Florentino Pérez may be an egomaniac who doesn’t know how to keep out of his own team’s way, but at least he’s predictable. In a move that surprised absolutely no one, Pérez fired Rafa Benítez yesterday and replaced him with Real Madrid icon Zinedine Zidane. With Madrid only four points from the top of La Liga, and having qualified easily for the next stage of the Champions League, it can be argued that Benítez’s dismissal was harsh. But expectations at Madrid are astronomical, so most saw this move coming for some time.

Over at Manchester United — another super club whose fans found themselves saddled with a disappointing manager — supporters must be wishing their decision makers were as decisive. Louis van Gaal has engineered more dull displays at Old Trafford than Benítez did at the Bernabéu, crashed out of the Champions League, and has slipped behind in a domestic league that doesn’t boast a challenger anywhere near the quality of Barcelona. When Pérez gave Benítez a vote of confidence just last week, it was quickly revealed to be meaningless. Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward reportedly gave van Gaal a similar guarantee after United’s worst December ever, and he seems to have meant it.

Benítez, as was obvious at the time of his appointment, was never going to last very long in the Madrid hot seat. The fans were underwhelmed from the start, and the players, having been disappointed to see the popular Carlo Ancelotti dismissed last summer, never seemed particularly enthused, either. Benítez is well-respected in Madrid for his history with the club and for his achievements with Valencia, but upon closer inspection, his resume starts looking a little funny in the light. Much like van Gaal, his last title winning team that could be called progressive in its playing style when it last took the field over a decade ago. Those styles are not so progressive now.

SEE MORE: Why Jose Mourinho is absolutely the wrong choice for Manchester United.

The parallels between United and Madrid also extend to the two men seen as great managers in waiting. Like Zidane, Ryan Giggs is adored by his club’s fanbase for his exploits as player. Both Zidane and Giggs are scorers of the greatest goal in their respective club’s modern history, both cut their teeth working as an assistant to a vastly experienced manager, and both are being groomed as the next “in house” great; Manchester and Madrid’s very own Pep Guardiolas. And crucially, both are wildly under-qualified for the jobs for which they have been anointed.

For all the crowd-pleasing romanticism of Zidane’s appointment, the Frenchman has hardly garnered many rave reviews from his time in charge of Real Madrid’s B team. Zidane’s presence at the Bernabéu may have loomed over both Ancelotti and Benítez, but that was more because of club politics rather than any clamoring for Zizou based on results. Similarly, Giggs has yet to coach a team on his own at any level, bar four games at the end of the disastrous 2013-2014 season – too small a sample size from which to draw any conclusions. There’s a good chance that at least one, if not both, will find themselves out of their depth.

If nothing else though, skeptical Madridistas can take comfort in the fact that if Zidane fails (or even if he doesn’t succeed the right way), Pérez will not hesitate to make a change. For both better and worse, Pérez has a history of being trigger happy when it comes to replacing managers, and Zidane will be no exception. And if there was any question that his status as a club legend would provide him with added protection, the undignified exit of Iker Casillas, perhaps Real’s greatest ever player, should put that to bed. Pérez is ruthless, and if the Zidane experiment does not work, he will end it.

Woodward on the other hand, has demonstrated the opposite instinct. If Pérez has a tendency to commit false positive errors by rejecting managers who have done well and are likely to continue doing well (Vicente del Bosque and Carlo Ancelotti), then Woodward has so far shown a tendency to commit a type of false negative error by failing to swiftly reject managers who have not done well (David Moyes and Louis van Gaal).

It is for this reason that those United fans who feel that Giggs is not yet ready for the big job have reason to worry. Having already persisted with van Gaal far beyond what many fans would have wanted, there is a growing concern that Woodward would be similarly hesitant to move on from Giggs were the Welshman to not work out. Pérez may have his faults — and indeed, he is destructive in his own way — but Woodward may do well to take a page out of his book.

Knees get shot, sharpness fades, minutes have to be managed. For sports fans, the idea that athletes have a limited shelf life is not a difficult one to accept. It’s always hard to watch your favorite player lose a step, but it’s never totally unexpected. A playing career is divided into three acts: the early years, the peak, and the decline. The duration of each may vary, but the sequence does not. It’s the reason why fans revere that rare breed of players that can stave off decline and enjoy prolonged excellence. We recognize that Ryan Giggs, Paolo Maldini and Javier Zanetti are the exception, not the rule.

Why then, is this same logic so rarely applied to managers? Managers are almost exclusively judged against the peak of their success, with little or no context applied with regard to the passage of time and its inherent challenges. The list of managers who defy this notion,and manage to maintain a level of excellence over decades is very, very short. Sir Alex Ferguson is the premier example, and among “active” managers, perhaps only Carlo Ancelotti fits the bill. These exceptions aside, the overwhelming evidence points to this: Just because managers aren’t sprinting up and down the touchline every week, it doesn’t mean that they don’t eventually get washed up, too.

SEE MORE: Now is the time to buy stock in Jose Mourinho.

For some of those managers whose powers have waned over the years, much of it is because the very same principles that they helped pioneer have become so ubiquitous that they no longer represent an advantage. When Arsène Wenger took over at Arsenal, he revolutionized English soccer. His knowledge of then lesser known markets for players made him a shrewd mover in the transfer window, just as his emphasis on proper diet and nutrition gave his teams an added edge. But in the decade since his last league title, the rest of the league has learned from him – lesser managers have caught up, and rivals have passed Wenger by.

Manchester United fans have found themselves wondering what happened to the manager they thought they had appointed to succeed David Moyes. Louis van Gaal built his reputation on teams that controlled possession and dominated games. But in the two decades since his greatest ever team — the all-conquering young Ajax side — the sport has caught up to him as well. The Premier League is one where even title non-factors like Swansea City have been able to replicate van Gaal’s old control-obsessed playing style. On the European stage, recent Barcelona and Bayern Munich teams have not only done similar but married that control with other aspects (high pressing, for example) that increase its effectiveness. Quite simply, there are now other managers who can perform van Gaal’s best trick, and many of the ones who can’t at least now know how to counter it.

For some, Rafa Benítez is a fraud who isn’t nearly as good as the jobs he’s gotten would lead you to believe. But it should be remembered how differently he was viewed at Valencia, and even during his early years at Liverpool. Benítez is now seen as a functional (at best) coach, but he introduced a more attacking approach to the (admittedly already good) Valencia team that he inherited. At Liverpool, he inspired a wildly under-qualified motley crew to an unlikely European triumph. His use of the double midfield pivot at that time may not have been unique, but he was unquestionably one of its most notable proponents. These days, even the average relegation fodder team has the personnel to play a 4-2-3-1 formation, and the tactical acumen to match up against it. Benítez has stalled, and is now on his third job (after Inter and Napoli) which he arguably was only handed because of a now outdated resume. After a sustained period of relative success that he has so far been unable to replicate, Benítez — like Wenger and van Gaal — may just be past his best.

SEE MORE: What Chelsea would get with Guus Hiddink’s return.

The latest and perhaps greatest of these active managers to find himself being compared unfavorably to a past version of himself is none other than José Mourinho. There is a cruel irony that the defeat against Leicester City is the one that condemned Mourinho to the sack. Here is a team that tops the table, that is compact, physical, able to withstand pressure, and then attack ruthlessly on the counter; the very same sort of model with which Mourinho enjoyed so much success during his first spell at Chelsea.

