Five Premier League Managers Facing Huge Pressure to Deliver a Win This Weekend
That was a long and painful foreign break, even by the long and painful standards of international breaks.
We’ve had to put up with not one but two press-manufactured controversy involving Jude Bellingham and, most ridiculously, irate England supporters and their TUCHEL BACKLASH because there is nothing on the pitch to grab the public’s attention except from England’s cliched, inevitable World Cup qualification.
The return of Our League this weekend, after what seems like decades, is a blessing for Barclays, since it gives us all the opportunity to resume the far more respectable and important task of trying to fire some managers. Yes, there are further words regarding Ange Postecoglou.
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We are more back than ever. Here are only five managers who could really, really use a victory this weekend, rated by the likelihood that they will be fired the next day or at the very least subjected to a barrage of deceptive headlines, cracked-badge imagery, and the term “beleaguered” incessantly.
5) Vitor Pereira (wolve)
On the road, Sunderland has given Pereira and a Wolves team that is still the only one without a win this season an uncomfortably six-pointer vibe.
You begin to grasp how awful that is when you take into account that West Ham is a part of the Premier League.
Wolves’ long-standing poor start was not entirely resolved by a trip to Dr. Tottenham, but a pair of 1-1 draws prior to the international break was at least something. However, it feels like it’s just about time to win now.
It’s becoming ridiculous, and even though Nottingham Forest and Manchester United continue to give Pereira and every other manager in the league ridiculous levels of cover, that can only go on for so long.
4) Scott Parker (Burnley)
You do have some sympathy for Burnley. Indeed, they had experienced a few paddlings, which is typical of the advertised course. No promoted side is expected to completely escape paddlings.
The general idea is sound, though Parker himself went a bit too far when he believed that 9-0 losses were inevitable at Bournemouth.
As a promoted side, you will occasionally be beaten. Heartbreaking late penalties cost Burnley points at home against Liverpool and in a relegation six-pointer at Old Trafford, but they have come incredibly close to some genuinely stunning outcomes in previous occasions.
Parker has not been in the spotlight at all because of the positive tone of so many Burnley performances and the manager-crisis-based coverage of more noteworthy disasters elsewhere.
Burnley, however, has only four points from seven games and is yet to defeat a Premier League opponent from the previous campaign. They will eventually have to defeat someone who played in the Premier League the previous season.
However, Burnley has another six-pointer against Leeds at home before that, so that can wait until next weekend’s trip to Wolves.
You believe the Clarets need to win at least one of these two games, but it’s far too early to discuss must-win games.
Because after that it’s Arsenal, Burnley might appear noticeably lost, and Parker will undoubtedly have job security issues.
3) Arne Slot (Liverpool)
After a terrible run of poor form that saw them plummet all the way to second place in the league table, a whopping one point behind leaders and champions-elect Arsenal who are notoriously simply unstoppable once they get their noses in front in October—Liverpool was forced to spend the international break in mini-crisis purgatory.
However, if he ruins another game, especially at home against Manchester United, which is a major catastrophe, that mini-crisis will undoubtedly turn into a full-blown, regular-sized crisis.
Although all of the crisis rhetoric at Liverpool is obviously ridiculous, it will be more than a month since Liverpool last won a league match if they are unable to defeat what has emerged as the Premier League’s most dependable banter club in recent years, with all due respect to Spurs.
And it would still be awful even if there was a break in the middle of that run, wouldn’t it? For a team aiming to win the league, that would still be a very long period of time without winning a league game.
Beyond their personal struggles, Liverpool’s other issue is that, in recent seasons, visiting Anfield has proven to be one of those times when United puts on a real show and the old muscle memory of the 1990s comes back to life.
After suffering terrible defeats of 4-0 and 7-0 in 21/22 and 22/23, they have now left Anfield with a point in each of the previous two seasons.
Liverpool’s victory ends the mini-crisis. A mini-crisis has the advantage of being easily avoided. However, if you go below that, there’s a serious risk that the threat level would rise.
After then, achieving escape velocity becomes more difficult. If things don’t work out, we think it might be as short as one week before Slot is exposed as a complete scam. Being alert is essential.
2) Ruben Amorim (Manchester United)
Sir Jim’s previously crazy demand that Amorim be granted three years at United, come what may, would appear to be a fine and reasonable idea if they were to win at Anfield, which would undoubtedly put an end to the haters and doubters for good.
Because Amorim will accomplish the amazing and unheard-of achievement of winning two Premier League games in a row if he can orchestrate a victory at crisis-plagued Liverpool.
Achieving not one but two consecutive victories would instantly place Amorim in the pantheon of truly great Premier League managers, alongside Barclays managerial greats like David Wagner, Velimir Zajec, Paul Ince, and Ricky Sbragia.
It’s an incredible accomplishment that defies the talk of United being in some sort of crisis.
1) Ange Postecoglou (Nottingham Forest)
In his second month, buddy, he always wins something. One thing is that Postecoglou has survived the international break, which was not guaranteed at the start. It may even out to be the victory.
However, it wasn’t exactly a comfortable two weeks, and there was an excessive amount of use of the terms “Sean” and “Dyche.”
This suggests, at the very least, that Forest’s top brass have at least stopped sneering at themselves long enough to realise that one successful season did not actually propel them to the protected elite and that they could still be demoted if they insist on going around to find out.
Postecoglou is already under a lot of pressure because he has lost his last seven games, including against Swansea, Sunderland, and Midtjylland.
If and when Forest gives in and pulls the plug, the entire football community will be ready to yell, “We told you so.” And if Forest doesn’t show up after this game, it could be.
Although it still seems unconscionably unfair to turn a match against Chelsea into a must-win scenario so early in a manager’s tenure, it’s also difficult to overestimate how swiftly and completely Postecoglou has wiped out any goodwill and leeway throughout some softer games.
This manager never seemed like a good fit for the team he would take over, and he had no previous Premier League results to support his claims when he came to Forest.
The whole Angeball experience has been sped up by Forest, who may already be nearing the end. Unfortunately, without the mysterious European trophy to prove it.
