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They could also take a little solace in the fact that Moyes and Co picked up their first piece of silverware when they defeated Wigan. The community shield pitted the Premier League champions against the FA Cup winners at Wembley, I say this as I believe it is important to remember that Manchester United were indeed the defending champions. Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Wayne Rooney and Robin Van Persie were all still there, so United fans still had some optimism. After all Fergie did say our job was to stand by our new manager. The Scot had rarely set us wrong before in the prior 26 years, the man won 39 trophies sure!
Looking at the opening few games of the Premier League, Moyes would need to hit the ground running. The first five games included matches against Liverpool, City and Chelsea…..oh my. Moyes even went as far as questioning the integrity of the fixture committee. The opening game however was a breeze down to Wales, where they demolished Swansea 4-1, and went top of the league. A feat they would never accomplish again under the Moyes regime.
Those previous three games I mentioned, Man United picked up only one point. A 0-0 draw against Chelsea, before a 1-0 defeat to Liverpool and an embarrassing 4-1 loss to the noisy neighbors seen United drop out of the top 4. They never even managed to crack the top four for the remainder of the season. This was Manchester United, once again the defending Premier League Champions.
Players were dismayed by all the drastic changes behind the scenes apparently. With Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand since alluding to the fact that the former Preston North End and Everton manager tried to change too much too soon, while taking on too much responsibility himself. Reports of clashes with captain Nemanja Vidic were also abundant at the time.
I was still hopeful, clinging onto the theory that Sir Alex could not be wrong. After all United had just managed to knock Liverpool out of the Carabao Cup and won their first Champions League game against Bayern Leverkusen. So on my birthday I traveled across the pond to Manchester to see United take on lowly rivals West Brom. In my time going over to Old Trafford , I have never seen them drop points. I was a lucky charm from Ireland I thought. I picked up a novelty Fellani wig, went across in the newest United jersey and watched…..in horror. Saido Berahino won the game on the day for The Baggies, and in the Bishops Blaize and around Old Trafford, patience was wearing thin.
Continued….
