Talk of a crisis is premature, says United’s Buttner
MANCHESTER United boss David Moyes faces an uphill struggle to turn around his team’s fortunes following the Red Devils’ worst start to a season for 24 years, yet full-back Alexander Buttner insists his side is not in crisis.
Buttner started Saturday’s shock 2-1 home defeat to West Bromwich Albion, a result that leaves United floundering in the bottom half of the Premier League table, eight points behind leaders Arsenal.
However, the Dutch 24-year-old is remaining upbeat.
“I don’t think it is a crisis. Of course the crowd want to see United winning. The players want that too,” Buttner said, ahead of the champions’ trip to the Donbass Arena to play Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday night.
“Our season starts here. We are going to win games, I am sure about that.”
While the Champions League may prove a welcome distraction from United’s domestic troubles, their hopes of winning Europe’s elite competition for a fourth time were played down over the weekend by Moyes.
“To win the Champions League, you need five or six world-class players. That’s the level you have to be at to win it. We’ve not got that yet but what we have got is experience,” Moyes said.
The 50-year-old Scot, who took over in July following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, is likely to rotate his squad for the mid-week clash in Ukraine.
Patrice Evra, Antonio Valencia, Marouane Fellaini, Danny Welbeck and Robin van Persie were all named on the bench against West Brom, yet could start.
“I would expect so, yes,” Moyes said when asked if big names will return to the United starting line-up for the game in Donetsk.
“You’re always going to get bad results in football, that’s part of the job. It’s how you deal with them and how you move on [that’s important]. And we’ll move on and look forward to the next game. There’s lots of games here and that’s the one thing, you get ready for the next one.”