Tag Archives: David Moyes

Dec 6 2013

Sportz – Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta expects a tough test against Everton this weekend

Mikel Arteta: Wary of former club Everton

Sky Bet

Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta admits his old club Everton will test their title credentials this weekend.

Arteta, 31, left Goodison Park on transfer deadline day in August 2011 following six seasons on Merseyside, where he had become a key player.

The Spaniard is glad to see the Toffees have not come unstuck since Roberto Martinez took over from David Moyes, whom he beat with an impressive 1-0 away win at Manchester United on Wednesday night.

Everton are in fifth, behind Liverpool on goal difference, and trail leaders Arsenal by seven points after the Gunners’ midweek win over Hull.

And Arteta knows his old side will provide a stern test of just how far Arsene Wenger’s men can go in 2014.

“Everton are having a great season and they have got great results against top teams, which is not easy.”

Mikel Arteta on Everton

“Everton are having a great season and they have got great results against top teams, which is not easy,” noted Arteta.

“It was a big result (at Manchester United), it was massively important for them and will boost their confidence, so we are going to face a really difficult team for sure.”

Arteta added: “I know the fundamentals of the club and I was happy with the way they dealt with the transfer window.

“I think they did really well and improved the team compared to where they were before. They deserve to be (up) there.”

Arteta believes the competition for places in Arsene Wenger’s side has helped Arsenal get off to such a good start in the Premier League.

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“We have struggled in the last years a little bit to do that because of the numbers and injuries and now we have almost everyone fit, apart from Lukas Podolski and Alex (Oxlade-Chamberlain), that is a very good sign,” added Arteta.

“I think it (competition for places) is great. Everybody has to be on their toes and everybody is important.

“We are going to need everybody if we are going to achieve something. I think it’s a good thing.”

Arteta believes the lack of experience of winning trophies in the current Arsenal squad will not damage their chances of finally ending their trophy drought which stretches back to 2005.

“Does it matter we don’t have the experience of winning the title before? No – as long as you have the quality, the ambition and togetherness that we have, I think we are in a good position to do it,” concluded Arteta

Oct 31 2013

Sportz – (Transfer) Manchester United boss Moyes open to Zaha loan

By Alex Young

1

The 20-year-old is yet to play a single minute of Premier League football since joining the Red Devils, and the manager has now admitted a temporary move is an option.

Manchester United manager David Moyes has admitted he could send Wilfried Zaha out on loan in January in search of regular first-team football.

The 20-year-old has yet to taste Premier League football after joining up with the United squad in the summer – with his sole outing for his new side coming in the Community Shield.

Zaha would prefer a move to Newcastle if the chance for a temporary move is afforded to him, and Moyes is now seemingly open to such a switch.

“I’ve said if I couldn’t get him a game I would look at it in January,” he is quoted as saying by The Sun. “I really thought when he came in he needed to be here for six months to see how we work. There is competition in the wide areas with Nani, Antonio Valencia, Ashley Young, Adnan Januzaj and even Shinji Kagawa – that makes it one of the areas where we are strong.

“It’s not because Wilf has not done enough, it’s because we have got big, big competition and there are a lot of players to give some playing time to. Unfortunately we’ve not been able to do that with Wilf. If I can’t do a lot for him by January then I will look at it. We’ve not had the right opportunity to introduce him as much as we’d like but he’s very much in my plans.

Oct 30 2013

Sportz – Wilfried Zaha seizes his chance as Manchester United beat Norwich City in League Cup

 

Manchester United assistant manager Steve Round declared that Wilfried Zaha had boosted his own self confidence after a fine which performance David Moyes was happy with, in the 4-0 defeat of Norwich City which sent the club into a Capital One Cup quarter final.

Zaha was the player whose future seemed to hinge on a good performance, in his first competitive start, and though Round revealed that the 20-year-old had “tired” before he was substituted 13 minutes from time, he declared it had been an excellent performance from him.

“It’s always pleasing to win 4-0 at Old Trafford and it was a good experience for some of young players to win here,” he said. “I was pleased for Wilf Zaha to get a start and play so well. That will have done his confidence the world of good. Adnan [Januzaj] is also coming on from strength to strength. ”

The game left Norwich manager Chris Hughton bitterly unhappy and “deflated” about the 20th minute penalty awarded when Leroy Fer put a foot in to tackle Adnan Januzaj in the visitors’ area. But United could reflect on Januzaj, United’s star man again here, operating effectively behind Javier Hernandez. Round suggested that he could play anywhere in the line behind the striker. “We see him as a No 7, 10, 11. He can play any of those three,” Round said. “You ask our reserve coach and he’d say a No 9. He played there last season. We are trying to give him as much experience as he can and play him in as many positions.”

