League Table MW 09 : 2026 – 2027
Five managers scored 12 this week and only three of them won. Farke’s goalkeeper handed Bournemouth the opening goal and Farke still finished on the best score of the round. At the other end, Le Bris drops five places, and Glasner, who gave the best Good Loser interview of the season a fortnight ago, is one point above him.
These reviews look at how each manager’s post-match words help players keep their confidence, learn and prepare for the next match. The quotations are short extracts, followed by analysis.
Premier Managers Revealed
Matchweek 9 · 2026/27
| Pos | Move | Manager | Club | This week | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | Fabian Hürzeler | Brighton & Hove Albion | 12 | 11.6 |
| 2 | – | Daniel Farke | Leeds United | 12 | 11.5 |
| 3 | – | Frank Lampard | Coventry City | 12 | 11.1 |
| 4= | ↓ 1 | Unai Emery | Aston Villa | 10 | 10.9 |
| 4= | ↑ 1 | Gary O’Neil | Ipswich Town | 11 | 10.9 |
| 6 | – | Marco Rose | AFC Bournemouth | 11 | 10.3 |
| 7 | ↑ 1 | Keith Andrews | Brentford | 12 | 10.2 |
| 8= | ↓ 2 | Oliver Glasner | Nottingham Forest | 5 | 9.7 |
| 8= | ↑ 1 | Sergej Jakirović | Hull City | 9 | 9.7 |
| 10 | – | Matthias Jaissle | Newcastle United | – | 9.6 |
| 11 | ↑ 1 | Álvaro Arbeloa | Fulham | 12 | 9.5 |
| 12 | ↑ 1 | Xabi Alonso | Chelsea | 10 | 9.0 |
| 13= | – | Mikel Arteta | Arsenal | 9 | 8.9 |
| 13= | ↓ 2 | Enzo Maresca | Manchester City | 6 | 8.9 |
| 15 | ↑ 1 | Michael Carrick | Manchester United | 10 | 8.8 |
| 16 | – | Roberto De Zerbi | Tottenham Hotspur | 9 | 8.7 |
| 17 | ↑ 1 | Pierre Sage | Crystal Palace | 10 | 8.4 |
| 18 | ↓ 5 | Régis Le Bris | Sunderland | 4 | 8.3 |
| 19 | – | Andoni Iraola | Liverpool | 8 | 8.0 |
| 20 | – | David Moyes | Everton | – | 6.2 |
Matthias Jaissle and David Moyes have no score this week. Newcastle United v Everton is a Monday fixture, and the scoring week runs Tuesday to Sunday, so that one is carried into the next edition. Nothing was carried into this edition, because the Matchweek 8 round was played from Friday to Sunday and all twenty clubs played in it.
Average score per assessed interview, out of 12. Movement compares this week’s position with last week’s.
Quote of the Week: Fabian Hürzeler, Brighton & Hove Albion
Fabian, it’s been a long week on the road. Does that make this even more satisfying?
I’m really happy for everyone who was involved in this journey because it was definitely a long journey. It was an unusual journey, I would say, but everyone really contributed to this win. No matter if we had staff members, if we had great analysts around us, great medicals, great nutritionists, great chefs. Everyone really contributed to this win and therefore I’m really happy for the guys who did the work in the shadow and today I think we saw another really good performance from all players on the pitch and I think this togetherness in the end gets us the rewards for what we’ve done today on the pitch and also for what we have done on Wednesday. I think on Wednesday we missed a little bit of luck, today we had the luck, but you need to deserve the luck and in the end everyone worked hard for this luck.
Yeah, this was about a lot more than luck, wasn’t it? That was a real team performance. Was that a completely together performance?
It was a completely defensive performance where everyone had the mindset that I need to defend. Of course, we always want to have the ball, but in certain moments you always knew coming here you need to suffer. You need to suffer, you need to defend well the box and of course we can emphasise now individual players with my centre-backs, with Barthel Brigham, with Costinho on the right side who did a brilliant job, but in the end everyone had his mindset to defend. Everyone really sticked together. We faced adversity and therefore I’m really proud that we showed this togetherness regarding the defensive mindset on the pitch.
Belief and positivity are so important at all levels of the game. Does that come from the back? I’m just looking at your goalkeeper today, we know how good he is and we know how good he is for club and country, but that belief, that presence at the back must give everybody something to build on.
