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 Europe, whether it be in the Champions League, Europa League or the European Super Cup. 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. Yeezy Boost 700 Scontate . He just didnt expect them to be this good. Darrun Hilliard scored 19 points to lead No. 6 Villanova to a dominating 77-59 victory over Georgetown on Saturday, preserving the Wildcats hopes of a No. Vapormax Outlet Italia http://www.scontateoutletairmax.it/ .com) - Intrastate rivals collide Saturday as the Texas State Bobcats hit the road to take on the eighth-ranked Texas Longhorns in a non-conference battle at Frank Erwin Center. Yeezy Boost 380 Scontate . -- The Guelph Storm are moving on to the Western Conference final after defeating the London Knights 5-4 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League playoff action. Air Max 97 Uomo Saldi .com) - Even on the day his New Hampshire football team became the nations top-ranked team two weeks ago, coach Sean McDonnell conceded something about the team they replaced at No.VICTORIA, BC – On a windy afternoon at Centennial Stadium in Victoria, Vancouver Whitecaps FC came away with a 1-0 victory in their annual friendly match against the University of Victoria Vikes. The Vikes defended admirably for 90 minutes, led by a standout performance from goalkeeper Noah Pawlowski. However, continued pressure from Vancouver finally produced a goal in the dying seconds when Andre Lewis slotted home a fine cross from Omar Salgado. The Caps came out attacking from the get-go in front of 2,500 fans who braved the cold to watch the Blue and White come to town. The visitors had their first opportunity only three minutes into the match as Sam Adekugbe raced down the left flank and whipped a low cross into the box. Darren Mattocks got on the end of it, but could only manage to deflect it over the crossbar. Five minutes later the Blue and White were at it again. Russell Teibert got the ball on the left and lobbed in a ball to Hurtado who headed it towards net before it was cleared off the line. Teibert was the provider again on 14 minutes when he sent a cross to the back post. Sebastian Fernandez got a header on goal, but into the arms of Pawlowski. Seconds later, Nigel Reo-Coker darted through the middle and made a great pass to spring Mattocks on a breakaway before the Jamaicans low shot was well saved by Pawlowski. Looking for a first goal, Fernandez had a couple looks on net. First, on 24 minutes, the Uruguayan made a nice run before firing a strike at Pawloski. Then, on 31 minutes, Fernandez had a low shot from the top of the box that rolled wide of the net. Fernandez countryman had the next opportunity for the Caps, the best chance of the first half. After playing a ball to Mattocks, the Jamaican played a clever backheel to Nicolas Mezquida before his low shot was stopped by Pawlowski. Despite spending most of the first half in their own end, the Vikes had a chance of their own before the break. Craig Taylor hit a long shot that bounced just wide of David Ousteds net, leaving the teams level at 0-0 going into the second half. The ‘Caps made one change at halftime with goalkeeper Marco Carduccii coming on to replace Ousted.dddddddddddd The next 45 minutes saw Whitecaps FC turn up the pressure. Hurtado got things going on 48 minutes when he intercepted a pass, only to have his strike saved by Pawlowski. The ensuing corner kick was headed hard by Jay DeMerit, straight into the hands of the Vikes ‘keeper. Chances continued to come for the men wearing blue, with the ‘Caps speed on full display on 56 minutes. Mattocks got the ball on a quick counter and darted down the middle before finding Erik Hurtado cutting from the right. Hurtado then hit a shot inches wide of the far post. On 62 minutes, head coach Carl Robinson made nine changes to his lineup, with only Nigel Reo-Coker staying on among the outfield players. With a fresh group on the field, the Caps would not relent. Midfielder Bryce Alderson was a notable force for the new group. His cutting pass on 76 minutes sent Salgado into the box before Pawlowski made a kick save. Three minutes later, Alderson danced by his defender on the left edge of the box and sent in a dangerous cross that was cleared by the Vikes. As time ticked to the final whistle, the ‘Caps finally found the goal they were looking for. Salgado got the ball from Alderson on the left, teased his defender, then sent in a great cross to the back post which was promptly driven home by Lewis with only seconds remaining in the match. The late goal proved to be the winner for Whitecaps FC as they improve their record to 7W-1L-1D all-time against the Vikes. "Im glad it was a close game, because if wed scored early on maybe we would have taken our foot off the gas and I wanted a good tempo game, I wanted them to do the right things," said Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson after the match. "On another day we might have scored eight or 10 goals. Obviously we need to work on our finishing a little bit more, but Im very pleased with the way we played and built up." The Caps return to Vancouver to train over the course of the next week before departing for Portland, Oregon on Friday where they will take part in the Rose City Invitational tournament. ' ' '