Though there have been signs that Hernandez is unhappy to have been given only one start in the Premier League and one in the Champions League this season, Round insisted otherwise. “He is such a good character. I don’t think it has fazed him at all. He is a really infectious character who loves to score goals. He has waited patiently for his opportunities and taken them.”

He also suggested that Hernandez, Rooney and Van Persie could al play together in the same starting XI. “They all finished together on Saturday [against Stoke City] so it can transpire.”

Hughton resisted any temptation to say that Januzaj had dived for the penalty – an offence for which he as boked t Sunderland earlier this month – but the manager was not happy.

“Yes, we could have been better on the ball. [But] we were given a penalty against us which was incredibly soft and not a penalty. I have had the opportunity to see it again. When you come to a club like Man Utd you need to get decisions right and every bit of help you can. To have a penalty given against us like that really deflates you. They scored good goals, they have got great quality and they are clinical in everything they do. We decided to make some changes and having picked up a couple of injuries, I am delighted we have done that.

“It’s very simple, it’s never a penalty. If the referee deems there is some contact, you give a penalty every time there is contact. We have probably had five situations exactly like that this season where a penalty has been given. You can see by the reaction of our players. I don’t think they thought it was a penalty either.”

Robert Snodgrass was taken to a local hospital, having been knocked out when he headed the back of Rafael’s head. ”He has taken a whack so they will have a look at that and X-ray that just to make sure there is nothing broken but by the time he was on his way out he was awake and aware of what was around him,“ Hughton said. Nathan Redmond, arguably Norwich’s best performer, felt a muscle pull above his hip which left him unable to continue the game

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Oct 30 2013

Sportz – Capital One Cup: Manchester United vs Norwich City match preview

 Manchester United will be hoping to extend their five game unbeaten run as they face Norwich tonight in the fourth round of the Capital One Cup.

Despite not losing a game since September, David Moyes’ side have looked exposed at times, precariously coming from behind to beat Stoke last weekend.

Usual strikers Robin Van Persie and Wayne Rooney are more than likely to be rested, with Wilfried Zaha expected to feature.

This comes after comments from Moyes suggesting that United may look to loan Zaha in January as he is yet to make a premier league appearance for the Red Devils.

Norwich will be looking to upset the clear favourites tonight as they have only won two of their last seven games. Tonight’s match-up will be the first of two trips to Manchester for Hughton’s Canaries in the space of five days, as they return to face Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday.

KICK-OFF: Tuesday, 7.45pm

PAST MEETINGS…

Man Utd 4 (Kagawa 3, Rooney) Norwich 0, Premier League, March 2013

Norwich 1 (Pilkington) Man Utd 0, Premier League, November 2012

Norwich 1 (Holt) Man Utd 2 (Scholes, Giggs), Premier League, February 2012

STATS…

Norwich have never lost to Manchester United in the League Cup (W2 D1).

Manchester United have won 10 of their last 11 League Cup ties at Old Trafford (L1).

Norwich have won the competition twice, in 1962 and 1985 – and have been runners-up a further two times (1973, 1975).

Manchester United have won the competition four times – 1992, 2006, 2009 and 2010.

The Canaries have only won four times at Old Trafford in their history, with the last victory coming back in 1989.

ODDS…

Man Utd to win: 1.28

Norwich to win: 11.0

Draw: 4.75

TV: Highlights on BBC 1, The League Cup Show on Wednesday at 11.05pm

Oct 30 2013

Sportz – Manchester United 4 Norwich City 0 match report: Adnan Januzaj dazzles and Javier Hernandez fires to overwhelm limp Canaries in League Cup

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The days since Manchester United last lost a football match tick up to 32 and though there will be few more feeble challenges than this, the sense that David Moyes is beginning to find stability gathers strength.

A third successive win was decorated by the match-winning performance of a beaming two-goal Javier Hernandez who, with 54 goals in 125 United games now, should not be feeling as uncertain about his future as the words attributed to him and the Tottenham rumours suggest. He has been a substitute in 75 of those games. That will often be his role now. But here was enough to tell Moyes that he warrants more than the one league start and one in Europe that this season has brought. All in all, the victory was a parable about the less appreciated talents

Wilfried Zaha’s place in the starting XI delivered him the chance to prove something to Moyes, who had been until now unconvinced by Sir Alex Ferguson’s last signing. He could hardly have delivered more through an opening half in which he twice drove dangerously into the right-hand channel to supply Hernandez, who was bundled off the ball each time.

It was meteorological baptism for Zaha, too, and a foul Manchester night did not lend itself to anything terribly sublime after Moyes – reluctant to dip into the ranks of untested youth in the nine changes he made – sent his players out to work. But Zaha displayed strength, a willingness to work back, and self-confidence; rolling the ball under his studs, linking neatly with Phil Jones alongside him in midfield, and taking two touches as he coaxed the ball towards the area and into the feet of Hernandez after 12 minutes. His 77 minutes of football offered enough for him to feel that he might not be farmed out on loan in January after all, as Moyes has said he might.

