EXCUSES, EXCUSES
Now is the time of the season when expectations begin to dwindle or grow depending on how the first 11 games went.
Almost a third of the way into the 2017-18 campaign, the Premier League table is taking shape.
That means it’s ready to get out your “Premier League excuses” bingo card. You will likely have heard more than one of the following this past weekend:
- Injuries are taking their toll
- We didn’t get what we deserved
- Squad rotation played a part
- Refereeing decisions cost us
- We were unlucky
Like clockwork both Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger marked their bingo cards earlier than most with Mourinho blaming a plethora of injuries after Manchester United’s defeat at Chelsea.
“Of course we missed some important players, especially the quality and physicality of some of them that couldn’t be available,” Mourinho said, before adding his side “deserved more” and that this is “not about what is fair and isn’t fair.”
Wenger took a shot at the referees, league-wide, after Arsenal’s defeat at Manchester City which saw Raheem Sterling awarded a penalty kick and Gabriel Jesus’ goal which should’ve been ruled out for offside.
With pressure mounting as preseason expectations dwindle for plenty of the big boys as Manchester City race clear atop the table, what else did you expect?
Mourinho, Wenger et al. are old hands at this game but the new boys were at it too.
Mauricio Pellegrino is struggling to impact Southampton’s style of play as they lost at home to Burnley and now face a ridiculously tough run of games with just 13 points on the board from their first 11 games. He and his players talked about a lack of luck and another gem which we will start to see appear is players “not gelling” as a unit.
Call me cynical, but the only managers or players we won’t be hearing excuses from is that that are overachieving. Anyone connected with Manchester City, Burnley, Brighton, Huddersfield and possibly Tottenham, will not be spewing out excuses anytime soon.
As for the rest? Well, it’s that time of year when the pressure builds and there are no easy answers to failing to live up to the preseason hype. The easiest answer of all is to roll out one of the antiquated excuses listed above.
BILIC OUT AS MOVING TIME ARRIVES
Premier League chairman and boards are known to be the most ruthless in the game, but this season has been something else.
After 11 games last season just one manager had lost his job: Francesco Guidolin at Swansea City. Only five more managerial changes arrived during the entire season, with Bob Bradley replaced by Paul Clement at Swansea, Sam Allardyce replacing Alan Pardew at Crystal Palace, Marco Silva arriving at Hull City, Aitor Karanka ousted at Middlesbrough and Claudio Ranieri replaced by Craig Shakespeare at Leicester City.
Slaven Bilic lost his job on Monday at West Ham on Monday, becoming the fourth manager to do so already this season after Frank de Boer was sacked by Crystal Palace after four games, Craig Shakespeare was given just eight games by Leicester and Ronald Koeman was out after nine games at Everton.
Yet Bilic and Koeman losing their jobs at aspirational clubs in West Ham and Everton, who both spent big this summer, shows the root of the problem: the board has no back up plan. David Moyes has arrived at the Hammers and Sam Allardyce is said to be closing in on getting the job at Goodison on a short-term basis.
1.33 - Slaven Bilic had the best points-per-game ratio of any permanent West Ham manager in the @premierleague. Undeserved? pic.twitter.com/XmSDKFcPJ3
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 6, 2017
Player power played its part in the sacking of all four and in Bilic’s case rumblings of a severe lack of respect from senior first team players is tough to hear. Bilic’s time was up, he admitted it himself, but he deserved better treatment from his senior pros due to his commitment to the Hammers both as a player and a manager. History will be kind to him because of that, even if the move to London Stadium and losing Dimitri Payet wasn’t.
So, why are managers being fired so quickly this season?
One can only assume that the success of the newly-promoted teams is having a huge impact on the established PL clubs who are starting to realize that Brighton & Hove Albion, Huddersfield and Newcastle all being inside the top 11 is no fluke. They’re stable, solid and mean business in the top-flight and all of a sudden the assumption that one or two of the new boys will go straight back down is incorrect.
Panic is a word oft used to describe the actions of PL chairman and decision makers. It’s apt right now.
Who’s next?
The ongoing situation at Chelsea (long-time Technical Director Michael Emenalo left abruptly on Monday) could cause Antonio Conte’s future to be plunged into further doubt, while Tony Pulis is under pressure at West Brom after just two wins in their last 20 PL games and Clement is under pressure at Swansea following five defeats in their last six outings.
We could very well see half the managers who started the Premier League season replaced by the end of the campaign.
With huge financial gains for being a PL club, the stakes are high and the directors are panicking, perhaps unlike ever before. That’s quite a feat.
MANCHESTER CITY UNSTOPPABLE?
They’ve made the best start in Premier League history after 11 games and right now Pep Guardiola’s men look unstoppable.
Winning 10 of their opening 11 games, which have included victories against Chelsea, Liverpool and now Arsenal, Man City already have an eight-point lead atop the table and a record goal differential of +31.
The way they toyed with Arsenal was unfair, at times, on Sunday. Their fluid passing, total domination in the final third and ability to have midfielders continually arriving in the box saw Arsenal pinned back. Like everybody else who has faced City this season, they couldn’t cope.
City have scored 52 goals this season after 17 games in all competitions, which is a record for any PL club, and this is exactly why Guardiola arrived at Man City.
We’ve seen this before from City, not on this scale, but a fast start to the season where they looked impenetrable has faltered right around this period in seasons gone by.
31 - With 31 points and a goal difference of +31, this is Pep Guardiola's best start after 11 games to a league season as manager. Stormer. pic.twitter.com/qiM2Zx5Krr
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 6, 2017
The difference this season is they’ve already qualified for the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League, meaning they can rest key players between now and the busy festive period. The difference is the sheer squad depth they have despite injuries to Benjamin Mendy and Vincent Kompany.
The fact that Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan and Gabriel Jesus were rolled out late on against Arsenal, with Yaya Toure, Danilo and Claudio Bravo unused subs, says it all.
Guardiola has, of course, been backed significantly in the transfer market but he’s not only spending cash like it’s going out of fashion, he’s improving every single player City has.
Look at Kevin de Bruyne and his weekly bouts of magic from central midfield. John Stones’ growing composure in central defense. Raheem Sterling finally adding an end product to his game. Sergio Aguero’s rejuvenation. The examples go on and on.
Man City face Leicester, Huddersfield, West Ham and Southampton in their next four games in the Premier League. They are expected to win all four and by the time the first Manchester derby of the season arrives at Old Trafford on Dec. 9, United’s fans are surely already shuddering when thinking about just how many points City will be ahead of United, and the rest of the Premier League, by that point.
At this rate it is very plausible that City can go the entire season unbeaten and become one of the greatest teams we’ve ever seen.
Spending over $200 million each summer will help you do that but Guardiola has now had over 12 months in England and he’s experience has added that X-factor which was missing for the middle part of last season.
Premier League Playback comes out every week as PST’s Lead Writer and Editor takes an alternative look at the action from the weekend. Read the full archive, here.
