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It hit me this week. cheap jerseys from china . There it was staring at me in the form of a magazine advert for posters. Placed together as portraits were drawings of four high-profile football managers but one made me do a double take. It wasnt long ago that the face of David Moyes, placed next to Jose Mourinho, Manuel Pellegrini and Arsene Wenger, would not have made me think twice. I have always hoped he would succeed, back to the days when I covered him as a manager of Preston North End. Yet, heading into Wednesdays crucial game against Olympiakos, it was easy to look at him differently after what has taken place under his watch at Manchester United this season. I am not a United fan but when I visited Old Trafford for their clash with Chelsea in August I was pleased that he had been given a chance. "The Chosen One" sign hung proudly in the famous Stretford End and the United fans sung songs with his name in them and mocked the manager in the opposing dugout. "You wanted the job...you wanted the job...Jose Mourinho...you wanted the job!" Seven months on and the joke has turned on them. Oh how they must wish for Mourinho to be in charge of Manchester United today. The same amount of home league wins as Crystal Palace. Fewer home league goals than Stoke, Swansea and West Ham. More than twice as many league losses than Chelsea. "This has been a difficult season," admitted Moyes in his programme notes for Wednesdays home match against Olympiakos in the second leg of their last 16 encounter in the crown jewel of club football, the Champions League. The official matchday programme had a message for fans before they even opened it saying, on the front cover, the Reds are determined to give everything. Inside the desperation reached new heights with a message from Moyes telling the fans to "make time wasting noticeable to the officials." It all felt a little forced. Defensive, in fact. From a team full of stars who have underperformed this season, the one message they wanted to make sure they got across was that they would give it everything. Manchester United expect more than effort but on a day when it felt like their managers job was seriously on the line, this was the message they were given. It was a night when more than a managers job seemed in jeopardy. A club who this season have badly lost their identity, were in danger of losing their place amongst the sports elite. On Wednesday night they claimed back a little bit of both. Before Robin van Persie scored a terrific hat-trick, United were in danger of falling from the balcony hosting the greatest clubs in the world and hanging on by their finger nails. Their position, outside the room, is not exclusively David Moyes fault but an elimination on Wednesday would have certainly played a massive part in the eventual sacking of the manager, whether that would have been this week or in the summer. The truth is United dont think they should be on the balcony, instead they think they should be inside hosting the party, but a home win against Olympiakos wont get them back in. What it does give them is two more games to show if they can once again be back where they belong as well as a victory that this club badly needed, not just for Moyes, but for themselves. To understand Uniteds demise at the elite level it is important to look at their performances in the true big games. No United team should be judged on past victories over any team out of the top 7 of the Premier League. For the purpose of this study, I looked at all of Manchester Uniteds matches in the last six seasons against Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham and their games in Europe, whether it be in the Champions League, Europa League or the European Super Cup. Over the last three seasons (2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14) United have now played 66 of these big game matches. They have won 28, drew 15 and lost 23 for a very disappointing win percentage of 42 per cent. They have been knocked out of the Champions League in the group stage and the last 16 in the last two seasons. In the three seasons prior to this stretch (2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11), United played 70 big game matches. They won 45, drew 18 and lost 17 for a very impressive win percentage of 64 per cent. During this time they went to the Champions League final TWICE and lost in the quarter-finals on away goals to a team called Bayern Munich. The alarm bells should have been sounded during Sir Alex Fergusons penultimate year in charge when United were well and truly outplayed at Old Trafford in Europe by Benfica, Basel, Ajax and Atletico Bilbao. Likely, this was when Ferguson knew his time to retire was coming soon. He no longer belonged in the room at the top table with the sports best clubs. A collapse in April in two more big game matches, 4-4 at home to Everton and 1-0 at Manchester City, gave away the title and Ferguson returned for one more year but the big game cracks continued to show. The four previous seasons United had lost 24 big game matches combined – an average of 6 losses per season. Despite cruising to the Premier League title last season, United lost nine big game matches in 2012/13. Yes, they were Premier League champions but against the best sides they looked desperately short of genuine world class players. Alarmingly, in the last 14 months, heading into Wednesdays match, they had played 27 of these matches and won just seven of them. This is where the intense pressure fell on Moyes. This season, before Wednesday, in 18 of these games, his United team have scored more than one goal in a game only three times. No wins in four games against Chelsea and Tottenham. One goal, from a set piece, in two matches against Arsenal. A loss at home to Everton and away at Manchester City and, above everything else, two losses to rivals Liverpool who absolutely demolished United at Old Trafford on Sunday. All of these results, and specifically the performances, stayed