Adnan Januzaj remained the star commodity, though. There was no substantial contact when Leroy Fer challenged him, as he sought to whip around the Norwich midfielder near the byline on 18 minutes. But there was enough to validate United’s penalty claims, allowing Hernandez to place the spot-kick to Mark Bunn’s right.

The significant aspect of the goal was Januzaj’s willingness to attack with his head up. He is always a threat. His run and shot, after he gathered the ball a few inches inside the half and took it to the penalty box as the game entered its last half-hour, and his collection of a ball from Jones to drive narrowly wide of Bunn’s right post were two of the stand-out moments, weak though the final efforts were.

Norwich, with bigger battles to fight at the wrong end of the Premier League, offered little beyond the occasional threat of Nathan Redmond. They began the second half a little more strongly, when Johan Elmander almost got a touch after Redmond eased past Rafael to cross. But the other encouraging moment, when Alexander Buttner was skinned by Redmond, saw Robert Snodgrass deliver his head into the back of Rafael’s. The Norwich man was carried off.

Defensive catastrophe sealed the tie. It was poor to have allowed Hernandez one free header to climb to Buttner’s excellent cross but dismal to give him a free leap at the rebound, after Bunn’s save. There was only marginally more vigour about Fer’s clearance after Rafael’s deft clipped cross created more danger. It fell to Jones, who thumped home. Fabio, another forgotten man, had been on the field for less than a minute when he chested down a 20-yard cross-field ball from substitute Wayne Rooney and rolled the ball in. Moyes looked deeply contented. Easy nights have been few and far between here, these last three months.

Man of the match Januzaj.

Match rating 6/10.

Referee K Friend (Leicestershire).

Oct 30 2013

Sportz – David Moyes’ Manchester United are still in the experimental stage

Christopher Furlong

David Moyes continues to experiment at Manchester United, and the game against Norwich City will have revealed much about his side.

When Alex Ferguson retired, it was assumed that his famed ‘selection tombola’ would also be put out of service with him. The device formerly used to conjure up the seemingly random team selections at United.would be obsolete, replaced by the famously analytical and pedantic David Moyes, and whoever he chose to be best for the job.

More from our team blogs: Manchester United blog The Busby Babe

Yet in the midst of experimentation, the new boss seems to be much the same as the old. In his defence, he hasn’t had 26 years to figure it out, but Moyes is quite clearly still unaware of how to best utilise the squad atManchester United, as his recent experimentation (reluctance to keepMarouane Fellaini or Shinji Kagawa in the side, the introduction of Adnan Januzaj, the constant rotation of the backline) shows.

Another trait he seems to share with his predecessor is that the stranger the team, the more impressive the performance seems to be. The changes against Norwich were to be expected of course, since it was only the Carling Cup, but even by those standards it was a bizarre eleven. Most notably, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic both starting and completing 90 minutes suggests that their absence from United’s first team has been no misfortune, and that they have instead been dropped.

The motivation behind that decision will surely be based on the idea to play a higher line, as well as Ferdinand’s rotten start to the season. It makes sense, but despite a run in the team, Phil Jones‘ form has not improved, while Jonny Evans also looks rusty and Chris Smalling is the very antithesis of a right-back.

Cleverley and Jones looked like a disaster waiting to happen, but Jones performed better in midfield, surprisingly. Despite his errors in other positions usually being formed of a lack of awareness and concentration, which are far bigger problems for someone playing in the middle of the pitch. In a very rare situation for United, Norwich could barely create a chance all game, hardly got out of their half and were duly played off the park. It is Norwich, but Old Trafford is also a ground that recently sawStoke City turn up and dominate the game.

It showed that what United lack in midfield, rather than steel or creativity, is perhaps rather pace – which would also explain why Marouane Fellaini has failed to alleviate the problem despite his obvious talent. Jones may be clumsy, and Tom Cleverley’s movement may resemble that of a bespectacled thirteen-year-old during a rainy P.E. lesson desperate to avoid the ball at all costs, but yesterday it worked.

Despite the lack of United’s two supposed best ball-players, Michael Carrick and Shinji Kagawa, the team monopolised possession in a way they have been completely unable to with those two on the pitch, which could be interesting if Moyes is emboldened to attempt to put cup theory into league practice. Javier Hernandez, in the past two games, has probably done much to endear himself to Moyes too, while Januzaj continues to look like United’s best player on current form.

All these considerations will serve United well for both the coming months and the January transfer window, when the dithering should at least not come on Moyes’ part. The fabled ‘run of winnable games’ wasn’t enough for United to steady the ship, but credit should go to Moyes for needing time because he chose to move on, rather than simply copy everything Ferguson did.