Mourinho is still young, but he’s now into his second decade as a manager, and circumstances seem to have changed him. The Chelsea team of 2015 is not the team of 2005 – this version needs serious retooling, a skill which Mourinho has yet to demonstrate. But this is not the Mourinho of 2005, either. He has in some ways, become a parody of his best self: more paranoid than mischievous; more divisive than magnetic. A new environment may yet revitalize him, but it’s clear as day that this Mourinho was not up to this particular challenge. Mourinho is without question one of the greatest managers in history, but time and changing circumstances catch up to even the very best. The likes of Ferguson and maybe Ancelotti are the exception, but the examples of Guus Hiddink, Fabio Capello, Wenger, van Gaal, and Benítez prove the rule.

There are no secrets in soccer management anymore. There will always be times when true visionaries emerge, but in almost every case the rest of the field eventually catches up. When that happens, managers face a new challenge: surpassing their own innovations. Once or twice in a generation, there will be a gifted manager who also has the ability to continuously evolve and to stay at the leading edge of the sport. But for most, even the special ones find themselves surpassed; persisting on a reputation that they no longer deserve.

He’s gone. We all knew it was coming. For the second time in just over eight years, José Mourinho has been sacked by Chelsea. After winning the Premier League title with relative ease last season, Mourinho’s Chelsea have started this year so atrociously that they find themselves just a point away from the relegation zone. The players had clearly stopped responding to Mourinho, and for the first time in his career, he went so far as to publicly lambast them.

With few exceptions, Chelsea’s players should be ashamed of themselves. It’s natural that the team would suffer when key players lose form, but when so many players are performing at a sub-par level at once, it’s hard not to presume that they’ve collectively decided to down tools. Neither should Michael Emenalo — Chelsea’s Director of Football — be spared from blame. For a side that should’ve built on last year’s success, Chelsea’s summer recruitment was a joke.

But it was Mourinho himself who was largely the architect of his own downfall. He picked a series of unnecessary and embarrassing rows, and refused to shoulder any of the blame for Chelsea’s awful form, right down to the bitter end. Much of the charm and the mystique that made him The Special One is gone, and the man who lost his job is a pale imitation of the one who Chelsea thought they had re-hired in the first place.

This is without question the lowest point of his career. Which is why now is the perfect time to buy stock in José Mourinho.

From one perspective, Mourinho has failed to deliver on the mandate given to him in his last two jobs. At Real Madrid, it was to win La Décima. At Chelsea, it was to create another multi-title winning, entertaining team. From a different angle, it is only in the context of Mourinho’s astonishing career that those two jobs can be deemed failures. He won the Copa del Rey and La Liga at Madrid despite facing directly against the greatest club team in history. At Chelsea, he won the Premier League last season with a team that has now been exposed as flawed and limited. The field of competitors may have been unusually poor, but Mourinho is not totally wrong in his suggestion that he got more out of that team than the sum of its parts.

Expectations at big clubs are extremely high, but even so, it is churlish to call any tenure that involves at least a league win in two or three seasons a failure. By that standard, Mourinho has never truly failed, having won the league in every job since joining Porto over a decade ago. It’s not unreasonable to make the case that he is now past his best, but his best was astronomical; once-in-a-generation. As he proved in his time at Chelsea, even a lessened Mourinho guarantees a trophy or two.

SEE MORE: What Chelsea would get with the return of Guus Hiddink.

Fans of rival clubs and the general population of Mourinho-haters (of which there are many, and for good reason) have been taking no little joy in the Portuguese being suddenly out of work. One of the most popular narratives is the schadenfreude. Mourinho’s petty combativeness has finally come back to bite him. He constantly belittles the achievements of Claudio Ranieri, and it was a loss to Ranieri’s league-leading Leicester City that proved to be the final nail in Mourinho’s coffin. He called Arsène Wenger a “specialist in failure,” but now it is Mourinho that has failed to even win enough games to keep himself in a job.

Much of the delight at seeing Mourinho get his comeuppance is fully warranted. Mourinho is not a gracious winner, and he’s shown himself to be an even worse loser. He’s an arrogant, egotistical jerk. But he’s also a far superior manager to either Ranieri or Wenger, even now. In the time since Wenger has last won a league title, Mourinho has won six in three countries. How many Arsenal fans would happily trade places with 16th place Chelsea today if it meant that they could have also been watching their team lift the Premier League trophy last spring? Ranieri may be a nice man whose team is playing great soccer, but he’s a middling manager who has never won a league title.

At his worst, Mourinho is insufferable. For those massive clubs whose fans are used to success, and who value more than just winning, Mourinho and all his baggage may just not be worth it. His appointment at Manchester United, Real Madrid (again), or Bayern Munich would definitely not be universally lauded. But in the cases of the former two, he’s unquestionably a better manager than the ones currently in situ. Anyone who thinks that clubs with the size and ambition of United, Madrid, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, or even Manchester City shouldn’t at least feel out Mourinho’s availability in the summer is deluding themselves.

SEE MORE: Juande Ramos a surprise candidate to replace Jose Mourinho.

Mourinho’s powers may have faded. The stint at Real Madrid amplified his worst instincts, and maybe he’ll never be the same for the experience. Perhaps his second spell at Chelsea exposed a weakness: an inability to rebuild graduall, without first imploding. On the other hand, he is still one of the greatest managers of all time, and even in his diminished state, he’s one of the top two or three still in the business today.

The chastening experience of his “failed” Chelsea return could well reinvigorate him. A few months to recharge his batteries after his ignominious Stamford Bridge exit could help him refocus with an eye to another big job next summer, where he could be better than ever.

It wouldn’t even be the first time that’s happened. Just ask Inter.

Later today, Manchester United will face off against Wolfsburg in a game that could decide its Champions League group phase fate. Win, and the Reds will progress to the next round as group winners. Lose or draw, and they could find themselves out of the competition altogether.

That United even finds themselves in this position, despite landing in a group that, on paper, should have been handily negotiated is a damning indictment of the state of Louis van Gaal’s team. The decision-makers have suitable confidence in van Gaal, so much so that they’ve let it be known  the result in Germany will not affect his job security. And rightly so. Louis van Gaal should be sacked, whether United survives or not.

SEE MORE: I’ll quit if I lose the dressing room – Van Gaal

With all the usual caveats of beauty being in the eye of the beholder, not many fans of English soccer would argue against calling United the most boring team in the league. United lead the league in backward passes and have only scored seven goals in its last 10 games in all competitions. There have only been 14 goalless draws in the Premier League so far this season, and United has been involved in four of them.

Those numbers are shocking, but even they fail to tell the whole story. In the vast majority of United’s matches, the team has looked completely devoid of either ideas or confidence in attack. The failures of individual players are partly to blame — none more so than the United’s washed up senior striker and captain — but with 18 months of evidence now in the books, it’s hard not to believe that responsibility for the lack of excitement doesn’t lay with the manager.

Van Gaal has bemoaned the lack of balance in his selection, and he certainly has a valid point. Wayne Rooney is no longer an elite player, and Juan Mata aside, United’s other best attackers are kids. Injuries and a lack of depth in defense also mean the fullbacks are currently not able to contribute much to the attack, either. But it’s hard to feel sympathy for van Gaal’s lack of options when he is the one primarily responsible for the squad being as thin as it is in certain areas. Even worse, he has failed to get the most of the players that he does have. Van Gaal has spent the better part of £200 million in transfer fees so far, and while he has a much improved squad than the one he inherited, he has consistently managed to make it less than the sum of its parts.

Van Gaal’s various shortcomings as a manager are only compounded by the fact that he’s apparently too arrogant or stubborn to acknowledge them. When confronted with the possibility of supporter discontent earlier in the season, he dismissed it out of hand, citing the regular chants of “Louis van Gaal’s Red and White Army.” Confusing support for the team with an endorsement of his approach is a clear sign of a man who does not know his real mandate.

