Chatecke » fire Moyes and blame him for their season

The Chicago Bulls embark on their annual trek across America, aka the "Circus Road Trip," Thursday night when they visit the Pepsi Center to meet the Denver Nuggets. Tune in to catch the action on TSN at 10:30pm et/7:30pm pt. The circus comes to the United Center in Chicago and forces the Bulls to hit the road. It will be six games away from home for a Bulls team that has won five straight, but is also just 1-3 as a visitor this season. "The way weve always approached it -- and were not going to change -- is that were not looking at it as a long road trip," head coach Tom Thibodeau told the teams website. "Were just looking at it as getting ready for Denver. Thats why you want to establish a routine of preparation and you approach it the same way every game. If you look at it that way, prepare yourself and do the right things, the results will take care of themselves." As if a six-game road trip wasnt daunting enough, the Bulls announced on Wednesday that starting two guard Jimmy Butler didnt travel with the team. He has what is commonly referred to as turf toe and is listed as week-to-week. The Bulls collected their fifth straight win on Monday with an 86-81 home victory over the Charlotte Bobcats. Luol Deng led Chicago with 21 points and eight rebounds. Butler had 14 points, followed by 12 apiece from Derrick Rose and Carlos Boozer, who pulled down 17 rebounds in the win. Joakim Noah managed 11 points. Mondays victory came after the Bulls knocked the Indiana Pacers from the ranks of the unbeaten. They visit Portland, Los Angeles to take on the Clippers, Utah, Detroit and Cleveland before returning home on Dec. 2. The Nuggets have dropped two straight, although they were reasonable setbacks. Denver lost Saturday night in Houston, then fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 115-113 Monday night. The Nuggets held a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter against OKC, but succumbed to Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka. Ty Lawson, who is off to an amazing start this season, netted a team-high 29 points. J.J. Hickson had 18 points and 19 rebounds, while Randy Foye, Evan Fournier and Nate Robinson scored in double figures. Thursdays contest will feature the seventh-best scoring team (Nuggets) against the second-best defense (Bulls). "Our offensive execution has to be on point," Denver coach Brian Shaw said. "Typically, their games are lower-scoring games and theyre kind of an ugly, grind-it-out style. You have to be able to score, which means you have to take care of the ball and get a shot on every possession." The Nuggets have won four straight over the Bulls and six in a row and 12 of 13 at home in this series. Fake Jordan .com) - Australian Open champion Li Na, former Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova and former world No. Air Jordan Discount . Never caused problems. Never raised a ruckus. Never got sick or hurt while frolicking in the fields of Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky. https://www.jordanchina.us/. While he was away, it was the division-rival Baltimore Orioles conducting a little business of their own, scooping up Ubaldo Jimenez on Monday evening to a reported four-year, $50-million contract. Air Jordan China .com) - Baltimore Ravens running back Justin Forsett is active for Sundays matchup with the Miami Dolphins. Wholesale Air Jordan .Y. -- Scott Chandler is returning to Buffalo, where he spent the past three seasons establishing himself as the Bills top pass-catching tight end.It hit me this week. There it was staring at me in the form of a magazine advert for posters. Placed together as portraits were drawings of four high-profile football managers but one made me do a double take. It wasnt long ago that the face of David Moyes, placed next to Jose Mourinho, Manuel Pellegrini and Arsene Wenger, would not have made me think twice. I have always hoped he would succeed, back to the days when I covered him as a manager of Preston North End. Yet, heading into Wednesdays crucial game against Olympiakos, it was easy to look at him differently after what has taken place under his watch at Manchester United this season. I am not a United fan but when I visited Old Trafford for their clash with Chelsea in August I was pleased that he had been given a chance. "The Chosen One" sign hung proudly in the famous Stretford End and the United fans sung songs with his name in them and mocked the manager in the opposing dugout. "You wanted the job...you wanted the job...Jose Mourinho...you wanted the job!" Seven months on and the joke has turned on them. Oh how they must wish for Mourinho to be in charge of Manchester United today. The same amount of home league wins as Crystal Palace. Fewer home league goals than Stoke, Swansea and West Ham. More than twice as many league losses than Chelsea. "This has been a difficult season," admitted Moyes in his programme notes for Wednesdays home match against Olympiakos in the second leg of their last 16 encounter in the crown jewel of club football, the Champions League. The official matchday programme had a message for fans before they even opened it saying, on the front cover, the Reds are determined to give everything. Inside the desperation reached new heights with a message from Moyes telling the fans to "make time wasting noticeable to the officials." It all felt a little forced. Defensive, in fact. From a