What can fans expect from new Premier League bosses?
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Published
A quarter of the managers in the Premier League will be taking charge of an English top-flight game for the first time on the opening weekend of the season.
They are Arne Slot at Liverpool, Enzo Maresca at Chelsea, Russell Martin at Southampton, Kieran McKenna at Ipswich and Fabian Hurzeler at Brighton.
Slot and Hurzeler have come from abroad, while Martin, McKenna and Maresca â albeit with Leicester â all won promotion from the Championship last season.
BBC Sport looks at what the Premier League can expect from the new quintet.
How managers compared last season
Name | Goals for | Goals conceded | xG for per game | xG against per game |
---|---|---|---|---|
McKenna | 92 | 57 | 1.63 | 1.03 |
Maresca | 89 | 41 | 1.86 | 0.94 |
Slot | 92 | 26 | 2.71 | 0.78 |
Martin | 87 | 63 | 1.76 | 1.09 |
Hurzeler | 62 | 36 | 1.14 | 1.1 |
Arne Slot (Liverpool)
The highest profile new Premier League manager is Liverpoolâs Slot, who has the difficult task of replacing the legendary Jurgen Klopp at Anfield.
The Reds paid Feyenoord ÂŁ9.4m in compensation to bring the 45-year-old to the club.
The Dutchman led Feyenoord to the 2022-23 Eredivisie title, and the Dutch Cup last season.
He previously managed AZ Alkmaar and had them battling for the 2019-20 title, sitting level on points with leaders Ajax, when the season was ended early because of the Covid pandemic.
Slot used a 4-2-3-1 formation in the Eredivisie, compared to the Redsâ 4-3-3 â with his full-backs heavily involved.
Reds midfielder Harvey Elliott says his playing philosophy is a typically âelegantâ Dutch style â compared to Kloppâs âheavy metal footballâ.
âThe style of play is a lot different. Itâs more about in possession now,â he said.
âThe players are excited, we play certain patterns, it is a good buzz around the team and the lads are excited to apply it in games.â
Fellow midfielder Wataru Endo says adapting will be a âchallengeâ and a âpriorityâ.
Slot has previously said watching Pep Guardiolaâs teams gives him the âultimate joy in footballâ.
âThere is no team in the world I would rather watch than Manchester City, followed by Napoli, Arsenal and Brighton,â he said.
Enzo Maresca (Chelsea)
Maresca led Leicester City to the Championship title in his one and only season in charge â and immediately moved to Chelsea to replace Mauricio Pochettino.
The former Parma boss was previously Manchester City assistant under Pep Guardiola.
The Italian turned around the morale of a Foxes team who had just been relegated, with some players who had been planning to leave deciding to stay after experiencing his training.
Despite leading the Foxes back to the Premier League at the first attempt, he never won over some of their fans because of his style of play.
Maresca prefers a heavy possession-based style â which is how he has started his reign at Chelsea too â and was sometimes criticised for his reluctance to make subs.
Results initially proved his approach right, with Leicester winning 21 of their first 26 games. They led the Championship from 23 September until 29 March when a fourth defeat in six games saw them drop out of the top two.
However, they rallied and went up with one game to spare.
BBC Sport reporter Nizaar Kinsella, who followed Chelsea in the USA this summer, said: âEnzo Maresca really appears to be rolling out his identikit Leicester City plan in pre-season.
âIt means a 4-3-3 will be used but when in possession the Blues build up play in a 3-2-5 shape.
âThe potential weaknesses are that Chelsea will at times play risky passes and concede goals, as weâve seen in pre-season, and a high defensive line will occasionally allow fast players the chance to run in behind.â
Kieran McKenna (Ipswich)
McKenna has done a remarkable job at Ipswich Town, leading them from League One to the Premier League in just two and a half years in charge.
An expansive brand of football saw them gain promotion with successive second-placed finishes, scoring 101 goals in League One and 92 in the Championship.
