Antonio Conte’s Chelsea may be storming the Premier League by virtue of unparalleled organisation and supreme spirit, but there’s no doubting they’ve been aided by the struggles of the chasing pack. Every week there seems to be a new talking point regarding what one of the big boys has done wrong and this campaign has been loaded with mistakes from top to bottom.
The January transfer window saw many sides lose big names, whilst numerous managerial sackings and appointments have played a bigger role than ever this term.
While every club may think that their transfer strategies and tactical blueprints are infallible, near enough every side has got it wrong on a number of occasions away from the pitch, so here’s a look at the five biggest off-field mistakes this campaign has brought us so far.
#5 Swansea bringing in Bob Bradley
The first American to take charge of a Premier League club, Bradley’s tenure with the Swans was as long as it was successful. After only 85 days and 11 games in charge of the Welsh side, Bradley only managed to secure eight points as manager and, from his appointment to his sacking, no club conceded more goals in the division than Swansea City (29).
It was, to put it bluntly, a dismal reign in English football for Bradley, but hindsight is a wonderful thing, and Swansea weren’t doing much better prior to his appointment.
When Francesco Guidolin was swiftly booted out the door, Swansea were hovering just above the relegation zone but fell into the bottom three under Bradley. It’s not to say Bradley is a terrible manager, but rather not the man suited to such a herculean task.
He claimed himself upon arrival, “I knew exactly what I was getting into when I came to Swansea and realised the hardest part was always going to be getting points in the short run.”
Swansea were in a downward spiral, in need of a manager with Premier League experience and a good knowledge of the English game. They may be improving under Paul Clement now, but it’s an appointment which should’ve been made a long time ago.
#4 West Ham taking time with Payet
It was the opinion of practically every Hammers fan but, unfortunately for them, not one shared by the board – to sell Payet the second he asked to leave. Despite the Frenchman’s exceptional impact on the London club’s performances over the past two years, he was evidently desperate to return to Marseille for personal reasons and the move should’ve gone through much sooner than it did.
Whilst co-chairmen Gold and Sullivan held out for a bigger fee than Marseille were originally offering, claiming they would not be “bullied” into a sale, Bilic had to drop Payet altogether and witness his side stare down the barrel at harrowing defeats towards the end of December and start of January. It resulted in the club waiting until deadline day to accept an offer only £10 million superior to the original bid launched at the beginning of the window.
Also read: 'I used to p*** people off when I wanted' - The story of flawed genius Dimitri Payet
Ultimately, had West Ham cashed in early, knowing that the player was categorically not playing for the team again because he wanted a return to France, they would’ve had more time to find a replacement. Payet has created more chances than any other West Ham player this campaign with 72, more than 40 greater than the next highest total, so he’ll undoubtedly leave a gap. Robert Snodgrass appears more as a ‘panic-buy’ type player, more suited to the out-and-out wide position as opposed to Payet’s number-ten role.
#3 Leicester replacing Kante with Mendy
Jamie Vardy may have got the goals, Riyad Mahrez may have created them, but N’Golo Kante was, quite literally, the pulsating core, the heart of the Foxes’ title-winning campaign last year and such importance has translated to his Chelsea tenure.
Dubbed the ‘Kante Effect’, the Frenchman’s influence has been splashed across the media, with one graphic underlining how, after seventeen games last season, Leicester were top and Chelsea fifteenth, but one year on after the same number of games, the two sides switch positions. The only significant change in that time was Kante, who moved between the two clubs.
The Frenchman made the most tackles (175) and the most interceptions (156) in the 2015/16 season, doing the arduous unseen work without which Leicester would have fallen short of Premier League glory. Whilst he has now regenerated the Chelsea midfield, his absence left a great gaping hole in the Leicester midfield, which still hasn’t really been filled.
Nampalys Mendy was brought in from Nice to fill the void but has had limited game time due to an ankle injury he sustained late last year. Nonetheless, he’s still not the correct kind of player to supersede Kante; his forte is passing and shielding the defence as a flat midfielder, not the explosive box-to-box player Kante is.
As a result, the Foxes have struggled this campaign, lacking an engine in their core, with minimal cover for their back-line.
#2 Hull City appointing Phelan full time
A difficult decision to criticise and once again, a criticism made easier with hindsight but nonetheless Hull City’s permanent appointment of Mike Phelan at the start of the campaign could have played a key role in the Tigers’ decline.
Following his appointment on a permanent basis, the former-United assistant manager lasted just 83 days, in which he won just one Premier League game. His reign at the club finished with them rock bottom of the top flight. Since Marco Silva joined the club at the start of January, the Portuguese has won three times as many games as Phelan did during his tenure.
Phelan’s position as first team manager at the club became permanent following two wins over Swansea and Leicester. The board’s response may seem hasty now, given that the months that followed saw the club on the back-ends of hammerings, not least the embarrassing 6-1 capitulation against Bournemouth.
Phelan and the squad may have grown complacent following back-to-back wins juxtaposed with the desolate expectations at the start of the season. The 54-year-old always felt like a temporary coach and lacked the long-term ambition to motivate the club.
#1 Pep’s Hart-Out-Bravo-In decision
Analysing Manchester City’s defeat at the hands of Everton last month, Phil Neville claimed, “It looks like people are playing City and thinking, if they hit the target, they will score.” In that game and the seven before it, the Chilean goalkeeper had conceded 14 goals from 22 shots, reinforcing Neville’s claim.
Bravo currently ranks among the worst five keepers in the division according to Opta statistics, which estimated that Bravo was expected to concede 7.33 goals from those 22 shots, a figure he practically doubled.
Bravo was brought in by Pep because of his supposed revolutionary skill with the ball at his feet, but even that aspect of his game has done little to appease fans lambasting him as a goalkeeper lacking rudimentary attributes like shot-stopping.
Joe Hart was sent packing to Turin as a result but has performed well with the Italians. With Torino, the Englishman has had five clean sheets in 20 matches, averaging 2.9 saves per game and an average claim success of 93%.
He may have had a woeful Euro campaign and underperformed with the Citizens last season, but there’s enough evidence to prove that Hart is a top keeper suited to City and Pep may be reluctant to admit it, but he could do with the 29-year-old back in his ranks.