team full of stars who have underperformed this season, the one message they wanted to make sure they got across was that they would give it everything. Manchester United expect more than effort but on a day when it felt like their managers job was seriously on the line, this was the message they were given. It was a night when more than a managers job seemed in jeopardy. A club who this season have badly lost their identity, were in danger of losing their place amongst the sports elite. On Wednesday night they claimed back a little bit of both. Before Robin van Persie scored a terrific hat-trick, United were in danger of falling from the balcony hosting the greatest clubs in the world and hanging on by their finger nails. Their position, outside the room, is not exclusively David Moyes fault but an elimination on Wednesday would have certainly played a massive part in the eventual sacking of the manager, whether that would have been this week or in the summer. The truth is United dont think they should be on the balcony, instead they think they should be inside hosting the party, but a home win against Olympiakos wont get them back in. What it does give them is two more games to show if they can once again be back where they belong as well as a victory that this club badly needed, not just for Moyes, but for themselves. To understand Uniteds demise at the elite level it is important to look at their performances in the true big games. No United team should be judged on past victories over any team out of the top 7 of the Premier League. For the purpose of this study, I looked at all of Manchester Uniteds matches in the last six seasons against Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham and their games in EEurope, whether it be in the Champions League, Europa League or the European Super Cup.dddddddddddd Over the last three seasons (2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14) United have now played 66 of these big game matches. They have won 28, drew 15 and lost 23 for a very disappointing win percentage of 42 per cent. They have been knocked out of the Champions League in the group stage and the last 16 in the last two seasons. In the three seasons prior to this stretch (2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11), United played 70 big game matches. They won 45, drew 18 and lost 17 for a very impressive win percentage of 64 per cent. During this time they went to the Champions League final TWICE and lost in the quarter-finals on away goals to a team called Bayern Munich. The alarm bells should have been sounded during Sir Alex Fergusons penultimate year in charge when United were well and truly outplayed at Old Trafford in Europe by Benfica, Basel, Ajax and Atletico Bilbao. Likely, this was when Ferguson knew his time to retire was coming soon. He no longer belonged in the room at the top table with the sports best clubs. A collapse in April in two more big game matches, 4-4 at home to Everton and 1-0 at Manchester City, gave away the title and Ferguson returned for one more year but the big game cracks continued to show. The four previous seasons United had lost 24 big game matches combined – an average of 6 losses per season. Despite cruising to the Premier League title last season, United lost nine big game matches in 2012/13. Yes, they were Premier League champions but against the best sides they looked desperately short of genuine world class players. Alarmingly, in the last 14 months, heading into Wednesdays match, they had played 27 of these matches and won just seven of them. This is where the intense pressure fell on Moyes. This season, before Wednesday, in 18 of these games, his United team have scored more than one goal in a game only three times. No wins in four games against Chelsea and Tottenham. One goal, from a set piece, in two matches against Arsenal. A loss at home to Everton and away at Manchester City and, above everything else, two losses to rivals Liverpool who absolutely demolished United at Old Trafford on Sunday. All of these results, and specifically the performances, stayed with Moyes like bruises on the face of a prize fighter and with every new failure in a big game his loyal supporters started to doubt him more. Moyes wasnt just on the ropes on Wednesday night. He was on the floor facing a count to 10. Thats what makes the victory over Olympiakos so enormous. It is arguably the biggest victory in the career of Moyes. A victory that proves to himself, his bosses and his players that he can take charge of a significant victory in a big game. A loss would have capped off a nightmare season for United and the only way the club could have hung on to that balcony will have been to fire Moyes and blame him for their season. Players care about three things. Money, trophies, and playing at the highest level. It is essential that Manchester United are always able to offer that. If they had been knocked out on Wednesday they will have only had money in their hands to offer players who will have been worried to play for Moyes. Yes, the 3-0 victory saved Moyes but it also saved United who have been treading water in big games for far too long. It is clear star players need to come in to improve their record in those games but, perhaps, a star manager does not. Wednesdays win is only one game but for Moyes it can help change perceptions that, perhaps, he belongs amongst the games best managers without anyone looking at him twice. ' ' '