Football Alphabet - Managers Moyes, Mourinho, Meulensteen and Mackay do Battle

The battles at the top and bottom of the Premier League are starting to take shape now that we are 15 games into the current season and I have picked out a quartet of managers with names beginning with "M" that may well be contesting some of those vital league positions.

Moyes versus Mourinho

This battle may yet develop into the close contest many thought it would be at the start of the season but thanks to Manchester United’s dreadful (by their own standards) start to the season, David Moyes is struggling a bit and United are already playing catch up. Jose Mourinho, despite a much healthier league position and return of points, hasn't had it all his own way either. Just when Chelsea look like they are really hitting their stride and playing great football, they throw in a lazy draw or unlikely defeat and at the time of writing, remain 5 points behind early pacesetters Arsenal.

However, there is still plenty of time for the Moyes v Mourinho battle to take shape, if not this season, then over the coming seasons. Both managers are adapting to a new environment (albeit Mourinho is a little more familiar with his) and really have their hands full in attempting to deliver silverware for their expectant supporters this year. Most pundits believe that the league season is already over for Man United (who sit 13 points off the top of the table) and although there is an almighty gap to make up, history tells that they don’t often “get going” until January anyway. Most pundits also believe that they need to buy 3 or 4 world class players in the January transfer window.

Mackay versus Meulensteen

At the time of writing there is only 1 point and 2 league positions separating Fulham and Cardiff City (1 point better off), so although new Fulham boss Rene Meulensteen is fresh to the fray, this battle is already in full swing. Fulham, frankly have had a dreadful start to the campaign and although many believe Martin Jol is a highly competent manager, the body language from both him and his team had been very, very poor in the month prior to Jol’s unfortunate but inevitable sacking. Fulham have already shown considerably more fight in Meulensteen’s first 2 games in charge and are perhaps unlucky to only have 3 points to show for their efforts.

Cardiff City have only 1 win in their last 9 games and despite some impressive performances (a win against Man City and a draw with Man United), the Welsh team now seem to be finding the Premier League as tough as they might have expected when they got promoted. Malky Malkay (perfect initials for this episode) hasn't just had to contend with getting his team to perform on the pitch but also issues behind the scenes, with a chairman who although undoubtedly has put money into the club, very much has his own way of doing things.

On paper at least, Fulham seem to have the more creative squad and are perhaps better equipped to survive, but Cardiff will battle, make no mistake about that and the Mackay v Meulensteen battle may well turn out to be a more interesting contest than the one involving Moyes and Mourinho.