Supporting Your Club vs Supporting Your Manager: The David Moyes Divide

Note: I have, whilst writing this blog, always tried to keep my views fairly neutral. This article however is an exception. This is written strictly from the point of view of a Manchester United fan which is what I am so apologies for any bias I may display. If it's any consolation my next piece is a tribute to the fantastic work Brendan Rodgers has done at Liverpool which will no doubt put me right back in my place! Thanks for reading  - Mitch

_______________________

There’s a hint of a civil war among Manchester United fans at the moment. The fans are certainly divided into two camps. There are those that find themselves still behind under-fire boss David Moyes and those that would favour a change in management ASAP.

It’s an issue that has really come to ahead this week with the first signs of open revolt among the supporters. Fans at the stadium were visibly upset following the home defeat by City last week and the manner in which the side went down so feebly.

One thing I think both sets of fans can agree on is that the plane stunt on Saturday for the game against Aston Villa was an altogether pointless exercise and generally did the club more harm than good. Fans are 100% free to express their opinion but that stunt was just foolish. I’m a passionate member of ‘Team Moyes Out’ and even I think there was no need for that. Thankfully it received mostly negative attention in the stadium and in the media.

David Moyes however received an overwhelmingly positive reaction when he emerged on the pitch on Saturday. I must say I was a bit surprised by this, I thought the majority of fans, like myself, would have taken issue with both the performance on Tuesday and his remarks after that we should aspire to be like City. Following the reception he got, I’m of the opinion that he could have been waving his middle fingers at them as he walked out and it wouldn’t matter, they’d still stand and applaud for any Manchester United manager, an admirable quality in many regards.

However there is a difference between supporting your team and supporting your manager. Every single die-hard United fan calling for Moyes’s head is doing so because they believe it will benefit the team. They are refusing to stand for the mediocrity he’s brought and have grown sick of the embarrassment this proud football club has had to endure over the past months. It wouldn’t happen at Barcelona, Madrid or Bayern Munich. Those are the clubs we should be comparing ourselves with, the very best in the world, not Spurs or Everton, no disrespect intended to those two fine English clubs but they are not at the same level.

The ‘Moyes In’ side of the debate lean heavily on the fact that Manchester United are ‘not a sacking club’ and never have been. This, it must be said, is not true and a quick glance at any Manchester United history book will reveal as much. The club have just not had an under-performing manager in a very long time.

Look back to the years after the great Sir Matt Busby retired. His place was taken by Wilf McGuinness who lasted a little over a year before being dumped. Frank O’Farrell was next to try and fill the great man’s shoes and lasted a similar amount of time despite being given a hefty contract. Bear in mind that we are talking about the late 60s early 70s now, when the average tenure of a top-flight manger was over three times what it is today. Sacking a manager after just one season then seems hasty, it’s not so much these days.

These fans seem to think that because Ferguson was given time to build a team at Old Trafford that Moyes should be given a similar length of time but the differences between the two regimes are enormous. Ferguson arrived at Old Trafford with a mission (knock Liverpool off their f***ing perch) and a means by which to do so (focus on youth development but invest in experienced players when needed). He accomplished this and more during his fruitful 27 year spell at the helm.

Moyes on the other hand lacks even a shred of Ferguson’s ambition. I don’t know how many times he’s reeled out his trusty ‘We’ll try our best’ rallying call this year but it does nothing to inspire confidence among the fans. His biggest singular offences include saying that United were going to “make life difficult” for Newcastle at Old Trafford, heralding Liverpool  as favourites when they came to visit and openly saying that “we need to aspire to be like City” after their turn to run riot at Old Trafford nine days later. There’s absolutely nothing about Moyes, his attitude, personality or anything he’s done since taking over that offers any hope whatsoever he’s going to be a success at Manchester United.

For me, as a United fan, hearing his comments following the City defeat was like a dagger through the heart. The strong, winning mentality instilled by Ferguson in the 1990s, carried out by club legends such as Keane, Scholes, Giggs, Ronaldo over the years has become utterly non-existent now less than a year later. I had sympathy for Moyes up until that point but to me his comments were basically spitting in the face of the club I’ve grown up loving.

‘Team Moyes In’ stand for the belief that Manchester United are not a sacking club (not wholly true) and that David Moyes, like Ferguson before him, should be given time to make his mark. They seem willing to settle for a couple of seasons in the doldrums in the belief that given time, David Moyes can somehow turn the club back into the winners they were under Ferguson. I would love nothing better than to be proved wrong but I just don’t see that happening.

‘Team Moyes Out’ have lost all faith that David Moyes is the right man for this job and see no point in settling for what they believe would be another season of embarrassing mediocrity under the current regime. Better to stop the rot now before Moyes is allowed another season to sully the club’s good name any further. He inherited the team that won the league at a canter last season and made turned them into Europa League hopefuls. The only player missing this season is Paul Scholes. Next year both Evra and Vidic will be gone, Ferdinand too and a few others presumably.

This summer is huge for United. Considerable investment is required to replace the final remnants of Ferguson’s 2008 Champions League winning side (Evra, Vidic, Ferdinand, Carrick, Giggs) and replace them with new, younger talent with the ultimate aim of reaching that goal once again. It seems a long way off now but this is Manchester United and that simply has to be the goal. The board must now decide whether or not the current manager who’s fumbled his way through the last two transfer windows, ended up paying over the odds for the uninspiring Fellaini from his old and buying a superstar he doesn’t know how to use, is really the right man to trust with such a huge amount of money. 

