Are we turning the corner?

[afrocentricity]

I'm not a Moyes fan, but only because I'm not convinced that he's the man for the job. I've been on the fence this season. In the early poll I voted 'out at the end of the season if we didn't get fourth and there are no signs of progression.

I'm starting to feel like there are signs, I'm close to saying, give him more time. How are some of your lot feeling?

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[prateik]

Still have injuries at the back.
We need a solid foundation and we havent had that.... Get that right.. and add a top midfielder to it.. Things will start looking a lot better.

 

[Raoul]

I'm encouraged by the positive signs over the past few weeks. We're a different team when Kagawa and Mata are involved.

 

[Stack]

I'm not a Moyes fan, but only because I'm not convinced that he's the man for the job. I've been on the fence this season. In the early poll I voted 'out at the end of the season if we didn't get fourth and there are no signs of progression.

I'm starting to feel like there are signs, I'm close to saying, give him more time. How are some of your lot feeling?

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If we play this style of football for the remaining games and look to be consistent with it and energetic in its implementation I might switch back to giving him more time. The trouble is its been a season of 1 step forward and 2 steps back.

 

[Bojan11]

Please don't make a thread like this. We been turning a corner all season apparently.

Newcastle were awful to be fair.

 

[quethenoo]

Thought I had made up my mind, but we are starting to look like we have a shape and a plan and that was slways more important than the results for me. Torn!

 

[Tomalonge]

I think there's something happening, we've started to play like a team again. Notable difference in this and the start of the year.

 

[kouroux]

It'll be better to make a proper assessment at the end of the season but honestly the football played in the last two matches has been a breath of fresh air. More of the same

 

[shaggy]

If Rooney and RvP were both fit we wouldn't have played that line up and wouldn't have played as well.

Moyes has to either find a way of getting them both to work (with Mata) very quickly next season or drop one of them.

 

[Robbie Boy]

Hopefully. Look what happens when we don't try playing this rubbish wing system.

 

[Varun]

I need proof over a longer period of time. I also want Moyes to realize that the likes of Young and Valencia arent even on the same level as Kagawa. As I've seen millions of times here, I dont care about the results as long as we see signs of progress.

 

[Ole's_toe_poke]

Please don't use that term.

 

[sammsky1]

Next year will be our year!

No Moyes has not turned any corner, this is simply the kind of performance this sqaud should be delivering. But I dont have confidence yet that Moayes can continually extract this kind of performance from it.

 

[Cina]

The problem is, and not to be a negative prick after a performance like that, that every time we've supposedly turned the corner before, Moyes has made team/tactical decisions that have set us back in reverse again in the next game. Let's see his team selection midweek at least before talking about corners.

 

[100]

I don't think even Moyes can fail to get us back in the CL in the long term; the obvious worry is the more difficult matches where he's failed massively this season. It's hard to say what is happening because a lot of the current team has been forced due to injury and resting for the Bayern game.

 

[bobbyf]

Please don't make a thread like this. We been turning a corner all season apparently.

Newcastle were awful to be fair.

And we've only really won against poor opposition. Where was this form against the top 9 clubs?

 

[LLMU]

We are a better passing team definitely lately and our fullbacks are defending first while attacking less. To say we turn a corner may not be the right words but we definitely found a system where we can play good football

 

[bosnian_red]

These last few weeks, if Moyes had us playing like that from the start I'd have no problem with him. We'd probably be in with a shot of 4th place as well. He still has to prove he won't revert to type for every big game and put Kagawa back on the bench. I know he has his critics, but I really think he's key to this side looking fluid. His little passes all over the pitch complete us so to speak, make us look like a team, link up brilliantly with everyone else. If he sticks with a similar team, similar tactics in every game, but add in a good midfield, I think there might be hope with him. Still has it all to prove though.

 

[Anduin]

We have started to win the games we absolutely must win to be in a title race, mainly away (Palace, West Ham, West Brom, Villa, Newcastle, GD 15:1) and we have seen more of Kagawa, while Mata is settling in. Moyes absolutely has to stop starting Young and go with actual footballers, it will make a world of difference. Had we done our job against the likes of Fulham, Southampton, Cardiff, Spurs etc., we'd be up there. So that's some kind of progress I reckon, but I want to see more. Four more wins to secure Europa League football at very least and finish the season with 70 points.

 

[Winrar]

Optimism can be gotten from today's encouraging performance, but I wouldn't call this a turning point just yet. We've had many false dawns before. If we had performed like this in the games we could've avoided dropping silly points, we'd be challenging for the fourth at the very least.

 

[girish]

I need proof over a longer period of time. I also want Moyes to realize that the likes of Young and Valencia arent even on the same level as Kagawa. As I've seen millions of times here, I dont care about the results as long as we see signs of progress.

This. And a run of victories from here on till the end of the league should buy him some more time.

 

[afrocentricity]

Newcastle were awful to be fair.

It's more to do with how we're playing...

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[Revan]

You jinxed it.

