Two managerial casualties have taken place this week. First Vitor Pereira who has been with Wolves for under a year was given the get go after the clubs very poor start to the Premier League campaign. Wolves are winless in their first ten games and have 2 points and are on course to finish on less than 10 points for the season. Wolves of course have been poor this season, you can't sit rooted to the bottom of the league with 2 points and escape criticism. However they have also shown optimism and did well in the Carabao Cup by their standards. First they knocked out Everton and after trailing Chelsea by two goals roared back in that game only to ultimately lose 4-3 to a much better side. There are signs that Wolves have more about them than meets the eye.
As for Pereira it was only a few months ago that he was celebrating in the local pub with fans after he guided Wolves to survival and now this. Pereira was given a head scratching 3 year extension to his contract in September after Wolves had begun the campaign by losing their first four games in a row. It is understood that his payout clause will only include 1 year's salary. So in total in a year he has made £4 million for managing 38 games and losing 18 of those with a win rate of 36%. This is why there should be no negativity coming from this sacking, plus we all know Pereira will be managing another Premier League club soon in the constant manager merry go round.
Another manager to lose their job this week is someone who is eager to manage in the Premier League and that is West Ham supporting Will Still. Still only joined Championship side Southampton at the end of May but has been sacked five months later on a 3 year contract. Money wise it is unknown what Still was on but in his previous job with Lens even they were paying him £1.4 million a season so you sense the Saints were at least matching that. Not bad for a person who has never played the game professionally and is only 32. However setting money aside this will be a blow to Still being his first job in England and he would have hoped for better, this would have damaged his resume somewhat. One has to wonder if Southampton have pulled the trigger too early? Granted they are in 21st place and want a return to the Premier League straightaway but there was time and games left for Still to turn it around and guide the club at least into a play off position. However after winning just 4 of his 18 games in charge his win rate was only 25%. He has ambitions and it will be interesting to see where he goes next.
In order to stay in the Premier League you need goals and while Everton did start in solid fashion recent form has been worrying for the club. Everton have won just 1 game in their past 8 matches ironically this was against Crystal Palace who are one of the most in form sides this year. Everton has a decent midfield and chances are being created but time and again they are not being converted. That was evident in the clubs latest game when they should have been 2-0 up away to Sunderland but forward Thierno Barry missed a great chance, it was one of those where you think it would have been easier to have scored the goal. Barry is really struggling at the Toffees and from 10 games played in all competitions is yet to score. It should be noted of course that he isn't starting all of those games but the return is still poor and his confidence looks shot to pieces. Barry's form reminds us of Beto"s before David Moyes joined up and he was really struggling under Sean Dyche. Beto went on to score 8 goals in the league last season and improved in the second half of the season. However he has just 1 goal in the league so far and in his career at Everton has scored just 12 goals in 68 league games. So far this season the combination of Beto and Barry has produced just 1 goal for almost £60m spent between bringing them in. It's easy to shudder to think that Erling Haaland cost Manchester City £10m less. Goals are a problem at Everton with just 10 scored so far, Haaland has 13 on his own. So far 13 clubs have scored more goals and in their last five games Everton have managed just 4 goals, only Nottingham Forest have netted fewer. The forward line feels like a real problem for Everton because evidently they are costing Everton goals and points. Ilman N'diaye and Jack Grealish are providing chances and opportunities are going missing. If we go back to Erling Haaland his manager Pep Guardiola admitted this week that Manchester City would be suffering without him, well Everton are currently suffering under Beto and Barry and you get the feeling that not much is going change and both players may well go down as some of the worst transfers in Premier League history.
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