Tagged with: Premier League
Managerial changes happen all the time in the ruthless world of professional football. The average job-span of a Premier League manager is roughly two years and that’s clearly skewed by the few successful fellas at the top of the ladder
Chris Wood joined Newcastle at a pivotal moment: the first transfer window after their Saudi takeover when the club was lingering down in the relegation zone and needed a quick fix.
When Chris Wood signed for Newcastle United back in January, the club were in a state of suppressed panic. Eddie Howe had taken over as manager from Steve Bruce a month or so earlier and had overseen an uptick in performances... but not in results
Coming into the new season, Chris Wood set himself a target of 20 goals. He did not achieve it. In fact for two-thirds of the term it didn’t even look like he was gonna get close.
14 Premier League goals is amazing, that’s the same amount as Gabriel Jesus and tied for 13th in the division. More goals than Richarlison, Kevin De Bruyne, Son Heung-Min, Alexandre Lacazette or Roberto Firmino.
The final day of the Premier League season wasn’t quite as dramatic as we’d hoped. There were no late goals that mattered, the two teams scrapping it out at the top both won comfortably enough – although Man City copped a scare in the first half – and it was all kinda predictable in the end.
Liverpool cannot win the title this season. It must not be allowed to happen. We cannot open that pandora’s box and unleash such hitherto repressed joy upon the world. You Liverpool fans have suffered enough already and that’s why you need to suffer some more, for all the rest of us.
Poor old Winnie hasn’t played a game since he mangled his knee in a heavy defeat against Swansea City in early March. He’s only played four competitive games in 2018.
All this talk about Jose Mourinho. Jose didn’t get the transfers he wanted, Jose’s fallen out with Paul Pogba, Jose says it’ll be a difficult season, Jose’s lost the dressing room, Jose’s picking on his players again…
Just when everything seemed to be running smoothly, they go and move the goalposts again. But we Premier League fans in Aotearoa are pretty used to that by now.
Going team by team through the lot of them ahead of the new campaign. Main men, key signings, what to watch for… all the stuff you need to know, basically.
Safe to say that it’ll come as no spoiler that there are City players littered throughout these teams of the season, particularly that illustrious first team.
Depends who you ask, to be honest. There are large portions of fans from five other top six teams who’d make a pretty virulent argument that The Red Devils aren’t getting much credit on account of how trash they’re playing.
Manchester City absolutely blitzed the field in Pep Guardiola’s second season in charge. They had one hand on the Premier League title before the turn of the year after a record 18 consecutive wins (and 22 unbeaten games to start the season) left the rest of them all eating dust.
Chis Wood hurt his knee just before Christmas, colliding with Hugo Lloris as he strove for an equaliser in the first half of a 3-0 defeat to Tottenham. After trying and failing to run it off he was replaced by Ashley Barnes and wouldn’t play again for a couple months.
It’s way too early to be calling the Premier League title race now, it’s not even Christmas yet. Victory in the Manc Derby puts Manchester City eleven points clear of Man United with their record fourteenth league win in a row but plenty of water has to pass under the bridge before the trophy gets engraved.
Apparently British managers don’t get a fair crack in the English Premier League. At least that’s the way the saying goes, although it’s hard to tell whether anyone actually still believes that.
There’s nothing quite like a massive transfer fee to hang over your head like a toilet seat. Especially if you’re being signed by Jose Mourinho, especially if it’s to play for Manchester United, especially if your name is Paul Pogba.
Slaven Bilic could lose his job soon. With Crystal Palace and Leicester City already having dumped their managers that leaves West Ham as the next likely candidate… after Ronaldo Koeman at Everton, of course.
Football managers are held to notoriously fragile standards but even for the Premier League seeing Crystal Palace sack Frank de Boer four games into the league season was a brow-raiser.