( CNN ) -- Not so much the Chosen One , more the Disastrous One . From the get go , David Moyes struggled in getting to grips with the task of managing Manchester United and less than a year after succeeding the legendary Alex Ferguson , the Scot has been sacked just 10 months into a six-year contract . It 's an old adage that Rome was n't built in a day -- but it did burn in seven nights . With that in mind , here are the big mistakes made by Moyes during his turbulent Old Trafford tenure with the club now left fighting all sorts of fires both off and on the pitch . Marouane Fellaini . Less the elephant in the room , more the uncomfortable , luxuriously-haired disaster in the United midfield . The Belgian international followed Moyes to Manchester from Everton in September 2013 and he signaled the new manager 's first foray into the transfer market . It smacked of a toddler reaching for its comfort blanket . Fellaini 's £27.5 million price tag always looked on the large side and it has only inflated with each of his underwhelming performances . The nadir of the 27-year-old 's debut campaign at Old Trafford arrived earlier this month , during an abject showing in a European Champions League tie against Bayern Munich . Spanish newspaper AS was so unimpressed with Fellaini 's showing in the 1-1 draw that it refused to give him a mark in the player ratings section of its match report . With a new manager likely to arrive with fresh ideas , it could be a matter of time before Fellaini follows Moyes out of the door . Local laughing stock . United fans hate losing to Manchester City . And they despise defeat to Liverpool . Losing to one of those two teams is unacceptable , losing to both twice in the same season was previously unthinkable . Somehow Moyes ' team managed the unthinkable as the Scot presided over four defeats in four matches against United 's two fiercest rivals , with an aggregate score of 11-1 . Even worse , Liverpool , the club Ferguson successfully knocked off their `` f***ing perch , '' look set to win a first league title in 24 years , while United have failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since 1995 . As for City , once referred to by Ferguson as United 's `` noisy neighbors , '' the blue half of Manchester is currently 17 points ahead of the red half after also winning the League Cup final . Last season Ferguson 's team wrapped up a 20th league title for the club , finishing 11 points clear of City in second place . Under Moyes , United never looked like troubling the top of the table . So no surprise then that the joke doing the rounds on Tuesday after Moyes ' dismissal was that police had been called to Old Trafford to stop Liverpool and City fans protesting over his sacking . Tactics ? What tactics ? ! Easy and straightforward to defend against . That was how Fulham , who had lost eight of their previous 11 Premier League games prior to a 2-2 draw against United in February , described the tactics employed by Moyes . After the match , United were damned by statistics . Moyes ' men flung 81 crosses into the Fulham penalty area , evidence -- his critics suggested -- that the United manager was a tactical neanderthal . After watching Ferguson 's team tear into the opposition for over two decades , fans found this `` back to basics '' brand of football hard to stomach . Moyes ' reported focus on fitness and conditioning in training also backfired . Rather than looking energetic on the pitch , United too often resembled the battery-powered bunny beaten to the line by its Duracell-fueled rival . Other brands of battery are available . So are other managers . Problem players . Moyes inherited a squad which had just won the Premier League title at a canter , but he struggled to get the best out of stars like Wayne Rooney . Tying Rooney down to a new five-and-a-half year deal in February , rumored to be worth an eye-watering $ 500,000 per week , was seen as something of a coup by the club . But the truth is that Rooney has rarely looked worthy of such a lavish investment . The 28-year-old may have scored 15 Premier League goals this season , but too often he has put in displays well below his dazzling best . The signing of Juan Mata from Chelsea was supposed to add flair and purpose to United 's attack , but the Spaniard has only shown flashes of his undoubted talent since arriving in January . People joked that giving Moyes the present of Mata was like giving your granddad an IPad for Christmas . Moyes ' failure to coax the best out of these players , and gifted technicians like Shinji Kagawa , further contributed to his demise . Small-club mentality . `` I did n't get the chance to say yes or no , '' Moyes said in July . `` As you can imagine , the blood drained from my face . I was shocked . '' He might sound like someone describing death by lethal injection , but this is the tale of how the Scot became United manager . `` It was a strange situation , '' he added . `` I had no idea whatsoever until Sir Alex gave me a call and asked me to come to his house . `` I was expecting him to say , ' I 'm going to take one of your players ' or something else . I went in and the first thing he said to me was , ' I 'm retiring ' . `` I said , 'When ? ' because he was never retiring , and he said , 'Next week ! ' His next words were , 'You 're the next Manchester United manager ' . '' The sad truth is that Moyes never chose to be the United manager and , at times , he resembled a rabbit caught in a car 's headlights . While 11 years at Everton earned him the respect of the football fraternity , Moyes never seemed to come to terms with the scale of his new role . `` I do n't know what we have to do to win , '' Moyes said after a defeat to Stoke in February . A quote which unintentionally encapsulates his troubled reign .
David Moyes is dismissed after Sunday in charge of English league titleholder . The Moyes was personally endorsed by outgoing manager Alex Ferguson . Moyes ' United slipped to 11th league defeat against his former club Manchester on 1995 . United will not feature in European Champions League for first time since 1995 .