Well, well well, that went smoothly didn’t it?! In my earlier blog yesterday I said I stopped being confident. I was worried that I had jinxed it. As it turns out though, I needn’t have worried. United went through in impressive fashion and with a great display of determination and vigour, not to mention quality, can deservedly be counted amongst the best 8 teams in Europe. And that feels very good.
United showed much of what they had been lacking in recent times. For one thing, we were effective in terms of shots to goals ratio. 5 shots, 3 goals. That’s a stat worthy of the Sir Alex Ferguson era. For another, the fighting spirit and belief seemed to be back in the squad.
Moyes definitely did his homework. His team selection was spot on in every position and the players were properly fired up. He’ll have been quite familiar with the situation. A big game, where he’s got nothing to lose. In his 11 years at Everton he came across countless situations like tonight when facing an uphill battle against a team that’s got a head-start. Either in terms of quality or – like tonight – in terms of goals.
I’m not saying I saw this coming or Moyes has now left any kind of doubt behind himself, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction and a massive statement to all doubters and critics. If ever there had been a sign that Moyes needs and deserves time, tonight’s game was surely a great advert for the gaffer and a real eye-opener (no pun intended, Valencia) for all the #MoyesOut tweeters, who have been immensely quiet tonight.
Before I’m off to bed, I would like to remind the United family not to get carried away. Yes it was a magical night, yes it was a good performance, Rooney and De Gea were world class, yes the comeback was tremendous and yes Moyes did a good job tonight. But it was “only” Olympiakos. Greek champions, sure, but before the tie nobody would have given them a chance.
Therefore, stay calm, make sure we can build on this and enjoy the next round, whoever we’ll get. Good night reds, enjoy the victory.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter @DilaMUFC
The result was despite Moyes; not inspired by!!This was the players realizing this is the only chance left of glory for this season so they raised their game, got interested and did the things they know they can when it is not being coached out of them.
Next week it will be back to normal as the players want Moyes out more than the fans.