Garbatellamike

I didn't enjoy it till the Gerrard slip.... then it was great

JamesM

Some food for thought here:

Transfer League Table Last Five Seasons | League Tables

Click on link and scroll down.

I've always been aware that ENIC balance the books and I'm also aware that sometimes you sign good apples and bad apples but the bottom of this table did surprise even me a little.

No surprises at the top.

Garbatellamike

bottom, fee for Bale, no surprise there for me

ededed

Here's a surprise - David Moyes had a better win ratio (52.94%) as United manager than Brendan Rogers has (52.63%) at Liverpool.

#giveRogersthejobforlife

Cainess

All this table does is empasise the credit due to clubs like Everton, Swansea City, Hull City and Stoke City, who continue to survive comfortably & flourish (certainly in Everton's case) in the PL whilst having a very small net spend, and a small budget compared to the biggest clubs.

Cainess

David Moyes takes the Real Sociedad job.... not a job I'd have been wanting, given the best you can hope for is beating Bilbao in the local derby and trailing in 4th behind Real Madrid, Barca & Valencia....

I find it hard to believe that he couldn't get a decent position in England (ie. PL or Championship level)- I think he's making a mistake going to Spain, but I guess time will tell- I hope he proves me wrong, though as he's a very likeable man and I was disappointed by how he was treated by United at the end.

Garbatellamike

now that is a surprise....... I never knew either of them had won that many games.

As to the carefully selected table, more telling is the spend since 92, which shows Spurs have spent the 5th most to finish in average 6th position.....

JamesM

Moyes also has a better win ration than Van Gaal achieved with a much cheaper squad.

There are lies, damned lies and then there are managerial games won statistics.

JamesM

All it does?

I know they say Man United fans are short sighted but it give's a lot more information than that.

ededed

The difference is that Moyes was going nowhere - anyone could see that. Good, honest chap but he never looked confident and had obviously lost the dressing room. If he'd stayed, I seriously think we'd be bottom half and playing dull, turgid football, trying to scrape 1-0 wins against Palace

Van Gaal is allowing the players to attack which is the United way. We'll accept a poor season if we can see we are attracting decent players (Di Maria instead of Lambert, for example) and sweeping forward like we used to in Giggs and Kanchelskis's days.

What is good to see is that Fellaini is having a half-decent season. Interesting that Moyes (who knows him well), couldn't get anything out of him...

JamesM

I agree with you.

I just don't think the comparison between Moyes and Rodgers statistical records tells the whole story. Rodgers like other managers in the game has to do more with less.

Di Maria was attracted to United because they were able to stump up the hefty transfer fee and meet the salary expectation.

Liverpool don't have the same budget as United because they don't have as many fans in Kuala Lumpar and Montego Bay buying their Chevrolet branded football tops or AON sponsored training kit. Liverpool also have no Sheikh Mansoor.

Also Lambert and Di Maria aren't really a like with like.

Lambert was signed to play a bit part role much like Solkjaer or Hernandez used to do. Now Bolotelli on the other hand........

ededed

Well, he did piss $90m up against the wall from the sale of Suarez. Who did he buy that has turned out to be even 5% as good as the racist cannibal? The difference is that he's had a lot of time to build a squad, with funds at his disposal. Fergie started at United with a lot less than Rogers started at Liverpool, but you knew Fergie would make it work. I'm not sure about Rogers, I'm happy to say.

If Balotelli had worked out, we'd be calling it a managerial masterstroke. It was always a 50/50 call - a bit like Eric was (Cantona, not Djemba-Djemba). Difference is, Balotelli is lazy, as well as mad. That should have been a warning sign to a committed disciplinarian like Brenda.

JamesM

Rodgers did a "Tottenham". Instead of a couple of well thought out signings to make small improvement and then building on that slowly he blew his load on untried and unpredictable possibilities. Perhaps not as badly as Tottenham :-(

There is a lesson here, for the bigger "stepping stone" clubs (Spurs and Pool) in losing marquee players.

You never see Wenger panicking in the transfer market. If he doesn't see a player improving what he has he doesn't move.

I think Liverpool will be better when Sturridge gets back.

Fergie did make it work at both at Aberdeen and MUFC. But he was given a time luxury at MUFC that the game sadly doesn't allow now.

SpoogleDrummer

Balotelli could still work out, once Sturridge is back we'll see how he plays with him. Lambert was never going to be good enough and seemed to be a case of buy him just for the sake of it.

I can't honestly blame the strikers for being lazy/demotivated though as our defence is shocking so it doesn't really matter how many goals they score, we'll still conceed more.

I've said it for years but I honestly believe we'd be better off playing Football Manager and signing the good players off there than we are sending our scouts out, the people that make that game know their stuff much better than the people that sign the shite we end up with apparently.

ededed

I was going to mention Welbeck, but of course that wasn't Wenger, was it?