Theres no shortage of managers who find themselves under an increasing amount of pressure in the buildup to Christmas, and with yet more poor results at the weekend we’ve made up our own shortlist of managers who may find themselves without a club very soon…
Paul Ince, Blackburn.
Mark Hughes, Man City.
Tony Mowbray, WBA.
Gianfranco Zola, West Ham.
Arsene Wenger, Arsenal.
Paul Ince is up there in first spot for obvious reasons – poor Blackburn Rovers form. Before the start of the season I felt Blackburn would struggle, but I thought the goals of Santa Cruz should be enough to save them. However the front 2 don’t get much service now Bentley is gone, and the defence at time looks poor, which wasn’t at all helped by Friedel’s departure.
Mark Hughes is unfortunately up there in number 2 because he’s become under so much more pressure since the club was taken over by the richest people in the world. When Hughes took the job City were a quite average side with no real expectations (UEFA Cup again perhaps), but now they are the richest club in the world the fans (and owners) will be looking to bigger things, and will not appreciate being anywhere near the relegation zone. The manager will have plenty of money to spend in the January transfer window, but he will have to make sure that he keeps his job, and keeps the faith of the Abu Dhabi group when it comes round to the January window.
Tony Mowbrow is up there simply because WBA are at the foot of the Premiership table. He shouldn’t lose his job because theres not too much he can really do with the players at his disposal, but he is still under pressure and will no doubt lose his job soon unless they can start picking up points fast.
Gianfranco Zola is also another unfortunate addition to the list in 4th place, who would have probably been in 2nd place would it not have been for West Ham’s excellent performance against Chelsea on Sunday which resulted in them picking up a point. West Ham are 2 places above the relegation zone and have only won once in their last 6 Premier League matches. No-one will want Zola to go, but he has already stated that he could walk from the club due to all of the problems off the pitch (which could result in Zola being forced to sell his prized assets to raise some finances).
Arsene Wenger has been shamefully included in the last position simply because the club aren’t performing how they should be. Its not that they don’t have the talent, and although Wenger has built the club up with some amazing players, I still feel that they lack a cutting edge. In my opinion they need to lose players such as Gallas and maybe even Bendtner (who I just don’t rate, and feel is too gready) and they need to bring in someone with good leadership qualities and also bring in a central midfielder. They’ve missed Vieira since he left a few years ago, and I don’t feel that they have ever replaced him properly. But Wenger should never really be put under any pressure because he is one of the best managers in the world still.
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Incey will probably be gone in the next few days I reckon