Premier League Preview: Is There Life After Pep for Man City?

Welcome to The Debrief, Box Score’s freewheeling conversation about the sports we love that begins right when the action stops.

Neil Squires
Author and journalist, former chief sportswriter for the Express

Neil McLeman
Broadcaster and journalist covering the Premier League, golf and tennis, former sportswriter for the Mirror.

Paul Mahoney
Award-winning journalist, former sportswriter for the Independent and Esquire

When the Premier League starts this Friday, nine clubs start with new managers — the most since the 1946/47 season — including five who have never coached in England before. What does this turnover say about the state of the league, and which new managers will you be watching most closely?

Neil McLeman: It shows the impatience of the Premier League owners and just how unpredictable the top flight is now, on and off the pitch. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is now the longest serving Premier League manager. He was appointed in December 2019. Only Fabian Hürzeler (Brighton & Hove Albion) and Unai Emery (Aston Villa) have been in the Premier League with the same club for more than two years. There really is a lot of change there. A lot of new faces. Marco Rose at Bournemouth, Pierre Sage at Crystal Palace. For me, the most interesting one is Newcastle. They've appointed Matthias Jaissle. He replaced Eddie Howe just last week. Newcastle have had another terrible summer in the transfer market. They lost Anthony Gordon. They lost Sandro Tonali. They lost Bruno Guimarães, after losing Alexander Isak last year. Jaissle is just 38 years old, he's never coached in the Premier League before, and the club is in turmoil. Really interested to see how Newcastle do. They finished 12th last year, but could be lower this year.

Neil Squires: Every manager worth his salt wants to manage in the Premier League. It's a very global league. There are managers from nine different countries in the Premier League this season. So managers are asking their agents if there are vacancies, and the clubs are willing to scour the world to get the best man because it's a very aspirational league. You've got clubs like Sunderland, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace qualifying for Europe. They've proved it's possible, so owners are willing to chop and change to get the right guy in. For me, the manager I'm really interested in is Xabi Alonso at Chelsea. Chelsea was such a basket case last season, trailing in 10th with all their outlay under Todd Boehly’s ownership. But a degree of common sense has arrived. Alonso's record at Bayer Leverkusen was incredible. What a job he did there. Then, of course, it all fell apart for him at Real Madrid, his dream job. So he's got a lot to prove. I think that Chelsea, with their resources and a steadier hand on the tiller, could be a team to keep an eye on this season.

Paul Mahoney: This turnover just shows that the world we're all living in now is success or failure, and no one's prepared to wait anymore. It's instant gratification. I think the most recent, daft example of that is poor Arne Slot following Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool. He won the league in his first season. In his second season, things changed a bit after Diogo Jota's fatal car crash. And now Liverpool bins the guy that won the league the year before. It's all just a bit embarrassing. So what happens if new Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola doesn't win for two years? Do they sack him? I'm going to be looking at Michael Carrick at Manchester United this year because he's going to get a full season. Can he turn it around? They've been an absolute mess since Alex Ferguson left. And I'm really looking forward to seeing what Frank Lampard does with Coventry because he's been such a big hero for England and Chelsea, and he has just been a born winner. He has got Coventry into the big time. It could go completely wrong for him and it's going to be interesting to see if they can maintain that team spirit they had that got them promoted. 

Manchester City finished in the top 3 in all 10 seasons under manager Pep Guardiola. What's the post-Pep era going to be like?

Paul Mahoney: I really have no idea what it's going to be like at Manchester City with manager Enzo Maresca this season. At Liverpool, everyone thought Slot was just going to take over for Klopp and they were going to continue to be successful. I think the same thing could happen at Manchester City. And with losing Rodri, that's such a hole in their midfield. If they have a bad start to the season, then their confidence could go, and they've got notoriously fickle support, where the ground is never full. It wouldn't take that long for people who have been used to success to turn against Maresca. Especially in this environment where people aren't patient anymore.

Neil Squires: Yes, it's sort of an impossible job, isn't it? It's like following Fergie, it's basically the same scenario. Manchester City has lost Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Nathan Aké. There's a lot of experience gone out of the building. I like Elliot Anderson as a signing, but he's not a direct replacement for Rodri. I mean, who could be? I think it could be a transition season for City and a very tough one, as Paul said, because expectations are so high after winning 17 major trophies in Pep's tenure. How do you follow that?

Neil McLeman: I think Enzo Maresca has got a difficult task ahead of him. City have tried to mitigate it by getting someone who's worked there before. He knows Pep Guardiola, and Guardiola had a role in Maresca’s appointment (though that didn’t work at Manchester United with David Moyes). There will be continuity in the philosophy. But to be honest, City have been a club in transition for a couple of years now. They've lost a lot of players. Erling Haaland is really now going to become the center point, the heart of this team. Ryan Cherki, who signed last summer, and Antoine Semenyo, who signed in January along with Marc Guéhi, I think it's really important that those players be the new leaders of this team. Finishing in the top three again is going to be a real challenge for them.

Neil Squires: Another point there is, can Enzo Maresca get Phil Foden playing again? Because he was the golden boy of English football. His star has waned a bit. He missed out on the World Cup and he had an in-and-out season at City. But he is such a talented player. Can a new start and a new coach help him? That would be like a new signing.

Which teams have done well in the summer transfer window?

