MN News Hub
Date published: Sunday 2nd April 2023 7:37 – Will Ford
We’ve ranked the top-flight managers by their chance of being shown – or showing themselves to – the door, starting with the favourite, according to the best odds currently available on oddschecker.
Quite a lot happened to change this on Sunday.
1) Steve Cooper
One point clear of the relegation zone in early April, which they surely would have taken in August, but defeats to Tottenham and Newcastle hurt for different reasons. Reports emerged at the weekend that ‘a failure to beat Wolves could put Cooper in real trouble,’ so it remains to be seen how a 1-1 draw is treated by the board. They can’t lose to Leeds on Tuesday.
2) David Moyes
A West Ham team that finished sixth then seventh in the Premier League in the previous two seasons, spent £150m in the summer on players like Lucas Paqueta and Gianluca Scamacca, and lost no players of great significance, should not be in a relegation fight.
Still feels like it must surely be a matter of time, though it still seems that West Ham are not planning on sacking Moyes yet and a grim yet necessary win over Southampton buys him more time for sure.
3) Thomas Frank
In no danger of the sack, of course. He’s built a proper Premier League squad that plays entertaining football on a shoestring budget. But with Chelsea, Spurs and Leicester all looking for new managers, the Dane will be in demand.
4) Julen Lopetegui
Prior to turning over a dreadful Liverpool side, Wolves had beaten the teams they’re supposed to beat, lost to the teams they’re supposed to lose to and drawn with the side on a similar path under fellow Spanish saviour Unai Emery. Coming from behind to defeat Saints plunged one team further into the relegation mire while opening up a five-point gap to the bottom three, but a home defeat to Bournemouth was careless. Beating Spurs was excellent, though, and they appeared to be the one team in that bottom nine who might be able to drag themselves properly clear before it all gets too unbearably tense and unpleasant. Then they lost 4-2 to Leeds while having two players sent off, one of whom didn’t even play. And a 1-1 draw with Forest keeps them in the mix.
5) Ruben Selles
Appointed until the end of the season by Southampton, defeat to Leeds United was damaging but earning a point from 3-1 down to Spurs with 16 minutes remaining was a fantastic result. Losing at West Ham less so.
6) Roberto De Zerbi
Can Brighton do no wrong? They sold their two best players from last season and got better, then lost one of the best young managers around, and again, seem to have got better. Even without their leading scorer, they battered Liverpool and their disappointment in drawing with Leicester, Crystal Palace, Leeds and Brentford is a pretty good indication as to how far they’ve come. But with Spurs and Chelsea needing a new manager now…
7) Cristian Stellini
There is obviously a chance that Tottenham will send the Italian the way of his friend Antonio Conte if they can pin down a permanent appointment before the summer, and more such candidates keep becoming available…
8) Gary O’Neil
Heartbreak at Arsenal was followed by a similarly impressive performance against Liverpool, with the result to boot. Then battered 3-0 by Aston Villa obviously, before even more obviously beating similarly mid-table Fulham.
9) Jurgen Klopp
Are we in the Klopp/Liverpool endgame? There are whispers that the club are feeling ‘samesy’ towards him, and that was even before the Anfield humiliation at the hands of Real Madrid. Julian Nagelsmann is the name mentioned as a replacement, but Chelsea could now beat them to that punch. Then they beat Manchester United 7-0 before losing 1-0 to Bournemouth. We’re baffled. But another Champions League exit to Madrid-based opposition doesn’t seem to have cranked up the pressure just yet. Getting thrashed by Manchester City might.
10) Javi Gracia
We’re certain Leeds will be better with Gracia than they were without him, but not so sure about whether that is going to be enough to mean an awful lot. A win over Wolves really did help.
11) Marco Silva
There is far, far more danger of Silva being poached than being sacked as the Cottagers have performed beyond any expectations.
12) Unai Emery
It would be quite difficult to do less than Steven Gerrard with what is a pretty well-stocked squad. But after beating Chelsea in their own backyard, Aston Villa have earned more Premier League points since Unai Emery’s first game than every team bar Arsenal and Manchester City.
13) Sean Dyche
Everton have been turned Dyche very quickly and now look in less danger of being relegated. It’s not pretty, but who cares? Other than Johnny Nic…
14) Erik ten Hag
He appears to have fixed the unfixable. It was assumed there was no manager would could succeed at Manchester United while the Glazers remain, but Ten Hag has taken hold of a shambles of a squad and turned them into cup winners, ending a six-year silverware drought. Having a pretty major league wobble just now, though.
15) Roy Hodgson
Frankly it was a bizarre decision to bring him back to Crystal Palace; it would be an even more bizarre decision if they reversed on that decision before the end of the season, particularly after a pulsating win over Leicester. And he does have a perversely easy run-in because Palace’s fixture list this season was so weird, being broadly speaking broken into four sections of ‘all the good teams’ then ‘all the bad teams’ then ‘all the good teams again’ and now finally at last ‘all the bad teams again’.
16) Pep Guardiola
“If I defend the people and the club it’s because I work with them. When I asked about suspicions or if our people have done something, then I say to them, ‘tell me’. I said to them ‘if you lie to me, the day after I’m not here, I will be out and you will not be my friend any more.’ But I look at them and believe them 100 per cent from day one. So I defend the club because of that.”
Those odds shortened significantly in the immediate aftermath of the Man City charges. Guardiola was second favourite to leave next at one point. But the dust has settled, any punishment will take years to be doled out and the manager has doubled down on the siege mentality.
17) Mikel Arteta
It now feels as though the only way Arteta is leaving Arsenal is if Barcelona come calling. And even they will have to wait. Love him or hate him, he is doing an extraordinary job.
18) Eddie Howe
Took Newcastle from 19th to a comfortable mid-table finish last season and now has them well in with a shout of qualifying for the Champions League, spending smart money on players who have immediately improved the first XI. Stage Two will cost a pretty penny, but a taste of Wembley seems to have given the owners further motivation to do/pay whatever it takes. Will Howe be around for that stage? A thumpingly good win over Manchester United helps his cause.
Source: Football365.com | Read More
