LaLiga Preview: How High Can Rising Bosses Setien, Sampaoli and Pellegrino Go?

After looking at it once, you're forced to look at it again. The first name is as familiar as they come, but from there, it's as though the rest have been thrown in a hat and drawn out at random, office-sweepstakes style.

At the top of LaLiga sit Real Madrid, but following them are not Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. Next up instead are Sevilla and Sporting Gijon. Las Palmas come behind them, and then it's Barcelona, with Eibar and Alaves among a bunch after that. It won't last, but that's not the point. 

The table might be superficial, but the sensations aren't. Though the season is young, even heading into what is only Week 4 there is a handful of sides who already look capable of challenging barriers that have existed for them until now.

By 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sporting could temporarily be top; a few hours later, Sevilla could replace them; a couple after that, it could be Las Palmas if results fall their way. By the end of the round, Alaves could sit in the top four. 

It's no fluke. Each of those sides have collected their early points with a striking sense of purpose, exhibiting collective identities that appear to be evolving quickly.

Sporting have looked slick and dangerous on the break, Sevilla and Las Palmas have dictated through possession, and Alaves have found strength in defensive organisation. Two of them have new managers, and another is new-ish; they're all very different, but what they're sharing right now is attention. 

It would be wrong to suggest they're the only men propelling their teams, but in Quique Setien, Jorge Sampaoli and Mauricio Pellegrino, LaLiga has a trio of bosses making strong early impressions.

It's not simply the results or places in the table but the sense of their respective teams having a defined direction. Behind their play, you can see an idea that's being embraced or developed, a model being put down to build on.

None is more impressive than that of Setien. 

Las Palmas right now are a joy to watch, but it hasn't always been this way. When Setien took over from Paco Herrera in October last season, the Canary Islanders were joint-bottom of the table, five points and five goals their return from eight games. Herrera's stint had ended with a 4-0 thrashing in the capital from Getafe, a side who don't do thrashings. Las Palmas were relegation-bound, or so it seemed. 

On the day of his presentation, Setien outlined how it would be under him. "My idea of football is non-negotiable," he said. The idea he spoke of was of control through possession, of letting the ball be the driver, of trusting football over everything.

"My model of football is that of Johan Cruyff," he said. "My philosophy of play is clear: to be offensive and to have the ball."

Saying it is one thing, though. New managers often speak initially of an intention to be courageous, but often what follows is very different. Managers, particularly those appointed midseason, are hired to deliver results first and style second, if at all. For most in the lower reaches of the table, pressure and realities handcuff them to pragmatism, a do-whatever-it-takes existence.

But not Setien. After managerial stops at Racing Santander, Poli Ejido, Equatorial Guinea, Logrones and Lugo, the man who made his name as a midfielder for Racing has prioritised technique, intelligence and ball retention above all else.

And one other thing: locals. 

Of the club's senior squad, 15 were born on the island, and Setien has placed many of them at the heart of his team. In midfield, where the essence of Las Palmas lies, Roque Mesa, Jonathan Viera, Vicente Gomez and Tana lead the way; three of them are diminutive, but that doesn't matter.

There's a playfulness or freedom that's associated with Canarian football, and Setien has tapped into it, finding something others before him had missed. He's also delivered structure and balance, placing a premium on being in position to recover when sequences break down. 

The results are astonishing. Las Palmas put together a burst of six wins in eight games from February to April last season to storm up the table. The only two they didn't defeat in that stretch: Barcelona and Real Madrid, and they pushed both of them. Hard.

When the recent international break arrived, after they'd crushed Granada 5-1 to follow up a 4-2 win over Valencia on the opening weekend of the season, they were top: from one end of the table to the other in 315 days. 

How high can this go, then? How high can Setien go?

"I don't aspire to coach Barcelona or Real Madrid," he said earlier this month. The simple fact he was asked the question said everything, and Las Palmas will be just fine with that. On Saturday, they face Malaga at home; win, and they might go top. 

Well, provided Sevilla don't. 

Aitor Alcalde Colomer/Getty Images

Though the current identity of Sevilla isn't as far along the line as that of Las Palmas, there's something already very compelling about the Andalucians under Sampaoli.

