The bookies will tell you that after yet another defeat to one of their relegation battling rivals, Big Sam is heavy favourite to be the next Premiership Manager to be circling job ads in the classified section (4/7 Sky Bet). However, the smart money is inching its way towards 28/1 shot Gus Poyet after a disappointing home defeat to fellow strugglers Aston Villa yesterday.
Although there is still a very good chance that my New Years resolution to take up the ‘Insanity Workout Program’ will last longer than Sam Allardyce in the West Ham hot seat, Poyets demeanour and performance at press conferences should be cause for real concern amongst Black Cats fans and is the reason I believe he will be the next manager to get the chop.
Poyet yesterday described himself during another worryingly depressing post match interview as being a bit “fed up”. That’s right, “fed up”. Not “Up for the fight ahead” or “aware of where we need to improve” or “looking forward to the next game to put things right” but “fed up”.
Lack of Fight
If you squint with your left eye and imagine a subtle Dutch accent when listening to Gus Poyets interview yesterday, they could almost be former Fulham Manager Martin Jol from 4 weeks ago when he it looked as if he was begging for the sweet merciful firing that came shortly after.
There seems to be a distinct lack of fight from Poyet whereas at least Allardyce has employed the tactic of blaming his players to avert the attention from himself. Allardyce has laid into his Captain Kevin Nolan for a poor miss in front of goal and an avoidable red card which has given the headline writers an alternative to simply discussing the odds of Avram Grant returning to Upton Park. I wonder what former West Ham player Malky Mackay is making of the situation at the Boleyn?
Facing the first sticky patch of his relatively short managerial career, Poyet looks to be coming up short and is providing little comfort to Sunderland fans who are now nervously eyeing away trips to Yeovil and derbys against Middlesborough rather than Newcastle United next season.
Thrown in the Towel
Having witnessed a similar situation with Poyets close friend Gianfranco Zola at Watford this season where he outright admitted he didn’t know what to do to turn a run of bad form before resigning the following week, you begin to wonder if a man boasting a career of unbroken success is about to throw in the towel before blighting his CV with a relegation.
Poyet has no track record of fighting his way out of the trenches whereas, who better to get West Ham back to the top flight should the worst happen and they find themselves needing to make another promotion push next year?
My money is on Big Sam to survive by hook or by crook and the likeable Uruguayan to be spending his days improving his win ratio on’ FIFA 14’ before Easter.
Source: DSG
