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David Moyes at Manchester United: Five defining results

Sports Mole picks out the five results that proved costly to David Moyes's job as manager of Manchester United.

By David Moyes's own admission, Manchester United's results during his short tenure in charge were poor.

The Scot, who was sacked yesterday morning following an intense 24 hours of speculation, oversaw 15 losses during his nine months in the United dugout.

Here, Sports Mole has picked out five results that on reflection, went a long way to ending the 50-year-old's brief stint at Old Trafford.

1. Manchester City 4-1 Manchester United, September 22, 2013

With new £27.5m signing Marouane Fellaini on show, United were swept aside by their neighbours at the Etihad Stadium. Sergio Aguero and Yaya Toure put the hosts 2-0 up at the break as United centre-backs Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were run ragged, before quickfire goals after the restart from Aguero and Samir Nasri ended the match as a contest. Wayne Rooney scored a late consolation, but the defeat meant that from successive matches against Chelsea, Liverpool and City, Moyes's team had collected just one point.

Moyes said: "I've made the players aware of how I expect them to respond. If there was any group of players I would expect that from it would be Manchester United players. It is the way they have been brought up. It is one game. There are plenty more to come and plenty of time to fix it."

Manchester United manager David Moyes prior to kick-off against Manchester City on September 22, 2013© Getty Images

2. Manchester United 2-2 Fulham, February 9, 2014

United had been beaten in two of their previous three Premier League outings, but a home match against bottom of the table Fulham was expected to provide some respite. Steve Sidwell scored early for the West Londoners, but late goals from Robin van Persie and Michael Carrick appeared to have sealed all three points for the home team. Darren Bent had other ideas, though, as his stoppage-time equaliser secured a share of the spoils for the strugglers. After the match, it was revealed that a rather one-dimensional United had sent 81 crosses into the Fulham penalty area.

Moyes said: "It's been a bit like that this season. [The match] was as bad as it gets. We dominated. I don't know if we could have done an awful lot more. Maybe we could have defended a couple of times a bit better, taken a few more of the chances we made, but we completely dominated and we should have won the game."

Man United manager David Moyes on the touchline during his team's Premier League match against Fulham on February 9, 2014© Getty Images

3. Olympiacos 2-0 Manchester United, February 25, 2014

Since he was relieved of his duties, some have claimed that this was the evening that the Glazer family decided that Moyes was no longer the right man to take the club forward. Olympiacos were regarded as the minnows in the last 16 of the Champions League, but they overcame United in Piraeus courtesy of goals from Alejandro Dominguez and Arsenal loanee Joel Campbell. United may have won the second leg 3-0 to advance through to the quarter-finals, but the manner of the defeat in Greece had already seemingly done the damage as far as the powers that be were concerned.

Moyes said: "I am just surprised. I didn't see that level of performance coming, I just didn't see it. It's the worst we've played in Europe. We didn't offer enough on the night to create a goal. There is undoubtedly talent at Manchester United but we didn't show it."

Manchester United manager David Moyes looks on prior to kick-off against Olympiakos in their Champions League match on February 25, 2014© Getty Images

4. Manchester United 0-3 Liverpool, March 16, 2014

The visit of Liverpool provided United with the perfect opportunity to dent their rivals, who arrived at Old Trafford bidding for their first league title in 24 years. While the home supporters were in fine voice, it failed to inspire the players. Moyes watched on as his team was dominated for most of the 90 minutes as two penalties from Steven Gerrard and a late curling shot by Luis Suarez ensured a comfortable win. Gerrard even passed up the opportunity to score a hat-trick when he failed to convert a third effort from the spot, while Vidic saw red for United.

Moyes said: "We tried to get back into the game, but when you're going for it, you're always liable and open to the counter-attack. Some of them were penalties and some of them weren't. It was a phenomenal support inside the ground. It looks as though we are a long way off [the top four]."

Manchester United Manager David Moyes heads for the dressing room at half-time during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford on March 16, 2014© Getty Images

5. Everton 2-0 Manchester United, April 20, 2014

On his first return to Everton and Goodison Park - a club that he had served for 11 years prior to taking on the United job - Moyes left humiliated. Big questions were asked afterwards regarding the desire of his players to play under his stewardship as first-half goals from Leighton Baines and Kevin Mirallas saw the hosting Toffees ease to victory. The loss mathematically ended any chance of United qualifying for next season's Champions League and just two days later, the man hand-picked by Sir Alex Ferguson to carry on his work was out of a job.

Moyes said: "We gave away two terrible goals but prior to that we passed the ball brilliantly well, kept the ball, had great control of the game. What we couldn't do is make enough chances but we had a great control and we got done by two stupid decisions. We didn't have a final through pass at times, we didn't have a final finish when they came and there weren't very many of them. That was the disappointing part, that we just couldn't do that in the final third but I couldn't fault how we played because we kept the ball incredibly well."

David Moyes and Roberto Martinez stand on the touchline before Everton vs. Manchester United on April 20, 2014.© Getty Images

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Man United manager David Moyes gestures on the touchline during the match against Arsenal on November 10, 2013
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