Crisis, everywhere you look, that’s right. If it’s not your club, then speak to a friend who supports another team, odds are their club will be having one. It’s only October and already a number of teams are already either attempting to save their seasons or not stare relegation in the face.

In recent years football fans have got used to Arsene Wenger facing difficult questions, A4 sheets of paper with ‘Wenger out’ scrawled on them, and season defining games. Not so this year, as his Arsenal side have, to even the most deluded/optimistic Arsenal fans surprise, started the season well, underlined by Tuesday nights 2-0 victory against Napoli. The Gunners look to be benefitting early on from the upheaval that faces their closest rivals, sorry Tottenham.

Upheaval such as can be found at Manchester United. David Moyes has not enjoyed the best start to his tenure, with his side currently sitting in 12th place, equal on points with Stoke City. Asides from Moyes’ determination to persist in picking Ashley Young, and not picking Shinji Kagawa, the reason for their struggles seems rather obvious. They aren’t managed by Sir Alex Ferguson anymore.

The loss of Ferguson has lead to a loss of aura, if you will, around the club. Whilst they still possess one of the better squads in the league, they have lost what made them winners. This effect is twofold, first of all teams, whether they will admit to it publicly or not, are less intimidated by this Manchester United side. Illustrated perfectly by West Brom’s victory over the reigning champions last Saturday afternoon.

Secondly, the Manchester United players themselves feel less confident, whether they admit it publicly or not, as the knowledge of having Ferguson in the dressing room, a man who has won so many times before, created confidence. Something that David Moyes has yet to prove he can inspire. Moyes obviously hasn’t been helped by the disastrous transfer window that Manchester United had, but the majority would expect them to be doing better at this stage, even if the majority do find it quite funny that they aren’t.

Another side that experienced an underwhelming, to put it mildly, transfer window, are Newcastle United. And the man at the helm, Alan Pardew, is another of these managers experiencing a crisis. Oh how fickle football can be, two games ago Newcastle were looking in good shape, back to back victories against Fulham and Aston Villa had fans feeling a bit better after a farcical summer. But things change quickly in football, and successful defeats at the hands of Hull and Everton have seen the spotlight refocus on Pardew and his side.

It is of course slightly unfair to pin all of the blame at the door of the manager, he has not been helped by scattergun performances from some of his players. Mapou Yanga M’biwa, for example, has gone from looking controlled and settled at centre-back against Fulham and Aston Villa, to practically inept against Everton. Not that he should take all the criticism as his more experienced partner Coloccini was equally as culpable against Everton, and specifically Romelu Lukaku.

With Alan Pardew having signed a preposterously long eight year in September 2012 it seems unlikely the club will be able to get rid of him easily, not without a large payoff anyway. Something that Mike Ashley, a man who seems to really really love money, is unlikely to do. And with Joe Kinnear waiting ominously in the wings, it may be a case of better the devil you know.

It would be unfair not to mention Sunderland in all of this, out of the teams currently bearing the burden of a crisis, theirs is potentially the worst. After sacking Paolo Di Canio the club are left with the unenviable task of appointing a manager who is able to come in and bed in fourteen new signings, whilst attempting to keep happy a dressing room which has just seen off their previous charge.

Kevin Ball, the current caretaker manager, would seem to be a popular appointment with the fans, or at least Kevin Phillips. But he set a worrying precedent against Liverpool, fielding a side featuring eight players who were with the club last season, when they were almost relegated.

Other managers in danger of finding themselves in a crisis include Chris Hughton at Norwich City, and – though he has managed to go under the radar somewhat – Sam Allardyce at West Ham. Norwich City have had a rather shaky start to their season, and whilst seven points isn’t a terrible return for a team that features a lot of new faces, performances, up until last weekends victory at Stoke had left a lot to be desired. Having finally ditched the idea of playing starting Johan Elmander, Norwich looked much more comfortable in possession and as a result dangerous in attack. So it could well be crisis averted, for now.

As mentioned, Sam Allardyce’s West Ham side have not attracted too much attention with their disappointing start to the new campaign. They were, it could be argued, unlucky with refereeing decisions in their game against Hull last Saturday, but with Andy Carroll out for what will be a large chunk of the season, and Modibo Maiga leading the line, it might not be long before questions are being asked of Big Sam.

As all this hyperbole and desire for narrative is, of course, rather silly and quite tedious, so let us recall Jose Mourinho’s recent, rather crude, retort to a journalist when asked whether his Chelsea side were in crisis: “Crisis of what? Syria? For me, no crisis, for me two bad results.” and remember that it’s only football, and there’s always next week/month/year.