Your Premier League manager of the season?

tentan

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Who would yours be? Maybe a top three.

For me


1. Arteta - To transform Arsenal into title contenders, leading the league for most of the season from where they were last season was incredible.

2. Howe - No one expected Newcastle to be in the top four. Fantastic achievement.

3. De Zerbi - Brighton play probably the best football in the world.
 

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Who would yours be? Maybe a top three.

For me


1. Arteta - To transform Arsenal into title contenders, leading the league for most of the season from where they were last season was incredible.

2. Howe - No one expected Newcastle to be in the top four. Fantastic achievement.

3. De Zerbi - Brighton play probably the best football in the world.
You could add Ten Haag because no one thought United would be top 4 outside of United fans but we all know who will actually win it
 

daba

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If we’re just purely talking the Premier League as a sole comp:

1. Howe
2. Arteta
3. De Zerbi

I’ve chosen based on who has lifted their team to overachieve the most this season. Newcastle breaking top 4 really is amazing from Howe this early into his tenure and given it’s a concrete achievement, I put it over Arteta’s title challenge (and subsequent bottling of their 1st position). Honourable mention has to be O’Neill as 90% of people would have had Bournemouth to go down and he did the unthinkable. As I wrote this I’d be tempted to give him the 3rd spot over De Zerbi who got Brighton into Europe for the first time in their history and doing so playing great football.

If we’re talking the best Premier League club manager across all comps, then for me that’s slightly different:

1. Guardiola (if they do the double or treble)
2. Ten Hag
3. Howe

If Pep does the treble, credit where credits die, it’s him. Yes, he has the best squad in the world but to do what he’s done (chase Arsenal down, smack Madrid, close out the CL and FA (big if obvs) is a unique achievement. Second has to be Ten Hag, getting top 4 and a trophy (and potentially another) is a fantastic season and turnaround considering how people predicted our season would go (especially after the first two games), not to mention doing the above with the whole CR7 drama and effectively not replacing him. Howe 3rd, as above and the fact he got Newcastle to their first Wembley trip in goodness knows how long.
 

Jam

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De Zerbi
Howe
Arteta
Pep
ETH
Impossible to look past really. All of them have strong arguments for them.

It’s also a different ball game if you look at the league in isolation; just 38 games of football alone. But if you consider both achievements in other completions, as well as the strain other competitions put on the league campaign.

It is hard to look at just the league in a vacuum.

Also probably a little shout out to Emery, walked into a terribly performing Villa with a decent squad and instantly turned them around to playing at the level they should have been at.
 

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Impossible to look past really. All of them have strong arguments for them.

It’s also a different ball game if you look at the league in isolation; just 38 games of football alone. But if you consider both achievements in other completions, as well as the strain other competitions put on the league campaign.

It is hard to look at just the league in a vacuum.

Also probably a little shout out to Emery, walked into a terribly performing Villa with a decent squad and instantly turned them around to playing at the level they should have been at.
I'd give a shout out to Steve Cooper at Forest, I don't think anyone thought they'd stay up
 

Ekeke

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Arteta, Howe then De Zerbi for me too. All the over achievers. Pep and ETH did as they are expected to do with their resources.
 

Sky1981

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It takes a special talent to achieve what Lampard did at Chelsea.

I think even a 20 years old basement nerd playing FM could still snatch a win here and there with that Chelsea team

That said. Gotta be Arteta
 

Lecland07

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Premier League must be Howe. The jump from last season to this one is ridiculous; they have leapfrogged a lot of top clubs.

I would argue Emery for second place.
 
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justboy68

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Emery going under the radar a bit I think. They were shit when he joined whereas Brighton were already doing well.

Probably reluctantly have to say Howe, Arteta, Emery as top 3. Even though I don't like those first two. But Ten Hag has also had a good season and De Zerbi too and obviously Pep.
 
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Mogget

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De Zerbi and Emery would be my shouts. They both came into their clubs after the season had already started and massively overachieved
 

horsechoker

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1. Arteta
2. Howe
3. Guardiola
4. De Zerbi
5. Ten Hag

Emery, Frank, Silva and O'Neil also deserve a pat on the back.

