Liverpool and Everton both endured a torrid day on Sunday, conceding nine goals between them and scoring just three. Ronald Koeman has now paid the ultimate price with his sacking but what of Jürgen Klopp? He looked like a man devoid of ideas in his post-match press conference, so could Liverpool’s owners also be planning a change?
Everton is in the bottom three and although we are just a quarter of the way through the season, it is no surprise that Koeman (left) has gone.
The away draw at Brighton last weekend was followed by a home defeat in the Europa League, and Sunday’s 2-5 loss to a resurgent Arsenal left Koeman grasping for yet more excuses after the game.
The reality is that the buck will always stop with managers. Big summer spending on the likes of Jordan Pickford, Michael Keane and Davy Klaassen has yet to pay off and the failure to replace Romelu Lukaku left a gaping hole up front.
Everton no longer has the benevolent presence of Bill Kenwright at the helm and Farhad Moshiri, with his 49.9% stake, wants quick success. A new ground is being planned and relegation would be catastrophic for the Toffees.
Since taking over at Southampton in June 2014, Koeman has won just 68 of his 149 games in charge of Saints and Everton. He benefitted from the magnificent groundwork laid by Mauricio Pochettino at St Marys but at Everton his win percentage was just 41%. Managing in the Premier League is a brutal business and although he will probably pick up another job quickly, his reputation has been tarnished.
Across Stanley Park, the long honeymoon enjoyed by Klopp is well and truly over. His team was schooled by Spurs at Wembley on Sunday and his defence’s performance would have given him nightmares.
Dejan Lovren looked like he has never played the game before and keeper Simon Mignolet is struggling for confidence. Liverpool spent the summer transfer window refusing to take calls from Barcelona but the £70m offered for Philippe Coutinho could have been put to good use buying defenders. Virgil Van Dijk may not have been the ideal option but he certainly would have been an improvement.
Next to go?
Klopp, usually so animated and articulate in his post-match interviews, struggled to describe his team’s performance against Spurs.
Even allowing for Harry Kane being at the top of his game, the Liverpool defensive unit was exposed time and time again. Lovren has struggled to win over the fans since his move from Southampton and his abject display against Tottenham will not help.
Logic dictates that Liverpool will stand by their man but these are not logical times. Club owners demand success from their managers and expect them to deliver almost immediately. Gone are the days of managers being given time to bed in and introduce new ideas. Leicester City’s surge two seasons ago was a magnificent triumph for the underdog, operating in the face of the big-club bullies.
That set the managerial bar impossibly high and when Leicester sacked Claudio Ranieri within a year of that amazing achievement it was always going to be tough for his successor(s).
That hunger for success is bearing down on a few other managers. Nowhere is this more evident than at West Ham United. A fan favourite at Upton Park as a player, Slaven Bilić is struggling with the increased expectation brought about by the move to the London Stadium.
A poor start to the season was thrown into focus this weekend, when the Hammers totally capitulated at home to the newcomers from Brighton. Like Koeman, Bilić was let down by his high-profile summer signings. Pablo Zabaletta gave away the penalty for Brighton’s third and Marko Arnautović should be ashamed of his performance. He is a creative midfield player with great natural ability but the rumours of a poor attitude were lent credibility by his showing against the Seagulls. The Austrian international was abject against the 37-year-old Bruno Salter and was pulled from the ground to a crescendo of boos.
Everton is the third club to boot a manager this season, after Crystal Palace and Leicester, and it won’t be the last. Could Klopp be the next casualty? He has had a great start to his career at Liverpool but owners have short memories and the Reds are already 12 points behind leaders Manchester City. Even with 27 games to go that is a decent gap to overcome and Klopp should be looking over his shoulder.
by Ian Hine
The post Football: Manager Mayhem by the Mersey appeared first on Felix Magazine.
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