David Moyes

[Shogun]

[Bumble]

He's definitely a "let's get to 40 points and see where we are" guy.

Which is fine - because that's where we currently are as a club

Are we?

[Bluedylan1]

Are we?

No. From the day he was reappointed, he's talked constantly about getting us in the top half of the table as quickly as possible and getting into Europe, and not wanting to manage a club that's languishing in the lower reaches.

But that won't suit @superpull 's narrative

[blueToffee]

Some great answers from him there.

[superpull]

No. From the day he was reappointed, he's talked constantly about getting us in the top half of the table as quickly as possible and getting into Europe, and not wanting to manage a club that's languishing in the lower reaches.

But that won't suit @superpull 's narrative

This isn't a narrative about him. It's a narrative about a club that has narrowly survived oblivion for the last 5 or so years.

There should be no expectation of Europe.
So if we hit spring and have a chance of that happening he will have done fantastically well.

Similarly, if we end up 14th and the season peters out, I don't think he should come in for any stick.

But he is absolutely belt & braces first. Which is what we need. Which means we get safe asap and then move onto the next target.
That was his philosophy when we *were* in Europe

[Mouse]

Agree with a note of caution - there's been many calendar years where his stats look equally as impressive.
One of his issues is he works a team so hard it very rarely lasts over the course of a season.

But, he proved on Monday that he isn't the same manager as last time. So lets see if he can continue to prove his growth.

Monday showed how different his approach is. Moyes v1.0 would have immediately substituted one or two of KDH or Grealish or Ndiaye for Tim plus one. Instead, we went down to 10 men with 3 attack minded midfielders and a centre forward. It gave us a threat and multiple outballs when under the cosh. It helps that we’ve managed to recruit creative players with an amazing work ethic.

[Bumble]

This isn't a narrative about him. It's a narrative about a club that has narrowly survived oblivion for the last 5 or so years.

There should be no expectation of Europe.
So if we hit spring and have a chance of that happening he will have done fantastically well.

Similarly, if we end up 14th and the season peters out, I don't think he should come in for any stick.

But he is absolutely belt & braces first. Which is what we need. Which means we get safe asap and then move onto the next target.
That was his philosophy when we *were* in Europe

This is always the perspective from people who look backwards, their frame of reference is from a time which no longer exists.

Sure he’ll never be gung ho and he will always rely on experience over youth, that’s just his nature. But the club has moved on so he will have to evolve his thinking too. This isn’t the Kenwright and Moyes show anymore.

[superpull]

This is always the perspective from people who look backwards, their frame of reference is from a time which no longer exists.

Sure he’ll never be gung ho and he will always rely on experience over youth, that’s just his nature. But the club has moved on so he will have to evolve his thinking too. This isn’t the Kenwright and Moyes show anymore.

And I think people who don't think like me are blindly ignorant of the past and victims of the truism "those that forget the past are doomed to repeat it".

In all seriousness though, we are on the same page here. I am just wary of creating unrealistic expectations that we will then use to criticise the manager when we don't achieve them.

Do I think we will qualify for Europe this year? No.
Do I think it's beyond the realms of possibility? Also no.

The difference between the two is what failure looks like next May. I will praise Moyes for 10th. Those expecting Europe should be criticising him for the same