Yeah, I think football is a lot about belief and coming to this place you need to have belief and of course you need to have players who really spread it and I think Barth is a prime example with and for that. We had Louis Tank before him, together with Luka, we have Pascal Gross, also my midfielders of Yassine and Jemar, they all have this belief that they are capable of coming and competing and not only competing, also winning these games and therefore I think it’s so important that the players all have this mindset and if they have this mindset they can spread it to others and if you spread it around the environment we are working in then hopefully they become for everyone a theme and a topic that I believe is key for winning these kind of games.
Fabian Hürzeler after Manchester City 0 – 1 Brighton & Hove Albion, Saturday 31 October 2026. Source: BBC Sport.
Hürzeler does something clever with suffering. Coming here you need to suffer, you need to defend well the box. Said like that, the hardest part of the afternoon becomes necessary and expected, something they came for rather than something going wrong. Suffering can feel overwhelming to a player. He turns it into the evidence that they are doing exactly what it takes to win here.
The luck gets the same treatment. On Wednesday they missed a little bit of it, today they had it, and you need to deserve the luck. That makes Wednesday’s disappointment Fleeting, and it stops this win being a fluke, because they earned it and that means they were good enough. Then he hands the historic part to everybody, down to the chefs and the guys who did the work in the shadow. Togetherness like that gives a squad Safety, it creates Belonging, and naming all those people shows Esteem to everyone at the club. The belief is already theirs, held by six players he names, so their Capability is not in question, and winning at places like this is what he tells them they are for. He is a Good Winner who has fed every level of the Identity Model in one interview. That is close to unprecedented in this table.
All of Fabian Hürzeler’s quotes this season
Finding the right words under pressure is hard, even for managers who do it every week. This table tracks how well they manage it in the minutes after a match.
I learned how much those words matter in places where lives were on the line. One of those moments came down to three seconds. I’ll tell you about it at the end.
Low IDQ Quote: Oliver Glasner, Nottingham Forest
Very frustrating. Same story as every week. But, you know, if things always happen in the same way, and they happen in the same way, then there’s a kind of pattern. And that means for me today it’s completely clear: we have to change something. A few things. I have to change a few things, and I will change a few things 100%. So it’s now to think about it, but we can’t continue in the same way. We have to change a few things and that’s the key.
Yeah, there were long spells in the game where you had a lot of the play and seemingly momentum in the game going forward, but it’s just that cutting edge again.
No, it’s the same. We’re making too many mistakes in defence. Then we are down. So we control the game. It was the fourth goal we concede from a long ball, with a long ball from the goalkeeper, and this just can’t be. It’s so obvious. We knew exactly what’s going to happen, but then we are slow, making the same mistakes, always different players. And the same in attack. We can say, yeah, we were good, we were good, we missed a few chances. But if you miss always chances, then it’s also a pattern, yeah. And I don’t want to talk about, and I won’t talk about, any statistics, because something doesn’t count. We didn’t score a goal and we conceded two. Credit for the second goal Brentford scored, it was a fantastic counter-attack. But we’re making too many mistakes in our defence and we are not ruthless enough, good enough, in finishing. That’s the truth.
Do you already have positive thoughts about how you’ll go about that?
Not really, but a few things I have in my mind because, of course, I could see a few things I was not really pleased [with] all the time since my arrival. And sometimes I felt that I made too many compromises. And I think it’s now time not to make compromises. It’s now time to show a clear way and everybody has to follow. And if they don’t want to follow, I guess the sixth manager will come in. Thank you.
Oliver Glasner after Brentford 2 – 0 Nottingham Forest, Saturday 31 October 2026. Source: Sky Sports.
Two weeks ago Glasner said out loud what blaming the players costs you. It costs you all their confidence, and he chose to support them instead. That interview scored 12 and was the best of the season after a defeat. This one is the same man doing the opposite.
There is a case for it. A manager who stays positive through consecutive defeats, when nothing is actually getting better, starts to look divorced from reality, and that is one way to lose a dressing room. Some tough language was probably needed at Forest, and he gets a mark for being willing to use it.
The trouble is what comes with it. The word he keeps reaching for is pattern. Things always happen the same way, so there’s a kind of pattern. They are always making the same mistakes. If you always miss chances, that’s a pattern too. Said that way, a bad afternoon stops being an afternoon and becomes a description of the squad: Lasting, Broad and theirs. Not ruthless enough, good enough, in finishing is how he puts what they are, and he adds that it’s the truth. No SQA of theirs is named anywhere in it. And asked what he will change, he says everybody has to follow, and if they don’t, the sixth manager will come in, so his players now have his job on the table next to their own.