Worst
1. Lampard
2. Jones
3. Marsh
4. Rodgers
5. Potter (Chelsea)
 

Lecland07

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De Zerbi and Emery would be my shouts. They both came into their clubs after the season had already started and massively overachieved
Emery was better. Brighton were in a good place already; Aston Villa were a mess. Brighton had a 9-point gap on Aston Villa when he took over, which has been reduced to 4.
 

Von Mistelroum

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I think De Zerbi Dezerbs to win this, but if EtH wins the FA cup then he's in with a shout too, having won two trophies and got top 4 with a rather poor squad.

Pep doesn't even count for me. He's fine exactly as much as you'd expect any person to do with unlimited funds and cheating.
 

Red Star One

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I think it’s quite insane to think ETH deserves a shot here considering our away record and I’m not sure if United manager that took 0-7 drumming from Pool should win it.

Premier League only my top four would have De Zerbi, Pep, Howe and Emery. RDZ probably edges it
 

cyberman

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Has to be Howe. Did better than De Zerbi with arguably worse players at his disposable.
 

Pintu

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Howe
De Zerbi
Emery/Pep


ETH is ahead of Arteta for me… ETH in his first season in the league got us CL qualification, and got us further than Arsenal in all the Cups…
 

Conor

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I don't get how people saying Arteta, he has spent an absolute fortune and had years with his team? He had a very good season, but not really comparable to De Zerbi or Howe, from an objective standpoint.
 

Meep

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1 Pep - a step ahead (and less boring to watch with Haaaaland).
2 Ten Hag - raised the level in the club not only on the pitch.
3 Howe - most underrated rated manager. watch out next year.

These three are levels above the rest.
Honorable mention to Lampard who won a game with a team of individuals.
 
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SilentWitness

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For me it's between Howe, Pep and O'Neil and it depends how you look at it.

Argument for Howe - Take a look at where they were when he joined the club. Nobody has been able to do what he has done in regards to joining a team doomed for relegation and somehow getting them to top 4 the next. They're the first ever Premier League club to avoid relegation after failing to win their opening 14 games. The money helped but the trajectory of the club compared to what he's done, albeit through a bit of help in terms of cash, is remarkable. I'd put De Zerbi second in this camp but Howe edges it for me because at the start of this year Potter was on a good trajectory with Brighton already and he reached the League Cup final.

Pep argument - Quite simple. If you win the treble there is no doubt that you should win the MOTY.

Gary O'Neil - What he's achieved with Bournemouth this year is amazing. Didn't have the budget that Cooper did but has done a better job for a club that is a tadpole in the PL. Everyone laughed at them and picked them to go down as the bottom side but he assured safety with a couple of games to spare and quite comfortably in the end. The 2nd half of the season they've looked really good with some spirited performances. Cooper 2nd in this camp.
 

Dominos

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I don't get how people saying Arteta, he has spent an absolute fortune and had years with his team? He had a very good season, but not really comparable to De Zerbi or Howe, from an objective standpoint.
Agree, you can't just discount the last 9 games, you have to judge on entire season, or at least the entirety of games a manager has been in charge (since some took over mid-season).

At one point it looked like he could do something out of the ordinary but he didn't.

I've given him credit throughout the season, but at the end of the day he's turned Arsenal into a top 4 side after 3 and a half years in charge and a decent amount of money spent. Their end to the season sees them level/below the likes of Brighton/Newcastle on xPTS too so it's not like he's got the underlying performance levels to a particularly high standard either.
 

dalriada

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It depends on your criteria. If City win the Treble it's going to be Pep, and it's grudgingly difficult to dispute his ability to make a good team almost perfect. Howe for taking his side so far in the space of a season, although lots of things have aligned in his favour.
Arteta has done well considering many thought he'd be the first sacking of the season. De Zerbi has inherited a side already in very good shape at a well-run club, but looks a genuinely talented manager. Emery has done well, but Villa are really where they should have been if it hadn't been for Gerrard.
Difficult to include ETH as his job this season was probably not going to see him take Utd further than they've got and we'll just about see us exceed our points from the season before last.
I'd go for Howe, he's exceeded expectations by a big margin, even allowing for the change of ownership.