Now that the atmosphere at Old Trafford is bordering on mutinous and chants of “Attack, attack, attack!” can be heard on a regular basis, he still seems out of touch with the fans’ discontent. After yet another turgid 0-0 draw at the weekend, he surmised that the fans maybe “want more long balls.” Ironically, it is precisely the long ball option — in the form of van Gaal’s favorite in-game change of sending on Marouane Fellaini — that resulted in the loudest boos heard at Old Trafford for a long time. He quite simply does not get it.

SEE MORE: United intent on proving they can score goals at Wolfsburg.

Louis van Gaal was needed at Old Trafford at the time of his appointment, as much for his ability as a manager as for his force of personality. After the disaster of the first attempt at succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson with the ill-fated and outmatched David Moyes, the suits at United needed someone with van Gaal’s pedigree. He had the resume to command the respect from a squad that had grown unsettled, the self-belief to ship out most of the deadwood, and the ego to get the United faithful believing again. He did the dirty work of rebuilding a crumbling playing staff, and even restored some the aura that was lost in the aftermath of Ferguson’s retirement.

But that may be the limit of his usefulness, at least in the eyes of the fans. United’s owners may be content with what we now know van Gaal to be: a steadying if unspectacular force who will not likely embarrass the club in Europe, and who will keep the team in and around the top four. The fans on the other hand, want more than a more expensive Tony Pulis.

Those fans may be spoiled by success, but they have a right to expect to be entertained. And no matter his protestations, van Gaal has shown little inclination or ability to provide entertainment.

A win against Wolfsburg will keep van Gaal on track to meeting his goals for his second season. United may even find itself at the top of the Premier League this coming weekend. But none of that will change the fact that the style of play has been dire and uninspiring, or the fact that the squad is still performing below its potential.

Van Gaal has done a respectable job of building a platform for a successful team, but he’s done nothing to suggest that he can take this team any further. Win or lose, van Gaal should not be the manager of Manchester United for much longer.

More from Brent Maximin:

• The Premier League title race is being defined by self-inflicted wounds.
• Depay needs United’s patience, not supporters’ ridicule.
• Stop trying to make Theo Walcott a thing.

With more a third of the Premier League season already accounted for, this is usually around the time where the wheat is separated from the chaff. Over the last decade, only three teams have been crowned champions, and the top four spots have been shared among the same six teams. Distinct tiers emerge, and there are rarely more than two or three real title contenders going into the holiday season.

This year though, instead of a couple of standout candidates for the league crown, there are six teams that are still firmly in the mix. A combination of an improving middle class and a declining elite has made the top half more competitive than ever – competition that’s great for the league, if not necessarily for England’s Champions League coefficient.

For the challengers that ultimately fail to win the title, though, this season will represent a bigger missed opportunity than usual. And given the relative lack of quality at the sharp end of England’s top flight, there are a number of teams that should have been running away with the title, had they not all been suffering from largely self-inflicted wounds.

The reigning champion, Chelsea, badly mishandled the summer transfer window and failed to bolster what should have been a squad ready to take the next step. As a result of this poor investment – compounded by the seemingly endless distracting antics of José Mourinho – Chelsea are now firmly out of the championship picture (but not, amusingly, out of The Championship picture).

This is an astonishing regression for a team that was really the only decent side in a league that it won at a canter last season. Mourinho had a golden opportunity to enhance his legacy at Stamford Bridge, but through a series of poor decisions – some of which were reportedly not his own – he seems doomed to tarnish it.

SEE MORE: Mourinho can still turn Chelsea around – Ferguson.

Similarly, Arsenal handicapped itself unnecessarily over the summer by failing to add a single outfield player to the squad. Petr Čech was a shrewd and long overdue piece of business, but every soccer fan with half a brain could have pointed out the other areas of weakness for the Gunners. With just a couple of key additions, it would have been easy to see Arsenal pulling out ahead of the pack.

Arsenal has been crying out for a top class center forward since the departure of Robin van Persie, and the depth chart in defensive midfield is a complete joke. The Gunners are now beginning to pay the price for entering the season depending on the likes of Mikel Arteta and for running their few reliable players into the ground.

Without the usual ruthlessness of peak Alex Ferguson or José Mourinho to compete against, Arsène Wenger could have broken out of his decade of stagnation and finally built his third great Arsenal team. Instead, he finds his team just about in the top four, hobbled by a rash of injuries. Just like every year.

SEE MORE: Schweinsteiger faces three-match ban.

After investing heavily for a second consecutive year, Manchester United looked far better prepared to make a run at the league title. United’s squad is as balanced as it has been in several years, and the Reds can make a good case for having the best goalkeeper, center back, and defensive midfielder in the country. United may lack similar excellence in attack, but in this year’s weakened premiership, there is certainly enough firepower in the Red Devils’ ranks to perform better than has been on display so far.

This United side may still be a work in progress, but unfortunately for fans, the position that may be most in need of upgrade is in the dugout. At this stage of his career, Louis van Gaal has become ultra-conservative in his approach, and his risk-aversive tactics are arguably now holding the team back. With a more progressive manager, even this flawed United team could have found itself head and shoulders above the rest of the league.

These collective cock-ups have opened the door to the previously exclusive mini-league at the very top of the table. Liverpool, despite wasting the summer and the beginning of the season with Brendan Rodgers, could foreseeably insert itself into the title race. Tottenham Hotspur, the youngest team in the league, is only four points off second place Arsenal and showing little sign of slowing down. Few people expect Leicester City to maintain its spot on top of the league, but if there was ever a year for a shock qualifier for the Champions League, this is it. The average quality of the top teams in the Premier League may not hold up to the top teams around Europe, but for better or worse, the competitiveness is as high as it has been in recent memory.

Come the end of the season, the status quo may well yet prevail. The top four could be populated by the usual suspects (if admittedly with poorer versions of themselves), Leicester City’s lack of depth could send them comfortably down to seventh or eighth place, and even Chelsea should pull itself together enough to trouble the Europa League spots. But if this year’s current pattern holds, there is a chance for something rare and maybe even historic to happen; for once, the Premier League might just live up to the hype.

Editor’s note: The original version of this story stated Leicester are in second place, where they were at the end of round 14. After this weekend’s results, the Foxes are now first. Brent’s editor failed him.

More Premier League:

• Ferguson thinks Mourinho can turn Chelsea around.
• Howe proving his managerial pedigree.
• How Hughes has transformed Stoke.
• 10 biggest problems facing Swansea.

Success spoils you. For fans of big clubs, this entitlement creeps in over time. You get used to winning games, claiming trophies most seasons, and it’s hard not to grumble when things don’t go exactly according to plan. For some, supporters that expectation of constant excellence starts to manifest itself as impatience. Dull 1-0 wins by Real Madrid are whistled, winning “only” the league at Bayern Munich is seen as a failure, and a talented young attacker who hasn’t fulfilled his potential three months into his Manchester United career is written off as a dud.

Memphis Depay arrived at Manchester United from PSV Eindhoven with a big reputation. He was PSV’s top scorer in the previous season, and Louis van Gaal (never a man to be accused of heavy-handed praise) called him the best talent of his age on the planet. After Ángel di María escaped to PSG, Memphis was assigned United’s famed no. 7 shirt. Needless to say, the expectations were high.

SEE MORE: Ancelotti’s an option for Chelsea but a better fit with Manchester United.

But outside of a few early encouraging moments, Memphis has been unquestionably rubbish. That may seem like a harsh assessment, but when judging young players, pretending that they’re better than they are does them no favors. In the last several weeks, he’s been dropped by the Netherlands (a team which isn’t even all that good), dropped by United (a team which isn’t even all that good), and nothing that he tries on the pitch seems to come off. His body language on the field betrays a loss of confidence, and the ensuing discouragement and frustration sometimes leads to a diminished workrate – a cardinal sin in the eyes of many fans. You’re allowed to be subpar every now and then, and you’re allowed to be lazy, but you can never, ever be both. That’s when the groans and jeers come out.

