Former Man Utd captain Roy Keane and Wayne Rooney agree that the Red Devils players “weren’t having” David Moyes when he was appointed Sir Alex Ferguson’s successor.
Moyes signed a six-year contract at Old Trafford as he was chosen to be the next manager up after legendary boss Ferguson retired in 2013.
The current West Ham boss was left with an ageing squad which required a rebuild but Moyes was given just two transfer windows and 51 matches in all competitions before he was sacked.
And Man Utd legend Keane insists it’s “crazy” to think the players weren’t “having him” before he even “walked in the door” at Old Trafford.
Keane said on the Stick to Football podcast: “David Moyes came into Manchester United, and, okay, the standards may have dropped in terms of the brilliant players who left at that time, but the players should treat the manager with respect, who has done well at Everton, but the bit I don’t get is not having him before he’s walked in the door.
“Moyes may look back now and think there was things he could have done differently, and maybe he tried too hard, but for players to say they’re not having him before he walked in the door is crazy.”

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And Rooney, who played in the squad under Moyes, admits that the Man Utd players didn’t give him “a chance” after the Scot replaced Ferguson.
Rooney added: “The players never gave David Moyes a chance at Manchester United. I think it was always going to be tough for him. I know David from when he was at Everton, and he was never the same person at Manchester United.
“Obviously, it was a massive change for him, so I don’t think he did as well as he would’ve liked, but I also think there was a lack of respect from the senior players towards him, and they weren’t having him which was tough for him.”
The former Man Utd striker also pointed to the change in behaviour of players and their love for “hip hop music” and dancing around the changing room.

Rooney continued: “Then you’ve got the likes of Jesse Lingard, Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley coming through, who had good careers, but they weren’t the same as the core group we had. Football was changing, the behaviour of players and everything around football was changing and that was a big time.
“I remember after the Liverpool game when we got beat at Old Trafford in 2014 under David Moyes, the players were dancing around the changing room the next day at the training ground, playing hip hop music. I tried taking the speaker out the room and you can try to control as much as possible, but you can’t really.”
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Man Utd: Ratcliffe reveals fresh Mason Greenwood decision will ‘absolutely’ be made in summer

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anchester United minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says the Premier League club will make a fresh decision over Mason Greenwood’s future.
Last summer, Greenwood joined Getafe on loan for the 2023/24 season.
The forward was facing charges relating to attempted rape and assault at the start of 2023 but his case ended up being discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service following the withdrawal of key witnesses.

It was reported that Man Utd chief executive Richard Arnold was open to bringing Greenwood back but decided to U-turn following backlash.
Greenwood’s form for Getafe has caught the eye of Barcelona and Atletico Madrid and the Red Devils will probably look to cash in on the 22-year-old this summer, who is out of contract in 2025.
Ratcliffe has a lot of decisions to make now that his minority takeover of Erik ten Hag’s side has been completed.
And he has said he will make a fresh decision regarding Greenwood’s long-term future at Old Trafford.
Read more: What Bellingham REALLY called Greenwood finally revealed as Ten Hag ‘wields the axe’ at Man Utd
Asked if a fresh decision will be made, Ratcliffe said (quotes via The Athletic): “Yes, absolutely. We will make a decision and we will justify it.”
Ratcliffe continued: “He’s a Manchester United footballer so we are in charge of football. So the answer is yes, we have to make decisions. It’s quite clear we have to make a decision. There is no decision that’s been made.

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“He’s on loan obviously but he’s not the only one. We’ve got one or two footballers that we have to deal with and we have to make a decision on so we will do that.
“The process will be: understand the facts not the hype and then try and come to fair decision on the basis of values which is basically is he a good guy or not, and answer could he play sincerely for Manchester United well and would we be comfortable with it and would the fans be comfortable with it.”
Getafe did not agree to pay Man Utd a fee to sign Greenwood on loan but have a 20 per cent sell-on clause.
Speaking in December, Getafe president Angel Corres revealed the La Liga club are “considering buying” the player.
“We have not talked about price,” he said. “We have talked about looking at the situation and seeing what they propose because there has also been a change of shareholding there at Manchester (United).

“But we are still happy with the meetings and with the videoconferences we have with them. It is still too early to consider either continuing for one more season or that they will propose a price and we will commit the whole (of the contract) because we have a percentage and to buy the rest.
“I believe a lot (in Greenwood). From here, we continue to work periodically, we continue to meet with Manchester (United) to see if they are happy. The truth is that they are happy with the treatment, not only from the fans of Getafe, but also from the whole Spain. Now we have to keep on defending him.
“He didn’t play for 16 months and I think that in January, February he will be able to get the rhythm. He will give us satisfaction.”
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Arteta disappointed as Arsenal ‘lacked purpose’ and ‘gave the game away’ in Porto defeat

Mikel Arteta bemoaned a lack of aggression from his Arsenal side in the Champions League defeat at Porto but said it would be “cruel” to judge their return to the knockout stages on the last-gasp goal that settled the contest.
The Gunners’ hopes of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time in 14 years suffered a blow as Galeno’s fine late strike saw Porto win 1-0 in the last 16 first-leg tie.