Crumbling Dynasties: Liverpool 1992 and Man United 2014

Liverpool and Manchester United. The rivalry extends to much more than the football clubs, the two cities have long since held a bitter grudge against one another It's a rivalry that can be dated back to 1894, Liverpool FC had only existed for two years and Man United were still Newton Heath. The city of Liverpool had thrived during the industrial revolution and was booming due to its location as a port. The construction of the Manchester ship canal allowed ships to bypass Liverpool entirely en route to Manchester which ultimately brought more business there and took it away from Liverpool. The two cities have held a general disdain for each other ever since, one that has carried over massively into the game of football.

The two clubs have a lot more in common than their fans would care to admit. Both come from chiefly industrial cities in the north of England, both clubs have been struck by horrific tragedy and loss of life to their own (Munich and Hillsborough), both are multiple times champions of England and Europe, both are famous for bringing through young talent rather than buying world superstars, both clubs take an enormous sense of pride in doing things their way, both hate the other one with an unyielding passion, both enjoyed roughly two decades of dominance in which the bulk of their great haul of trophies were won and both have now had to deal with the sudden sharp period of decline that follows.

Liverpool's boom period occurred from about 1973 (when they won title number 8) until about 1991 (when they were denied number 19 by a famous Michael Thomas goal for Arsenal in the final seconds of the season), but the foundations were layed down long before that. Bill Shankly, manager from 1959 until 1974, was the driving force behind their rise to prominence and his legacy continued throughout the boom era. He introduced the famous 'boot room' tradition where the members of the coaching staff would meet in the boot room to discuss tactics in the week prior to a game. Shankly and his coaching staff created a family atmosphere among themselves which served the team extremely well in decades to come. The original boot-room of five members produced three further full time Liverpool managers from Shankly's backroom staff.

Bill Shankly: The Godfather of Liverpool FC

Managerial appointments were always made internally during this period of success and this helped keep the spirit of Shankly alive at the club. His assistant Bob Paisley succeeded him in 1974 and won three European Cups. Paisely was then succeeded by his own assistant Joe Fagan in 1983. Fagan lasted just two years before retiring in the wake of the awful Heysel Stadium disaster. Fagan appointed his captain Kenny Dalglish to the role of manager where he remained until departing in 1991. Although he was never privy to the boot room meetings, Dalglish recognised the value of it and kept the tradition alive during his tenure as manager. From the appointment of Shankly in 1959 to the resignation of Dalglish in 1991, Liverpool won 13 League titles, 4 European Cups, 4 FA Cups, 4 League Cups and a UEFA Cup. It was undoubtedly the richest period in the club's history.

It was always going to end someday and that day came in 1991 when Graeme Souness, former Liverpool player was appointed manager. Souness had been managing Glasgow Rangers and had been hugely successful there but he failed to bring success to Anfield and the Scot ultimately ended up shriveling in the enormous shadow of those that had gone before him. Sound familiar?

Souness, like David Moyes, was the first outside appointment the club had to make in about thirty years. He had managed Rangers for five years and whilst here he had no doubt formed his own ideas with regards to coaching ideas and philosophy. Having been a player and captain at Anfield he probably should have been better prepared for the magnitude of the job at hand. Taking over an ageing group of players who had been extremely successful under the old regime, Souness found himself struggling to win the players respect, despite the fact he had captained some of them not so long ago. He lost the dressing room in his first season but salvaged it somewhat by winning the FA Cup. His bizarre decision to give an interview with the Sun (not deemed worthy of being used as toilet paper on Merseyside after Hillsborough) infuriated the fans, ensuring he was facing an uphill battle from there on.

Also, the famous boot room was demolished in 1993 to make space for a press room, thus ending one of the hallmarks of the golden era for Liverpool football club.

Having finished outside the top two only once in almost twenty years, Souness took Liverpool down to 6th place in his first season. Souness was given money to spend during the summer, almost £5m, a reasonable bit of money in that era. This proved in vain as in 1993 Liverpool once again finished 6th, having been 15th in March. He was again given money to spend the following summer splashing out another £5m on Nigel Clough, Neil Ruddock and Julian Dicks. Finally, after the abysmal performances showed no signs of letting up, Souness left his post in January 1994 in the wake of an FA Cup 3rd round defeat at home to second-tier Bristol City.

Souness is widely recognised as the man who destroyed Liverpool

One thing Souness did manage was to leave behind a talented group of young players. Fowler, Redknapp, McManaman all came through during his time. Unfortunately for Liverpool, these players (Redknapp in particular) never fulfilled their considerable potential and never grazed the heights that Manchester United's famous 'Class of 92' lived at for many years.

Roy Evans, who had been a coach since Shankly was in charge and a member of the original boot room, took over the first team for four years and guided back to somewhere near the summit. They finished 3rd, 4th, 3rd and 4th during his tenure. He should have been given the top job in 1991. Gerard Houlier, Rafa Benitez and Roy Hodgson have tried since but none have been able to restore glory to Liverpool. Benitez did famously bring them to European glory again but they league title eluded him. Only recently, under the stewardship of the young visionary Brendan Rodgers, do they look like emerging from the doldrums, 23 years after the 'Shankly Dynasty' ended.

