Johnny Phillips: Drama on the touchline as managers get all fired up

Managers prefer their players to do the talking for them, but it is the men making the selection decisions who have been centre stage so far.

Some have brought the limelight on themselves, others have been the subject of unwanted attention.

Very early on in the season it became clear that the age of the animated head coach was well and truly back in fashion.

Jesse Marsch’s touchline histrionics had been gathering pace for some time. He had already sparked an angry reaction from Wolves’ head coach Bruno Lage on the opening day of the season before causing irritation to Thomas Tuchel when he ran down the touchline to celebrate a Leeds goal against Chelsea.

He was then booked during the Whites’ defeat to Brighton after slamming the ball into the turf.

Inevitably, his shenanigans eventually caught the attention of the authorities last weekend when he was dismissed by referee Rob Jones after urging the official to consult the VAR monitor to review a challenge on his winger Crysencio Summerville.

A Football Association charge for ‘improper language and/or behaviour’ followed. Some will say Marsch had it coming. He is no shrinking violet and appears to enjoy the disputes and controversies that erupt around him.

The big confrontation on the touchline so far this season belongs to Tuchel and Antonio Conte. Never has a post-match handshake been so explosive.

The German and Italian coaches had spent the best part of 90 minutes engaged in visceral displays of emotion before finally coming together for what is supposed to be the gentlemanly end to proceedings. Instead, their handshake has become another infamous moment in Premier League history.

Tuchel has been on the back pages again this week after his dismissal from Chelsea.

The initial fall-out headed owner Todd Boehly’s way. How could a man who had delivered the Champions League only last year be sent packing so swiftly?

Since then, briefings of discord in the camp against Tuchel have been reported in the press; players apparently unhappy to play on the same side of the pitch as the dugouts for fear of being on the end of constant moaning, whingeing and shouting from their head coach.

Enter from stage left, Graham Potter. The appointment of the former Swansea City and Brighton & Hove Albion manager represents a departure from the appeal of big names from abroad.

Potter has gradually built an impressive CV which culminated in a ninth-place finish for the Seagulls last season. He leaves Brighton on the back of an all singing, all dancing 5-2 demolition of Leicester City which summed up what his team became in the three years he had on the south coast.

Hired to replace the conservative and uninspiring football of his predecessor, Chris Hughton, Potter turned the team into a more expansive force which threw off the shackles of relegation contenders.

Quite how he will get on at Stamford Bridge remains to be seen. It is a volatile environment he is walking into in West London where patience is rarely at the forefront of boardroom decision-making.

Nobody expected volatility in the seemingly serene surroundings of Bournemouth.

Except, perhaps, for Scott Parker. After a summer of warning supporters that his squad was not strong enough, Parker began the season with an impressive 2-0 win over Villa. Defeats soon followed but there was no disgrace in losing to Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool.

The manner of the capitulation at Anfield did cause concern, though, and when Parker forecast repeats later in the season the owner had seen enough.

His dismissal seemed harsh given the great work he had done taking Bournemouth up, but the devil was in the detail.

“In order to keep progressing… it is unconditional that we are aligned in our strategy to run the club sustainably,” said Maxim Demin. The two were clearly not on the same page and Parker’s return to the Premier League proved far too brief.

Erik Ten Hag has had the most turbulent introduction to English football he could have imagined, experiencing the full gamut of emotions in the space of just one month.

The turnaround since the 4-0 humiliation at Brentford on August 13 has been incredible. That match ended with just about every former United player calling for a revolution and the toppling of the Glazers. Now, just three weeks later, the defeat has been consigned to the dustbin.

United – with the veteran Cristiano Ronaldo and captain Harry Maguire both relegated to the bench – now look a decent team with plenty of options going forward.

Old Trafford has been a scene of celebration as Liverpool and Arsenal were brushed aside. Ten Hag will not be fooled, though. He knows how quickly things change at United these days.

It is hard to imagine that any head coach is immune to the whims of owners today, although Jurgen Klopp, when asked if he was worried about his future, replied with an dismissive: “Not really. We have different owners.”

That followed a 4-1 Champions League defeat in Naples. Surely he is safe for some while yet, but who would second guess the life of a manager.