Chelsea's Xabi Alonso and Tottenham's Roberto de Zerbi have been thrust into what Rory Smith of The Observer calls an "impossible position" this season, according to BBC News.
Both managers took over their respective clubs in the spring and were immediately confronted with sweeping squad overhauls during a hectic summer transfer window. Chelsea, in particular, sanctioned significant spending and turnover in personnel, leaving Alonso tasked with integrating a raft of new arrivals while still trying to establish his own footballing identity at Stamford Bridge.
Smith's assessment suggests that the scale of recruitment at both clubs has effectively set the new head coaches up for a difficult early period, with expectations high despite the disruption caused by wholesale changes to their squads. Rather than being handed time to build steadily, Alonso and De Zerbi appear to have inherited rosters shaped more by boardroom transfer strategy than their own tactical blueprints.
The report frames this as a structural issue facing modern management — where incoming coaches are judged quickly on results, even when the makeup of their squads was largely determined before their ideas could take hold.