Manchester United became the team in England in the 1990s following Liverpool's decline.Their rise, coincided almost exactly with the slump of their biggest rivals. Liverpool last won the league in 1990. United ended their twenty-six year barren spell in 1993. Since then they've gone on to eclipse Liverpool's record of eighteen titles, winning number twenty in May before the mastermind behind it all, Sir Alex Ferguson, decided to retire. Ferguson had overseen the most successful period in Manchester United's history. Having taken four years to win his first trophy, the FA Cup in 1990, he followed it up with thirty-seven more over the next twenty-three years. United surpassed Liverpool's record number of league title's and added another two European Cups to the now bulging trophy cabinet. He announced his decision to retire in 2013, embedded in history as the most successful manager in the history of the English game with a record on his own that rivals that of the entire Shankly dynasty.

Ferguson matched the boot room on his own for league titles. 13.

The retirement of their 'Godfather', presented  United with a series of new challenges. Ferguson, like Shankly, was given the freedom to choose his successor. He looked externally and picked fellow Scot David Moyes. United should have looked at the mistakes made at the end of the Liverpool dynasty for guidance as to how best to handle this transition. It was never going to be easy, and there was bound to be a drop in performance, but it's gone far worse than anyone could have expected.

United, like Liverpool in 1991, fell into the trap of appointing someone based on his success at a lower level. Souness had won the Scottish League four times in his five years with Rangers. Moyes had taken Everton from the fringes of the relegation zone to a solid 5th/6th place on a regular basis. One of the first things Moyes did upon arriving at Old Trafford was clear out Ferguson's backroom staff with Mike Phelan and Rene Meulensteen both axed. Moyes brought in his own staff in Steve Round and Phil Neville. Although they didn't carry the same importance as Liverpool's old boot room, Ferguson had recommended that Phelan and Meulensteen be kept on to provide a degree of continuity and ease the transition. Moyes thought otherwise and so the downfall began.

Moyes has  inherited a dressing room that has won considerably more honours than him and, like Souness, has failed to gain their respect as a manager. He seems over-awed by the task appointed to him by his predecessor. Moyes was a fantastic manager at Everton, same as Souness was at Rangers, but the pressures of making the step up seem to be beyond his skills. Everything about him from his tactics to his media handling scream out the blatantly obvious fact that he was the wrong choice and Ferguson's final decision was a poor one.

How to destroy a dynasty, part two.

So, are United set for a 22-year stay in the wilderness? Ultimately I think not and here's why.

Liverpool slumped at the worst possible time. Back in 1991, they like everyone else, were simply a football club. The dawn of the Premier League era the following year changed everything for good. Vast amounts of money have been invested in the game year after year. Had Liverpool's success lasted a few more years into the Premier League era, they would have become what Manchester United became. The franchise. The superclub. They'd probably be close to a thirtieth title and eclipsing Real Madrid's European Cup record rather than still chasing down the elusive title number 19.

Manchester United peaked at the perfect time. With Sky and the Premier League throwing huge amounts of money and worldwide exposure at teams, United became England's first, and so far only, superclub. They are more than just a mere football club these days. Manchester United are a brand, a commercial juggernaut worth an estimated $3bn according to Forbes. It is a business that is simply too large not to be successful. They can't afford it. The owners can't afford it. The shareholders won't allow it. Sponsors like Chevrolet, Nike and DHL will provide the investment necessary to ensure the team remain competing for honours next season and beyond.

But just because they have the means to avoid a Liverpool-esqe decline is by no means a guarantee that they will.

This season is a write off. The absolute worst thing Manchester United could do now is stand by David Moyes and give him money to waste in the summer. There is literally zero case to be made for him remaining in the job beyond the end of the season. The man doesn't know what he's doing and has to be taken out of the equation ASAP. Liverpool gave Souness three years in the early nineties (average by the standards of the time but the game has changed a lot since) and by the time he left, irreversible damage had been done and Liverpool did not have the cash available to remedy it. United do have the resources to correct this slide before it gets out of hand but it won't happen automatically and it won't happen without the right people doing the right jobs. David Moyes is not the right man. Nor, it could be argued, is Ed Woodward, the new chief executive. United are a business now as well as a football club. Businesses need to be successful straight away. Sponsors demand success and they need it now. There can be no rebuilding phase. No six year plan.

United were champions in 2013 and now find themselves being beaten comfortably at home by their rivals each week. Moyes, through his sheer incompetence has done a lot of damage in only nine months. It's horrifying to think of what he could do in another twelve. Liverpool's faith in Souness beyond his ill-fated first season arguably cost them for years to come. United keeping faith in Moyes would have similar consequences.

Dynasties take generations to build but can be brought to their knees in a matter of months courtesy of mis-management by an inadequate Scot. 

Premier League Power Rankings March 24th

20: Fulham

Ask any Premier League fan which sides will be relegated this season and most will give you two without pausing. Fulham are the first ones. The club has had such a turbulent season off the pitch with multiple managerial and backroom changes. History tells us that off the field problems usually carry over onto the pitch and so it has proved this season.

Fulham have the look of a beaten side this season

They weren't that bad against Manchester City, certainly not as bad as the 0-5 scoreline suggests. They came with a gameplan to sit deep and frustrate the hosts, about all they could do against such a strong side and it was going well until they gave away a spot kick before half time. Then another one after. A 'parking the bus' job against a top side requires perfect discipline and penalties are a cheap way to go down. They are only four points adrift but it's difficult to see them picking up the points necessary to survive now.





19: Cardiff

Cardiff are the second name that most avid followers of the league would tip to go down. They've lost 8 from 11 since Solskjaer took over in January and for all the money Vincent Tan has poured into the club since they achieved promotion last May, Cardiff don't seem to have the look of a Premier League side right now. Granted they've have some tough fixtures recently but they've also been beaten at home by the likes of West Ham and Hull in the past month, not something you can keep doing if you want to survive. Home points are vital to any survival hopes they may have.

