Back
Afolabi Ezekiel - December 7, 2024
Guiding a team to winning the Premier League usually means excelling at multiple grounds; however, even the most successful managers have issues at certain stadiums. This articles looks at the ‘bogey’ stadiums for every Premier League winning manager and showcases the difficulties for such experienced bosses.
Jurgen Klopp had a bit of trouble at the Etihad Stadium. Although during his time at Liverpool, Klopp recorded 97, 99, 92 overall points across several seasons, but at the Etihad stadium, he recorded a victory in nine games, an effervescent of a mere 11.1%. It was achieved before the arrival of Pep Guardiola, with a 4-1 against Manuel Pellegrini’s City in the 2015/2016 season. Since then, Klopp has faced more brutal carnage against City, including a 4-0 loss in 2020 and the 4-1 loss to City in 2023. Nevertheless, Klopp was slightly compensated by some important successes outside the Premier League; for example, in the Champions League, where Liverpool won with the score of 2-1 in 2018.
More puzzling is that Mourinho’s bogey stadium is not the home of any title contender but Newcastle United, St James’ Park. Despite Newcastle’s inconsistent performances when Jose Mourinho was managing a Premier League club, he never won a league game there prior to July 2020 with Tottenham Hotspurs and had an 11.1%-win rate. Some of the unexpected losses include one with an unbeaten Chelsea team in a 2014/2015 season, evidence enough that he has it rough at this stadium.
While records picked Arsenal as Man United’s main competitor throughout Ferguson’s rule, Fergie face more problems at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea’s home stadium. Ferguson, who has dominated the English Premier league for more than two decades secured only a 23.8% success record at the Stamford Bridge. Lowlights also include a 5-0 home loss in the 1998-99 season under Gianluca Vialli. There were no wins for United and Ferguson at Stamford Bridge between 2002 and 2012. Much as Chelsea began to challenge for the Premier League title with Jose Mourinho, the Man United often found it hard to pick up points in West London under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Arsene Wenger
Arsene Wenger endured problematic time at Old Trafford during his tenure as Arsenal gaffer. The French manager achieved only three victories in 22 Premier league matches against Manchester United (13.6%). Embarrassing defeats such as the 8-2 classic in 2011 and the ‘Battle of the Buffet’ incident in 2004 where a pizza was chucked at Ferguson are some of the Premier League memories that fan cherish. Wenger also underperformed at the Britannia Stadium against Stoke City and out of eight matches against the much physical Tony Pulis’ men he only won twice. These problems were so characteristic that Wenger allegedly grumbled about the height of the turf at the Stoke City’s stadium.
Pep Guardiola
Guardiola’s attempts to conquer Anfield with Manchester City have been largely unsuccessful. Despite six attempts in the Premier League, he has only managed one win, a 4-1 victory played behind closed doors during the pandemic. Liverpool has proven to be too tough an opponent for Guardiola under Klopp, particularly on their home soil – Anfield. In addition, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium been another tough ground to visit for Guardiola in that he suffered four league defeats before securing his first win in May 2023.
Antonio Conte and Carlo Ancelotti
Neither of the Italian managers has really been successful at Old Trafford and the Etihad Stadium respectively. Conte, who won the league with Chelsea in 2017, has lost all four trips to Manchester United. Likewise, Carlo Ancelotti, who was successful with Chelsea in 2010, failed to secure any league match at the Etihad in his successive seasons in the league.
Other Managers
Kenny Dalglish: The former Blackburn and Liverpool manager failed to record wins at the Old Trafford and The Dell, Southampton’s earlier ground throughout his time as a Premier League manager.
Claudio Ranieri: The manager that clinched the Premier League title with Leicester City during the 2015-16 season lost 6 of his 7 league away matches at Old Trafford (14.3 success rate).
Roberto Mancini: He had one of his unusual spells of misfortune at Goodison Park, Britannia Stadium and the Stadium of Light, at this three stadiums he was never able to secure a win at any of them during his time in the English Premier League.
Manuel Pellegrini: Like Klopp and Guardiola, Pellegrini has failed to win a single game in four attempts at Anfield, managing both Manchester City and West Ham. He also struggled at the Emirates Stadium, never securing a victory
