It is now time to switch to a new Money AM football blog as the world cup is now over and we all look to the future.....World cup 2010 is over, Bravo Espana, and Forlan, once again and bring on the new season !.....I never expected the last thread to be such a success...thanks all.... so this new one might go on for years without the need to edit the title...we shall see...

GF - Meanwhile back in the real world :O)
Jim White By Jim White8:19PM BST 23 Apr 2014 Comments18 Comments
There is a mood of optimism around Old Trafford. The grumpy, tetchy gloom has lifted; the fug of incompetence has been cleared; the hapless and the hopeless have been expunged.
David Moyes, a man so far out of his depth he needed an aqualung as he floundered in the technical area, has been put out of his – and everyone else’s – misery. A nice guy, but it is best for all concerned he has gone. And taken his mates with him.
Now, with the Class of ’92 in temporary charge the club are back in the hands of those who understand them. And with Louis van Gaal or Carlo Ancelotti on the horizon, once more Manchester United are to be steered by those who are not scared of the club’s scale, who will not shrink in furthering traditions.
After a traumatic season to forget, all is well again in the red quarters of Manchester. Problems are a thing of the past now the Chosen One has been deselected.
If you believe that, then you presumably believe that Kevin Pietersen is a team player, that Mike Riley enjoys weekly kitchen suppers round at Jose Mourinho’s place and that Formula One is purely a test of driving skill.
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For all his mistakes – and he made more than a few – the reason United are not in contention at the point of the season that the destination of trophies is decided is not entirely due to Moyes’s stewardship.
More to the point, the issues that ultimately cost him his job are still extant: in his 10 months in charge he did nothing to resolve the problems threatening to consume the club.
It is true that Moyes inherited from Sir Alex Ferguson a squad which had just won the title. But it was also a squad coming to the end of its cycle, a squad in which old stalwarts had not been adequately replaced, in which the holes caused by corporate parsimony were glaringly obvious.
With a back four ageing simultaneously, with a giant hole where central midfield should be, with the second-rate and the over-promoted masquerading as the next generation, it had been driven way beyond its potential by the genius of the man in charge.
Blessed with a full season of fitness from Robin van Persie, in his last season Ferguson had given new definition to the term papering over the cracks. The moment he stood down, his successor fell helplessly through the now-exposed fissures.
It was evident in United’s Champions League tie with Bayern Munich how serious were the issues facing Moyes. The truth is, since the moment Cristiano Ronaldo was sold to Real Madrid, the club have been in steady decline.
Just compare the United team that won the Champions League in 2008 to the one that played against Bayern, and precipitous slippage is evident in every position. The 2008 team trip off the tongue; the 2014 team tripped over their own laces.
Apart from the goalkeeper there is not a single player in 2014 who is as good as those in 2008. And that includes the six players who featured in both matches. Six years older, six years less hungry, six years more comfortable, all of them are a shadow of what they once were.
Football is a cyclical business, teams dip and soar. But United’s direction of travel since 2008 has been in one direction. From a team set to dominate the game, a team to destroy all comers, they have slipped to also-rans. That did not begin under Moyes’s watch. That did not happen suddenly. That had been coming.
For a business which is financially absolutely dependent on the perpetuation of success, that needs trophies to attract official potato chip manufacturing and road haulage partners, United’s slip has been reckless in its scale.
In their misplaced assumption that things would somehow continue at the highest level without proper investment, the owning family have starved the club of the resources required to maintain their prominence, preferring to use the staggering profits to prop up a crumbling empire elsewhere.
Since 2008, the money was found just the once for an unequivocally excellent new recruit, when Van Persie was bought from Arsenal. Otherwise the buying since Ronaldo departed has been of players of lesser scale: never mind Marouane Fellaini, how many of Dimitar Berbatov, Ashley Young, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Nani, Alexander Buttner, Wilfried Zaha and Antonio Valencia would make it into Munich’s first team? It is not just Tottenham where the buying has not matched the selling.
This is the issue that will face whoever replaces Moyes: he too will inherit a squad that has been allowed to slip so far behind the elite it will need major surgery.
Moreover, that surgery will now have to be conducted without the lure of Champions League football. In order to reclaim their position at the top of the game, United need absolute quality. But absolute quality tends to restrict itself to clubs in the Champions League.
A vicious cycle threatens which could well consume any incumbent. But hey, now’s not the time to cavil. David Moyes has gone. The real United are back.

By Mark Ogden11:18PM BST 23 Apr 2014 Comments225 Comments
Ryan Giggs declared that “we will go back to playing like Manchester United” during his first team-talk to the club’s players after being appointed interim manager in place of the sacked David Moyes.
The 40-year-old, who will take charge of United for the first time against Norwich City at Old Trafford on Saturday, has been told by Ed Woodward, the executive vice-chairman, that he will not be considered for the manager’s job on a permanent basis, with Carlo Ancelotti, Louis van Gaal and Diego Simeone the favoured candidates to succeed Moyes.
Van Gaal, who has informed the Dutch football association of his decision to leave his post following the World Cup finals in the summer, is on holiday in the Portuguese resort of Vale do Lobo and available for talks before the tournament in Brazil.
Giggs, having been marginalised in his player-coach role by Moyes in recent months, has challenged United’s failing players to restore the club’s pride over the final four games of a disastrous season which is likely to end with the fallen champions finishing in seventh position.

