David Moyes is under criticism today for comments he made this past weekend after Manchester United’s 2-1 loss to West Bromwich Albion.

Moyes said:

“To win the Champions League, you have to have five or six world class players. If you look at Bayern Munich, they have five or six nearly world-class players. Look at Barcelona, who had it in the past and Real Madrid have maybe got it now. That’s the level you have to get at to win it.

“We’ve not got that yet but what we have got is experience and several players who are in that category or close to it.”

Manchester United face an away tie against Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday, in another game where Moyes will want a good result to relieve the pressure on him and his players, especially with the club sitting in twelfth place in the Premier League.

In Moyes’s quote above, is he being a defeatist or realist? In my opinion, he’s being a realist. Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson papered over the cracks in his side in the past few years by relying on players such as Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs to help the club when United should have been going out and signing quality players who are world-class.

The pressure is on Moyes, but he can only do the best with what players he has at his disposal. While the United team have depth to run for another Premier League title (once things turn around), they’re out of their depth in the UEFA Champions League (particularly the latter rounds).

Here are today’s world soccer news headlines:

Premier League

Football League

International soccer

Serie A

La Liga

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