Football: Sorry six lead sack race

With the English Premier League on an international break, shortlists are being drawn up.

It's the countdown to the annual sack race and here are six contenders limbering up in the starting blocks.

1. Mauricio Pochettino (Tottenham)

Daniel Levy is infallible. The Tottenham chief hires and fires with impunity. Managers cannot function independently when their judge, jury and executioner is the same incorrigible individual.

Levy hired director of football Franco Baldini to take Tottenham to the next level. The move failed.

He fired Harry Redknapp after two top-four finishes and hired Andre Villas-Boas. The move failed.

He brought in Tim Sherwood to repair the fractured dressing room. The move failed.

He played a direct role in the transfers of Emmanuel Adebayor, Roberto Soldado, Paulinho, Etienne Capoue and Vlad Chiriches. They all failed.

He appoints managers but then orders them to manage with their hands tied. Rumours are rife that Pochettino couldn't sign the players he wanted in the transfer window.

It's Levy's club, Levy's rules. His grubby fingerprints are on everything at White Hart Lane, including the guillotine rope. It's only a matter of time before Levy lets go of Pochettino.

Coaching score: 4/10

Chances of being sacked: 8/10

2. Manuel Pellegrini (Man City)

Since taking over City in 2008, the Abu Dhabi owners have cultivated a sly hiring and firing strategy.

They play a waiting game. There is no bloody, feeding frenzy. They are more crocodiles than sharks.

Mark Hughes was given a chance to bat with the heavy hitters. He struck himself out.

Roberto Mancini lost more plots than a blindfolded scriptwriter, but he was initially given the benefit of the doubt.

Both managers were removed only when it became clear that they could take the club no further.

Manuel Pellegrini is in a similar position now. Like Mancini, he won the league title but seems equally incapable of keeping it.

City's reputation remains flaky and the Champions League campaign has been disastrous.

The Abu Dhabi bankrollers expect more for their two billion bucks.

If Pep Guardiola suddenly made himself available, Pellegrini would be paid off immediately.

But he's still on borrowed time with the billionaires.

Coaching score: 4/10

Chances of being sacked: 7/10

3. Paul Lambert (Aston Villa)

Lambert fooled no one at Upton Park. The 0-0 was not a turning point.

History has long shown that if a side need to end a losing streak or a goal drought, the haphazard Hammers are always on hand to oblige. And even then, Villa required a stupendous save from Brad Guzan to pinch a point.

The assistant manager's release of his explosive autobiography went some way in obscuring Villa's muddled malaise but even Roy Keane's bushy beard couldn't hide six consecutive defeats.

Despite a forward line including Gabriel Agbonlahor and Andreas Weimann, Villa have found the net only five times - the lowest tally in English professional football.

Lambert's downbeat interviews betray a disaffected coach. If he fails to pick up enough points in a kinder run of fixtures in the coming weeks, Randy Lerner's patience may run out.

The frustrated American owner is already looking to cut his losses and sell the club at a discount.

A Christmas spent flirting with the bottom three is hardly a sales pitch for potential bidders.

Coaching score: 5/10

Chances of being sacked: 6/10

4. Harry Redknapp (QPR)

Redknapp still talks a great game. But few can remember the last time he managed one.

The past couple of weeks have neatly epitomised the entertaining, but thoroughly exasperating manager. He has wrung out the last of his anecdotes to release another book (naturally).

He insisted he would've won the league at Tottenham if he hadn't been sacked (obviously).

And he declared his intention of trying to sign Jermain Defoe for the umpteenth time (predictably).

HARRY'S MEN

With Sandro and Steven Caulker already in the side, it's hard not to think that Redknapp believes there are just a handful of footballers in world football for him to endlessly re-sign.

The point at home to Manchester City was vital, but QPR's porous defence, makeshift midfield and lack of attacking support for Charlie Austin leave them in a perilous position.

Tony Fernandes really likes Redknapp, but he likes Premier League football more.

Coaching score: 6/10

Chances of being sacked: 5/10

5. Arsene Wenger (Arsenal)

Like an arsonist with a box of matches, the jittery Arsenal manager is burning bridges even with his loyalists.

He treats external criticism with contempt, retaliating with that most hackneyed of cliches: Critics like Paul Merson have never managed. Indeed he hasn't.

But the former midfielder has played in Arsenal sides famed for their formidable back four and was right to castigate the "schoolboy" errors.

Arsenal's fragile defence was ruthlessly exposed at Swansea. Failing to buy at least one centre back in pre-season is proving to be a big blunder.

Coaching score: 5/10

Chances of being sacked: 4/10

6. Brendan Rodgers (Liverpool)

Rodgers will not be sacked any time soon, but he cannot be trusted in the transfer market.

At £20 million ($41m), Lazar Markovic is a front-runner for flop of the season. Rickie Lambert, Mario Balotelli and Adam Lallana are hardly rip-roaring successes, either.

What's more worrying is Rodgers' inability to defeat Jose Mourinho on any stage.

Against Chelsea, he made two bewildering substitutions, swopping the effective Emre Can and Philippe Coutinho for Joe Allen and Fabio Borini.

Rodgers may be an unfortunate victim of his initial success, but there's a real risk of the goodwill evaporating.

Coaching score: 4/10

Chances of being sacked: 4/10

This article was first published on Nov 12, 2014.
Get The New Paper for more stories.