One thing in Cardiff's favour is that they do have a run of winnable games coming up. Four of the next six are against teams in the bottom half with the other two against Southampton and Newcastle, neither of whom have anything left to play for. Ten points from the four games would give Cardiff a huge chance of survival. Six or less means they are doomed. Crunch time.





18: West Brom

West Brom made two strange decisions over the winter which have condemned them to a relegation battle rather than the comfort of mid-table currently being enjoyed by Midlands rivals Aston Villa. First they sacked Steve Clarke who had brought a degree of stability to the biggest yo-yo club in recent times. Clarke was replaced with Pepe Mel whom had just been sacked by Real Betis with the side bottom of La Liga. I don't see how they expected that to be an improvement. Mel has won once since his appointment and picked up just six points from eight games.

Pepe Mel has not had the desired Pochettino effect

Second they sold Shane Long to Hull City. Long came back to haunt them on Saturday, winning a penalty and scoring the second goal as Hull won 2-0. Long has been excellent since he joined Hull having been left out more often than not at The Hawthorns. He's scored three goals already for Hull since joining in January. No West Brom player has more than four in the league this season. With their strikers struggling for any sort of form recently, it's hard to see where they are going to get the goals to stay up.





17: Sunderland

Sunderland's cup exploits seem to have had a seriously negative effect on their league form. They haven't won a game or even scored a goal since the League Cup final defeat to Man City and since the win at St. James's Park on February 1st, they have managed just one solitary Premier League point from four games.

The mid-season revival seems to be over. As does Adam Johnson's push for a place in the England squad. Sunderland were pretty hopeless against Norwich on Saturday and the defeat was made worse by yet another red card, seven now for the season, which highlights the obvious lack of discipline at the club. In all the games in which they've had red cards this season, six of them, they've managed just one point in total.





16: Norwich

Saturday was a great day for Norwich. The club made a real effort to generate a monster atmosphere inside Carrow Road and it paid off as they beat Sunderland easily, helped by an absolute thunderbastard of a strike from Alexander Tettey, his first ever Premier League goal. The importance of picking up points at home in a relegation fight cannot be underestimated and Norwich, as a club, recognised this and obviously did something about it. The only thing Saturday was missing was a goal for Ricky Van Wolfswinkel, who still hasn't scored since the opening day of the season.





15: Swansea

Swansea are a lot better than the teams around them. They were very unlucky not to get a point from the game at Goodison Park having played very well and created multiple chances. They've had a lot of bad luck recently. Shouldn't have dropped points against Crystal Palace and were unlucky not to get anything from either of their two trips to Merseyside recently having given a good account of themselves both times. Their current league position is not a true reflection of the quality of this side.

Michu's return should be good news for the Swans

The bottom line however is that they have not won since the memorable victory over Cardiff at the beginning of February, Gary Monk's only victory as Swansea manager. I think they'll be alright however thanks to two things. Firstly, Michu is back and once he rediscovers his form and fitness, the goalscoring burden on Bony will be eased. Secondly they are now out of the Europa League which was really more of a distraction than it was worth.





14: Crystal Palace

The honeymoon period is well and truly over for Tony Pulis and Palace have now failed to win in any of their last five games, none of which have been against top six sides. Their impressive run of results over December and January has propelled them away from the foot of the table and out of the drop zone but they remain in trouble. They are three points clear of Sunderland in 18th but have played two games more. On Saturday there were outclassed by a Newcastle side which couldn't score for love nor money and yet Palace couldn't hold on for what would have been a valuable point. They haven't been as bad as the other teams at the bottom recently and have been losing most games by a single goal, but they need to start winning again and soon.





13: West Ham

They didn't play too badly on Saturday against Man United yet still clocked up their third defeat in a row. Sam Allardyce has been brought back down to earth in March after a storming February which brought him the Manager of the Month award. Despite their perfect February, they are still only six points clear of the drop and will need to get some wins from somewhere soon. Hull at home next week to stop the rot is the perfect place to start.





12: Stoke

Stoke are staying up. 3-1 winners against West Ham last week, this week they went to Villa Park were Chelsea came unstuck last week and hammered the home side 4-1. The Brittania Stadium was somewhat of a fortress in Stoke's early Premier League seasons and that looks to be the case again. Mark Hughes's men have lost only once (3-5 to Liverpool) in their last twelve home league games and have beat the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Man United on this run. They are currently 6th in the Premier League home table, with the top five sides being the divisions top five sides. Stoke are awesome at home once again and on course for 10th place, their best ever Premier League finish.





11: Aston Villa

What are Aston Villa? Last week they produced a fantastic performance to shut out Chelsea and earn a deserved 1-0 win, this week they lost 1-4 at home to Stoke. They are safe from any threat of relegation, 11 points clear, and all they have left to play for now is the novelty of finishing in the top half, the 10th place spot currently occupied by their conquerors on Sunday, Stoke City. Christian Benteke's second season syndrome seems to have worn off and he's been back amongst the goals in 2014. Fabian Delph has impressed all year round, unnoticed by many he actually been fantastic but unlikely to have his form rewarded with a national call up any time before the World Cup. Other than that, not a lot of excitement at Villa, which is better than a relegation fight.





