Have you heard the one about the
Englishman, Welshman, Chilean, Argentine and Uruguayan? We don’t have a punch
line for it yet but each of them are making their own headlines in the English
Premier League this season.
It’s probably fair to say that Manuel Pellegrini has the biggest job –
at least in terms of expectation levels – with a Manchester City team that
underwhelmed in the league last season (after being triumphant the year before)
and totally flopping in the Champions League. Phase one of Pellegrini’s plan
has already been accomplished with City finally reaching the knock-out phase of
the Champions League. However, in the Premier League, there is a little more
work to be done. At the Etihad Stadium, they have looked every inch title
contenders and are scoring goals galore but on their travels they have won just
2 of 8 games.
Tony Pulis is both the newest manager to join the Premier League
battle this season and perhaps the most experienced. He led Stoke City to
promotion from the Championship in 2008 and turned the Potters into a team that
were really difficult to beat, especially at home. 5 seasons later and Stoke
were still in the top flight and had enjoyed a season of European football but
Pulis and the club parted ways at the end of the 2012/2013 season. He has now
taken on the unenviable task of trying to keep Crystal Palace in the Premier
League after an abysmal start to the season under previous boss Ian Holloway.
Pulis is no stranger to a relegation dogfight and if anyone can get those red and blue
football scarves waving again, it’s probably him.
Many people predicted doom and
gloom for Alan Pardew and Newcastle
United this season but they currently sit just 4 points behind Liverpool in
second place. It seems that Pardew doesn’t really have an average season at St
James’ Park, it’s either really impressive or awful! Last season was pretty
dire, so the Magpies seem to be running to form again this year with a really
decent start. There are probably eruptions (Joe Kinnear?) waiting to happen
though and a bad run could soon bring them all to the surface again.
Has Gus Poyet walked into a job that is going to prove to be beyond
him? Steve Bruce, Martin O’ Neill and Paulo Di Canio have all flirted with
relegation at the Stadium of Light in recent seasons and Poyet has inherited a
really difficult situation at Sunderland, with a
squad that isn’t really his. Just 2 wins in his first 8 league games in charge
and the Black Cats are now rooted to the bottom of the league. Whereas Crystal
Palace were probably simply hoping to stay up this season, for Sunderland fans,
after money was spent in the summer, expectations were and still are much
higher. A tough task for Mr Poyet!
Although plenty of money has been
spent both during their ascent to the Premier League and their current 2 year
stay, how many people genuinely thought there would be quite so much progress
at Southampton FC? Many people felt that Nigel Adkins was hard-done by when
sacked midway through their first season back in the top flight, but while
there might still be some sympathy and appreciation for the great job he did,
most Saints fans are now more than happy with their new man, Mauricio Pochettino. They are playing
exciting attacking football, they are genuinely competing (on the pitch at
least) with the big clubs and are perhaps now being seen as European hopefuls
rather than relegation contenders.
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