In the first round of the season, they clinched the description-defying 6-4 win against Espanyol; more recently they've edged out Setien's men in a controversial affair, and on Wednesday, they held Juventus to a draw in Turin in the Champions League. 

Admittedly, it's difficult to get a read on Sevilla right now, but that's sort of the point. When Sampaoli was presented in the summer, he spoke to the club's official website (h/t Fox Sports) of being "tremendously passionate about attacking," of being a coach "who never wants to stop being a protagonist." His mantra is one of rebellion and challenging the idea of what one is supposed to do.

His team reflect that. To date, we've seen Sampaoli push his full-backs so high that an already-attacking template of 4-1-3-2 has functioned more like a 2-1-5-2. It's bold and unconventional, but it's not easy. The way his team have gone forward has been a little muddled so far—the idea still new, the change from the previous regime immense. 

Still, in a season in which third and fourth place look up for grabs, there's an alluring quality to the idea. There are no guarantees, and there are vulnerabilities to address, sure, but in having the courage to be different, Sevilla might just open up possibilities. As Sampaoli puts it, attacking this way gives his team the chance to "seek our objectives and not wait for them to find us."

It's not the only way, though. 

Alaves don't have the tools to follow suit, but what they might have are the tools for staying in the division. And that's significant.

Survival had looked like it would be a tough task for the Basques on their return to the top flight this season, but three games in, the picture has shifted a little. Entering Week 4 and a meeting at home with Deportivo La Coruna, they're undefeated and have five points, four of them coming from trips to Atletico and Barcelona. Those are strange words to type. 

If Pellegrino's men were a little fortunate at the Vicente Calderon—and he admitted they were—they weren't at the Camp Nou. At a venue where the home team had lost only seven league games in seven years, Alaves repelled Barcelona with the conviction of a side that's coming together rapidly, buying into a manager's concepts.

"Pellegrino, a visionary," wrote AS's Javier Lekuona. 

That might be overselling it, but there's something there alright. This is Pellegrino's second stint in LaLiga, following a difficult managerial debut at Valencia in 2012 when he was sacked before Christmas in his first season. Valencia were in turmoil at the time, gripped by debt and a player exodus; he called the decision to sack him as "impulsive", one "taken out of fear." He was right. 

Spells in Argentina with Estudiantes and Independiente followed, before Alaves called. Now he's back, the third youngest manager in the league, leading a club who've returned themselves after a decade in the wilderness. Visits to the last two league winners in the opening three weeks wasn't the dream start, and yet it's become one. 

Alaves look disciplined and organised, compact and together in a way that says something about the man in charge. Pellegrino is looking up, and he's not the only one. 

Not to Be Missed

• Valencia travel north to meet Athletic Bilbao at San Mames on Sunday. Lose again, and the consequences could be massive. 

• Atletico Madrid take on Sporting Gijon at the Vicente Calderon on Saturday following two soothing wins in four days, but they enter the weekend amid a sense of a shifting landscape. AS' FJ Diaz and Jorge Garcia reported on Thursday that manager Diego Simeone had negotiated a reduction in the length of his contract that, while boosting the Argentinian's salary, brings the expiry date back from 2020 to 2018. On the same day, the Mirror's Ed Malyon reported that Antoine Griezmann told L'Equipe he had parted ways with Grupo Santos, the agency that had represented him, deciding to represent himself ahead of further interest that is expected to come his way from European heavyweights next summer. It's an intriguing backdrop.

• From the other side of the Catalan divide, Espanyol are often under suspicion of being a little too accommodating of Real Madrid. On Sunday night, the teams meet in Cornella on the back of five games between them in which the aggregate score reads 22-2.

• How Celta Vigo respond after contesting their first European outing in almost a decade on Thursday.

• Luis Enrique's team selection against Leganes. 

• The 1 p.m. timeslot. 

• Kevin Gameiro's radar. 

• Paco Jemez often had slow starts to seasons at Rayo Vallecano before accelerating later on, but just because something's happened before doesn't mean it will happen again. Now at Granada, his side have one point from nine and head to Seville to take on Real Betis on Friday night. He and his team need to get going, and fast.

Follow @TimDCollins