Football managers tend not to allow themselves a great deal of rest and the scope for summer relaxation is particularly slim when you have just taken over a Premier League club. Steve McClaren, Quique Sánchez Flores and Slaven Bilic all have – for different reasons – big jobs on their hands. Here are four items that will be sitting in each of their in-trays as they get to work ...
Steve McClaren – Newcastle United
Take your time
The state of Newcastle’s squad needs to be addressed urgently but perhaps without too many snap decisions. A sift through the squad shows too many individuals who appear to have been recruited through haste or a simple lack of attention to detail, whether in regard to footballing ability or character. A new broom is required but Newcastle need players of genuine, long-lasting quality and a willingness to commit to the cause. The recent link to Bas Dost, the Wolfsburg striker, sounded an alarm bell or two. Dost went on a remarkable scoring run during the winter but tailed off considerably in the season’s final months. He may or may not have been a flash in the pan, but Newcastle have gobbled up several of those in recent years and time must be taken to ensure newcomers are the right fit.
Push the boat out to sign Will Hughes
It did not take the most formidable of brains to link Newcastle with the young Derby midfielder upon – and indeed before – McClaren’s arrival but the rumours persist and maybe two plus two does not equal five. Hughes is just 20 but has played close to 150 games for the Rams and the time seems right for Derby, who might need the money if Paul Clement is to see through deals for Tom Ince, Andreas Weimann and Jason Shackell, to let the academy product complete a natural progression to the top. Hughes is not the finished article but has a cocktail of attributes – English, technically excellent, energetic, tenacious – that Newcastle have lacked in recent years and could be what the St James’ Park faithful have missed: a player to fall in love with.
Give Siem de Jong a key role
Siem de Jong fits the mould of player McClaren relishes – a technically superb footballer whose invention and variation set him apart. His long-term absence through injury, just weeks after arriving, was one of the crueller blows suffered by Alan Pardew and John Carver; the former Ajax captain, who is at his best playing off a striker, is the kind of player to get the crowd on their feet and is also – unlike some of his team-mates – the kind who will show for the ball come rain or shine. Get him up to speed, and McClaren will have a talent on his hands that can lift an entire team.
Try to talk some sense into Mike Ashley
The Newcastle owner’s stance against all bar the club’s “preferred media partners” might make sense if a bunker mentality is being cultivated but in reality it has proved a significant step backwards when the arrival of McClaren looked an open goal. Alienating the media, many of whom are friendly with the affable McClaren, is not the way to approach a bright new dawn and the thought occurs that club and manager could not be much further apart in terms of disposition. It would be a loss if Newcastle’s policy meant McClaren’s early work was not reflected as it should be. Is there any way that he can tactfully tell his boss that a little openness would, in these circumstances, not be a bad thing?
Quique Sánchez Flores – Watford
Keep Troy Deeney on board
The Watford manager spoke of his vision for a “new team” after his unveiling but holding on to one of the players he inherited might be the key, in the short term at least, to getting a decent foothold in the Premier League. Troy Deeney’s attitude and application, translated into 91 goals during the past five years, have been the cornerstone of their rise since the Pozzo family’s takeover but the vultures are circling and Newcastle are the latest club to be linked with the Watford captain. An eight-figure offer could prove tempting but keeping their talisman would double up as a vital piece of continuity and a signal that the club are intent on making progress. Flores needs to make sure that his board hold their nerve and that the player is on board with his plans for the campaign ahead.
Create a core of players that are here to stay
The feeling last season was that Watford needed little more than a steady hand to guide a squad of considerable ability to promotion. Slavisa Jokanovic managed that but the feat still deserved credit given the revolving door that the Pozzos have operated since 2012, ferrying players between Watford and their other two clubs – Udinese and Granada – with abandon and at one stage packing the squad with players either loaned or cleverly moved on from them. The policy has paid dividends and many of the imported talents have made a huge difference, but promotion to the Premier League should end up making Watford their owners’ priority and Flores needs to put together a nucleus of quality players who are allowed to set down long-term roots.