Too early to say anything like that (we were convinced that things will become better in December and then January happened) but if Moyes uses today tactics, play Mata and Kagawa together as much as possible and actually we improve our midfield/left back then there is no reason to thing that things won't significantly improve.

I just hope that finally it isn't the usual state of one step forward, two steps back. If Young for example starts on midweek, it would be a tragedy after Kagawa's today performance.

 

[Nighteyes]

We've been turning too many corners this season and end up right where we started.

Very encouraging though.

 

[Mad Winger]

Mata and Kagawa have been the big difference. They've been allowed to play together more often after the injury on RVP.

Hopefully, Moyes has finally reached the conclusion that Rooney is a striker, and that the AM position belongs to Mata or Kagawa. If he's smart enough to see this, while also signing 3-4 good players this summer, then he might just turn the tables around next season.

Having said that, I'm still very skeptical of Moyes. Even if we're winning games right now, the fact is that we're still miles away from the top 4. And Moyes is currently right where he belongs: battling it out right outside the top 4. He's just not a winner. How is he gonna deal with the pressure of actually being at the top of the table? I'm not sure if he's the right man.

It's cnutish to say, but I feel that the we owe our current "success" to the players. Moyes hasn't done anything different. He's just been forced to play differently because of injuries, and our players have responded to that.

 

[United22]

We've "turned so many corners" this season that we are literally in a square. And by no coincidence it is the same pattern each time , we outplay a poor team then play one of the big boys and get thrashed. Until this changes, we haven't turned a corner at all, its just false dawns.

 

[Ralph1386]

I want to see this kind of play and system in big games, not only against weaker teams.

 

[bobbyf]

This. And a run of victories from here on till the end of the league should buy him some more time.

More time? Finishing out of the top 4 is grounds for sacking, no matter what else happens this season. And finishing below his old club would be a complete and utter failure. There's really nothing left to play for this season so the pressure's off. Europa League? No, thanks.

 

[Ubik]

Too many false dawns this season. Just when you think we've found a way of playing, a completely different team is picked the next week. Too little too late.

 

[Van Piorsing]

We still need wins against stronger sides but it's really nice that players understand each other more and more... Progress is small but noticeable enough indeed.

Perhaps time and some clever spending will do it's job to restore things to an usual state.

 

[Bojan11]

More time? Finishing out of the top 4 is grounds for sacking, no matter what else happens this season. And finishing below his old club would be a complete and utter failure. There's really nothing left to play for this season so the pressure's off. Europa League? No, thanks.

I'd rather not be in that competition. Liverpool have reaped the benefits of not being in it. I hope Spurs win Monday.

We been great at times when there was no pressure. I mean not many people were fussed about game today.

 

[The_Midfielder]

Valencia is definitely better than Young.... somebody with his pace/workrate is definitely needed for the Kagawa/Mata to work against big teams..
however,everytime we feel like we have turned a corner, we get hammered by a big team.. see Liverpool, man city trend..
SO prepare to get hammered against Munich

 

[bobbyf]

I'd rather not be in that competition. Liverpool have reaped the benefits of not being in it. I hope Spurs win Monday.

We been great at times when there was no pressure. I mean not many people were fussed about game today.

Also, our away form has not been as bad as at home. This should have been addressed early on in the season when clubs like WBA and Newcastle were winning there. And we've dropped points in or lost every big game this season, except for Arsenal who haven't defeated us for years now.

 

[itso 7]

I think it's evident that with better players in key positions such as midfield and at leftback Moyes will take us back into the CL, eventually . But the problem we have is when we play the bigger games Moyes reverts to type and then proceeds to blunt our strong points and thus stopping us from exploiting our opponents' weaknesses . Moyes needs to trust the direction, or rather the players, he has used in the smaller games and stick to those ethos even against the likes of City .

I think a shift to a 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 and signing the required players to plug the holes making the team more stable will be a positive step but a change in mentality is required to complete the job . I think having a first eleven that we can trust in all types of games will also go a very long way .

 

[Dargonk]

perhaps, though just as easily another false dawn.

 

[Kag]

Ask this when Van Persie comes back. It depends entirely on the size of Davey's ballsack.

 

[holyland red]

Unbelievable. A couple of results against absolute dross and people change their position about whether the manager should be sacked.

 

[Amir]

I don't know about turning corners. But what I like about games like today is that they provide an answer to people who say the squad isn't good enough, isn't capable of good stuff, etc. It certainly is. You just need to know how to use it.

 

[hungrywing]

Technically, the team's never been 'behind' a corner. It's Moyes. "Is Moyes turning a corner" would be the proper thread title.

Also, most people would probably point out that during this mini-run the RvP/Rooney injuries have forced DM's hand into doing the exact opposite of what he would have liked to do.

 

[Tarrou]

Moyes has picked the kind of team we've all been asking for with Mata in behind and Kagawa and Januzaj also on the pitch, and it's looked good.

I'm not sure we've turned the corner though because the changes have been due to injury/rotation. When everyone's fit we could just go back to RVP up front, Rooney in behind with Val on one side and a creative player on the other. Time will tell.