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The PL big six had differing seasons. But how did each manager perform?
It was a glory-filled year for Manchester City and Chelsea. Led by Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel respectively, both clubs had a successful 2020-21 campaign. City won the PL for the fifth time and defeated Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup final.
Chelsea lost the FA Cup final to Leicester City but won their second Champions League title after beating Man City in the final in Porto, Portugal.
It was a season to forget for the rest of the big six - Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Spurs (led by Jurgen Klopp, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Mikel Arteta and caretaker Ryan Mason respectively).
Liverpool's title defense collapsed after injuries to key players. Their attacking trio also suffered a loss of form and Klopp's tactical inflexibility resulted in a rather poor season for the Reds.
Manchester United lost to Villareal in the Europa League final, missing a golden opportunity to bring home some silverware. They finished second in the league but despite their standing in the league, United were never really in the title chase, thanks to City's superior performance on the domestic circuit.
Arsenal and Tottenham were also weak - Arsenal lost to Villareal in the Europa League semi-final, whilst Spurs were beaten 1-0 by Man City in the League Cup final. Their league standings are nothing to brag about.
As the person responsible for tactics, man-management, and ultimately results, the manager is ultimately held responsible for the club's overall on-field performance.
The Premier League hosts some of the world's elite managers, and has done so for many years. Much of the media talk surrounding the big six has been about the managers.
Man United's Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been a case in point, as has Arsenal's Mikel Arteta and Spurs' Jose Mourinho before his sacking in March 2021.
Chelsea's Frank Lampard was also dismissed due to very poor form in the mid-season period. Despite his status as a club-legend, Chelsea were ruthless in their assessment of Lampard as manager.
Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel will naturally receive many plaudits for guiding their team to silverware this season. This shows the pressures and standards that managers at the top level are expected to adhere to for sustained success.
Managers at all levels are tasked with given targets - and for some the job is more pronounced given the budget at their disposal, their experience, their status, and the players at their disposal.
In this article I will appraise how each manager did, based not only on expectations and achievements, but also if they managed to get the best out of their players and tools at their disposal.
Pep Guardiola
Guardiola won the 2020-21 Premier League with ease and bagged the League Cup for the fourth time in a row.
His City team would have completed a fantastic treble had they won the Champions League as well but Pep's team fell short in the European final.
He did, however, get the best out of Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin de Brunye, Ederson, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Fernandinho and other top City players. Despite the CL final loss, Pep will be proud of his team's performance this season. He has now won the same number of PL titles as Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho (three), and is well-placed to win more in the future.
Rating - 8/10
Jurgen Klopp
A settled side can be a boon and a curse.
The boon is that every player knows his function, and how to execute it. The curse is that it can be reliant on key players to succeed. And once those players are out, or not performing to their optimum standards, it can undermine the settled structure.
The system can also be broken if the formula gets old, or found out by other teams - as was the case with Liverpool this season. Klopp managed to steer them into the top four, guaranteeing CL football again next season, but the 2020/21 season was a missed opportunity for them to stamp their mark as a major contemporary force in world football.
Yes, losing Virgil van Dijk for much of the season was a huge blow, but Liverpool's poor title defense is perhaps deeper and more complex than just injuries to key players.
Rating 4/10
Frank Lampard/Thomas Tuchel
Club legend Frank Lampard had shown promise in his first season by leading Chelsea to a top four finish last year. However, Lampard failed to build on it despite being given world class players in the summer. It led to club owner Roman Abramovich dismissing him from the job. His inexperience cost him as he was replaced by German boss Thomas Tuchel.
After a promising start as new Chelsea boss, Thomas Tuchel secured the fourth place in the league standings despite losing to Aston Villa on the final day.
The FA Cup final loss to Leicester City was a dent in his perfect mini-season otherwise. This was hugely remedied by winning the Champions League, however, for the second time in Chelsea's history. Despite Manchester City finishing higher in the league and having better players, Tuchel executed a strong plan to deliver the Champions League with a 1-0 win against Pep's team.
With further backing in the summer, Chelsea could well challenge for the league in the 2021/22 season under Tuchel's evidently sound stewardship.
Lampard - 3/10
Tuchel - 9/10
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
United finished second, although as was the case in 2018, this was a "false second".
Both then and now, United were way behind City (the eventual champions) and were simply the best of the rest without genuinely challenging for the title.
Ole got the best out of Fernandes, with Cavani adding some crucial goals in the second half of the season. Winning the Europa League - which would have been United's first trophy in four years - would have been a boon.
But the loss in the final to Villareal added more pressure on Solskjaer, and raised further questions about whether he's the right man for the club. It will take a huge improvement next season for him to prove the doubters wrong.
Rating - 5/10
Mikel Arteta
Arteta's Arsenal finished eighth in the 2020/21 season, exactly the same as in 19/20.
He did well to recover from a weak run of form from the early season period, which saw Arsenal drop to the 15th place in the league standings for several weeks.
However, his in-game management has been questioned, and his needless tactical tinkering in the Europa League semi-final vs Villareal led to an aggregate defeat and a loss of potential Champions League football next season.
Incidentally, this loss was to his direct predecessor at Arsenal, Unai Emery, who took up the Villareal post at the start of the 2020/21 season.
Arteta is learning on the job, in his first ever managerial post, but he needs to learn quickly if he is to progress and prosper at Arsenal long-term. Key signings in defense and midfield are needed, as well as Arteta himself, providing steadier tactical changes and in-game management.
Rating - 3/10
Jose Mourinho/Ryan Mason
Mourinho, with his illustrious CV no less, ultimately showed much of the same failings witnessed at Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester United. His man-management still leaves much to be desired, and his style of football is still in the "park the bus" mold.
It's possible he may have won the League Cup, despite Man City's quality, though we'll never know since club chairman Daniel Levy fired him from the position days before the Wembley showdown.
Ryan Mason isn't expected to do much, considering he's a caretaker until a new permanent manager is found. However, he did steer Spurs to Europa Conference League football.
Mourinho - 3/10
Mason - 5/10