But here’s the thing: Memphis Depay is 21 years old. Yes, he’s been crap, but he’s also adjusting to a new club, league and country. He’s in a new job where he’s expected to do more, without having every play go through him like it did in his previous team. He’s also 21 years old! Few among us would rush to be judged based on what we did in our late teens and early 20s, nevermind if we were under a similar spotlight. It’s clear that the talent is there. It just needs time.

United supporters should know this as well as anyone. The Reds faithful take pride in their club’s tradition of developing stars, but sometimes the excitement over the finished product blurs the memory of the journey there. Chris Smalling has been the best defender in the league this season, by some margin. But if you were to ask United fans what they thought should have been done with him 12 months ago — after he picked up a stupid red card in a Manchester derby — most wouldn’t have been bothered if he was put on a rocket to the moon. Smalling arrived at United with all the tools to be a great defender but had a very uneven first few years under Sir Alex Ferguson and David Moyes. Louis van Gaal has played him consistently in his best position, and after some growing pains, Smalling is now bordering on world class form.

SEE MORE: What Chelsea need to do to claim fourth place in the Premier League.

Patience. The best coaches and managers know this about developing talent; sometimes you need the carrot, other times you need the stick. Some personalities respond better to a strong challenge or a public dressing down, others to an arm around the shoulder and an encouraging word. Supporters play little role in the development of young players at the clubs they follow, but patience is needed as much in the terraces as it is on the training ground.

If fans believe in a player’s ability and believe that ability is worth waiting to see flourish, then they have to take the occasional hiccup in stride. Maybe that hiccup lasts a few months, or maybe it turns into a rocky few years. Patience shouldn’t be bottomless; injuries, lack of application, and various other factors can all see a player fail to live up to his talent. But the special ones are worth it.

At the end of the season almost a decade ago, fans of an elite club were picking over the bones of yet another trophyless season. Their club’s gifted young attacker had been frustratingly inconsistent, and many were wondering if he was worth all the hassle. The talent was there, but the end product was not. He had the ego of of a superstar, but some supporters were getting tired of waiting for his game to catch up. He was no longer a teenager, and though the manager had allowed him to play through his struggles, many were calling for him to be replaced with a more refined player. For some United fans, Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer of 2006 was nothing more than an over-indulged one-trick pony, who had enough chances to prove his value and had failed to deliver. I think we all know how that one turned out.

José Mourinho’s future at Chelsea is in the balance. That much should be clear by now. Mere months after winning the Premier League title, Chelsea is not even among the top four teams in London, never mind top four in the league. As the most successful manager in the club’s history, Mourinho has probably earned the right to be given time, but that’s not usually how things work at Stamford Bridge. Despite the eye-watering severance package that Mourinho will be entitled to, Roman Abramovich has never hired a manager that he wasn’t afraid to sack, and Mourinho certainly hasn’t helped his case with a series of unseemly incidents.

Mourinho’s plight is made worse by the coaching market. When Liverpool decided to sack Brendan Rodgers earlier this month, it was the availability of proven winner Jürgen Klopp that emboldened the owners to make the switch so early into the season. There’s nothing that increases the pressure on a manager at a top club like another big name being conveniently out of work. Two and a half years ago, it was the looming shadow of Mourinho and Pep Guardiola that had many a manager twitching in their seats, and this time around, it’s three-time Champions League winner Carlo Ancelotti whose name is starting to be linked with every big job, Chelsea foremost among them.

SEE MORE: ‘In Mourinho we trust’: Why Chelsea’s fans are standing by their Special One.

The latest reports — no doubt leaked by Ancelotti’s camp — say that the Italian would consider a return to Stamford Bridge, but not on an interim basis. His exit from Chelsea was nowhere near as acrimonious as Mourinho’s original departure, and if the Portuguese could be welcomed back by Abramovich, then so can Ancelotti. What is less sure is whether Ancelotti would actually be the most ideal fit for the Blues, or whether his supposed position as the favorite to take over is just because he’s the best available candidate that wouldn’t require an expensive buyout.

Ancelotti is arguably one of the most underrated tacticians in the modern game. Because all his teams have been very gifted, it is sometimes overlooked how shrewd the Italian can be. From his latter years at Milan, right up to his time at Madrid, Ancelotti has hardly been short on attacking talent at his disposal, but he has often had to find innovative ways to extract the most from that talent. His famous Christmas tree formation at Milan — at the time when he was the first manager to move Andrea Pirlo into deep midfield — was really a creative solution to the problem of a top-heavy squad. Similarly at Real Madrid, his successful switch of Ángel Di María to midfield not only solved the problem of fitting all his best attackers in the same team but made that Madrid team devastating. Ancelotti may not be the kind of manager to turn underdogs into champions, but he has a knack for helping good teams maximize their potential.

This current Chelsea side, however, does not quite fit the description of an ideal Ancelotti project. The team has been built fully in Mourinho’s image. Part of what makes its dramatic collapse so baffling is that this should be a team that improved this year under Mourinho. It is made mostly of players that he signed, and the squad is constructed to fit the needs of the type of soccer that he prefers his teams to play. The team may need some rejuvenation, but it is hardly a massive rebuilding project. Built to be more functional than expansive, it may be a more natural fit for someone like Diego Simeone rather than Ancelotti.

SEE MORE: Van Gaal reminds supporters Old Trafford was not always the big Theatre of Dreams.

If Ancelotti desires a return to the Premier League, then he need only to turn his eyes to the north. Louis van Gaal has created a completely new Manchester United squad out of the ashes of its last title-winning team, and there are the makings of a very good team at Old Trafford. But no matter the gradual improvements, the soccer on display has been unquestionably turgid, and there is a sense that van Gaal’s conservative approach is now starting to hold the team back. With a team and a fan base that is crying out for more attacking soccer, and an ownership that is finally willing to spend big in the transfer market, United may be a more preferable fit for Ancelotti.

Van Gaal still has another year and a half to run on his current contract, but if United fail to meet its goals this season, would anyone bet on him definitely seeing out the end of his deal? Sir Alex Ferguson confessed that Ancelotti was one of his first choices to replace him at United, and the job is even more attractive now that pressure of succeeding the living legend has been abated. At both Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Van Gaal built the foundation for great teams before more progressive managers came in to take those teams to the next level. If the United hierarchy take the view that the team has gotten as far as it can under Van Gaal, Ancelotti could be just the man to sprinkle some stardust on what is now a very solid, but very dull, team.

Ancelotti is too good and has too impressive a resume to be out of work for any longer than he wants to be. Sooner or later, some big club will snap him up. Given Chelsea’s struggles, Abramovich may end up being the first suitor to make a move and re-hire an ex-manager for the second time in less than three years. But for Ancelotti’s style, there may be better fits. None more so than at Manchester United.

At some point while we mostly stopped paying attention, Theo Walcott — young, prodigious, “next up” star of tomorrow — stopped existing only in the future tense. Walcott is 26 now (yes, you’re old), and should be in his prime. In fact, he probably is in his prime, and therein lies the sense of disappointment. While we were waiting for the injuries to abate, for his position to change, and for all the potential to be fulfilled, Walcott’s development has continued humming along in neutral for the better part of a decade. This could be it. On his best days, Walcott is a good player, but nothing more. He’s not special now, and he may never be in the future.

Like so many of Arsenal’s “promising” youngsters in recent years, Walcott doesn’t look like ever becoming anything better than a decent player. It may seem laughable now, but there was a time when Walcott was giddily looked at as the natural successor to Arsenal legend Thierry Henry. The raw tools were all there — or so it seemed, anyway — and with Arsène Wenger’s track record of developing talented youngsters, Walcott was earmarked for greatness.