10: Hull City

Hull claimed two big victories this week. One in the courthouses to keep their name and avoid being re-branded as the Hull Tigers. Secondly, they comfortably beat West Brom on Saturday to move one step closer to Premier League survival. It would now take a pretty seismic collapse for Hull to fall back into the Championship next season. Hull are in a unique situation in that they've been on a cup run and now have at least one, perhaps two, Wembly dates to look forward to and yet their league form hasn't suffered at all. Part of the reason behind this is the fact that both Shane Long and Nikita Jelavic are cup tied, leaving them fresh and ready to score every week in the league. With their league status for next season all but secured, Hull can look forward to their semi-final date with third tier Sheffield United in a few weeks with real relish.





9: Newcastle

The storm of controversy surrounding that moronic Alan Pardew incident in recent weeks has covered up the fact that Newcastle returned to somewhat decent form having seemingly given up on life in January. They knocked and knocked on the door for the whole game against Palace on Sunday and finally scored in the fourth of three additional minutes at the end of the game. Papiss Cisse and Vernon Anita's goals recently mean Newcaslte now have 4 goals from non-Frenchmen this season. Compared to 34 from their French imports. Ridiculous.





8: Southampton

Such is the way that the Premier League table has developed this season, Southampton are one of a number of sides with virtually nothing left to play for in these final two months of the campaign. Their season, having started so well, took a major nosedive around December time when they won once and lost six in nine games. Since the New Year however they've looked back to their old self and have won more games than they've lost. They'll look back on Sunday's game with Spurs as three points thrown away but in the grand scheme of things it won't matter too much to them. They are going to finish 8th/9th anyway.

Pochettino may leave at the end of the season, Southampton will need to find a suitable replacement to continue his fine work. Hanging onto Shaw and Lallana too would be a massive boost.





7: Spurs

'Tactics Tim' has endured a rough couple of weeks that have seen Spurs knocked out of Europe, lose two London derbies and have their slim Champions League hopes totally obliterated. They recovered somewhat against Southampton, coming from 2-0 down to secure a remarkable 3-2 win on Sunday but still find themselves six points off fourth spot with a game more played than Arsenal.

With all of their tough games (bar Liverpool at home) Spurs now have the opportunity to finish the season very strongly and lay down a marker for next season. They are probably destined to be in the Europa League again so they may as well try and finish 5th. It would put them in good stead for next season. If Louis van Gaal takes over as is rumored and Spurs invest well in the summer, they can push once again for Champions League football next year.





6: Manchester United

David Moyes has a tendency to rotate players at random with no real logic or reasoning behind it. He did it on Wednesday to great effect against Olympiacos and again on Saturday against West Ham. It worked again. I can't think of a reason he picked Ashley Young ahead of Welbeck or Januzaj on Saturday but the winger had a fine game as part of what was probably, in the first half anyway, United's best performance of the season.

The game will be remembered for Rooney's long range strike

With van Persie injured, Rooney was deployed as the main striker with Mata playing off him in the advanced playmaker role. Rooney is much better as a central striker and he showed this on Saturday with an excellent performance, capped with a memorable goal from near halfway. Injury to Robin van Persie may yet prove to be a blessing in disguise.

The direct style of both Kagawa and especially Young in the side meant that United were able to play on the counter attack quite often, a strategy which is absolutely deadly when a fast attack meets a slow defence (see Liverpool v Arsenal, Chelsea v Arsenal). Fellaini and Fletcher both got stuck-in well to ensure United were not so lightweight in midfield this time around. Next up is the Manchester derby which United face with only one fit centre back in Phil Jones.





5: Everton

Everton secured a good win over a battling Swansea side on Saturday with Ross Bakley playing reasonably well, which, given the fact that he's young and English, will grab most of the attention in the media. Barkley is a fine player on his day but Gareth Barry is the most important player in that team. He's the linchpin, the one that keeps them ticking over. Reading the game and making key interceptions to break up opposition attacks, then turning defence into attack with forward passes. Signing him permanently must be high on Roberto Martinez's summer to-do list.

Perhaps Everton's player of the season isn't even their own player

Everton are a very solid steady outfit lately. All their dropped points bar two since the turn of the year have come against fellow top six sides against whom their 2014 record reads: P3 W0 D0 L3. Obviously this will have to change if they are to make the step up to the next level but one positive they can take is that they have won six and drawn one of their other seven games against the weaker sides in 2014.





4: Arsenal

Arsene Wenger's momentous 1000th game in charge at Arsenal will go down in the history books as one of the worst of his entire reign in North London. I thought they had learned their lessons from recent chastening experiences at the hands of their rivals. Game 980 was a 6-3 mauling at Manchester City and in game 991 they found themselves 4-0 down in twenty minutes to Liverpool. Saturday at Chelsea must have felt like deja vu from their experience at Anfield, even the goals were remarkably similar. Press forward, give the ball away, exposed against lightning-quick attackers on the counter, concede, repeat.

Game 1000 was one to forget for Arsene Wenger

Even the shambles of the referee sending off the wrong player doesn't offer any sort of an excuse. Arsenal were dreadful. Just dreadful. The time at the start of the season were they were runaway leaders seems a long time ago. Now it looks as though they were merely taking advantage of a power vacuum, an interim period between United's sharp decline and City, Chelsea and Liverpool finding their feet.

The one saving grace is that this season should see them land their first trophy in nine years but they look resigned to fourth place yet again I'm afraid.





3: Manchester City

Teams who come to play football at Eastlands often get torn apart. But once you park the bus and just aim to defend for 90 mins, City aren't that great at picking a way through and I think that's a glaring weakness. We've seen it a couple of times now. Stoke and Crystal Palace have both escaped with narrow defeats. It won't be long before one of the lesser sides nick a valuable point, a result that would seriously derail City's title charge.

