Following the end of matchday eight of the English Premier League for the international games to take place, some managers are already under extreme pressure.
There isn’t a lack of teams who have seemingly underperformed their pre-season expectations so far, and with the harsh reality of modern football where managers are sacked what feels like every week, we expect it won’t be long until someone loses their job.
Read on as we look at three English Premier League managers who could lose their job next:
Erik ten Hag, Manchester United
A promising first season in Manchester saw ten Hag guide his side to third place in the league, an FA Cup final and the Carabao Cup trophy. But this season has not gone to plan so far.
Manchester United sit in tenth place with just 12 points from their opening eight games, coming from four wins and four losses. Disappointing losses against Crystal Palace and Arsenal, where a late collapse saw them concede twice in added time to fall to a 3-1 defeat, are just some of the poor performances. However, even the wins haven’t been the best performances from this side with them scraping past sides like Wolves (1-0) Burnley (1-0) and coming from behind to beat Nottingham Forest (3-2).
If performances and results don’t pick up soon, then we can see Erik ten Hag being relieved of his duties rather soon.
Paul Heckingbottom, Sheffield United
Expectations for Heckingbottom’s Sheffield United side were never high coming into this season, with the squad being largely seen as not Premier League quality. On top of this, they lost key players from last season’s promotion campaign in Iliman Ndiaye and Sander Berge.
Even with all these factors, one point from the opening eight games with a goal difference of -16, mostly thanks to a crushing 8-0 home defeat to Newcastle, is simply not good enough. With their next two games being against Manchester United and Arsenal we don’t expect this form to pick up anytime soon, and if this continues then surely Heckingbottom will be in trouble.
Andoni Iraola, AFC Bournemouth
Bournemouth had a fantastic season last year, finishing 15th in the table when many expected them to be relegated. Despite this, Bournemouth sacked the man who guided them to safety, with Gary O’Neil going on to take over at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Bournemouth did go on to have a good summer though, signing hot prospects such as Alex Scott and Milos Kerkez and other smart signings like Tyler Adams, Max Aarons and Justin Kluivert.
With signings like these enforcing the team that finished five points clear of the relegation zone last season, people were expecting another solid year and possibly a mid-table finish come the end of the season. It’s been much the opposite so far though, picking up just three points and enduring huge back-to-back defeats in their most recent games as they lost 4-0 to Arsenal and then 3-0 to Everton.
If results don’t start coming in for new manager Iraola, then it may not be long before the Bournemouth board decide to change things again.
