Football - Premier League Season Starts Too Soon For Mancini by Anthony Lucas

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(Starts 14th August 2010)

I was in two minds whether to put my money on Martin O'Neill or Roberto Mancini when looking at the betting for the first premier league manager to get the boot.

Mancini has assembled a team of stars but seems incapable of uniting them, proven by their very mediocre pre-season performances, whereas O'Neill has a reputation for quitting when faced with an obstructive Chairman and lived up to that reputation yesterday when walking away from the Villa Park job.

This answered my dilemma and thus I'm giving Roberto Mancini the best chance of the boot at a tasty 7/1 with Ladbrokes.

(Note: There is an error on this market at the moment, the William Hill odds are actually for "Next Manager To Be Sent Off (from the touchline)", not sacked so please ignore their odds.)

With heavy investment from the Middle East, the Italian will be under pressure to be in the top two after the first half a dozen games and I think this could be a big ask for a team lacking togetherness, despite all their individual skill.

City face Spurs and Sunderland away, with a visit from Liverpool sandwiched in between. 3 points by the end of August won't be enough and the knives could be sharpened before the autumn is upon us.

The other runners in the market will at least get a few months grace period before the Chairman contemplate bringing in a new face to run the team, but Mancini won't be so lucky so I expect to see the former great depart quite quickly.

There's always the chance of his side taking the league by storm, and the bookies think this is a better prospect, pricing them at a lowly 7/2 to be top by Christmas but I believe the opposite is more likely and will invest as such.

Another team who I can see struggling in the early part of the season is Mick McCarthy's Wolverhampton Wanderers.

It's often the case that a team who does well in their first season after promotion will then struggle in their second. Wolves have a habit of doing just this and I fail to see enough strength in depth to think they won't be battling it out for relegation again this year.

With six tough games to begin the season, including a local derby against Aston Villa and an away trip to Spurs, they could suffer from the get go. If this is the case, it will be hard to improve the morale of the team and they could face themselves languishing at the foot of the table.

They were the lowest scoring side in the league last year and only their defence kept them up but they might not be as fortunate this time round so take the 11/1 on offer for The Wanderers to be bottom come the festive period.

MY BETS
3pts - ROBERTO MANCINI - 1ST PREMIERSHIP MANAGER TO BE SACKED @ 7/1 (Ladbrokes)
2pts - WOLVES TO BE BOTTOM AT XMAS @ 11/1 (Bet365)

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