Against Fulham, despite winning 5-0, they failed to unlock the Fulham defence for a considerable amount of time. The first goal came from the spot. The foul for the second penalty which left Fulham two down and a man down killed the game off. Goals three, four and five all came indirectly from set-pieces, none from open play.

Yaya's hat-trick goal was perfectly placed

The derby at Old Trafford is a good chance for them to secure a big win and some much needed momentum in the title race. United will come at them rather than parking the bus and City have more than enough about them to exploit a defence that may contain Michael Carrick at centre half.

Interestingly they are the only side of the three realistic title challengers with the destiny of the crown in their own hands. They can lose at Anfield, win all the other games and still win the league.





2: Liverpool

I don't think there's a more exciting team to watch in the Premier League than Liverpool at the moment. Fast, fluid, relentless and excellently efficient going forward and so diabolically bad defensively, it always makes for entertaining viewing.

They are title contenders, no question about that now. Games against Manchester City and Chelsea will be make or break. They've only got three away matches left at Norwich, Crystal Palace and West Ham. Maximum points from them and there's absolutely no reason they won't win the title. Fans are starting to, quite justifiably, believe that this might just be the year they've waited so long for. Right now they look irresistible, led by the majestic Luis Suarez.

Luis Suarez at it again with yet another hat-trick

This weekend Luis Suarez equalled Robbie Fowler's eighteen year old club record for 28 Premier League goals in a season. He's done this with eight games to spare. And he missed the first five. He's also got eleven assists. He's quite good this lad.

In fact Daniel Sturridge, now on 19 league goals, may yet reach Fowler's tally too before the season is over. And the team need 2.5 per game for the rest of the year to better Chelsea's 2009/10 tally of 103. On their current six match winning streak, they have averaged 4 goals per game.





1: Chelsea

Saturday afternoon's clash at Stamford Bridge saw the world's best counter attacking team at their very best. They blitzed Arsenal over and over again in the first half, creating two on two situations and exploiting the Gunners defence for a huge win. Pacey attackers against slow defenders only ends one way. Andre Schurrle, Oscar, Eden Hazard were all magnificent. They didn't even miss the suspended duo of Willian and Ramires. Fernando Torres ran a lot and tried very hard but a Falcao or a Cavani in this team would make a huge difference. Nemanja Matic might just be the signing of the season. Gary Cahill needs to be in the PFA team of the season.

Oscar was back in the line-up and back among the goals

Chelsea don't quite have the firepower of Liverpool or Manchester City (ironically that said after they put six past another top side), but they've the best defence in the league by a country mile and that may be where the title is won and lost.

So at the moment it looks like its coming down to the irresistible force of Liverpool's attack meeting the immovable object in Chelsea's defence at Anfield on April 27th in a game that may well decide the destiny of the Premier League title.

Avoiding The Europa League: The Battle To Finish 7th

There's currently a very close race taking place in the world of basketball as some of the most famous names in the NBA battle to finish the season with a worse win-loss record than each other.

Currently the race is led by the Milwaukee Bucks (okay not exactly a stellar name) with a record of 12 wins and 50 losses but following them up are the famous Los Angeles Lakers (16 times NBA champions), the Boston Celtic (17 times) and the New York Knicks, one of the most famous sporting franchises in the world. These three juggernauts of the sport have all managed to lose over 40 games each this season so far, each with a with a loss record of close to 70%. None of them seem that bothered about it. The Lakers and Celtics in particular put very little effort into assembling their squads for this year with the intention of writing off the season before it began and finishing as low in the standings as possible.

Kobe Byrant's Lakers are 15th and last in the Western Conference

There is method to this madness. The teams with the worst record each NBA season are rewarded in the annual NBA draft where the professional teams choose from the most promising college players to sign. The teams with the worse record will get a better pick and therefore a better young player for next season. The draft class of 2014 looks to be producing something of a golden generation so having a high pick this year may serve to benefit the team greatly over the next several years.

Basketball clubs are doing what is necessary to protect their interests. They are sacrificing this season with the long-term picture in mind. From a sporting point of view, it's terrible to see a team  not give it 100% effort on purpose. The same thing may soon happen in the Premier League as clubs look to avoid finishing 5th or 6th place and being forced to play in the dreaded Europa League next season.

The last ten days have seen significant developments in this area. I'll explain why. The Premier League gets three Europa League spots every season. One for 5th place in the league, one for the League Cup winners and one for the FA Cup winners or runners-up. Manchester City's League Cup victory a  week ago, combined with the certainty that they will qualify for Europe via league position anyway, means the League Cup spot for the Europa League will go instead to the team that finishes 6th in the league. However their elimination from the FA Cup and the semi-final draw which pits Hull against Sheffield United guarantees at least one team from outside the Champions League spots will be in the FA Cup final and therefore rewarded with a Europa League spot, ruling out the possibility of the 7th place team going into the Europa League.

Rodgers said last year he didn't want to be in the Europa League

We've seen with Liverpool this season that not having to play extra games in far-off places on Thursday nights can have a hugely positive affect on a team's domestic form. Judging by this, the team finishing in 7th place this season should theoretically be at a huge advantage when it comes to challenging for the top four next season. Spurs, Manchester United and Everton are currently in the running for Europa spots. Spurs are currently ahead in 5th spot on 53 points from 29 games. United are 5 points back with a game less played. Everton are level with United on 48 points but with a further game more to play.

