Leeds United manager faces ‘biggest of nightmares’ on arrival says Phil Hay as Sam Allardyce set for Elland Road hospital pass
The incoming Leeds United boss faces the “biggest of nightmares for a head coach” with an immediate trip to the Etihad to face Manchester City, says Phil Hay.
Javi Gracia and Victor Orta are carrying the can for the rapidly dwindling chances of staying in the Premier League with Sam Allardyche to make a sensational return to management at Elland Road for four games.
But with Pep Guardiola’s rampant defending champions looking to defend their title it couldn’t be a harder first task on Saturday (6 May), and The Athletic’s Leeds United reporter Hay has rated the prospects for the new arrival in his first week as virtually “non-existent”.
Speaking on The Phil Hay Monday Club with the Square Ball (1 May, 8m) he said of the impending change: “What’s the first game ahead of you? It’s City at the Etihad, which just looks like the biggest of nightmares for a head coach.
“So the chances of making any impressions this week is limited to the point of being non-existent.
“They’re just in a massive fix now where if they get out of this they will be extremely lucky and nobody, realistically, is going to emerge with much credit from it.”
All bets off
The situation is so dire that is easy to forget that, as things stand, Leeds United are currently safe, albeit only on goal difference.
But when Arsenal went to Manchester for a heavily-billed title decider they were blown away 4-1 last week (26 April), so the prospect of Big Sam causing an upset is remote.
Javi Gracia was eventually selected as the full-time successor to Jesse Marsch days before he was finally cleared to work with the Whites squad, as a work permit delay provided an extra element of chaos to the transition.
He finally was announced the day before his first game at home to Southampton and still recorded a 1-0 win on 25 February, the first the club had managed in the Premier League for nearly four months.
But then, as now, the Saints were bottom and one of the few sides in more disarray than United, whereas City are a juggernaut overwhelming all-comers currently.
It would be a spectacular return to a league which last saw Allardyce two years ago slipping to relegation with West Brom, but while it is the very definition of a free hit in terms of expectations it makes up a full 25% of the points available to get out of trouble.
Unless Everton and Nottingham Forest are both beaten the new manager’s work in earnest will begin with his side in the bottom three and under huge pressure with three games remaining.
In other Leeds United news, the club are already feeling the aftershocks as a transfer deal has dramatically collapsed in the wake of the Elland Road sackings.