Liverpool Legend Claims Criticism Over Moyes' Transfer Business Is Unfair

Kenny Dalglish has branded the criticism of Manchester United in their first transfer window without Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill as unfair, insisting that it was always going to be a difficult start for incoming manager David Moyes.

Moyes officially came into the managerial post at United at the beginning of July, but has since landed only one of his summer transfer window targets.

After failed moves for the likes of Thiago Alcantara, Cesc Fabregas and Ander Herrera, Dalglish believes that the manager must be given time to adapt to his new position, particularly with a new chairman helping him behind the scenes as well.

"The criticism of Manchester United over their transfer window dealings is not entirely fair," he told the Daily Mirror. "New manager David Moyes is still feeling his way and had the strength not to do anything rash, analysing what he had at his disposal before making too many decisions."

Liverpool, in contrast, had a particularly successful window after manager Brendan Rodgers appeared to learn from the mistakes of his own first summer in charge of the Reds in 2012.

The transfer failings of each window are ultimately the responsibility of the manager, with Moyes taking the brunt of the blame for a summer which saw the side pay £4m more for Marouane Felliani than they might have done if they'd purchased the midfielder before 31 July, when he had a £23.5m release clause in his contract.

But Dalglish, who in his own recent time in charge at Liverpool was responsible for the British record-breaking deal for eventual flop Andy Carroll, insists that Ed Woodward was thrown into the deep end too soon at United as well.

"Until now, all the talk was about Sir Alex Ferguson leaving, but people are beginning to realise former chief executive David Gill is a big miss, too," he explained.

"This is not a reflection on his successor, Ed Woodward, but I wonder if United might be wishing they had asked Gill to postpone stepping down until after this transfer window to make the transition a little easier."