With the first few games of the Premier League out of the way, we’re starting to get a better idea of what teams might struggle this season. It’s also given us an indication of which managers are most likely to come under intense pressure and scrutiny over the coming months. And while it’s true that no manager’s job is 100% safe, these men have a little more to worry about than most.
Frank Lampard
He spent what amounts to the gross national budget of small nation in the summer transfer window, but poor old Frank has had the worst possible start to the campaign. It wasn’t so much the defeat to Liverpool that upset fans as the manner of the defeat. The team was limp with no drive or spark.
The visit to Hawthorns was supposed to get the team back on track. In fact, many many football tips experts predicted an easy win for Chelsea with their new signings finally finding their groove in the League Cup.
What we witnessed was a complete capitulation. His new signings were all atrocious to the last man and it was the academy players that bailed Frank out with a 3-3 draw. If he doesn’t get his new squad to gel quickly, he could be gone by the New Year.
José Mourinho
What would a list like this be without our favourite Portuguese manager. There’s no doubt that Mourinho has changed a lot since his first spell at Chelsea with many now considering him to be nothing more than a grumpy ageing coach with no respect for his players.
It’s also true that he has been working under much tighter budget restrictions than ever before and Spurs fans will point to the signing of Bale and Reguilón as signs of progress. But the fact remains that when the going gets tough José has form for either jumping ship or throwing his players under the bus.
We know that he is guaranteed to be under the cosh at some point this season especially if his back four suffer any injuries. It will be interesting to see how things pan out.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær
He’s still there plugging away and grinding out results. A third place finish last season points to progress under the Norwegian, but the fact remains that the previous season they finished on the same points, but in sixth place. They haven’t really improved all that much. It’s more a case of everyone else getting worse.
Still, there’s something about the Old Trafford hierarchy and their relationship with Ole that tells us that it will take something truly disastrous for him to get the boot. If they’re anywhere near the top six by the New Year, Ole will stay. Tenth or lower, and he has to go.
David Moyes
Poor old David Moyesie has had a bad run of luck. He’s been brought back to West Ham with the best of intentions, but the owners are failing him miserably. He’s getting very little backing in the transfer market this window and his big money players are seemingly still wearing their flip flops.
The impressive 4-0 win over Wolves was an anomaly and sums up the club perfectly. They’re the perennial yo-yo club and we wouldn’t be surprised to see them go down this season and come straight back up again.
We’re afraid Moyes may not be in the hot seat for too long though. Most bookmakers have him as the odds on favourite to pick up his P45 before Christmas and we’re not going to argue with that.
Marcelo Bielsa
A bit out of leftfield with this one. Bielsa is one of the most unpredictable characters in the game and we love the fact that he doesn’t give interviews in English. But we were absolutely sure he would walk at the end of last season regardless of whether or not the club got promoted.
He’s still there and Leeds are looking good, but we’ve got this inkling that a bigger club on the continent might come in for him at some point.
Bielsa won’t lose his job so maybe he’s not really qualified for this list, but there is every chance that he’ll walk if an Italian or Spanish club come in for him.
So who do we reckon will be first?
It’s toss-up between Lampard and Moyes. As strange as it may sound, Lampard is the more likely. He is under immense pressure to mount a title challenge or compete in Europe at the very least. Moyes, on the other hand, simply has to keep his team in midtable.
