up. Not on a single occasion has the same eleven players entered the pitch in two successive games. Added onto the lack of a interplay and useless tactics ("cross!"), players rarely get to know their roles. The display against City was reminiscent of a guy playing Football Manager for the first time. 4-3-3, 4-3-1-2, 4-4-2, Mata right, Mata left, Cleverley right, Cleverley in the middle, Welbeck left, Welbeck up-front, Rooney here, Rooney there. There just wasn't any consistent game plan whatsoever, let alone belief in executing it.
The record-breaker
Prior to this season, West Bromwich Albion hadn't won at Old Trafford since 1978, Newcastle since '72 and Everton since '91 (Giggs' debut!). Currently United have lost two league games 3-0 in the same season for the first time since 1982/83. The best stat, however, is that United haven't ever previously lost two home games 3-0 in the same campaign. It didn't occur after the borderline bankruptcies in 1901/02 nor 31/32, not after Old Trafford was bombed, not after Munich and not after Busby's retirement. But in 2013/14, David Moyes managed to lose two home games in the league with a 3-0 scoreline.
No development
However, despite all these paragraphs of misery, this one is probably the worst for me. I remember being at Wembley against Wigan, we won 2-0 with a fair display, and people said "all right, he just needs some time and we'll play better". But almost an entire season on, the development has been absolutely everywhere but at Old Trafford. We're playing dire and clueless, don't utilitize the players optimally and it doesn't seem to get any better any time soon. Liverpool gave Brendan Rodgers time despite their struggles last year, because he had a game plan. It was obvious that he wanted to play a passing game with pace and counter-attacks on the floor and this season the Scousers are enjoying their pay-off for patience. United's new manager hasn't brought any development, nor a game plan or reasonable tactics, and with no development there is no need to give him time. And another dull aspect is that we play so ridiculously horrific. I'm all right with not winning all the time, but at least the manager and players should attack as often as possible. Not sit back and "try to" grind out a 1-0 scoreline against clubs preparing for the Championship.
(The blog post can also be found at the United fan site TalkofTheDevils.com and is published at HuffPost with their permission.)