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Debut: Ryan Giggs will take charge of Manchester United for the first time against Norwich on Saturday
In a move which highlighted Giggs’s determination to restore United’s traditions, the former midfielder Paul Scholes overlooked for a position by Moyes, was invited back to the club on Wednesday to assist with first-team training.
With Giggs left to oversee playing matters until the end of the campaign, United’s owners, the Glazer family, are due to fly into Manchester before the weekend to hold talks with Woodward, Sir Alex Ferguson and other senior figures in order to hone plans to recruit Moyes’s successor.
The Glazers are also due to discuss United’s summer transfer budget, with £150 million set aside for moves for the likes of Southampton’s Luke Shaw and Paris St-Germain’s Edinson Cavani. Cesc Fabregas, the Barcelona midfielder, is another under consideration, despite rejecting United’s advances last summer.
United are understood to have held talks with Cavani’s advisers in the French capital last week in an effort to persuade the Uruguayan forward – rated at £60 million by PSG – to agree to a pre-World Cup move.
Attempts to bolster United’s squad will continue during the process of recruiting a new manager, with candidates advised of the club’s targets and offered the chance to veto any moves should they secure the job.
With Woodward and the Glazers due to consider their strategy in the coming days, United could yet hold talks with figures on their short-list should they secure permission from their current employers.
Reports in Ireland on Wednesday suggested that Van Gaal would be keen to recruit Roy Keane, the former United captain, as his assistant should he be appointed as manager.
With Ferguson a key member of the group advising Woodward and the Glazers in their manager search, the prospect of the Scot being comfortable with Keane returning to United following the ugly breakdown of their relationship is one that is regarded as hypothetical by senior figures at the club.
United are aware of the need to avoid a repeat of the mistake last year in appointing a manager without trophy-winning pedigree, which is why their short-list on this occasion centres only on those regarded as being capable of ensuring the club challenge for the Premier League title next season.
Although Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp have been ruled out due to their public commitment to Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund respectively, there is a belief that Ancelotti and Simeone could be prised from their current employers should they be identified as the chosen candidate to succeed Moyes.
Moyes’s fractured relationship with his United squad was borne out on Wednesday with the Scot failing to acknowledge the players in a statement issued via the League Managers Association.
Moyes, who celebrates his 51st birthday on Friday, thanked the staff and supporters at Old Trafford, but conspicuously overlooked the players he had worked with since succeeding Ferguson last summer.
None of the United players on Twitter have so far tweeted about Moyes’s departure, with sources close to a group of the club’s squad suggesting that the former manager’s statement was greeted with ambivalence within the dressing room.
Giggs has urged his squad to focus on putting the Moyes era behind them as the team attempt to close the six-point gap behind Tottenham Hotspur to claim sixth place and Europa League qualification.
The players have been coached by Scholes, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville, with Giggs overseeing the sessions, since Tuesday. Fringe players overlooked by Moyes, such as Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck, are likely to return to the starting line-up against Norwich, with Moyes’s signings, Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini, at risk of being dropped to the substitutes’ bench.

Whats all that guff above about.

Its a fact, turn BBC1 ceefax on, page 302 Cleverly is Martinez transfer target.

He must be of his rocker.

Cant have much in the way of a footbal brain going for that duffer.

Talking of duffers that £15 million you paid for Zaha was about £14 million too much.

He can beat a player for fun but can't pass . can't cross , can't shoot and can't score !

He's great otherwise.

He's fitted in well at Cardiff :-)

Never seen him play or seen him.

Fergie bought him so that's one flop Moyes can't be blamed for. He's only young so may make it in the PL one day.

Meanwhile :-)

Major surgery, BS; 2 midfielders, one left back, an old head centre back, and promoting Varela to Rafael's cover - two years transfers in one year. Dear old Media can't help themselves.

How many players would get into the team of X, Y, and Z? Who gives one? The first thing is to have an effective system and cohesion. Van Gaal has been in the news lately; he looks within the club at full and youth level for the players currently capable of executing his chosen system, or can be converted to do so. He doesn't care who you are, how big your pay cheque/ego; if you can do the job, in, if not, get lost.

Moyes wasn't sacked because of Woodward, Ferguson and Gill leaving at the same time, or the players there/not brought in, he's gone because of his errors and failings - giving no indication he's capable of overcoming them.

Cleverley:

He isn't a defensive midfielder, he carries the ball and lays it off to the attack. When the defensive midfielder(s) is (are) having a bad game, he gets sucked back trying to help.

Zaha:

He did it in the Championship and on tour with Manchester United. Some of his passing and crossing has been good this season, the problem is it hasn't been consistently good - typical of young players. He may or may not make it at the highest level, but I don't think he is as bad as is being portrayed.

Cheers,
KidA

KidA - believe me he fecking is :-)

He can't even get in the Cardiff team !!!

Dil,

Yet when he wasn't injured/recovering he did well for Crystal Palace. Cardiff City seem to be between a Championship side and a Premier League team. On the Manchester United full tour the three stand out players were Jesse Lingard, Januzaj, and Zaha. From the Cardiff City games I've seen; he played some good through balls to Campbell, put in fine work and cross which ended in the late Daehli goal v WBA, and should've had a penalty. I'd say he is inconsistent rather than bad, but that is something a club in Cardiff City's position can't afford.

Cheers,
KidA

Phew we needed that win against West Ham today. With our good goal difference 3 points from the last 3 games will guarantee our survival but I doubt will need that many in reality.

Everton handed Arsenal 4th place on a plate today with two bizarre own goals. Ironic chant from Southampton fans "Who needs Rodrigos when we've got your back four" :O) Every cloud on that first half performance United are still Shit!

Good to see that "the chosen two" had a rare win at home.

Come on Cardiff I was looking for a draw today!

Game on for the title! Now to see how MC do!

MC favorites now. Going to be interesting.

Can't believe Chelsea winning at Anfield....crikey....so astonishing, even the Pope has declared the two Pops Saints.....(must be a Southampton fan then ?...)...

It'll be tough on wednesday....the Blues will need to score several times I fear...one goal by Atletico means two by Chelsea !..

Anyone believe in miralces ?

A Miracle?.. How about this then