SEE MORE: Arsenal is very much for real, and the numbers say they’re City’s main challengers.

But now, over nine years since Walcott made his Premier League debut, and with his team sitting only goal difference away from the top of the table, we’re still waiting to find out what the hype was all about. While he may be acceptable at a number of things, Walcott’s only exceptional attribute is his speed. His finishing is good without being great, and his footballing intelligence has never been anything to write home about. His passing isn’t bad, but he struggles in tight spaces.

Long time Theo Walcott devotees (Thevotees?) will tell you that his shortcomings were only highlighted by being played out on the wing instead of in his preferred position up front. But now that he’s finally been given a chance to operate primarily as a striker, he’s hardly set the world alight.

Fittingly, Walcott is competing for a first team place with another nearly-man in Olivier Giroud. Both men are tolerable enough options coming off the bench, but neither have the genuine quality to be the focal point of an elite attack. With only two goals so far in eight league appearances, it is the Englishman who has the poorer goal-scoring record, but there’s a case to be made that Walcott is the better fit for the team. Regardless, he has done little to make himself undroppable. For a club with ambitions to conquer not just the country but the continent, the spearhead of its attack should be devastating, irresistible, unplayable. Instead, Arsenal has a selection of strikers (Walcott, Giroud, and the injured Danny Welbeck) best described as “cute.”

SEE MORE: ‘In Mourinho we trust’: Why Chelsea fans are standing by their Special One.

That Walcott is now among Arsenal’s highest paid players says more about the lowered standards of the club than about Walcott’s real value. Players should always negotiate for as much money as they can get (especially at a club like Arsenal that is in no way short of a few bob), but it should be troubling for supporters that such a limited player is seen as being in the top tier of the playing staff.

Walcott, to be fair, had been having a promising season so far. Right up until he got injured. Again. After coming on a substitute only minutes earlier, Walcott limped off in the first half of Arsenal’s Capital One Cup loss to Sheffield Wednesday with what appeared to be a muscle injury. In light of Arsenal’s usual pattern of injuries, Walcott will be scheduled to return in two weeks, but he will actually not be seen again for six months.

Much of Walcott’s forestalled progress can be attributed to a seemingly endless run of injuries. Tuesday’s setback is not the first time that he has been in a good run of form, only to see it cut short by some unfortunate knock, strain, or fracture. At some point, though, we’re entitled to wonder if this as is as good as it’s ever going to get. How long are we supposed to wait for Walcott to realize his potential? Are we sure he’ll ever be more than a middle-class man’s Aaron Lennon? The various injuries have yet to affect his blistering pace, but logic tells us that it’s only a matter of time. If his one truly exceptional ability becomes diminished, there is not much of a player left, at least on the level that Arsenal should require.

Every big club is hated. Fans of English soccer hate Manchester United because of its domestic dominance over the last two decades, and because of its spoilt, oftentimes insufferable fanbase. Ditto for German fans and Bayern Munich. Real Madrid is rightly seen as arrogant by everyone who isn’t a Real Madrid fan. Juventus? It’s hard to root for a club that bribed its way to a few scudetti. No one in their right mind would pick Chelsea for a second team. Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain are despised for similar reasons; the only thing worse than haughty old money is flashy new money.

One big club that seems to escape a lot of the ire of neutral fans, though, is Barcelona. Maybe it’s the club’s commitment to a wildly successful playing philosophy that many find easy on the eye. Maybe it’s the enviable record of promoting academy graduates. Maybe it’s the years spent as one of the few clubs in the major Europeans leagues without a shirt sponsor. Whatever the reason, Barcelona seems to have far less vitriol aimed in its direction that its rivals. But why? At a closer glance, Barcelona is just as deserving of our scorn as the rest.

SEE MORE: US TV viewing figures for MLS, Liga MX, Premier League and other leagues for Oct. 2-4

Let’s be honest here; half of Barcelona’s starting line-up is loathsome. Barça may have one of the most fearsome attacks in soccer history — Luis Suárez, Neymar, and Lionel Messi are each world class on their own, and together they’re damn near irresistible — but it’s also made up of two tax dodgers and an unapologetic racist. Sergio Busquets is hands down the best holding midfielder on the planet, and he’s also in most non-Cules list of “Footballers I’d Like to See Slapped.” Dani Alves may have redefined what it means to play the fullback position in the modern era, but he’s also a whiny, diving, snide bastard.

Is there a team that whines more than Barcelona? I suppose for a club that has been the most dominant in Europe over the last 10 years, it must be frustrating when things don’t go your way, hence the moaning to referees during the match, constant complaining about other teams’ tactics in the rare event of a loss, and even harping on about the grass being too long. Barcelona’s players bristle at the idea that there is more than one way to play the game, and they are invariably taken aback by some other team having the audacity to not allow them to play their brand of tiki-taka.

SEE MORE: Remembering when Mourinho, Costa were La Liga’s problems.

The blaugrana also have a blatant disregard for the rules. Their famed academy system came under fire last year after FIFA found the club in serious breach of the rules regarding signing under-age players. Barcelona was hit with a year-long transfer ban, but they managed to partly get around that by somehow signing Aleix Vidal and Arda Turan anyway. Not satisfied with being able to sign players (but not register them) while banned, Barça even tried to appeal the ban to register Turan last month. You know the kid in your class who thinks he’s above the rules because he’s rich and his daddy is a lawyer? That’s Barcelona.

Més que un club. Barcelona’s historic slogan supposedly represents the idea that theirs is an institution that represents more than just football. It claims to be a symbol of democracy and social commitment, as described here from the club’s official website:

“Now in times of globalisation, Barça has extended its social commitment to the rest of the planet, with a specially significant event being the signing of an agreement with Unicef in 2006, which was a way of saying that a sports club should not be marginal to problems going on in society, in this case, the plight of children around the world.”

Presumably, those “problems going in society” don’t include the problems in Qatar — the country whose national airline is Barcelona’s current shirt sponsor — and the repeated allegations of human right abuses that it is currently facing. Qatar Airlines specifically has been accused of shocking treatment of female employees. One petition that calls for Barcelona to end the shirt sponsorship deal reports that “cabin crew are being exploited, imprisoned without charge, forcibly confined on company premises and automatically sacked if they become pregnant.” Social commitment, indeed. But in the words of one club official, “the money has to come from somewhere.”

None of this is to suggest that somehow Barcelona stand alone as the dark lords of modern club soccer. Elite club soccer today is a cynical enterprise. You would be hard pressed to find a big club that hasn’t tried to play above the rules, or failed to act on important social issues, or enabled unsavory behavior from players and coaches, or done questionable deals while chasing sponsorship dollars. They’re all guilty, and that’s exactly the point. Barcelona should be the bad guys, just like everybody else.

Earlier this week, financial blogger The Swiss Ramble posted his annual review of Manchester United’s accounts. While it is clear that United continues to generate eye-watering amounts of revenue, the report makes for grim viewing. This passage in particular was a stunning reminder of just how expensive the Glazers’ ownership has been:

“In fact, over the last seven years they have made total operating profits of £457 million (including £148 million from player sales), which have been totally wiped out by net financing costs of £460 million.”

That is astonishing. But it gets worse. Due to United’s most recent refinancing of loans, the current debt “was increased from $585 million to $650 million.” As if that wasn’t bad enough, the club also announced that the six Glazers who share majority ownership would now receive an annual dividend of £15 million. This payout was approved by the board of directors, on which all six of the Glazers naturally sit.

Manchester United — probably the most popular sporting institution on the planet — has spent the better part of a billion (with a B!) dollars just for the privilege of having the Glazer family as owners. No matter how much revenue has increased under their ownership — and the increase has been massive, to be fair — that is still an extraordinary cost.

