Well few fans would have predicted any of the top 6 Premier League clubs making a managerial change this season.
Similarly most football pundits would not have been expecting changes in the gaffer at any top 6 clubs. This was especially the case after Chelsea had only appointed a new boss in former Napoli manager Mauricio Sarri to replace the outbound Antonio Conte in the summer and after over 20 years in the role Arsene Wenger stepped down as Arsenal’s manager to be replaced by former Sevilla and PSG boss Spaniard Unai Emery within days of the 2017-18 season finishing.
None of Man City, Liverpool, Man United and Tottenham either were expected to part company with Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Jose Mourinho and Mauricio Pochettino respectively ahead of the season or as we approached Christmas (the latter two managers having signed recent contract extensions).
As we know the football world was shocked when Man United sacked Mourinho before Christmas and then the next day replaced him on an interim basis with Red-Devils legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who had previously had a relatively short, unsuccessful spell in charge of Cardiff City between spells at Molde.
Solskjaer has enjoyed a stunning run of success since he has taken over at Old Trafford overseeing 8 straight wins with 1 draw including big wins over Tottenham and Arsenal but as you can see in the video below one fan went against the opinions of all the other PlayMaker FC pundits suggesting despite his good job so far Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would be the next top 6 boss to go but perhaps not until the summer.
The majority of PlayMaker FC pundits are convinced that Klopp, Guardiola and Pochettino are unsackable right now and Unai Emery is going nowhere as he is being given time by the Gunners to build a project at the Emirates and the pundits mostly felt that OGS was doing far too well at United to be sacked.
The overwhelming favourite manager to lose his job according to the PlayMaker FC pundits is Chelsea’s Mauricio Sarri. Chelsea with owner Roman Abramovich in control have gone through more managers since 2003 than Liverpool, Man United and Arsenal combined which does not bode well for the Italian.
Even though the Blues seem to have signed Gonzalo Higuain to appease Sarri, after the stunning 4-0 loss to Bournemouth last night and following Sarri’s public criticism of his star players like Eden Hazard after the Spurs loss a couple of weeks ago the Chelsea boss admitted today the problem may be that HE cannot motivate the players.
Will the Playmaker FC pundits be proved right? We will have to see but the bookies have Sarri as 7-4 favourite to be sacked next, with Leicester’s Claude Puel 2nd favourite for the boot at 2-1 with Everton’s Marco Silva at 4-1 the 3rd favourite to be put on gardening leave.
Fortunately Mauricio Sarri’s Blues face bottom club Huddersfield at home next in the Premier league followed by a huge away trip to face Champions Manchester City before another huge clash against Manchester United in the Emirates FA Cup is precluded and followed by round of 32 1st and 2nd leg clashes against Malmo in the Europa League. If Sarri loses to Man City in the League, Man United in the FA Cup and fails in any of the other 3 games before they face Man City in the Carabao Cup Final at Wembley on February 24th then we could be looking at another Chelsea manager being appointed to replace Mauricio Sarri.
We hope Sarri gets to manage out the season as any manager needs at least a season to have an impact but will owner Roman Abramovich and the Chelsea Board be so patient?