That means it is no surprise that the 38-year-old from Northern Ireland is considered one of the top managerial prospects around.
He had been planning to leave the club this summer â and was linked with the jobs at Brighton, Manchester United â where he used to be assistant manager â and Chelsea. However, he signed a four-year deal at the Tractor Boys. He was also in the running for the Crystal Palace job earlier this year.
The new deal makes him best paid managers in the Premier League, according to BBC reporter Nick Mashiter.
One of the most impressive elements of Ipswichâs rise has been that they only spent ÂŁ4m last summer to bolster their League One promotion squad for the Championship.
He has been praised for his attention to detail and willingness to discuss his thinking.
âHeâs a different type of manager to what I grew up with, where you have one man that controlled the whole club,â former Ipswich captain Mick Mills told BBC Radio Suffolk.
âIt became apparent very quickly that his forte was on the training ground. The training ground is his domain.â
Leif Davis supplied 18 assists last season from left wing-back. Conor Chaplin contributed 42 goals over the past two years.
âHeâs an unbelievable manager, his attention to detail is second to none,â said Wales striker Kieffer Moore, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Ipswich.
âYou can see it in everything he does, the way he delivers presentations and training sessions, the way he goes about his business is top notch. I can really see the gaffer having an amazing career.â
How managers compared last season
Name | Possession | Passes per game |
---|---|---|
McKenna | 52.87 | 479 |
Maresca | 62.26 | 623 |
Slot | 62.28 | 564 |
Martin | 66.14 | 667 |
Hurzeler | 57.16 | 534 |
Russell Martin (Southampton)
There were a lot of similarities between Martin and Maresca last season.
Both were appointed in the summer, both had their passing-based style criticised by swathes of the support â and both led their teams to promotion from the Championship.
Former Scotland defender Martin, who left Swansea for Southampton a year ago, took the Saints up through the play-offs.
Unlike Maresca who left for Chelsea, Martin signed a new three-year deal at St Maryâs this summer.
âI know possession wonât win you games,â said Martin after beating Leeds in the Wembley final.
âBut it is a vehicle for us to give ourselves the best opportunity to show the best version of ourselves.â
The former MK Dons boss led the Saints to a club-record 25-game unbeaten run from September to February.
Former Southampton midfielder Jo Tessem, now a BBC Radio Solent summariser, said: âHe used the style of football perfectly for the players that he has got in the squad.
âHe will need to be a bit smarter with his style next season.â
BBC Wales football correspondent Rob Phillips said Martin âfinally confirmed that zealous adherence to his possession-based football principles can bring successâ after polarising the Swansea fans during his two years there.
Off the field, 38-year-old Martin speaks out about the environment, co-owns a vegan restaurant and is interested in Buddhism.
Fabian Hurzeler (Brighton)
Hurzeler is the least known name in England of the managers on this list.
The 31-year-old became the youngest permanent Premier League manager ever when he replaced Roberto de Zerbi at the end of this season.
He is younger than six Brighton players, and seven years the junior of midfielder James Milner.
Like three of the other four managers in this article, Hurzeler won promotion last season â with German second-tier side St Pauli.
He stopped playing at the age of 23 to focus on coaching â and had spells as assistant boss of Germany Under-18s and Under-20s before joining St Pauli in the same role. He became their manager in December 2022.
Bundesliga 2 expert Matthew Karagich told BBC Radio Sussex: âSt Pauli are a very strong ball-playing team and that is one thing you will see from his teams â it is all about possessing the ball.
âYouâre looking at a team that will try to use its pace to get behind defences and create opportunities. The one thing that you can also add is that he likes his teams to be quite flexible.
â[They have the attitude of] âwe donât want to just beat you, we want to destroyâ â that resembles the way he reacts on the touchline. He is very passionate.â
Owner Tony Bloom called it the âleast risky option of all the options we hadâ.
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Published11 August 2023
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