City romp adds to Moyes' woes
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, March 27, 2014
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A 0-3 derby defeat adds to Moyes' woes. |
After a brief ray of sunshine in a stormy season, the dark clouds were hovering over Old Trafford again yesterday in the wake of another humiliation for the champion.
A 0-3 home defeat by Manchester City, its third in a row against its local rival at Old Trafford, drained away any optimism born out of victories against Olympiakos and West Ham United the previous week and illustrated once again just how far United has fallen in such a short space of time.
United manager David Moyes wore a glazed look as City's gloating fans mocked him with chants of "five more years" while thousands of the home faithful voted with their feet, heading for the exits long before Yaya Toure put a realistic gloss to the scoreline with City's 90th-minute third.
"I am the one who picks the team," Moyes, portrayed on one Old Trafford banner as the "Chosen One", said after the latest in a series of debilitating setbacks.
"I take responsibility and always will do. It is disappointing. I thought it would be a tough year but I hoped it would be more competitive."
Club stewards had to step in when some fans tried to haul down the "Chosen One" banner as their frustration boiled over at another home humiliation days after Liverpool thumped it 3-0 there.
This season the Red Devils have lost six times at their former fortress in the league and on home form alone they would be 12th in the table, rather than the seventh spot they currently inhabit with seven games left.
Moyes' two big signings since taking the job, Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata, were outclassed by City's midfield slickers while Michael Carrick labored in United's misfiring engine room.
While there is some sympathy for Moyes and continued support from predecessor Alex Ferguson, who watched from the stands on Tuesday, and former players, patience is beginning to wear thin.
Elsewhere, Arsenal, fresh from the humiliation of being thrashed 6-0 by Chelsea in manager Arsene Wenger's 1,000th game in charge last weekend, was held to a 2-2 draw by struggling Swansea City at the Emirates Stadium while Everton came away with a 3-0 victory from its trip to Newcastle United.
The Toffees leapfrogged Tottenham Hotspur into fifth spot and closed to within six points of fourth-placed Arsenal with a game in hand.
Chelsea leads the table on 69 points, with City second on 66 and Liverpool next on 65.
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