Ahead of Saturday's game with Manchester United at The Hawthorns, we spoke to United fan Paul. He gives us his views on the game, David Moyes, what's gone wrong at Old Trafford and more. You can find Paul on Twitter at @UtdRantcast

Despite the departure of Sir Alex, I’d imagine most fans would have still expected better from United this season, what are the main reasons behind your mixed form and results?

I think it’s pretty straightforward - David Moyes and the club have handled the transition very poorly. On one hand they presumably did not imagine that the whole thing would completely fall apart in the way that it has, but there have been many avoidable mistakes made too.

Losing Fergie is a loss which is essentially unparalleled in the history of the game. He was that club - his obsession with control caused problems, for sure, but it was at the heart of his managerial philosophy and it obviously lead to immense success. The closest metaphorical comparison is a country who loses its totalitarian dictator and then falls apart at the seams.

But from the summer’s disastrous transfer dealings, the replacement of the entire backroom staff, falling out with key players and an apparent inability to find a way to motivate the squad, Moyes has to shoulder the burden of responsibility. He may well feel the players have let him down, but a key part of his job is making sure they don’t.

It was always going to be difficult, and some would say impossible, for David Moyes to follow on from Fergie. What’s he done well and what does he need to do better?

There is very, very little he has done well. In the wake of the Olympiacos defeat the club were spinning pretty hard to suggest he’d radically modernised the scouting system (he bought new ipads and everything!!).

He needs to get better at speaking to the press - the tone of his responses have been absolutely dismal “we’ll try, we were unlucky, the refs are against us, I don’t know what we need to do to win”. All that stuff is a shambles.

He also desperately needs to find some tactical innovation in himself - the home draw to Fulham where we hammered in 81 crosses and it was clearly not working was a low point. He needs to get more comfortable mixing it up.

Does Moyes still have the backing of United supporters, and crucially, how long do you see the club giving him to attain success?

There have been a number of turning points throughout the season which have seen supporters hop off the “we’re Man United we stick by our manager come what may” train.

He was certainly not a universally popular choice amongst fans, who questioned his credentials. Keeping Everton mid-table in the Premier League is an impressive feat, but hardly the stuff which gets the blood pumping. There were concerns over his reputation in the transfer market and his incredibly conservative approach in big games. On the other hand there were swathes of fans who thought he had showed the kind of character that meant he had a chance of stepping up. Once he was in, the majority of the United support, especially the vocal support at games, were firmly behind him.

That’s definitely softened. The Fulham game felt like a big turning point because it was so obvious what was wrong, and it was so obviously Moyes’s fault, but the Olympiacos game changed things further - that was the first time that the fanzine poll results started to tilt in favour of “Moyes Out.”

He’s always seemed like a nice chap, and I do wish it was working better than it was, but he honestly hasn’t shown anything which makes it seem giving him time would be a good idea.

But United are the club who know better than any other what can happen if you give a manager, who appears to be struggling, time to do his job. That can be problematic though, and Moyes’ career achievements up to this point don’t match up to pre-United Fergie. If you give the wrong man time it can be a disaster.

I think he’ll be sacked if we lose to you, Liverpool, City and don’t overturn Olympiacos. An improvement between now and the end of the season and he probably gets until around November next season.

Highlight of the season so far?

The emergence of Adnan Januzaj (who will win the Balon D’or one day, barring injuries), the signing of Juan Mata, and the run when Danny Welbeck scored six in six. (I really love Danny Welbeck). The 5-0 against Leverkusen, although that was also a bit painful because it was clearly an outlier.

Moment you would rather forget?

Pretty much all the rest of it. All Moyes’ press conferences, almost all the games. Fulham for me was maybe worse than Olympiacos, but they were the bottom two moments. You lot beating us at Old Trafford was bad, but at the time we didn’t know that would be the rule and not the exception so it was ok!

United’s player of the season?

Januzaj - the kid is incredible - he’s looked the best player on the pitch in about 60% of the games he’s played in. Some people would say Rooney, but I tend to think people are a bit blinded to his faults by his capacity to run around a lot. He’s also been terrible since he came back from injury, which is standard for him. De Gea is the only other player I’d consider - he’s made about 3 mistakes all season playing behind a very porous defence. He is an incredible goal keeper.

Any player been particularly disappointing?

Van Persie’s attitude has been disappointing, although understandable - he came to play under Sir Alex, and definitely did not sign up for Moyes. Nemanja Vidic, the club captain, leaving at the first sign of trouble is very disappointing. Michael Carrick’s performances have been really sub-par. Rio Ferdinand has been bad, but I actually think a lot of that is Moyes’ fault for playing him too much early in the season and burning him out.

Premier League Champs?

Chelsea, I suppose. Two of the other three options are too painful to consider, especially if Liverpool somehow pull it off.

Relegated?

Cardiff (sorry, Ole, I still love you), Fulham, and I’ll say Villa to curry favour with the Albion support! (Really though, that third spot is ridiculously up for grabs. I do worry about you lot, because I’d much rather you stayed up!)

Any highlights or memories that stand out from previous Albion v United games?

Well, last season’s finale was pretty amazing. I was gutted not to be able to go to that. I had a walk around the Hawthorns that morning and bought a few programmes as presents for people. That game was so comical - sort of apt that Fergie went out with a 5-5 - I know a number of Albion fans who enjoyed slightly spoiling his party!

Prediction and thoughts on Saturday’s game?

We are impossible to predict this season. We absolutely should be winning this game, but you beat us at Old Trafford, and we have every chance of being bang average. Under Fergie I’d imagine teams watching us be terrible in the game before we played them and thinking “oh, heck, we’re gonna be on the receiving end of the fightback” but it’s not like that anymore. We’ve shown a lack of character a lot this season and I think if you’re well organised and stand up to any early pressure we’ll struggle. If you score first you’ll get at least a point.

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