Moyes’ trophy hopes looking slimmer by the day

Manchester United suffered their third defeat in a week last night, something that has not happened in the past 17 years. Sunderland have only managed three Premiership wins all season, and there’s no doubt that the Manchester United team of last year would have dismantled them with ease. However, this isn’t the Manchester United team of last year. The personnel may not be very different, but under David Moyes they are struggling for confidence and performing very averagely at best.

They got off to a bad start when Ryan Giggs scored an own goal to put Sunderland ahead, and despite an equaliser from Vidic, Sunderland go into the second leg with a one-goal advantage after Borini secured the win from the penalty spot. There’s no ruling them out of the League Cup with them playing the second tie at home, but it certainly wasn’t the result they were looking for, especially after being knocked out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle on Saturday. Their chances of retaining the Premier League trophy are also extremely slim after defeat on New Year’s Day to Tottenham, leaving them 11 points behind the league leaders Arsenal.

Moyes remains at 12/1 to be the next manager to be sacked, and it is a very unlikely outcome. Alex Ferguson himself didn’t have the best of starts at the club and they are known for sticking by their man. The true test will come next season once he has had time to mould the team but a season with no trophies is certainly not ideal for the club. United fans are left feeling frustrated with Moyes, with many urging him to change it up a bit, with Zaha an unused substitute yet again. Does he need to take the gamble with a player like this? With the way his luck is going at the moment, surely he might as well give it a try?