Manchester United manager David Moyes insists the Red Devils will turn around their depressing start to his tenure.
Installed as Sir Alex Ferguson’s successor amid much fanfare this summer, Moyes has presided over a troubled transition so far.
Hammered by Manchester City, then stunned on home soil by West Brom at the weekend, the defending English champions have slithered into the bottom half of the table, experiencing their worst start to a campaign since 1989. Yet Moyes remains defiant.
In the knowledge that senior figures with the Red Devils, not least Sir Bobby Charlton and Ferguson, who recommended his appointment, will ensure he gets the time needed to implement his plans, Moyes spoke with an air of certainty ahead tonight’s tricky encounter with Shakhtar Donetsk.
“I have been in situations very similar to this at my old clubs, Everton and also at Preston,” he said.
“You get on and you do the right things. I haven’t changed what I have done. I will continue to do that. The results will come. I have no doubt about that.”
Moyes was not in particularly expansive mood.
From the same press conference desk Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin offered to take a journalist outside for a “man-to-man chat” during Euro 2012, he could not be said to be friendly, either.
When reminded of his apparent weekend claim United lack the world-class players needed to compete in this most elite of competitions, which admittedly United reached the final of as recently as 2011, Moyes attempted to clarify his position.
“I said to win the Champions League you need to have a certain amount of world-class players,” he said.
“That is something which we will try and do. Of course we will try and win the Champions League.
“It is part of the job at Manchester United and I will do everything possible to try and make that happen.”
By his own admission, Moyes adopted a conservative approach to his first few games in the job.
That stance now appears to have changed.
Rio Ferdinand’s absence – Moyes confirmed the 34-year-old would have missed the trip anyway even without the slight groin problem that eventually ruled – seems to be an admission the former England man cannot play back-to-back games.
Anderson’s omission appears equally significant, and not in a good way for the Brazilian, who has not fulfilled the promise that brought him to United from Porto in 2007.
Wilfried Zaha’s omission, following a reserve team outing on Monday night, was predictable, even if Moyes’s continued refusal to select the £15million summer arrival from Crystal Palace remains perplexing.