Pressure is on Ten Hag but managers are living in era of peculiar patience
So much for the Sack Race. By this point last year there had already been four managerial changes but a fifth of the way into a Premier League campaign no owner is yet to suffer a case of itchy trigger finger.
The 2022-23 campaign saw a record 14 managers vacate their jobs in-season, not including caretakers, and the year before there were a joint-second highest 10 changes.
Yet, despite two clubs remaining winless and four more with only one, the 20 men who were in place for the opening round of fixtures remain so now. This, undoubtedly, is a good thing. But chances are it is an outlier rather than a new era of owners acquiring patience - and the past 48 hours across the EFL shows the job remains as fraught as ever.
The start of the second international break has often been the time to move - English football’s version of what American coaches call Black Monday - but there are a couple of explanations behind the stasis.
With only two exceptions, teams are already roughly where they were expected to be in the table. Manchester United are under-performing and Erik ten Hag could find the heat becomes intolerable should the bad results continue into November, while Chelsea’s start under Mauricio Pochettino has been ragged - but both situations are impacted by different forms of chaos behind the scenes.
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The clubs near the bottom, gearing up for relegation fights, are the clubs who were predicted to be there and the managers of all three promoted sides arrived with high credit scores.
Especially in the case of Luton and Sheffield United, both of whom are operating on tiny budgets compared to the other 18 top-flight teams and have always been expected to make immediate returns to the Championship. Burnley have spent money but faced a daunting opening set of fixtures and Vincent Kompany remains highly valued.
That has a knock on effect for other teams too, who are perhaps a little less hasty and more willing to trust in the incumbents. There are other other caveats to consider: Gary O’Neil only ended up in the Wolves job a few days before their first match and the ownership saga at Everton has made Sean Dyche’s gig more secure.
Paul Heckingbottom's Sheffield United remain winless but he is still in place. (Simon Dael/REX/Shutterstock)Bournemouth appointed Andoni Iraola in place of O’Neil amid much anticipation but his high-pressing vision is yet to translate into results, while Brentford have had cruel luck with injuries and are suffering from drawitis rather than a run of defeats.
Only one man appears in present danger of losing his job - the Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom - and his players have said they are “one million percent” behind him. Another defeat away to Fulham on Saturday could be the tipping point, though the decision to cut ties would still be met by criticism from many fans who recognise his achievements in getting them back to the top tier in the first place.
So on the circus rolls, towards its second recess and a time to reflect and take stock. Several clubs will have cause for concern and managers will be frustrated but do not expect the merry-go-round to pick up pace just yet at a time when most are behaving in a peculiarly conservative manner.
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