Newcastle’s summer signings
Newcastle’s year-long chase to sign Yoane Wissa from Brentford felt like it would never end until they paid £55m for his services in September. The Democratic Republic of the Congo forward arrived after banging in 19 goals for Brentford last season and was supposed to lead the charge for Eddie Howe in the Premier League and Europe. In reality it has been a whimpering experience. Admittedly, none of Newcastle’s attacking recruitment paid off; Wissa sat on the bench alongside £65m Nick Woltemade and £55m Anthony Elanga in the April defeat away to Crystal Palace where the manager preferred to start Jacob Murphy and Will Osula. Wissa has scored once in 13 league appearances, starting only four times because he does not fit into the system and has not built the level of rapport he had with Bryan Mbeumo. The team as a whole has struggled, finishing 12th, a drop of seven places from last season, meaning they will not be returning to Europe. With Anthony Gordon expected to depart in the coming months, having faith in the reinvestment is not a given.
Tottenham
Anyone who believed that things could not get worse than finishing 17th in the Premier League were in for a shock. Thomas Frank was supposed to steady the ship by bringing measure and reason to a club that have lacked both in recent times. They lost one of their first seven league games, even giving Manchester City a pummelling away, but then everything went downhill fast. Between November and mid-April they managed two victories, costing Frank his job in February. The captain, Cristian Romero, made a few swipes at the hierarchy to indicate that all was not well in the dressing room. After a bamboozling search for an interim replacement, rolling dice found Igor Tudor at the bottom of a snake. The Croatian was gone after one draw, a Champions League humiliation at Atlético Madrid and 44 days of ineptitude. Roberto De Zerbi became the third person to take charge as one of the country’s biggest clubs battled to avoid a humiliating relegation, getting them all the way back to 17th. They may have survived but the club really are in a sad state of affairs.
The standard of entertainment on offer at times in the Premier League, it can be argued, has been atrocious. Little of it is aesthetically pleasing, instead based on who is fittest and whether they can win a corner every four minutes. The odd thriller has wormed its way in among the dross but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Considering the money being thrown around it should come as little surprise that this is a business rather than an arm of the entertainment industry. Previously the aim was to outplay an opponent but now it’s either a choice of wearing them down or being better at heading the ball in the box. European fixtures offer a glimpse of how the game should be played. The schedule does not help players, especially the elite, who are being overworked by the desperation to squeeze every last penny out of the sport.
Ange Postecoglou
As an appointment it never gave the impression it was going to work and for once everyone – except Evangelos Marinakis – was correct. The Australian was keen to get back into the dugout to show Tottenham what they were missing and that turned out to be a man capable of winning two points across eight games. He was dismissed after 40 days, one of the shortest reigns in Premier League history. Postecoglou was pained at being dismissed after winning the Europa League for Spurs and felt he would prove them wrong by doing similar at the City Ground but the squad was not built for his football and was incapable of adapting mid-season to what he wanted, resulting in a collection of dreadful performances and putting Forest into a relegation battle they were not expecting. Replacing the popular Nuno Espírito Santo, who was not sacked for what was happening on the pitch, did not help Postecoglou’s cause but the complete failure will make it hard for him to get another chance in the Premier League.
Ruben Amorim
There was plenty of mitigation for Amorim in his first seven months at Old Trafford. He arrived to find a disjointed squad low on morale after replacing Erik ten Hag, desperate to coach his 3-4-3 formation that he stuck to religiously, despite the hectic nature of the English schedule giving him limited opportunities on the training pitch. After a full pre-season, aided by plenty of investment in players, things were supposed to be different. Unfortunately, despite some gloriously entertaining press conferences, it was inevitable that dreadful league form and outbursts would cost him his employment. The lowest moment came in the Carabao Cup when United were dumped out by League Two Grimsby in pathetic circumstances. That night was a rare start for Kobbie Mainoo, a player the Portuguese gave limited chances to, judging him inferior to Manuel Ugarte, which might also explain why he was binned.