Neil Squires: The team that did best needed to do best, which would be Spurs. Their fans have literally got nothing left to moan about, which is a very perplexing situation for them. There's a lot of money being spent. Signings like Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes have really strengthened the midfield. They've also strengthened defense with Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton. And I think Andy Robertson is going to be a key figure behind the scenes. He's not going to play all the games, but he's a real asset to any squad. De Zerbi did an incredible salvage job last season, but that was more of a mental transformation he pulled off. Now that he has some time with them, we'll see a style transformation as well. They could be one of the sides to watch on the back of that excellent window. The obvious losers at the moment would be Newcastle with the quality of players that have gone out of St. James' Park. You wonder where that Saudi project is after what's happened to LIV Golf. They insist that there are no parallels here and that they continue to back the Newcastle project. But you wonder if the initial excitement hasn't waned a little bit when they realized that you can't just buy the Premier League with the financial fair-play restrictions that are in there. And Newcastle could be in for a season of struggle.

Paul Mahoney: The biggest move for me so far is Bruno Guimarães going to Arsenal. It's such a blow for Newcastle and a great strengthening of a strong Arsenal midfield. He and Rice have been combatants for the last few seasons, facing up to each other with fights on the field, and now they're going to be teammates. I think Liverpool have had a sneaky loan with Ronald Araujo, getting a center back in. Nobody really rates him and he had such a tough time at Barcelona the last couple of seasons, but he was the club captain. He’s coming into a Liverpool team that's lost a lot of leadership and I think he’s going to help Van Dijk shore up Liverpool's leaky defense. Of course, if Liverpool bag Bradley Barcola, that'll be the big signing of the summer. And with Alexander Isak playing well in the World Cup, it feels like Liverpool have got a new signing because Isak missed the whole season last year.

Neil McLeman: The biggest transfer so far that we've seen is Morgan Rogers going from Aston Villa to Chelsea. The move has a big impact on both teams. First, as a statement from Chelsea. They've had this model for the last 5-to-10 years with younger managers, younger players, bringing them through long-term contracts, resale values, etc. It sounds good in theory, but it simply hasn't worked. So Alonso, a quality manager, has gone into Chelsea and said, “Listen, this isn't going to work. We need experience here.” As we saw at the World Cup, Morgan Rogers is a top quality player. Arsenal wanted him as well. So it's a statement buy from Chelsea in that respect. He's big mates with Cole Palmer. I think it's going to be really interesting to see those two playing together. And the flip side of that is Aston Villa losing Rogers and also losing Youri Tielemans. Those were two of their best players. There's really pressure on Villa and Unai Emery. He's reinvented the side a couple of times, but I think they really need to invest and improve that squad. They qualified for the Champions League and had a terrific season last year, but it's definitely not the same squad right now.

Prediction time: Who's your pick to win the league and why? 

Paul Mahoney: Pep going has left this season wide open. I think it's the most grabbable Premier League season in recent memory. I have absolutely no idea who's going to win. You’d have to put your money on Arsenal. They're the club in the least turmoil. Everybody else has got stuff going on that could go wrong. Arsenal have still got Arteta and they've just got Bruno Guimarães from Newcastle. But if Liverpool get Isak and Ekitike scoring goals from the beginning, then they could stay in contention. And I like Spurs, they're the wild card for me. I can't see them winning the league, but you never know. They've done some fantastic work in the transfer markets this summer. 

Neil McLeman: I agree that it's super wide open. There are three, four or even five potential Premier League winners. Arsenal are favorites and they should be the favorites. But I just feel that they haven't spent enough money. They haven't added to the squad enough.  It was such an achievement after such a long time to win the Premier League then to get to the Champions League final, and then have a lot of players at the World Cup this summer. I just think Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka have played so much and I still think they are maybe always just one or two injuries to key players away from being in trouble. So I don't think Arsenal is going to retain it. I've got a funny feeling for Chelsea. They've got form for this. They’re not in Europe. They finished 10th last season. Remember Antonio Conte’s first season at Chelsea in 2016-17? They had just finished 10th. Conte came in and they won the title in his first season. Xabi Alonso is a top-class coach with something to prove. I'd put a five on Chelsea.

Neil Squires: I take a slightly different view on Arsenal. I think you might see a better, more fluent Arsenal this season with the weight off their backs from last season trying to finally win a title, when you could see the stress in every performance. They will be able to rest Rice a bit with Guimarães in the squad. I just fancy that an improved, fluent Arsenal will back it up and go back-to-back. 

After the incredible popularity of the 2026 World Cup, the United States is filled with new football fans who will be choosing a Premier League club to support this season. What advice do you have for them?

Neil Squires: There's a sprinkling of American players in the Premier League right now. Antonee Robinson at Fulham, Chris Richards at Palace, Tyler Adams at Bournemouth, Brenden Aaronson at Leeds. So you could pick a club according to that. But I would urge American fans not to jump on the bandwagon of the Big Six and go for the easy win. Be a little bit creative and follow some of the minnows. Maybe get hold of one of the smaller clubs and see how they go. Let's see a whole Hull City army in the States. That would be interesting.

Paul Mahoney: I think they should double up with the Premier League and MLS. I'm all for Americans getting into soccer, but go and support your local MLS team and get an understanding of what a sports club can do for your community and you'll get a sense of belonging, too. And if you can hang on for another season, you're going to get Wrexham in the Premier League. The Wrexham story is great, especially with all the Hollywood hipsters in Welcome to Wrexham.

Neil McLeman: I live in South London and my nearest Premier League club is Crystal Palace where, a) Chris Richards plays, and b) where Ted Lasso is filmed, at Selhurst Park. It is an absolutely brilliant stadium. The atmosphere is still singing and chanting. Maybe it is fun winning every week, but I wouldn't know because I'm a Leeds fan. Sometimes I think you appreciate the wins more when they don't happen so often. So pick your team along those lines, a team that wins sometimes but not all the time. I think that would be a fun thing to do.

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