SEE MORE: Van Gaal could put off retirement, intends to keep promise to wife.

Why are more people not angry about this? This was an enormous club that was already extremely successful, and (importantly) debt-free. While the success has continued under the Glazers, it could have been so much more if not for the hamstringing effect of their ownership. Of the four clubs that sit atop the Deloitte Football Money League, it is United that stands out for being a level below the other three on the field. For fans who want to see their club reach its full potential, the disastrous Glazer regime represents a grossly expensive missed opportunity.

The apathy shown by a large section of United fans is baffling. Even worse are those fans who, actively being screwed by the cost of the Glazers’ ownership, still complain about players wanting more money in wages, or about transfer fees being higher than ever.

Perhaps part of the reason that there has been a relative lack of dissent among the United faithful is that fans have been distracted by the club’s success on the pitch and recent largesse with transfer fees. During the latter period of the Sir Alex Ferguson years, there were certainly grumbles from supporters about the failure of the club to compete at the very top end of the transfer market. But Ferguson was a wizard, and he managed to deliver trophy after trophy even as the squad was criminally underinvested. The record-setting Cristiano Ronaldo money may have disappeared into thin air, but there’s nothing like a couple of shiny Premier League trophies to make everything okay.

SEE MORE: Rooney denies submitting transfer request before Ferguson retirement.

Post-Fergie, as the trophies have dried up, there should be renewed scrutiny on just how costly the Glazer era has been. Conveniently for the Glazers, United has finally started splashing the cash. The debt is debilitating, and the squad was a shambles because of years of relative austerity, but here: have a fancy new winger or an overpriced teenager and hush up.

Even the distraction of big spending will likely be temporary, as vice-chairman Ed Woodward has admitted that “maybe we will go back to more normalized numbers.” Ah, yes. “Normalized” in this sense meaning “just enough to keep the club competitive in England and Europe, but not at all in line with its obscene revenue, which will continue to be primarily used to fund the Glazer ownership.”

At the heart of any kind of fandom, but particularly in sports, is pride: pride in what your club represents; what it achieves; or, if you’re lucky, both. Manchester United, by any measure, has achieved a hell of a lot. What is represents, on the other hand, is harder to pin down these days, mostly because the club has chosen to whore itself out to every tire manufacturer and potato chip maker with enough money to pay for the privilege. Savvy commercial activity is obviously part of the reason that United is as big as it is, and sponsorship deals are a fact of life at every club, but there is a point at which this necessary evil becomes almost unbearably cringeworthy. At the risk of sounding very #againstmodernfootball, there is something embarrassing and undignified about seeing your beloved club announcing a “Global Noodle Partner” and an “Official Nigerian Soft Drinks Partner.”

The Glazers have robbed United supporters of more than those fans may realize. They have robbed them of the pride they should be able to take in their club. They have robbed them of the security of knowing that their club is in good financial health. They have robbed them of the opportunity to see United achieve the dominance in the game for which the club’s wealth and reach should have allowed. That so many have stood by in silence while the Glazers have leeched off of Manchester United for a decade is shameful.

England’s elite may have fallen behind their counterparts on the continent, but the clubs just below the trophy-or-bust crowd are arguably better than ever. The handful of sides that would have been competing for a place in the Intertoto Cup (back when that was a thing) have gotten demonstrably better in recent years. What used to be a wasteland of clubs not good enough for the top four might be the most competitive part of the table.

A case can be made that those clubs are biggest beneficiaries of the flood of TV money in which the Premier League is currently awash. Manchester United paying an eye-watering sum for a teenager whom no one had heard of? That gets the headlines, but United is merely spending like the clubs with which it wishes to compete. The real development is clubs like Newcastle and Swansea — clubs with no hope of being able to compete for a league title anytime soon — being able to attract the “best of the rest” from around Europe.

Romelu Lukaku, Christian Eriksen, Georginio Wijnaldum, André Ayew, Gökhan Inler, Dimitri Payet – these are all internationals who could easily be playing for top four clubs in other major leagues. Instead, they’re all playing for clubs that only have an outside chance of Champions League qualification. The very best talent in the sport is mostly being hoarded outside of the Premier League, primarily at Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich, but even Premier League clubs with little hope of trophies can have their pick of Europe’s good to very good-level players.

SEE MORE: Where is Mike Dean’s punishment for mishandling Costa snd Gabriel?

But that rise in talent is not without its potential losers. Look no farther than Ronald Koeman and Brendan Rodgers. Both Liverpool and Southampton are adjusting to life without their best players from last season and trying to bed in a number of new signings. A few years ago, they would have had room for a settling in period and time to recover strongly enough to be in and around the Europa League places. But now, with the number of teams of Europa League-quality significantly increased, that fall back option can no longer be taken for granted.

While the likes of Arsene Wenger and Louis van Gaal can get away with such kooky experiments like “not signing a single outfield player in the summer” and “playing Marouane Fellaini on a football pitch” without ever being under serious threat of falling out of the top four, others do not share that type of security. The mini-league of fifth through 12th in the Premiership is now immensely competitive, and that could result in some big names failing to finish even in the top half of the table.

Southampton has been a model in recent seasons, but they currently find themselves floundering with only one win in its first six games. Koeman has started tinkering with personnel and tactics already – a far cry for the settled side we saw last year. The Saints’ policy of making everything and everyone available for sale may be finally catching up to them. They have done very clever business in the transfer market since returning to the top flight, and have certainly defied expectations, but with the teams around them showing such collective strength, Southampton may find it hard to repeat last season’s seventh place finish.

To be fair to Koeman, he is only in his second year on the job, and he’s had a second consecutive summer of losing most of the team’s best players from the previous years. Even if Southampton takes time to find its feet — likely at the cost of European qualification — Koeman’s job should be safe.

Liverpool, on the other hand, is a shambles. Unless the Reds’ form undergoes a dramatic (and at this point, unexpected) turnaround, Rodgers may not finish the season as manager.

Like Koeman, Rodgers has also had to adjust to life for the second year in a row without his best player from the previous season. Like Koeman, he is also trying to bed in a number of new signings. Where the key difference lies is that the expectations placed on Rodgers are totally different; expectations that he is completely failing to meet.

A club of Liverpool’s size expects to be competing for Champions League qualification – a feat that looks totally beyond the hapless side on display at Anfield so far this season. Furthermore, Rodgers is now in his fourth year at the helm. Losing Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling in consecutive summers were certainly big blows, but Rodgers has been allowed to reinvest significantly in his squad. That reinvestment has been largely poor and seemingly scattergun. Instead of developing a core strong enough to withstand player losses, he appears to be starting from scratch every summer.

SEE MORE: Rodgers’ malaise a reminder of Villas-Boas’s demise.

If the purpose of hiring Rodgers in the first place was to establish a clear and progressive playing style, then that has been a failure as well. At the moment, Rodgers doesn’t even seem to know who his best players are, never mind how they should be lining up.

Finishing around the Europa League places used to be a consolation prize for clubs with greater ambitions. But the rising tide of the premiership’s middle class has removed that safety net, and now two managers who both finished in the top seven last season find themselves struggling to make up the ground on their rivals. Ronald Koeman may be able to survive in this new reality, but Brendan Rodgers likely will not.

You would think that three consecutive wins (with 10 goals scored and onlyone conceded) would move the José Mourinho narrative in a positive direction; then again, that means you probably don’t know José Mourinho. For all the turmoil the cantankerous Portuguese had mustered last time we convened, afew wins have yet to abate the storm. If anything, Mourinho’s future at Stamford Bridge looks more grim than ever. The combined factors of Diego Costa’s wrath, the FA’s leniency to Gabriel Paulista, and Eva Carneiro finally leaving the club (and pursuing a legal claim for wrongful dismissal) reinforces what we already suspected – Mourinho has found his land war in Asia.

