It’s that time of year. Nearly a quarter of the season gone, an international break looming. The season is taking shape, and chairman and owners are assessing how their managers and head coaches are getting on.
Last season there were 11 managerial changes in total, three of them before November (two of those at Nottingham Forest), and trigger fingers are getting itchy.
Here we take a look at those most in danger of getting the chop – and one who might leave voluntarily.
Michael Carrick, Manchester United
Carrick has had a torrid time of late. After a positive run as caretaker manager last season, he rightly got the job in the summer. But it’s been largely downhill ever since. One win all season is nowhere near good enough and a defense that looked leaky tow years ago hasn’t been touched.
Off the pitch it’s just as hard. Lissandro Martínez and Bruno Fernandes have both openly questioned the owners and Carrick’s tactics in recent days, which led to both being benched for the 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth at the weekend.
That in itself led to a curious state of affairs, with social media clips of the crowd roundly supporting Carrick and turning their ire on the Board and the players. Has his position been strengthened at all?
A temporary reprieve
Carrick will be in charge at the weekend for the away game at Chelsea, but that feels like a reprieve rather than a vote of confidence. Eddie Howe and Julian Nagelsmann are both linked with the job, along with the explosive Antonio Conte.
Sixteenth in the Premier League is really poor for Manchester United and unless things change they will become embroiled in a relegation fight.
Yet, as discussed in the latest episode of the We Called it Soccer First podcast, it feels like the spotlight is pointing in the wrong direction. With the club heavily leveraged and in debt, transfer money is tight and the sense of a lack of direction and rudderless leadership is strong. The owners, the Glazer family and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, are incredibly unpopular.
Board under pressure
United have had 11 different managers since Sir Alex Ferguson left, and none have brought any medium, let alone long-term, success. There are regular changes at board level – where there seem to be too many executives with little accountability or clear job descriptions – and there may be more, with Technical Director Jason Wilcox and Chief Executive Omar Berrada in the firing line over the latest chaos.
Yet the easiest thing in football for owners to make it look like they are doing something is to sack the manager, and Carrick’s record this season leaves him little room for manoeuvre.
Pierre Sage, Crystal Palace
Sage arrived in June with strong credentials: Ligue 1 Manager of the Year, a Coupe de France win and second place with Lens. Twelve games in, his Palace record reads four wins, two draws and six defeats.
That on the face of it isn’t bad, but three defeats on the spin, which included a 5-0 hammering to their rivals Brighton and an insipid 2-0 home defeat to Newcastle, have left Sage under pressure. As you can see in this video, the defending for both goals was woeful.
You sense the clock is ticking for Sage to address the horrendous holes in his defence and they need to start keeping clean sheets.
Palace are conceding over two goals at game in the Premier League and that is unsustainable if you want to stay up. All three relegated sides last season had a better defensive record than that.
Falling apart
After a reasonable first half against Newcastle, Palace fell apart. They were wide open at the back yet again and the body language, with slumped shoulders and vacant looks, suggested the players aren’t buying into whatever Sage is selling.
Sage probably only has a handful of games to save his job. They currently sit one place above the relegation zone but if they slip into the bottom three the optics will look worse. Fulham in the League Cup and a visit to Tottenham at the weekend look crucial. Two defeats there and it might be enough for Chairman Steve Parrish to pull the trigger.
Régis Le Bris, Sunderland
Sunderland are bottom of the Premier League, which automatically puts pressure on any manager. Yet Le Bris should have plenty of credit in the bank. He took Sunderland from 16th in the Championship to the Premier League in 24/25, then to seventh place and European football last season.
This season has been far harder. Only one win in eight league games has led their own players to question their mentality, with defender Nordi Mukiele suggesting last season’s surprise successes potentially made them “arrogant”. On Sunday they looked devoid of confidence in a 0-0 bore draw with Leeds.
Injuries to key players Brian Brobbey and Dan Ballard have not helped, and in contrast to their league form, Le Bris has been buoyed by a strong start to their Europa League campaign, which is taking some of the heat off.
But football is a merciless game of money, and the longer Sunderland are at high risk of being relegated, the more nervous the Board will become.
Álvaro Arbeloa, Fulham
A few weeks ago Arbeloa was top of the “most likely to be sacked” list but he has done something Carrick and Sage have not: he has started winning. Appointed on a three-year deal in July to replace Marco Silva, he arrived after a short spell in charge of Real Madrid.
His first six league games brought two points, ending with a 2-1 defeat at Ipswich after Fulham had led until the 88th minute. Reports followed that some players doubted his training sessions and there were suggestions of mutiny behind the scenes.
But Fulham were never playing as badly as results suggested and back-to-back wins over Hull and Coventry have lifted them out of the bottom three. For now he looks like he has escaped the guillotine, and Fulham fans are starting to look at the season in a more positive light. If he is to survive, Arbeloa needs to keep that upward trajectory.
Oliver Glasner, Nottingham Forest
In the real world, Glasner would be under no pressure at all. Yet Nottingham Forest is not the real world. Glasner is their fourth manager since the start of last season and Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is an unpredictable as he is physically imposing.
After the chaos of last season, securing Glasner was a coup. On the back of steering Crystal Palace to three trophies in two years – the first three in their history – he looked the ideal man to take Forest back into Europe.
Yet surprisingly Forest find themselves as one of only three teams to win just one game this season and sit second from bottom of the Premier League.
Goals are the issue
Again, in the real world, this wouldn’t be a major cause for concern. He started slowly at Palace and Forest have been playing better than their results suggest. Yet Nottingham Forest is not the real world.
Defensively they look ok, they are creating plenty of opportunities, but goals are the main problem. The crowd is at risk of turning.
Sacking Glasner would be shooting yourself in the foot but it would be a very Forest thing to do. Marinakis is not a man known for his patience. Glasner needs a win, and soon.
Unai Emery, Aston Villa
No suggestion he’s under the sack threat – Emery is one of the Premier League’s best managers and would be perfect for the Manchester United project. Used to building teams, he has done a brilliant job at Villa.
So why would he leave? Well, for a start, can he trust the Villa board? Reputed to have a “unbreakable” relationship with owner Nassef Sawiris, his reward for winning the Europa League last season was to see his squad decimated during the summer – the direct opposite of what he expected as he was keen to build for a strong Champions League campaign. That trust will be severely put to the test if Old Trafford comes knocking.
Villa sold Morgan Rogers to Chelsea for a club-record £117m. Youri Tielemans left for Manchester United for £35m and Donyell Malen for Roma.
Ezri Konsa departed for Arsenal, top scorer Ollie Watkins for Al Hilal and Lucas Digne went to PSG. That’s some fire sale.
Yet does he – does anyone – want to deal with the United owners and Board right now? Emery is loved at Villa and known to be happy there despite the transfer business in the summer. He is, again, doing a great job this season rebuilding from scratch.
But Manchester United is Manchester United, chaos or not. It would be a hard offer to turn down.
Nick has enjoyed a highly successful career in journalism and the media. He spent 23 years in the UK national print media, including 15 years on the Daily Telegraph as a senior reporter. He is also an experienced commentator and communications expert. His broadcast appearances include Newsnight, Sky News, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Television, BBC Radio Scotland and local television in Scotland and England. He currently hosts The Road to World Cup 26 podcast.