Over a long season almost every team loses more often than it wants to, so being a Good Loser, as the 7 Skills define it, is the part that builds confidence, resilience and performance. Glasner has been the best in this table at it, and that is what makes this week worth looking at.
All of Oliver Glasner’s quotes this season
On Adversity: Daniel Farke, Leeds United
And the first goal, an error that you just can’t legislate for?
Yeah, he’s got no one going. Yeah, it’s a wrong decision and, you know, of course we are a side who doesn’t just put the ball long into a compact set-up and fight for second balls. And of course it was more or less like an own goal out of nothing, and it also gave just belief to the stadium and to Bournemouth. That was of course decisive today. And if you make a mistake, you can also lose the game. But yeah, this happens. We’re all human beings and for that, of course, we should have done better in this situation.
It helps, you say, it gave some belief to Bournemouth. Do you think it also took some of the belief from your team as well, having been so good up to that point?
Not belief, but it’s also normal, yeah, because normally we should be in lead and then we spoke before [about the] difficulty away at Bournemouth and their clean-sheet record in a row, and then all of a sudden they are 1-0 in lead. And then of course you feel a bit sorry for yourself. But it’s important that you then react quickly and that your key players are going ahead with a good body language. And we spoke at half-time, come on, no reason to dwell, yeah. It’s a bit more difficult because you’re in losing position, but this happens sometimes. You have to deal also with setbacks, and also unlucky setbacks or self-inflicted setbacks. And, you know, of course for a few moments you could see it’s more like a bit of disbelief. But yeah, we are all in this game for so long and, you know, we all have seen it happen.
And you got booked in the first half. What was that for?
Don’t speak after a loss about the referees.
Daniel Farke after AFC Bournemouth 2 – 0 Leeds United, Saturday 31 October 2026. Source: Leeds United.
Farke’s goalkeeper has handed Bournemouth the opening goal and Farke never once separates him from the group. It’s a wrong decision, we’re all human beings, and if you make a mistake you can also lose the game. Then he tells them it passes, and he says it three times over: this happens, no reason to dwell, we all have seen it happen. A mistake that could have followed Trafford around for a month is left as an afternoon. The problem comes out Other, Narrow and Fleeting, and the quality he sets against it, reacting quickly and going again with good body language, is Self, Broad and Lasting.
And asked why he was booked, he shuts the easiest door available to him: don’t speak after a loss about the referees. A grievance there would have handed his players something they can never influence, and he won’t have it.
All of Daniel Farke’s quotes this season
What links this league table to a life-or-death negotiation?
A young mother. Her children asleep in the back of the car. A hosepipe connected to the exhaust. A police negotiator with three seconds to find the words that might save their lives.
That call is where The 7 Skills to impress™ began.
When I listen to a manager after a match, I listen for the message beneath the words. A manager can be talking about a win or a loss, but the way they frame it can lift or chip away at a player’s belief before anyone even realises it.
Read Three Seconds to Save Their Lives: Jacqui’s Story and find out what he said.
How the scores work
I score six things: a clear aim (Towards Outcome); player strengths (SQAs); how setbacks are explained (Adversity); confidence (Identity); practical next steps (Path); and leadership after a win, loss or draw. Each category is worth two points, giving a maximum of 12. Two points means the language clearly supports the players, one means it offers some help, and zero means it offers little help or risks undermining them.
- Good Winner: using the confidence that comes with a win to help players improve. The manager recognises what worked and gives constructive guidance about what to do better next time.
- Good Loser: helping players keep their belief after a defeat. The manager keeps the setback in perspective, reminds players of strengths they can rely on and gives them a useful next step. Explaining a loss through a specific external event can help, provided the players also hear reasons to believe they can succeed.
After a draw, I look for a balance of ambition, confidence and practical guidance. Crediting the opposition is good sportsmanship, but earns no points by itself. Scores describe the interview reviewed, rather than everything a manager says or does.
The match result has no bearing on the score in this table. A manager can build confidence after a defeat or destroy it after a victory. Honesty needs to be handled carefully. A detailed account of every weakness may be accurate, but it can leave players with less belief in themselves. The manager must retain credibility while building the players’ confidence.
Which Identity level are they Addressing?
Identity is made up of the beliefs we build about ourselves over time. A manager’s words can strengthen or weaken those beliefs. We will track how each manager affects the five parts of Identity: Safety, Belonging, Esteem, Capability and Purpose. This will be recorded, although the individual levels do not receive a separate score.
