{"id":3623,"date":"2014-04-18T22:39:21","date_gmt":"2014-04-18T22:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/?p=3623"},"modified":"2014-04-18T22:42:40","modified_gmt":"2014-04-18T22:42:40","slug":"moyesmartinez-exchange-words-ahead-of-utd-managers-return-to-goodison-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/football\/premiership\/moyesmartinez-exchange-words-ahead-of-utd-managers-return-to-goodison-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Moyes\/Martinez Exchange Words Ahead Of Utd Manager’s Return To Goodison Park"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
\n

Everton boss Roberto Martinez claims David Moyes should not blame Manchester United\u2019s failings this season on the quality of his squad.<\/p>\n

Moyes faces a hostile reception when he returns to Goodison Park on Sunday and Martinez, who replaced Moyes at Everton last summer, raised the stakes by questioning the excuses given for United\u2019s rapid decline.<\/p>\n

The champions trail Everton by nine points with a game in hand, even though Moyes spent \u00a327.5million to bring in Marouane Fellaini from his old club and \u00a337.1m on Juan Mata.<\/p>\n

\u2018They are still the league champions and they haven\u2019t lost anyone,\u2019 said Martinez. \u2018It\u2019s the opposite. They have two players on top.<\/p>\n

‘\u2018United\u2019s squad is bigger and better than people are trying to make out.<\/div>\n

Moyes has suggested he inherited an ageing group from Sir Alex Ferguson, but Martinez believes Jose Mourinho has proved that age is no obstacle by turning Chelsea into contenders.<\/p>\n

He added: \u2018Who are\u00a0 these United veterans?\u00a0 Rio Ferdinand? How many games has Rio played? Not many and Ryan Giggs hasn\u2019t played many, either.<\/p>\n

\u2018You could look at Chelsea and say they are more of an ageing squad. In football, not everything is straightforward \u2014 there\u2019s no black and white.<\/p>\n

\u2018An ageing squad if you win becomes an experienced squad with knowhow. If you lose, it becomes the players have no legs. It\u2019s something in between those extremes.<\/p>\n

\u2018You look at Chelsea, title contenders, but squad-wise worse than United.\u2019<\/p>\n

Moyes, who enjoyed a rapturous send-off from Everton fans in his final home game last May, knows there will be a very different atmosphere on Sunday.<\/p>\n

But he reminded those supporters \u2014 and Martinez \u2014 that they are building on the foundations he put in place during 11 years on Merseyside.<\/p>\n

\u2018Great credit to Roberto but he has a group of players who were always capable of moving up the league,\u2019 said Moyes. \u2018Don\u2019t forget Everton finished above Liverpool last year, and the year before. So it was a great achievement. In a way it should not be a surprise they are doing well. They\u2019ve been in seventh or eighth place for most seasons recently.<\/p>\n

\u2018We also finished in the Champions League. Hopefully in time everyone will look at it and say it was a really good period in Everton\u2019s history.\u2019<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Phil Neville \u2014 Moyes\u2019s captain at Everton and now on his staff at Old Trafford \u2014 admitted United have let their fans down.<\/p>\n

\u2018We have not fulfilled any expectations,\u2019 he said. \u2018We have failed and that doesn\u2019t sit kindly with anyone.<\/p>\n

\u2018I find it difficult to watch Match of the Day. I find it almost impossible because we\u2019ve suffered this season.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everton boss Roberto Martinez claims David Moyes should not blame Manchester United\u2019s failings this season on the quality of his squad. Moyes faces a hostile reception when he returns to Goodison Park on Sunday and Martinez, who replaced Moyes at Everton last summer, raised the stakes by questioning the excuses given for United\u2019s rapid decline. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80],"tags":[37],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3623"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3623"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3625,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3623\/revisions\/3625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}