with Moyes like bruises on the face of a prize fighter and with every new failure in a big game his loyal supporters started to doubt him more. Moyes wasnt just on the ropes on Wednesday night. He was on the floor facing a count to 10. Thats what makes the victory over Olympiakos so enormous. It is arguably the biggest victory in the career of Moyes. A victory that proves to himself, his bosses and his players that he can take charge of a significant victory in a big game. A loss would have capped off a nightmare season for United and the only way the club could have hung on to that balcony will have been to fire Moyes and blame him for their season. Players care about three things. Money, trophies, and playing at the highest level. It is essential that Manchester United are always able to offer that. If they had been knocked out on Wednesday they will have only had money in their hands to offer players who will have been worried to play for Moyes. Yes, the 3-0 victory saved Moyes but it also saved United who have been treading water in big games for far too long. It is clear star players need to come in to improve their record in those games but, perhaps, a star manager does not. Wednesdays win is only one game but for Moyes it can help change perceptions that, perhaps, he belongs amongst the games best managers without anyone looking at him twice. cheap jerseys . Fortunately for the Ragin Cajuns, they had Corey Trim to make a game-changing play on defence. Trim returned an interception 82 yards for a touchdown, Hunter Stover hit a go-ahead 27-yard field goal in the fourth quarter, and Louisiana-Lafayette held off Tulane 24-21 on Saturday night for its third straight New Orleans Bowl victory. wholesale jerseys . But after playing in England for more than a decade, Reo-Coker already recognized a key issue. He faces an adjustment as he prepares for his first Major League Soccer season.KENNEWICK, Wash. -- Tri-Citys Brendan Shinnimin has scored a lot of goals this season, but none bigger than the game-winner Wednesday night in Game 7 against the Spokane Chiefs. Shinnimin scored with 4:18 left in regulation to lead the Americans into the Western Hockey Leagues Western Conference final with a 3-2 victory over the Chiefs. Shinnimin took a pass from Brian Williams and beat Spokane goalie Eric Williams from the slot. "Words cant really describe the feeling of that (goal) going in, and the feeling of our team after the game," Shinnimin said. "A lot of people might have thought it wouldnt have been this many games, but the guys in our room knew what they were capable of and what kind of team they were." Tri-City advanced to play Portland, which defeated Kamloops 2-0 in Game 7 of their semifinal series. The Blazers, who rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie the series at 3-3, fell short in knocking off the Winterhawks. The victory gave the Americans their first playoff series victory over Spokane since 1995. "If you caught one of these games, you were treated to some of the best junior hockey entertainment you are going to see," Tri-City coach Jim Hiller said. "Both teams did everything they could. What else can you ask? "There wasnt one shift in the last 12 days or seven games that either team could have relaxed. Every game was decided by one goal -- two goals was the empty net. No team had a lead of more than two goals. There was not once where you thought it was over." Spokane coach Don Nachbaur was on the winning end of this same series last year, but his team couldnt hold on this time around. "It was pretty intense," Nachbaur said. "It would have been a Cinderella story, where we finished and how young we are in certain areas of our team. We took them to the well. I know they are over there saying this wasnt an easy series. I think we took a lot out of them for the next series." Tied at 1-1 after the second period, Mitch Holmberg put the Chiefs out front 2-1 with a goal at 5:47 of the third.. nfl jerseys china. . Spokane held onto the lead until late in the period when Tri-Citys Malte Stromwall knocked a rebound past Williams at 14:38. Just 1:04 later, Shinnimin scored to give Tri-City the lead for good. "We had so many chances and I thought we played so well," Hiller said. "It was a little disheartening to see us down that late in the game. But weve done this before, weve come back late. I knew there was a belief there. Unlikely heroes like Stromwall and Williams and a likely hero in Shinnimin." The Americans had plenty of chances in the first period, outshooting the Chiefs 14-4, but could not get the puck past Williams, who finished the night with 45 saves. "I think our goalie gave us an all-world performance tonight," Nachbaur said. "He has been spectacular the whole series." Spokanes Mike Aviani was awarded a penalty shot at 16:59 after being hauled down by Tri-City defenceman Mitch Topping. Aviani failed to take advantage of his opportunity as Ty Rimmer stopped him at the right post, but the Chiefs would scored two minutes later. Working on their first power play, the Chiefs found the net at 18:48 as Blake Gals shot from the far edge of the left face-off circle was deflected past Rimmer by Dominik Uher. Tri-Citys Williams tied the score at 5:03 in the second with his second goal of the playoffs. This marks the fourth time in five years that either Tri-City or Spokane has advanced to the Western Conference finals. They played each other in 2008, with Spokane winning an epic seven-game series that featured five overtime games -- three of which went double overtime. Spokane went on to win the Memorial Cup that year. Tri-City won the Western Conference title in 2010, while Spokane lost to Portland in the finals last year. Shinnimin, who won the regular season scoring title with 134 points, continued his point streak in the post season, which now has reached 34 games. Shinnimin, who leads the Americans with 18 points in the playoffs, has not been held without a point since Jan. 29 at Calgary. cheap jerseys cheap jerseys from china ' ' ' |
