I feel tomorrow night will be the start of the 'Moyes era'. He, and the players, are in desperate need of a true United-like comeback, one which galvanises the entire club. There are echoes of the famous 1984 comeback against Barcelona in this Olympiacos tie, when everyone felt we were dead and buried after a 2-0 away loss but a raucous home crowd dragged us over the line.
I am confident we'll progress tomorrow (probably after extra-time) and we'll go into the Derby on a high. City are not playing very well and another passionate home crowd, coupled with the bouyant dressing-room after progressing in Europe, will give us every chance.
I wasn't wholly sold on him last May when he was announced, but I've been impressed with how he's met the challenge of being United manager with class and dignity. Lesser men would have exploded publicly long ago. He's not been without fault (bizarre team selections, poor substitutions and questionable managerial decisions - I feel he should have given Vidic the boot in January, for one) but he is learning, too. People speak of United being in 'transition' but lest we forget that Moyes is in transition himself, if we apply the same reasoning.
The flak the man has taken, even from our own, has been abysmal and the more criticism he receives, the more I want him to succeed. He's been left a bad hand: three of the first-choice four defenders knew they were off at the end of the season and best days far behind them, the midfield fiasco was scarcely believable for a club of United's stature, and the team, which was too reliant on wing-play introduced by the previous management team, has absolute shite wingers. We were incredibly lucky last season that our rivals collectively had 'mares. I refuse to believe our squad was justifiably eleven points better than any of the rest of the teams in the league. That statistic was an anomaly but it's a statistic which has been used as a stick to beat Moyes with.
Again, the man hasn't been totally without fault, but I refuse to believe our problems this season have solely been down to him. It's absolutely naive to think so.