David Moyes' career could be on the line when Manchester United hosts Olympiacos in the decisive second leg of the Champions League round of 16.
Moyes' first year as the head coach of Manchester United has been nothing short of a failure. Despite inheriting virtually the same team that won the Premier League title in 2012-13, Moyes has managed to put the team in a perilous situation in the EPL; United is 12 points behind fourth place Manchester City, which has two games in hand, for a Champions League spot next season. The only way that Moyes can guarantee that his side can play in the UCL next year is by winning the tournament this season.
Stranger things have happened, but in order to break into the Champions League Moyes will have to make sure the club does not endure its second ever defeat against a Greek club on Wednesday. The first leg was a disappointing 2-0 loss for United. They became the only away club in the first leg to not score a single goal and just one of two sides to not pick up a win.
In order for United to qualify, Moyes would need to inspire them to a 3-0 win; inspiration has not been easy to come by under the new manager.
A loss on Wednesday would leave Moyes with nothing left to do this season and some would imagine that his head will be on the cutting board in the days or weeks to follow. If Moyes fails to live up to his claims that he can turn this team around, then his first year, which is already considered a failure, will hit a new low. If Moyes is subsequently fired then his chances of taking charge of another high profile team will have vanished, perhaps for good. After that, the manager will probably have to settle for lower profile sides and rue the year that he blew his big chance at being a big time manager.
For Olympiacos this game is pretty straight forward. Score a goal and all will be safe. United would then be forced to score four goals in the game, something the team has not accomplished since Nov. 27 when it beat Bayer Leverkusen 5-0. Since that offensive outburst, Manchester United has played 23 matches. In that span the team has scored three goals in a game four times, but only two of those matches have been clean sheets. In other words, things look really good for the Greek side.
Player to Watch: One would be tempted to call out Moyes here, but the player that really needs to step up is Robin Van Persie. He has done a good deal of complaining of late and has not stepped up in the big moments for his club the way he did in 2012-13 under Sir Alex Ferguson. While he has the right to dislike Moyes' style, he is getting paid millions to be a hero, and he only has one goal in his last five for United.
Prediction: Manchester United wins 3-1 but is eliminated on away goals.
The match kicks off at 3:45 p.m. EST and can be streamed online on Fox Soccer 2 Go. It can also be viewed on Fox Deportes.
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