This is not going to end well for Mourinho. He acted petulantly in the Carneiro situation, punishing a highly-respected staff member for having the temerity to do her job. Perhaps if Mourinho had done better at his job, and Chelsea had been winning the match against Swansea City as expected, there would be no need to point fingers at medical staff. There’s no point speculating on the strength of the legal cases on either side, but it is hard to see an outcome here where Chelsea is able to save face, never mind avoid paying a hefty settlement. To make things worse, Mourinho is being separately investigated by the FA for a claim that he used abusive language towards Carneiro during the same incident. The especially damaging part for Mourinho is that all of this could’ve been avoided if he hadn’t acted like an ass.

Mourinho thrives on creating a siege mentality. This is not unique; Sir Alex Ferguson successfully employed the “us against the world” approach at Manchester United to help sustain his success for the better part of two decades. Previously, creating this culture of isolationism and near-paranoia has worked well for Mourinho – during his first stint at Chelsea, and as well during his two years of great success at Internazionale. More recently though, he seems to have lost sight of where the line is between being a lightning rod and being the actual lightning. His attempt to pull the same trick at Real Madrid eventually divided the dressing room, the board, and the fans, and the immense political fallout essentially made his job there untenable.

In this latest instance, Mourinho seems to have yet again overstepped the mark. It’s all well and good to point the finger at the conniving media or the hypocritical FA – players and fans will buy into that nonsense easily enough. But what happens when that accusing finger starts getting pointed in directions closer to home? Mourinho’s public humiliation of members of his own staff was nothing short of pathetic. Instead of galvanizing his troops, he has only succeeded in creating a wholly unnecessary shitstorm. Chelsea has already started the season looking less than impressive, and now, thanks to the antics of its manager, the club has to deal with the added distraction of a former high-profile employee dragging the club to court.

SEE MORE: Why everybody loves to hate Diego Costa.

Mourinho may like to pretend to not care what anyone thinks of him, but owner Roman Abramovich may not be on quite the same page. We already know that he cares very much about the style of soccer that his team plays, and even if he may have taken a hands off approach to certain unsavory incidents involving both his manager and club captain in the past, this new embarrassment may be a step too far.

For a different manager — or just a different man, really — this sorry situation could still be salvaged. A little humility, a show of contrition for the cameras, and an admission of poor judgment would go a long way in saving face for both Mourinho and his employers. But that isn’t Mourinho, is it? The Self-Proclaimed Special One doesn’t do apologies, and he certainly doesn’t do humility. As he’s shown before, Mourinho would sooner get himself fired than back down from a fight, no matter how ill-advised that particular fight may be.

We already know what’s coming. Mourinho will take the FA’s decision to rescind Gabriel’s red card and suspend Diego Costa as proof (not that he needed any more) of a conspiracy against him and his team. He will obviously and understandably be asked about the fallout from the Eva Carneiro situation — a mess of his own making, remember — and he will do what he always does. He will bristle and condescend and rage and fight to the bitter end. The difference is that, this time, he’s fighting a war that he can’t possibly win.

What happened to José Mourinho? He was always arrogant and crass, but at least he was entertaining. He hasn’t always produced teams that were enjoyable to watch, but at least he won things. Whatever entertainment value he had disappeared somewhere in Madrid, and even though this season is still in its infancy, he doesn’t look like winning much this year, either. He’s lost the charm, doubled down on the abrasiveness, and his team’s form is a raging dumpster fire.

Mourinho has spent the season so far having a go at his own staff, having a go at other managers, having a go at referees, and having a go at the media. Worst of all, he’s even banned soccer’s most sacred institution: banter. Truly, the man has gone too far. It’s bad enough that he’s been grumpy and defensive, and that his team has been awful to watch this season, but now he’s gone and banned the #bantz. José Mourinho: Patron Saint of Joylessness.

Across Mourinho’s two stints in the Premier League, his favorite opponent has been Arsène Wenger. Mourinho’s first arrival as Chelsea manager coincided with the start of Arsenal’s decline as a serious force in England’s top flight. Both teams have been ever-presents in the league’s top four in the ensuing decade, but only Chelsea has actually won the thing. Arsenal has, for the most part, been treading the waters of mediocrity – a fact that Mourinho has been all too happy to raise again and again.

Mourinho obviously enjoys taking the piss out of Wenger and has never needed much prompting to resort to insults, calling him a “voyeur,” and “a specialist in failure.” And whenever Mourinho is asked about being under pressure, making thinly-veiled references to Wenger’s long title drought is a favorite defense mechanism. For almost all of Mourinho’s combined six or so seasons in England, Wenger has been his punching bag, both on the field and off.

Arsenal versus Chelsea is nominally a “big” game, but it has hardly been a contest in the Mourinho-era. In fact, Wenger has never even beaten Mourinho in a competitive match. That said, Wenger did triumph over his rival for the first time ever in this season’s Community Shield (a game that is essentially a glorified friendly, unless your team wins it).

SEE MORE: Mourinho dismisses Gerrard’s claims of a rift with Terry.

For Saturday’s match at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho will be leading a team that looks as vulnerable as any he has ever coached. Chelsea may have wiped the floor with Maccabi Tel Aviv   midweek, but that can be safely chalked up to 1.) Maccabi Tel Aviv not being very good, and 2.) Karma for the shameful anti-immigrant stance of certain match-going Tel Aviv fans. Arsenal, despite being, you know, Arsenal, will present a much stiffer challenge for the Blues.

Chelsea’s form in the league so far has been nothing short of disastrous. Mourinho is failing to get the most of his players, which is not only a fireable offense at an elite club but also precisely the opposite of what he built past success on. If Mourinho fails to sufficiently motivate his charges for a game that they should feel entitled to win, his job will suddenly be a lot less secure. Arsenal, on current form, don’t exactly constitute an irresistible force, but Wenger’s men should be emboldened by their preseason win and further encouraged by Chelsea’s weakened state. Wenger is too experienced to get carried away by a solitary league game in September, but he would love to play a pivotal role in getting his longtime tormentor the sack.

In most scenarios, much of this kind of speculation would be considered knee-jerk and premature. But this is not most scenarios. This is Jose Mourinho — one of the most volatile and divisive figures in the game — and Roman Abramovich – an owner who has never had a manager he wasn’t afraid to sack, severance pay be damned. Yes, Mourinho is only just into the third year of a recently extended contract, and yes, he is still the reigning Premier League champion. It is always sensible to apply some perspective, and it would be churlish to ignore Mourinho’s history.

SEE MORE: Premier League clubs still failing Europe’s tactics tests.

Let’s not forget that Mourinho’s last stint in Chelsea ended in extreme acrimony, with the Portuguese getting his walking papers before the first snow had fallen after just three and a bit seasons at the helm. His most recent job at Real Madrid ended with even more bad blood on both sides after he had fallen out with players, his superiors, and the local media.

Sound familiar? If history is to be our guide, Mourinho may well be heading for another nasty breakup, except with less of the preceding success that is supposed to make it all worthwhile. Maybe he’s just not that special anymore.

Remember when the Premier League was good? The days when two or three of its best teams would be in the semifinals of the Champions League, and the best of England was a match for the best anywhere? Ah, those were the days.

The premiership is still “good,” obviously, in broad terms – just not as good as it was, or as good as its rivals in Europe. Despite another year of spending ludicrous amounts of money, not only have the best in England fallen behind their counterparts, but they are yet to show signs of catching up anytime soon.

