It’s deckchairs on the Titanic in the deep depths of the Premier League this season, with Southampton joining Leeds in the search for a new manager this week.
The biggest changes have come at Southampton who, coincidentally or otherwise, find themselves rooted to the foot of the table ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Chelsea.
Having begun the season under Ralph Hasenhuttl, Saints sacked the Austrian and signed up for three months of the Nathan Jones experience, before again opting for a fresh start.
Seemingly unperturbed by their recent record, the shortlist for their third ‘permanent’ manager of the season reportedly consisted of three men whose positions were deemed untenable elsewhere this term; Lampard, Steven Gerrard (Aston Villa) and Jesse Marsch (Leeds).
It wasn’t so long ago reliable old-stagers Sam Allardyce, Roy Hodgson and Neil Warnock would be checking their phones around this time of year but, while Warnock answered an SOS from Championship strugglers Huddersfield this week, Premier League clubs are increasingly looking further afield for salvation.
Take Aston Villa. Such has been the relative success of Unai Emery, Gerrard’s successor at Villa Park, that the Birmingham club do not really warrant inclusion in any rundown of relegation candidates.
And though there has been something ugly about recent losses to Leicester and Manchester City, on the whole 16 points from 12 games is the kind of impact a lower mid-table team is likely to welcome.
Elsewhere in the west Midlands, Emery’s fellow Spaniard Julen Lopetegui has done even better since replacing Bruno Lage at Wolves during the World Cup break.
A man with a Europa League title and spells in charge of Spain and Real Madrid on his CV, Lopetegui has made the kind of positive impression which persuades so many chairman haunted by fears of relegation to pull the trigger.
Pre-Lopetegui, Wolves had won just one of their opening 11 Premier League games this season. Under the Spaniard they have five wins and three draws from their next 11. They host Bournemouth tomorrow with a five-point cushion over the bottom three. Change is good.
With top-flight squads more cosmopolitan than ever and ownership groups also drawn from across the globe it makes sense that under-performing clubs are increasingly looking overseas for a firefighting manager.
Southampton’s move for Jones was out of character but, having quickly suffered from buyer’s remorse, their move for Marsch also raised eyebrows. However, while the American’s frenetic approach on and off the pitch at Leeds often failed to convince, there was method to Southampton’s search this time.
The south-coast club have links to the Salzburg/Leipzig system in which Marsch, like Hasenhuttl, honed his coaching craft and while talks with Marsch eventually broke down, St Mary’s may have proved a better fit than Elland Road for the 49-year-old’s second go around.
Everton also looked to Leeds for inspiration when Lampard was dispatched but, having come up short in their approach for Marcelo Bielsa, pivoted wildly in the manner only a club with no defined philosophy can and went for hard-nosed Dyche. The former Burnley manager may have more strings to his bow than he is given credit for but he still represents a departure from the growing trends in the relegation ruck.
Leeds, who visit Everton tomorrow, are similar to the Saints in that they are too welded to an ethos to opt for such drastic change, but their predicament makes it hard to argue their way is better. There is concern that in fixating on a certain type of coach Leeds may be overlooking some viable candidates or leaving themselves rudderless longer than they should be at such a crucial time.
Talking of rudderless – Bournemouth, spooked by a 9-0 walloping at Liverpool, pulled the pin on Parker before the schools went back but left O’Neil in limbo for more than three months while Bill Foley’s takeover was completed.
By then, much of the lustre of O’Neil’s early efforts had worn off but two points and just two goals conceded in their last three games hints at the kind of recovery that could yet persuade the Cherries against joining Saints in the search for a third manager of the season.
One guarantee of stability – until your boss gets poached by a bigger club – is good results, which means there was never any question of Fulham axing Marco Silva, although Nottingham Forest deserve credit for holding their nerve when Steve Cooper’s team got off to a tricky start.
Aside from Forest, West Ham are the only team in the bottom seven to have stood by their man and, although David Moyes has faced plenty of criticism, a run of just one defeat – to Lopetegui’s Wolves – in 2023 means that, barring a major collapse, the Scot is probably safe.
So while most clubs are likely to make the change in a bid to survive, there is still one certainty. For three of them, it won’t be enough.
MORE : Jesse Marsch may leap straight from Leeds sacking into the vacant job at Southampton
MORE : Southampton sack manager Nathan Jones after just 14 games in charge
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