Arne Slot has had the best start of any Premier League manager over his first 13 games at a club. What a guy…
10) Maurizio Sarri (Chelsea, 28 points)
Remember when Sarriball was an innovation that could bring glory back to Chelsea and the spark back to Eden Hazard rather than a dirty word. Chelsea were unbeaten across the first 12 games of the Italian’s reign, though a smattering of draws meant that they never looked like potential champions. The 13th game was a 3-1 defeat at Tottenham.
Things – as so they often do at Chelsea – soured over the winter months and Sarri left at the end of the season with all happy to part ways. But that start was far better than we remembered.
9) Pep Guardiola (Manchester City, 30 points)
After winning their first six games and making it look like this Premier League business might actually be a piece of p***, Pep Guardiola lost to Tottenham (not quite as spectacularly as this) and somehow drew at home to Everton, Southampton and Middlesbrough to drop from top spot into the pack. He would end up being really quite good, but not as quickly as many predicted.
8) Antonio Conte (Chelsea, 31 points)
While Manchester City stuttered, Chelsea absolutely found their groove after new manager Conte switched to a back three, converting Victor Moses into a wing-back along the way. A draw with Swansea had been followed by humbling defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal, but the Blues bounced back with a run of 13 straight wins in the Premier League including a 4-0 win over Manchester United that had the Chelsea fans believing this could be their year. And it really could.
7) Jose Mourinho (Chelsea, 32 points)
Mourinho had arrived proclaiming himself to be a particularly special kind of guy but there was actually some significant griping in the media about Chelsea’s style as they settled into second behind Arsenal in the early weeks of 2004/05. And then they put four past both Blackburn and West Brom and a sense of ‘oh, maybe this team could be decent’ began to develop. They would indeed turn out to be really quite decent, winning the Premier League from this position.
6) Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Manchester United, 32 points)
The only man to remain unbeaten across his first 12 games at a Premier League club. No wonder people were losing their minds and screaming ‘Ole’s at the wheel’. After the dismal days of Jose Mourinho, the smiling face and twinkling eyes of the Norwegian brought joy and freedom to a United side that rose from sixth to, erm, fifth as Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford and even Anthony Martial were on fire. But the 13th game brought a 2-0 humbling at Arsenal.
5) Luiz Felipe Scolari (Chelsea, 32 points)
It’s extraordinary how many Chelsea managers start with a bang, with this 2008/09 iteration of the Blues scoring a ludicrous 32 goals across those first 13 games, with a 5-0 win over Sunderland in their 11th game taking them to the top of the table.
But Scolari’s style eventually exhausted the Chelsea players and he was out on his ear by early February. Remember when Chelsea sacked managers for being fourth?
4) Carlo Ancelotti (Chelsea, 33 points)
A year after Scolari’s Chelsea began with a bang, Ancelotti’s Chelsea went a step further, winning 11 of their first 13 games with the only blips coming in a lacklustre performance against Wigan marred by a sending-off and a defeat away at Aston Villa. Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka were on fire, Terry and Carvalho were resilient, and this was the midfield of Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack and Michael Essien. What a bloody team. What a manager. And this one actually won the Premier League title.
3) Guus Hiddink (Chelsea, 34 points)
The Dutchman proved there wasn’t an awful lot wrong with Scolari’s Chelsea squad as he began with four straight wins before defeat at Spurs. But they recovered to settle into third and an automatic Champions League qualifying spot, all while reaching the semi-finals of the actual Champions League.
2) John Gregory (Aston Villa, 34 points)
Brian Little resigned (remember when managers resigned?) in February 1998 with Villa looking like outside bets for relegation. Villa decided against a big-name replacement and instead turned to Wycombe manager John Gregory. His first game was a come-from-behind Villa Park win over Liverpool featuring two Stan Collymore goals; the Villa fans were on board. By the end of an 11-game run with bizarre home defeats to Barnsley and Bolton the only blips, Villa had moved from 14th to seventh and a place in Europe. Now that’s what we call a new manager bounce.
1) Arne Slot (Liverpool, 34 points)
It’s not been spectacular but they have conceded just eight goals in 13 games, with home defeat to Nottingham Forest a wake-up call.
Maybe he could win the whole damned thing in his first season; it certainly looks that way after they completely humbled Manchester City.
The Kyiv IndependentOlena Goncharova