It goes without saying that the current cream of the crop in Europe – Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, and Bayern Munich – would win the Premier League at a canter. Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, and Manchester United are all trying to keep up with each other, but all are at least a level below the continent’s best. The Premier League may be as competitive as ever, but that is arguably because the top teams have sunk closer to the level of the teams below them.

Whichever least rubbish side eventually claims the title would still be handily beaten by the champions of Spain, Italy, Germany, and France. Increasingly, England’s big clubs are feeding off the scraps that the European superclubs leave behind. The cumulative result is a group of teams that are roughly as good as each other, but not nearly as good as the true elite.

SEE MORE: Wenger insists he did not lie about Welbeck’s injury.

The reigning English champion, Chelsea, neglected to properly address its weaknesses in the transfer window and has stumbled out of the blocks. José Mourinho has started his inevitable meltdown ahead of schedule, and his team looks as joyless on the pitch as he is off of it. Chelsea is still a good side, but it won the league last season in a relatively weak field, and evidence so far suggest that the team has regressed rather than made the expected step up.

Arsenal has become so stagnant under Arsène Wenger that it didn’t even sign an outfield player this summer – the only club in Europe’s major leagues not to do so. This fact is even more mind-boggling when you consider that this is a club for which Laurent Koscielny is a first choice defender, and Mikel Arteta (who is 33, but plays with all the vigor of a man twice his age) is still regularly in the matchday squad. Compare the Gunners’ strength in depth to their counterparts in the other top leagues, and the results are unflattering. Arsenal is the third or fourth best team in England, but would anyone in their right mind consider them better than Atlético Madrid?

Manchester United should be better than it was last year, but that is hardly an achievement of note given that the Red Devils were largely unimpressive outside of a single good run this spring. Louis Van Gaal’s team has improved significantly in midfield and defense, but its attacking options are far too limited to challenge seriously in Europe. It’s bad enough that United’s lead striker (Wayne Rooney) is washed up, but the first options off the bench in attack are a teenager (Anthony Martial), a crap midfielder-cum-forward (Marouane Fellaini) and whatever Ashley Young is. Hardly the attacking force to strike fear into Europe’s powerhouses.

SEE MORE: Manchester United and David de Gea open new contract negotiations.

Manchester City, so far, look to be the best of a flawed bunch. Yaya Touré looks reinvigorated, and the attacking trio of David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, and Sergio Agüero are all genuinely world class. City recruited well over the summer, and although the season is still brand new, the Blues are already being looked at as title favorites.

That said, the fact that City looks a level above its peers is a damning indictment of the (lack of) quality currently in the league. City’s midfield is painfully thin, and its defense is still suspect. In the peak Premier League era – the latter half of the previous decade – this City team would be in a battle to secure a top-four finish. In today’s watered-down version, it may well stroll to a title win.

Fittingly, the most recent major European league to enjoy a period of dominance followed by a dramatic fall — Serie A — is now in a position to overtake the Premier League. There is an easily foreseeable scenario in the coming season or two in which England loses its fourth Champions League spot to Italy. Conventional wisdom holds that the Premiership is simply too rich and too attractive to players for it to suffer a similar extended decline to the one Serie A endured, but even that is not beyond doubt now. The Best League In The World™ is in serious danger of being left behind.

Thanks to some sort of administrative SNAFU, the long-running David De Gea transfer ended in utter farce this week. In a rare (and let’s be honest) very funny outcome, everyone lost. De Gea didn’t get his dream move, Manchester United somehow couldn’t lose the staredown without looking even more inept, and Real Madrid finally paid the price for being insufferably arrogant. Given that they’re still in a working relationship purely by accident, what do Louis van Gaal and de Gea do now?

There’s an argument to be made that David de Gea should be forced to play out the rest of his contract in the reserves. Since he chose to let his contract run down in order to force a move to Real Madrid (weakening his current club’s negotiating power in the process), United should repay his disloyalty in kind and treat him as if he were as physically gone as he seems to be mentally. This, of course, is a monumentally stupid argument.

Here’s rule number one of being good at this sports management lark: play your best players. And de Gea is without question the best goalkeeper at United, no matter his questionable mental state. Victor Valdes is the closest to de Gea in quality, and who knows if his knees are any good, or what 18 months of next to no first-team football has done to his instincts. Sam Johnstone is just a baby, and the current first choice, Sergio Romero, is laughably, desperately, embarrassingly out of his depth.

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On recent evidence (recent here meaning the length of Romero’s professional career), he found his true level at his last job as a reserve at Sampdoria. His hopeless over-promotion to tending the nets at Old Trafford was sort of weird half-measure by van Gaal. His signing only provided competition for de Gea in a nominal sense, as the two men are leagues apart in quality. A distracted and disappointed David de Gea is probably at worst the second best ‘keeper in the league. A motivated Sergio Romero in the form of his life is still rubbish.

Unless van Gaal decides to forgive Valdes for whatever sins left him without so much as a squad number, let alone an official club suit, de Gea is the only acceptable option in goal. It would be less painful for van Gaal to literally cut his nose off to spite his face than it would be for United fans to watch Romero kick another harmless back pass straight out of touch. With questions already being asked about van Gaal’s style of play (why is it so bloody awful?) and in-game management (why is he bringing on Antonio Valencia, ever?), the last thing he needs is another self-inflicted wound.

The weaknesses in United’s squad are glaring enough without having to add goalkeeper to the list. Upfront, Wayne Rooney is utterly and unquestionably washed up, and his only competition is a couple of green teenagers (Anthony Martial and James Wilson) and a swinging elbow specialist (Marouane Fellaini). Around Rooney, United’s attackers either have pace (Memphis Depay), creativity (Juan Mata), or neither (Ashley Young). Crucially, none have both. In defense, Daley Blind is as slow and weak as he is handsome – and he is quite handsome. Chris Smalling has been outstanding recently, but one injury or loss of form will mean that Phil Jones is back in contention.

As in any job, you don’t have to always be fond of everyone you work with, and sometimes you have to learn how to navigate awkwardness in the workplace. Awkwardness like “I know that you know that I really, really don’t want to be here right now,” and “sorry about publicly accusing you of refusing to fulfill the terms of your contract.” I don’t always like everyone that I work with, and I work alone at a home office. Van Gaal may be old and stubborn and prone to baffling decisions, but he’s not an idiot. Thawing relations with his best player is in everyone’s best interests, even if it only lasts one year.

For de Gea’s part, he has no choice but to knuckle down and try to win his place back in the team. Spain coach Vicente del Bosque has already said that de Gea will be unlikely to travel to Euro 2016 if he is not getting games at his club. Ordinarily, de Gea would have expected not only to be in the squad but to have finally cemented his place as the heir to Iker Casillas by next summer. There is nothing to be gained by spending the next year of his career as back-up to both Casillas and Romero; a has-been and a never-was, respectively. To avoid that unfortunate outcome, he needs to be starting for United.

SEE MORE: United make Martial most-expensive teen ever.

De Gea shouldn’t worry about the reaction from the Old Trafford crowd either. Even if the affection for him may have cooled, he will be welcomed back into the fold. He handled his (non-)exit with dignity, and the Reds are a forgiving bunch, especially if you’re exceptional at what you do. Just ask Cristiano Ronaldo. On top of that, he may well yet reconsider his desire to leave. The evidence so far points to Madrid being more culpable in the breakdown of the transfer. And he may be wondering why his future employers, who for months knew of his desire to join, waited until the last possible day to formally open negotiations. Suddenly, that fat new back-dated contract waiting for him in Manchester doesn’t look half bad.

So if van Gaal and De Gea have any sense about them, this season will end up being a marriage of convenience. Neither man got the outcome that he wanted from the sow ear’s of a transfer window, but they can still spin it into a silk purse of a season. As the saying goes: All’s well that ends well … in an extremely awkward but still salvageable situation.