With the second leg at the Emirates Stadium on March 12, Arteta now knows his side must win on home soil to reach the business end of the Champions League on their long-awaited return.
Arsenal, more than anyone, know there are no easy games at this stage of Europe’s elite club competition – having fallen at this hurdle seven years in a row under Arsene Wenger.
This is their first time back at this level since the last of those in 2017 and it proved much more challenging than the recent Premier League thrashings of West Ham and Burnley for a team inexperienced on these occasions – Kai Havertz the only player from the starting XI with any previous appearances in the Champions League knockout phases.
The vistiors failing to register a shot on target on a tough night at the Estadio do Dragao with Porto more than a match for the Gunners, frustrating the visitors for much of the evening and ultimately capitalising on some lapse defending to secure a late victory.

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“Obviously I am very disappointed the way we gave the game away at the end,” Arteta said.
“Not managing that situation well enough. You get punished in the Champions League. If you cannot win it, you don’t lose it.
“We really dominated the game but we lacked purpose, especially in the first half. You need to have much more aggression, you need to break lines, to play forward and generate much more threat on that backline.
“We will learn from it. Now it is clear, it is half-time. If you want to be in the quarter-finals you have to beat your opponent and that will be the purpose and the plan.”
Asked if his team were naive to fall to defeat in such a way, Arteta added: “Well it’s only the last ball, so if in 94 minutes they haven’t had any naivety other than that one.
“I think it’s a bit cruel to judge it. But it’s true that it has had a big impact on the result. A lot of other things they did for the first time here were very good. When you give the ball away three times in that area – you cannot do it.”

Arteta also criticised the performance of referee Serdar Gozubuyuk, who awarded 36 fouls – the most in a Champions League game this season – and often spent time ahead of set-pieces speaking to players in the box.
“From set-pieces as well every time we touched somebody it seemed to be a foul before we even kicked the ball. But we will learn and do better,” added the Spaniard.
Porto, captained by 40-year-old Pepe, appeared much more streetwise to the task at hand, leaving head coach Sergio Conceicao happy with the result.
He said: “The team understood perfectly the spaces they had to step into to condition our opponents and also what we had to do up front to hurt them.
“It was a good game, a Champions League game. Our opponents had more of the ball, but Porto were always more dangerous.”

Three-team title races: Liverpool, Arsenal, City could give us the closest Premier League yet

Might we finally have a proper three-horse title race on our hands? The closest the top trio have finished before is within four points. Usually, it is a double-figure gap…
Here are the five closest finishes between the top three since football was invented in 1992/93…
 

1. Manchester City – 86
2. Liverpool – 84
3. Chelsea – 82

Top spot changed hands 25 times during 2013/14 and the title race went to the final day of the season. Manchester City completed the job with a 2-0 victory over West Ham, but they led the Premier League for only 15 days in total. Liverpool blew it…
Brendan Rodgers’ Reds were five points clear at the summit with three games to go. Then they got Mourinho’d at Anfield before chucking away a 3-0 lead with 12 minutes to play at Palace.
Chelsea were top of the table themselves by the end of February with 11 games to go, powered by a 14-match unbeaten run, and they remained there until the last game in March when they were beaten by Villa and Palace either side of pummelling Arsenal 6-0. From there, it was Liverpool and City’s battle to fight.
READ: Top 10 biggest Premier League bottle jobs
 
2007/08 – four points

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1. Manchester United – 87
2. Chelsea – 85
3. Arsenal – 83

Chelsea pushed United all the way to the final day, despite spending most of the season under Avram Grant’s control. Sort of.
As little influence as Grant appeared to have, Chelsea were worthy rivals to defending champions United. The Blues did not lose after December 16, and only a final-day draw with Bolton stopped them from finishing level on points with the Red Devils before the two sides met in the Champions League final in Moscow.
It was Arsenal, though, who were top at the end of February. But a draw at Birmingham, which saw Eduardo ruled out for the season and William Gallas throw a strop after the concession of a late equaliser, prompted a run of five without a win, and one victory in eight. From mid-April, with four games to go, Arsenal were not realistic contenders.
Read more: Liverpool and Man City the only Premier League sides unbeaten in resilience table
 