Get Adlène Guedioura back in the building
Adlène Guedioura’s career in England has been patchy since he first arrived at Wolves in 2010 but he shone on loan at Watford from Crystal Palace last season and there was a sense that the Algerian midfielder was in the right place. Guedioura had two separate spells at Vicarage Road, the second running from late February to the end of the season, and stood out – adding drive and vigour to a midfield that had been a little short of presence. He is likely to start pre-season kicking his heels back at Palace, where he is unlikely to have a future, and it would seem sensible to Flores to tie up his addition early on as an experienced, physically equipped option for the engine room who has already played some of the best football of his career for the Hornets.
Bolster the defence
Flores was an outstanding right-back in his day and could usefully call on that nous when constructing a defence that can withstand the rigours of the top flight. Watford switched between four and five at the back last season but, while there is international quality and attacking flair at full-back in the likes of Juan Carlos Paredes and Miguel Layún, both could do with a little more toughness and there are doubts about their centre-backs. Craig Cathcart, Gabriele Angella and the currently-injured Joel Ekstrand are not the quickest and it feels like an area in which a side adapting to the top flight needs to upgrade.
Slaven Bilic – West Ham United
Beef up a squad thin on quality
West Ham were an exciting proposition at their best last season. Early talk of a Champions League spot always felt a little giddy but the football was purposeful, positive and likable until injuries and loss of form began to bite. That is when a strong substitutes’ bench and set of plausible options for rotation come in handy but West Ham looked thin beyond their best XI and the likes of Matthew Jarvis, Joey O’Brien and the now-departed Carlton Cole need improving upon if false dawns are to be avoided under Bilic. West Ham seem five players short of a squad that can establish itself in the top half and supporters will hope that potential targets were discussed with Bilic considerably in advance of his appointment. The arrival of Pedro Obiang, the Spanish midfielder who had been a long-term target of the club, shows some intent towards a busy summer.
Find a striker who can deliver consistently
Diafra Sakho’s immediate impact after arriving from Metz last August was stunning – seven goals in his first seven starts set a Premier League record – and the Senegalese striker should form an important part of Bilic’s squad. It was not a poor reflection on the player that the numbers dwindled after that, only four coming after Christmas as his tapering off mirrored that of the team, but a side who scored just 14 of their 44 Premier League goals in the second half of the season clearly need more when Enner Valencia’s sparing return and the luckless Andy Carroll’s continuing injury problems are accounted for. Weathered competitors with a track record of delivering in the league do not grow on trees but Bilic could do with finding one to lead the line.
Start the season with the same full-backs
A promising 2014-15 season for West Ham ended in familiar inconsistency but one constant was the form of their two full-backs. Aaron Cresswell and Carl Jenkinson were arguably the side’s best players over the course of the season but there is a risk that neither will be at Upton Park when their league campaign begins at Arsenal on 8 August. Jenkinson, of course, would be ineligible for that fixture if signed on a further season’s loan from the Gunners but Sunderland are the front runners for his services even though the player would prefer to remain in London. Unless Bilic has a trick up his sleeve it would seem a no-brainer to re-enrol the 23-year-old, while the concern over Cresswell is that bigger fish are circling – particularly when Manchester City appear to be in the market for left-backs and homegrown players. It is not often that your full-backs form the basis upon which a new side is built, but the pair’s endeavours at both ends of the pitch were critical to the initial upturn under Sam Allardyce and both have plenty of improvement left in them.
Keep a low profile – this season at least
Bilic is an engaging, friendly, emotional whirlwind of a character and the phrase “rock star manager” has been thrown in his direction both affectionately and with more pejorative connotations. He is difficult to ignore and if his exuberant celebrations do not catch the eye then his occasional abrasiveness towards officials and opponents might. But this is a season in which West Ham, for all the clear need to improve, could do with some serenity and a trouble-free transition from Upton Park to the Olympic Stadium. Bilic could be just the person to kick off that new era with a bang – and add some colour to matters if, heaven forbid, the new place does not sell out – but West Ham have known all too well the dangers of not keeping things on an even keel and it might help their cause if the manager does not rattle too many cages as they look to make sure, most importantly of all, that a Premier League club moves into their new home.
