hings. Money, trophies, and playing at the highest level. It i

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. Hydro Flask Hinta . Webb birdied the 18th hole to take the outright lead, then watched as Choi, who shot a course-record 62 on Saturday to take a share of the third-round lead, pushed a 10-foot putt wide of the hole at 18 to miss the chance for a playoff. Hydro Flask Coffee Suomi . -- Canadian Erik Bedard pitched into the fifth inning in his bid to win a spot in Tampa Bays rotation, helping the Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-3 on Saturday. http://www.hydroflaskpullosuomi.com/. Marie rink got back in the win column at the Olympic mens curling tournament with a 7-4 win over the host Russian squad on Wednesday. Hydro Flask Pullo . -- Kansas City Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer will be out three to six weeks with a stress fracture of the third finger of his right hand. Hydro Flask 40 OZ . Cesar said the difficulties he went through after the 2010 World Cup helped him become "a better professional" and made him "more focused" on his career. He admitted that he took things for granted before the World Cup in South Africa, when he arrived considered the worlds top goalkeeper.CHICAGO -- Cesar Ramos helped keep his teammates off the field on a cold night. Ramos and two relievers combined to five-hit the Chicago White Sox in a 4-0 win by the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday night. With a first-pitch temperature of 36 degrees, Ramos (1-1) pitched short, efficient innings. He gave up all five hits over five innings in his first scoreless start of the season. He started in place of Matt Moore, who had Tommy John surgery on Tuesday. Its cold. Its tough to get a grip on the ball," Ramos said. "But its just about getting in and out quick and getting my defence off the field as quick as possible, and the only way I can do that is throwing strikes and putting the ball in play." James Loney had three hits for the Rays, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Ryan Hanigan hit a two-run double to give the Rays a 2-0 lead in the second after Loney singled and Logan Forsythe walked. Loneys single extended the Rays lead to 3-0 in the third. Wil Myers scored after he doubled. White Sox starter John Danks (2-1) struggled with his command and a high pitch count. He allowed four runs and seven hits in 5 2-3 innings. He struck out four, walked four and threw a career-high 123 pitches. Danks said none of his pitches were working. "I had moments where I was able to throw only one of four over the plate but none nearly consistently enough," Danks said. "Its hard to pitch 2-0, 3-1 to these guys. Its something were definitely going to have to work on." The White Sox threatened in the fifth, loading the bases with a walk, a single and another walk. Jose Abreu grounded out against Ramos to end the inning. Abreu hit a walk-off grand slam in the White Soxs 9-6 victory over the Rays on Friday. "If he gets a hit, theyre right back in the game," Ramos said. "Thats their big guy. I made a pretty decent pitch and (Evan Longoria) made an amazing play, charging for the ball and hit Loney right in the chest." Danks exited in the sixth after allowing a two-out, RBI triple to Desmond Jennings that made it 4-0. Danks has walked 17 and struck out 18 in 31 innings this season. Ramos departed after he allowed a leadoff single in the sixth inniing in his sixth career start.dddddddddddd He walked two but didnt record a strikeout. Ramos has started three games this season after making four relief appearances. He allowed one run in five innings against the New York Yankees in his previous start. Ramos threw just 65 pitches, but Rays manager Joe Maddon said he wanted to pull Ramos with Paul Konerko coming to the plate. "He kept the ball down," Maddon said. "He didnt make a lot of mistakes up in the strike zone. They put the ball in play. They didnt hit him hard." Brandon Gomes threw three shutout innings and Juan Carlos Oviedo pitched a scoreless ninth. Maddon was ejected in the bottom of the eighth for his first ejection of the season. Home plate umpire Tim Timmons ejected Maddon after he appeared to protest Timmons check swing call on leadoff batter Adam Eaton. Timmons called a ball after Eaton checked his swing on a 2-2 count. Eaton grounded out. The White Sox were shutout for just the second time this season. They were averaging 5.58 runs per game, second in the majors entering Saturday. NOTES: Before the game, the White Sox placed 3B Conor Gillaspie on the 15-day disabled list due to a left hand contusion, retroactive to Tuesday. Gillaspie is batting .302 with 12 RBIs in 16 games. He said he has been battling the injury for 2-3 weeks and hopes to swing a bat within 5-6 days. Marcus Semien started at third base. ... The White Sox added RHP Hector Noesi to the roster after they claimed him off waivers from the Texas Rangers on Friday. He was 0-1 with a 14.21 ERA in 6 1-3 innings with the Rangers and Seattle Mariners. He threw 1 1-3 scoreless innings Saturday. ... Rays RHP Grant Balfour stressed he was frustrated with himself and was not directing anger at Konerko when they exchanged words after Balfour walked Konerko in the ninth inning Friday. "It was competitive stuff coming out," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "I think Paul might have been watching the Blackhawks game." ... RHP Scott Carroll will make his major league debut for the White Sox on Sunday. He is 3-1 with a 1.57 ERA for Triple-A Charlotte. LHP David Price (3-1, 4.04) will star