Image Credit: footballenglish.jp Podcast
At the turn of the new year, 3 of Europe’s top clubs parted ways with their head coaches to the surprise of many of their fanbase. On New Year’s Day Chelsea announced the departure of Enzo Mascara, on January 5th Manchester United announced the departure of Ruben Amorim and finally on January 12th Real Madrid announced the departure of Xabi Alonso. Since then, all 3 clubs have found new replacement head coaches to see out the rest of the 2025/2026 season and maybe even continue as head coaches for the future of their respective clubs. “New Manager Bounce” is term that refers to a good run of form that comes when a new manager takes over a new club and since clubs these days have new structures where they would rather have head coaches instead of managers, it explains the title of this article. All 3 of the new head coaches are in full swing of their “New Head Coach Bounce” and let us have a look at how it is going:
Liam Rosenior
On January 6th, Liam Rosenior was announced as Chelsea’s new head coach from French side RC Strasbourg Alsace and the 41-year-old would manage his first game as Head Coach against Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup. The English Head Coach was off to a dream start to his career at Chelsea with his side running away with the victory in a 5-1 showing against the English Championship side. What was more impressive was the fact that Rosenior did not use his strongest 11 for his first game in charge, players like Sanchez, Fernández, Neto, João Pedro, Chalobah, etc. all made due with being on the bench with some making 2nd half cameos. Liam Rosenior’s next game was not as much of a dream start like his first as his side faced league leaders and London rivals Arsenal in the 1st Leg Semi Final fixture of the EFL Cup. Chelsea were trailing 1-0 at Half Time and went further behind when Arsenal scored their second goal in the 2nd half however Alejandro Garnacho’s off the bench heroics gave Chelsea a way back into the game by scoring a brace. Unfortunately, it was not enough as Arsenal won the game 3-2 and have a 1 goal advantage going into the 2nd leg.
Chelsea and Liam Rosenior got back to winning ways however and continued the “New Head Coach Bounce” with a 2-0 victory over West London side Brentford in the Premier League. Chelsea then went on in the Champions League to defeat Cyprus side Pafos FC which put them at 8th in the league and in a good position to automatically qualify for the Champions League knockout stage. The “New Head Coach Bounce” continued further as Chelsea returned to the Premier League and went on to defeat Crystal Palace 3-1. It is safe to say the new Head Coach is off to a flying start and has plenty of opportunities to end his debut season with some silverware.
Michael Carrick
The Manchester United legend has managed just 2 games for the Red Devils since his appointment as interim Head Coach on January 13th and in that short amount time Michael Carrick has already completely transformed Man Utd into a team that is capable of defeating their rivalries and aiming for a top 4 league finish. Michael Carrick had 5 days to prepare for his first game as interim head coach against local rivals Manchester City who were unbeaten in their last 13 games leading up to the derby fixture. Carrick setup Man Utd with a Premier League standard 4-2-3-1 formation with notably Kobbie Mainoo getting his first start of the season in midfield alongside Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes playing in his natural position as the attacking midfielder, Patrick Dorgu took up a slightly new position on the left wing while the returning Amad and Bryan Mbeumo played on the right wing and as a striker respectively. This setup was something nobody could have imagined under Ruben Amorim as the former United Head Coach preferred his 3-4-2-1 formation and did not see Kobbie Mainoo as a starter in his system.
With this new setup Man Utd looked and played like a completely different team, they played with confidence and an attacking threat that United fans had not seen a lot of this season. United were also solid defensively as Man City could manage 1 shot on target the entire game while United managed 7 shots and converted 2 of them in a 2-0 victory over City. To be more precise, United actually scored 5 goals against City however 3 of the goals were ruled off for offside with the 3rd goal being controversially ruled out by VAR when on field officials saw nothing wrong with the goal. Regardless Michael Carrick’s side had a dominate showing against their rivals in his first game in charge and the “New Head Coach Bounce” would continue against Premier League leaders Arsenal. United went away to the Emirates with an unchanged side and produced an incredible 3-2 comeback victory over the Gunners. Might still be very early days however Michael Carrick has already made a strong case for himself to be the new permanent head coach of Man Utd beyond this season.
Álvaro Arbeloa
Following the shock departure of Xabi Alonso, Álvaro Arbeloa was appointed as Real Madrid’s new Head Coach with immediate effect and the former Real Madrid fullback immediately got to work preparing for Los Blancos’ Copa Del Rey game against Albacete. The game was unfortunately not the dream start that the Spanish Head Coach was hoping for as Real Madrid suffered a shocking 3-2 defeat against the second division Spanish side. Despite that surprise early setback, Arbeloa’s “New Head Coach Bounce” got well underway in La Liga as Real Madrid secured their first win under the new Head Coach by defeating Levante UD 2-0. The bounce reached a monumental high as Real Madrid faced French side AS Monaco in the Champions League and Arbeloa’s side entertained their fans with a 6-1 demolition of AS Monaco. It is also important to note how Vinícius Júnior was the standout star during this display with the Brazilian superstar contributing 2 assists, 1 goal and was directly involved in Monaco’s own goal. This performance coming off the back of the Real Madrid number 7’s turbulent relationship with previous head coach Xabi Alonso spoke volumes and it also showed the rewards reaped for Álvaro Arbeloa’s trust in Vinícius Júnior. The good form continued against Villareal in La Liga with Real Madrid securing a 2-0 victory thanks to Kylian Mbappé scoring a brace and continuing his incredible goal scoring form with the Frenchman now on 34 goals in 31 games in all competitions.
Despite the shock early exit from the Copa Del Rey, Álvaro Arbeloa is still in pole position to turn Real Madrid’s fortunes around this season as they are currently 1 point behind league leaders and rivals FC Barcelona in La Liga as well as they are currently 3rd in the Champions League meaning if they can hold their position in the top 8, they will get automatic qualification into the knockout stages. It is all in the hands of Álvaro Arbeloa now.