1998/99 – four points

1. Manchester United – 79
2. Arsenal – 78
3. Chelsea – 75

United’s most glorious season was a close-run thing in the Premier League. They secured the title on the final day, when they beat Spurs to mean Arsenal’s victory over Villa was not enough to stop the Gunners relinquishing their crown from the previous campaign.
Arsenal moved to the summit for the first time at the end of April and looked good for successive titles as late as the penultimate game of the season, which they lost at Leeds. United never gave them chance to recover, taking four points from their final two games to retain a one-point advantage.
Chelsea’s involvement in one of the great title races is often forgotten. The Blues were top on Boxing Day but three draws in April against Middlesbrough, Leicester, and Sheffield Wednesday cost Chelsea a first Premier League title.

 
1996/97 – seven points

1. Manchester United – 75
2. Newcastle – 68
3. Arsenal – 68

The 1996/97 title race was not as close as it might appear. United went top in January and never slipped. Sir Alex Ferguson’s side coasted over the line, being confirmed as champions with two games to go amid a seven-match run-in that saw them win only three.
Their final haul of 75 points it is the lowest total for a title winner and lowest since three-points-for-a-win was introduced in the 1981/82.
The battle for second was as tight as it gets, though. Newcastle, Arsenal and Liverpool all finished on the same points total, but the Magpies claimed the second and final Champions League spot by virtue of goal-difference.

Three-team title races: Liverpool, Arsenal, City could give us the closest Premier League yet
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2008/09 – seven points 

1. Manchester United – 90
2. Liverpool – 86
3. Chelsea – 83

Try as they might, Liverpool could not stop United from equalling their record of 18 top-flight titles with a game to spare.
United took top spot in mid-January and never relinquished it. With 12 games to go, they held a seven-point lead which Rafael Benitez’s Reds chipped away at. Liverpool beat United at Old Trafford and a week later, the Red Devils lost at Fulham to reduce the advantage to a point.

United were then being held at home by Villa going into added time. But Federico MACHEDAAAAAAAAAAAA struck in the 93rd minute to give the champions the platform to win seven of their remaining eight unbeaten matches.
Like United, Chelsea also won seven and drew one of their last eight games but the scuppered themselves in the middle third of the campaign with four wins in 12 around the new year that cost Luiz Felipe Scolari his job.

‘I’m convinced that we’ll beat Arsenal’ – Porto star gives a ‘guarantee’ to supporters

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orto midfielder Nico Gonzalez is “convinced” that the Portuguese side will “beat Arsenal” in their Champions League last-16 clash.
The Gunners are back in the Champions League for the first time in seven years and it has been 14 years since they progressed past this stage of the competition.

Arsenal are firm favourites to beat Porto over the two legs with Sergio Conceicao’s side currently third in the Portuguese top flight.
Porto host the Gunners at the Estadio do Dragao on Wednesday night in the first leg and Gonzalez couldn’t be more confident of a victory.
The Porto midfielder said: “I’m convinced we’ll get through. Those who aren’t FC Porto fans don’t believe that, but I’m convinced that we’ll beat Arsenal at home and that we’ll go to London to play them. What I can guarantee is that we’re going to fight every minute of both games and give everything.”
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was also speaking to the press ahead of the match, he added on the match: “They (the players) know that we have not been in the competition for seven years.
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“Obviously some of them were here and they know the story and they know that what happened in the past is irrelevant, it is the challenge and ambition that we have now to go through.”
When asked if a mental block had seen them fail to progress past the last-16 stage so many times, Arteta replied: “Someone called (Lionel) Messi was another obstacle as well!
“And Bayern Munich that we faced twice. This competition is what it is. Individual quality is extremely important. It comes down to details and you need your players at your best when the occasion arises.”
Arsenal are going well in the Premier League and cruised through their Champions League group, winning four of their games and progressing as group winners with a game to spare.
Arteta added: “We don’t have the experience, that’s the reality – 95 per cent of these players haven’t played this competition, they haven’t played the last 16.


“I haven’t (managed at this stage). But they have so much energy and enthusiasm to play well and that’s our desire and how we’re going to play the game.
“It’s great. We have earned the right to be here. It’s been seven years since we’ve been at the top table for these kind of matches and 14 years since we were able to go to the next stage.
“That’s the challenge. We know what is ahead of us, but we are very excited to face it and to go for it with full belief, that’s for sure.”
One added incentive is the fact that Wembley will host the Champions League final this year, the Arsenal boss continued: “It should be incredible to have that feeling to lift that cup, in London, the first of June. It is there.
“It is in our minds. It is a dream, but there are a lot of things you have to earn the right to do before that and tomorrow we have a big obstacle ahead of us. We are really looking forward to it.”