Van Persie Slams ‘Lousy’ United But Backs Moyes Despite ‘Tough’ Season

Robin van Persie has admitted it’s been a tough season and branded Manchester United as ‘lousy’ but claims beleaguered boss David Moyes needs time to turn things around, according to Sky Sports News.

United have gone from a team easily winning the Premier League title under Sir Alex Ferguson last season to a side that currently sits sixth in the table and a full 11 points off fourth place.

The Red Devils were dumped out the FA Cup at home by Swansea, beaten by Sunderland in the semi-finals of the League Cup and their season sunk to a new low on Tuesday night when they slumped to a 2-0 defeat to Olympiakos in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie.

So it comes as no surprise that van Persie has admitted it’s been a tough season at Old Trafford but he held no punches when he described the team as ‘lousy’ and criticised their playing style, saying they don’t always play well or at a high enough tempo.

The Dutchman also doesn’t feel the team have had their fair share of luck this year, but doesn’t use that as an excuse and insists they need to turn things around.

“We are lousy – in a lousy position in the league, out of the cups and this looks a difficult one also,”

“We are very disappointed. It’s a tough season.

“Sometimes we play good but not always. And we are not lucky. That’s no excuse, though. We need to turn it around.

“We are able to play in a high tempo with massive power but in Greece it was all too slow.” Van Persie is quoted as saying by Sky Sports

The 2-0 defeat in Greece has left United with a lot to do in order to keep their season alive and they’ll need to score at least 2 goals at Old Trafford to have a chance of progressing to the quarter finals, but RVP feels it’s possible as he wasn’t exactly impressed by Olympiakos in the first leg.

“Olympiakos didn’t create a lot either. The first goal was lucky, the second goal was a great one and for the rest of the game they didn’t have any good chances.”

“It is possible to beat them at home with 2-0 or 3-0, but it won’t be easy,” he concluded.

It’s certainly been a difficult first season in charge at United for David Moyes and the latest defeat has heaped further pressure on his position at the club, with a growing number of fans calling for him to be sacked.

However, van Persie feels the Scot needs to be given time to turn things around and says it’s easy to point the finger at the manager, but believes the players need to do it on the pitch. He continued:

“He is new and needs time. He’s working hard and so are we,”

“It’s easy to point at the manager but that’s not who I am. We need to do it on the pitch.”

Things could hardly have gone better for van Persie in his first year at United. Having made the brave decision to leave Arsenal and join their rivals, he settled quickly and scored 30 goals in 48 games in all competitions to help the club win the Premier League title at a canter.

However, this year has been nothing short of a disaster and while Moyes has taken the brunt of the fans anger, the new boss has been unfortunate to only be able to call upon RVP for 20 games so far this season due to a series of niggling injuries, and the fact he’s scored 14 goals in those 20 appearances shows how important the Dutch international is.

So perhaps van Persie is right, Moyes may just need a bit of time to get his best players fully fit and a summer to reshape his squad before we start to see the best of the new post-Fergie United.

What do United fans think? Should Moyes be given more time? Share your views below.