Spurs are now in the middle of their third consecutive Europa League campaign, one which is taking a toll on their efforts to break into the top four. The Thursday-Sunday effect has seen them lose Sunday games at home to West Ham, Newcastle and Liverpool in the first half of the season following Europa League exploits on the Thursday. As a result, they sit six points behind Champions League favorites Liverpool and Arsenal, with a game more played. The last time Spurs weren't in the Europa League (2009/10), they qualified for the Champions League. A break from this competition might be exactly what they need in order to make that big push to crack the top 4.

Spurs fans are used to Thursday night games in Eastern Europe

Manchester United are not familiar with this sort of predicament. Having finished in the top 3 of the Premier League every year since it's inception in 1992, battling for 5th and 6th place is completely alien to the champions. No one will publicly say it of course but given the choice I think just about everyone at the club would rather sit Europe out altogether next season and focus on breaking back into the Champions League, rather than playing on Thursday nights somewhere in Eastern Bulgaria before facing an away game with Chelsea on Sunday morning.

Everton, like their Merseyside rivals Liverpool, have benefited from having midweeks off this season and are exceeding everyone's expectations in terms of performance this campaign. Given that they haven't had European football at Goodison since 2010, Everton probably wouldn't mind qualifying for the Europa League. The extra fixtures would bring in cash that Martinez could use to boost the squad in the long-term but a Champions League challenge whilst navigating the travails of the Europa League would be extremely difficult, save for the very deepest of squads.

Spurs aren't the only side to see their domestic form suffer as a result of Europa League games midweek:

• This season both Swansea and Wigan, as cup winners, have played in the Europa League. Swansea's league form took a nose-dive compared to the previous two seasons and Michael Laudrup lost his job. Newly relegated Wigan struggled in the Championship but their form has taken a notable upturn since being eliminated from Europe in December.
• Last year Newcastle, off the back of a 5th place finish in 2012, narrowly missing out on the Champions League on the final day, sunk to a 16th place finish with essentially the same squad of players. The only difference? Europa League football.
• Fulham finished 7th in the Premier League in 2008/09 and qualified for the Europa League the following season where they did brilliantly to reach the final. Their league form suffered however as they slumped to a 12th place finish (finished 8th the following season with no Europa League).
• Stoke City's worst Premier League finish to date (14th) came during their sole season in the Europa League, 2011/12.

Newcastle were among the biggest Europa victims recently

More in depth study has been done on the results of individual Sunday afternoon games following a Thursday night escapade. All evidence points to the Europa League having a detrimental effect on a team's fortunes. It does not seem that the competition will be revamped anytime soon and will retain its status as UEFA's unloved child, living in the shadow of the illustrious Champions League. The competition's status has sunk so low that it even the likes of Swansea, who rotated their side for some group games, now see it as beneath them, preferring instead to focus on their own domestic campaign.

As for this season, I don't think we will see Premier League club's losing games 'on purpose' but the focus and desire at Manchester United and Tottenham at least will certainly not be the same as it was if they were competing for 1st and 2nd or even 3rd and 4th places. Two will qualify for the Europa League because someone has to. I'm sure they would both give it a miss if participation was optional. There can be no denying it, playing in the Europa League next season will hinder their chances of challenging for the title.

Why the Premier League IS The Best in Europe

The last few weeks of European football have seen the top Premier League sides humbled on the continental stage. It was Manchester United’s lame defeat to Champions League minnows Olympiacos that prompted Roy Keane, former United captain and ITV pundit to proclaim that we, the viewers, had been brainwashed into believing the Premier League was the best in Europe. It may not have the best teams, but is there a better league? I don’t think so.

You can define best by two different aspects:

1. The quality of all the teams, not just the best ones.
2. The competitiveness of the league.

When the two aspects are considered together, the Premier League surely comes out on top. It does not have the best teams in Europe and cannot boast any in the elite class that is Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal do however belong in the next tier of teams alongside the likes of Juventus, PSG and Atletico Madrid.

Keane was highly critical of the Premier League

So who has the best teams? The Bundesliga has the best team in Bayern Munich but La Liga boasts two of the top three in Barcelona and Real Madrid (arguably three of the top four). The top ten (in my view) are listed below. La Liga can also indisputably claim to boast the best players with both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo currently plying their trade here. They've won the last six Ballon d'Ors between them.

Top Ten Teams in Europe

1. Bayern Munich – GER
2. Barcelona – SPN
3. Real Madrid – SPN
4. Atletico Madrid – SPN
5. Manchester City – ENG
6. Paris Saint Germain – FRA
7. Juventus – ITA
8. Chelsea – ENG
9. Arsenal – ENG
10. Dortmund –GER

As you can see, the Premier League boasts as many teams as any in this list, more in fact, than the league boasting the leading team, The Bundesliga.

The Bundesliga, which is home to current European and World Champions Bayern Munich is no doubt the most well run league in Europe. The 50+1 rule dictates that 51% (and thus a controlling share) of each club must be owned by the fans. This prevents nasty, evil tyrants like Malcom Glazer and Venkys from destroying clubs and would probably have saved Portsmouth. Attendances are higher and ticket prices are lower than at any other of the major leagues. In terms of fan-friendliness, the German division has no rival, it’s just not very competitive. Bayern’s dominance is stronger now than it ever has been. Bayern have not lost in 48 games, stretching back to last October and have a 20 point lead at the summit. They have dominated the last two seasons and now that they are signing probably the best player in the league outside their squad in Robert Lewandowski, it’s hard to envisage this dominion ending any time soon.

