It's tricky doing your job when there’s someone leaning over your shoulder. Unless you are one of those folk who go to car-keys-in-the-bowl parties, having that sense of looming pressure behind you is enough to give anyone performance anxiety.
And when it comes to football managers, it doesn’t matter if the figure on your shoulder isn’t actually there. Philippe Clement is slowly getting some breathing space but he had that hanging over him a few weeks ago.
The Belgian was on his major wobble and it was the name of Steven Gerrard that kept popping up among fans. The fact the former gaffer is currently coining it in on the Saudi gravy train seemed to get lost in the wash.
But Clement was having to operate with folk pining for the good old Gerrard days while openly discussing how long he would last in the gig.