How often do we see football odds and football betting surrounding managers in England’s top-flight? Virtually every time a club goes on a poor run, there are Premier League odds for the next manager to be sacked. Unlucky for the man in question, some of whom, like those mentioned below, are vastly overrated, but an integral part of the sports betting portfolio.
Manuel Pellegrini – West Ham United
The tenures that Manuel Pellegrini had at Manchester City and West Ham United were like chalk and cheese. At the former he could, at least initially, do no wrong, at the latter, the politest thing to say about the Chilean was that he flattered to deceive. The first manager from outside of Europe to win the Premier League title, in 2013/14, his City side were also the quickest since the new format began to race to 100 goals in all competitions. They were swashbucklers ready to destroy teams by three, four and five goals and were a joy to watch.
Perhaps Pellegrini’s error was believing he could adopt the same modus operandi at the Hammers, who were nowhere close to their Premier League rivals in terms of ability or financial stability. Losing 4-0 to Liverpool in his first game in charge and being knocked out of the FA Cup at AFC Wimbledon was a precursor to an underwhelming period. In the 18 months he was at the helm, the club broke the transfer record for Felipe Anderson and then again for Sebastian Haller, but having a decent squad was to no avail. A 4-0 EFL Cup defeat to League One’s Oxford United in September 2019 was the beginning of the end of his expensively assembled vanity project. By the end of the year he was gone.
Eddie Howe – Bournemouth
Everyone wanted to see Eddie Howe succeed in the Premier League once he managed to get Bournemouth up to the promised land for the first time in their history. One of English football’s supposedly brightest young managers, he did often have the Cherries playing with wanton abandon, even against the supposed ‘bigger’ teams in the division. It was exciting and one might say it was even romantic, in an era where money trumps that notion every single week in the English top-flight.
What’s interesting is that, since he departed the south coast outfit after relegation in 2020, no other clubs have come close to touching him. If Howe is so highly rated amongst the football cognoscenti, why is that? Maybe, for all of his good work in transforming Bournemouth into a tactically competent counter-attacking outfit, his inability to ensure a solid defensive core is the Achilles heel that will keep coming back to haunt him.
Marco Silva – Everton
The case of Marco Silva is a strange one. As manager of a Hull squad that only had 18 first-team players, he performed well which led to his move to Watford. Even at the Hornets, at least initially, he had a reputation for playing attacking, energetic football, however, that reputation was soon destroyed.
Everton had made their interest known and it turned the Portuguese’s head. Five points from a possible 30 was an awful return for someone of his supposed experience and nous, and Watford sacked him citing Everton’s approach as the root cause as to a lack of focus from the manager. A damning indictment if ever there was.
He was hit and miss at the Toffees. In an 18-month tenure, his highlight was a 4-0 victory over Manchester United, however, Everton had no real defence to speak of in many games. Strikers might win you games but defences are the solid base on which clubs need to build. Unfortunately for Silva, he never really grasped the basics in that regard.
Jan Siewert – Huddersfield
All that seemed to qualify Jan Siewert for the Huddersfield Town job was that he came from the same production line as his predecessor, David Wagner. What should’ve opened the board’s eyes is that his experience to the point where he took on the Terriers job was mainly in youth football, and not in England.
Hardly the qualities that would inspire a group of professionals that were already heading down to the Championship before he took over. By the time of his expected sacking, he’d only managed to win one of his 19 games in charge.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – Manchester United
Perhaps the most overrated manager in this list and maybe of the Premier League era. Even now, it’s one step forward and two back for the custodian of the Old Trafford hot-seat. Were it not for his playing association with the club, it’s doubtful he would’ve lasted anywhere close to the amount of time he already has. In 2021, he’s had to rely on late Cristiano Ronaldo strikes on three separate occasions to get them out of a Champions League hole, predominantly because the Norwegian has consistently got his tactics and formation all wrong.
Has overseen the odd decent performance and result, but they, and United’s record-breaking unbeaten away run have come about despite the manager rather than because of him. Defensively, the Red Devils are all at sea in most games, evidencing that Solskjaer’s forte is to concentrate on the opposite end of the team, where he himself did his best work as a player. A ‘you score three, we score four’ mentality seems to be in play for most games because some of his staff don’t appear to have much of an idea when they set foot on the Old Trafford pitch.
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