Lewandowski at Bayen is ominous for the Bundesliga

Schalke lost 1-6 at home to Real Madrid in their last 16 first-leg. Bayer Leverkusen lost 0-4 at home to PSG. Dortmund are promising but, given that they are now selling their best player to Bayern every summer, they are unlikely to wrest the crown from Bavaria in the near future. The Bundesliga boasts one elite team and is not competitive this season

La Liga suffers more from a duopoly rather than a monopoly but it’s been threatened this season by the excellent Atletico Madrid. Only once in the past nine seasons has a team other than Real or Barca finished in the top 2 (Villarreal in 2007/08) but Atletico stand a real chance of breaking that this season. The problem lies with the rest of the league which is fairly poor. The Clasico clubs are free to negotiate their own TV rights in Spain, allowing them to sell their matches for millions, creating a huge financial imbalance. Last year Barcelona won 32 out of 38 games on their way to the title. In 2012, Madrid did the exact same. One or both of them frequently break the 100 goal barrier due to the number of hidings they give to the smaller teams week after week. The league consists of two absolute superpowers, one plucky underdog whose rise may not last beyond this season as they may have to sell their best players, and seventeen mediocre teams just there to make up the numbers.

Sundays Madrid derby was one of LL's 5/6 top clashes each year

La Liga has three absolutely quality teams but the competitiveness of the league overall is a joke. Real Sociedad managed just one point in the Champions League group stage this season, in a favourable enough group.

Serie A has been glorious in the past but right now it is in a bit of a lull, reflected in the fact that it only receives three Champions League places each year, the same amount as the Portuguese League. The league has seen better days in terms of quality and will again in the future no doubt. The least it could be now is competitive which sadly it is not. Roma made an excellent start to the season winning ten on the bounce but they have slipped up since and now trail champions and runaway leaders Juventus by eleven points. Juve, by rights, should be aiming to compete at the business end of the Champions League. They underperformed in the group however and find themselves in the Europa this spring.

It is dominated, this season, by one excellent team but there are a number of capable challengers which will make the league more competitive next year hopefully. Compared to the rest of Europe however the Italian league is sub-standard and their poor showing in Europe back this up. One example to look at is Adel Taarabt. He excelled in the Championship with QPR but couldn't make it in the Premier League. He's moved to Milan on loan and is tearing it up in Serie A. So few players who do well in Italy can hack the pace of the Premier League, Dani Osvaldo and Erik Lamela being the best recent examples.

Taarabt failed in the PL at Spurs, QPR and Fulham. Not at Milan.

Ligue Un is the only other league with a team in the European top ten listed above. Again, this league isn’t competitive at all and is dominated by the super-rich PSG. The only foreseeable threat they have will be from Monaco, once their lavish investment reaches similarly ridiculous levels. Marseille are currently 3^rd place in this league. Luckily, for our comparison, they were drawn in a Champions League group with an English, German and Italian team this season. They lost all six games. They have one excellent team in PSG who will win every title for the foreseeable future. The league is not up to much.

This leaves the Premier League. The end of the Sir Alex Ferguson dynasty has instilled a new competitiveness in the Premier League this season. With just over ten games to go, four teams are now in with a genuine chance of title contention. Spurs would be joining them if they had a decent manager for the season, as would Man United. Both will surely be in the hunt next year. Recently Swansea (14th in PL) held Napoli (3rd in SA) to a draw in Wales before running them close back in Naples. The best teams are not as good as the top teams in Europe but the strength in depth of the Premier League is better than anywhere else in Europe which is what makes it the best. There are seven teams in the Premier League who could compete in the Champions League and probably five or six more who would do well in the Europa.

Everton would make the Champions League in Spain or Germany. 7th place in EPL.

In Europe, Man City and Arsenal both finished as runners up in their Champions League groups (both by virtue of away goals in the head-to-head match-ups) and as a result were paired with the two favourites Bayern and Barca. Both gave credible shows, both gave away red-cards and penalties, both lost 0-2 at home and both are facing elimination. The parallels between the two teams are amazing.

Manchester United were beaten in Athens by minnows Olympiakos and also face elimination. This was a bizzare result from a side desperately out of form and out of their depth in the later stages. Liverpool, Everton and Spurs would probably give a much better account of the league were they in the competition than this current United side. Chelsea are the only Premier League side who look like they will progress to the last eight this season.

While this season, the likes of Barcelona, Real and Bayern are likely to contest the European Cup, next season looks brighter for the top English clubs as they aim to bridge the gap. City's seeding will be higher and Chelsea will have improved under Mourinho. Both these sides can target next season as a feasible time to overthrow the likes of Bayern and bring the title back to England. Liverpool are likely to be involved too although their attempts to win a sixth European title will not likely bear instant fruit.

To sum up:

• The Bundesliga hosts the best team in Europe in Bayern Munich. The league might as well not be a competition.
• La Liga hosts the best teams in Barcelona and Real Madrid. The league is slightly more competitive than in Germany but the gulf in class between top and even 5th/6th place is phenomenal. This league also hosts the best players in Europe
• Serie A and Ligue Un are not of the same quality and really don't belong in this discussion.
• The Premier League has a selection of teams whom, despite not being as good as the likes of Bayern and the Clasico clubs, are among the best in Europe. The competitiveness and strength in depth of the league exceeds that of its rivals and for that reason it can be considered the best in Europe.