Another weekend, another few days of soul-searching for Liverpool and Tottenham. Liverpool had been on a 13-game unbeaten run before Saturday’s defeat to Bournemouth, but nobody could claim a string of results that included home draws with all three promoted clubs was convincing. Spurs had won just two of their 13 league games before Saturday’s away draw at Burnley, which was salvaged only thanks to an injury-time goal from Cristian Romero.

For both, European competition had offered some relief – Liverpool looked very good in a 3-0 win away to Marseille while Spurs, at least in the first half, produced probably their best performance since August in beating Borussia Dortmund 2-0 – but the sad truth is that the vast majority of European sides these days simply cannot live with the physicality of the Premier League. That’s not to say that Bournemouth or Burnley are better than Marseille or Dortmund, but it is to say that the challenge they pose a Premier League side is less.

The situations at the two clubs are different, obviously: Arne Slot won the league title last season, while Thomas Frank was brought in from Brentford, inheriting the complicated legacy of a Tottenham team that had won the Europa League but finished 17th in the Premier League. But Liverpool and Tottenham face a very modern problem: what to do if it seems like your manager has run out of steam in midseason. Who comes in next? Who is both of the requisite level and currently available?

There is a further complication this season with the World Cup, after which a number of high-level managers will be released into the market. Clubs cannot realistically do a deal with any before the tournament, both for fear of being accused of disrupting a country’s preparations (risking the sort of furore that consumed the Spain manager Julen Lopetegui when he accepted the Real Madrid job in 2018) and of an embarrassing World Cup exit that could undermine the manager’s political capital before he begins. But wait until after the tournament and it’s only a month until the Premier League season starts.

Say you’re a promising young manager. You’ve done well at a mid-sized club, outperforming your wage budget to finish eighth or ninth. Why would you jump ship now? Football is no longer a game in which a new face can suddenly elevate a group of players. New ideas take time to instill. A manager will probably ideally want three or four signings to help mould the squad towards his vision. Pragmatist managers capable of working with what they’re given – a Fabio Capello, a Carlo Ancelotti, a Max Allegri – are thin on the ground at the top end of the modern game. Move in January or February and not only might you be missing out on a run in the FA Cup or Europe, but the risk is that you inherit an unsteady ship and, by the time you’ve had a chance to right it, your reputation is already shot. Manchester United’s ex-manager Ruben Amorim is by no means the only manager to fall foul of what might be termed the Jan Siewert principle. Better for that aspiring manager to wait till the summer when he may have the pick of three or four jobs.

But imagine things have got so bad for a major club that it’s decided that the best chance of qualifying for the Champions League or having a decent crack at the Cup or Europe is to replace the incumbent. What can you do? The only option is to turn to an interim, which raises the potential complication of the interim (often a beloved former player) doing too well and creating a clamour for his appointment, making life harder for whoever is ultimately appointed. If results simply stabilise, though, then the season is effectively written off. Ryan Mason was sacked by West Brom earlier this month, which must have sent a tremor through Spurs fans: to finish a third season in six years under an interim Mason really would be a sign of failure.

A club may as well stick with the devil it knows. Crystal Palace apparently decided to do so with Oliver Glasner, who has announced he will leave in the summer and is evidently unhappy at his best players being sold.

Frank has seemed dwarfed by the demands of the Tottenham job; he speaks like a mid-table manager and that is not a tune Spurs fans want to hear. But equally, he has been unfortunate with injuries, especially in forward areas, and that has compounded existing issues by reducing confidence. Perhaps green shoots will begin to emerge but it’s very hard to see him being in charge at the beginning of next season.

And Slot has struggled to deal with the influx of new signings that have left him with an unbalanced squad. Liverpool have difficulty with attacking low blocks and defending set plays. A run in the Champions League could yet change perceptions. The danger for Slot will come if it looks like Liverpool may not qualify for next season’s Champions League.

• This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition.