Hot Seat Watch for World Football Players, Coaches After Weekend of Oct. 24-26

The world of football is fast paced, even when matches aren't taking place; a player or coach can quickly become the flavour of the month based on a report, a highlight or a result—or the complete opposite can happen, meaning an individual can be questioned or criticised based on the same criteria.

Our weekly Hot Seat Watch... takes a look at those on the field and stood beside it who could find themselves falling into the latter category—the football folk who need to pick up wins, improve their track record fast and help get their side back on an even keel.

Here's our selection from the past weekend, unfortunately featuring more than one regular.

Gus Poyet, Sunderland

Scott Heppell/Associated Press

We'll start in the Premier League and with Sunderland, a team lurching from one poor display to another at the moment.

Gus Poyet is the manager, and his side have won just once in the last eight games in all competitions and only twice all season long—one of those victories came against an opponent from a lower league in the League Cup. The Black Cats lost 2-0 to Arsenal at the weekend—not particularly embarrassing after last week's shaming by Southampton—but still enough to see them slide into the relegation zone.

It doesn't help Poyet that the side they replaced in the bottom three were local rivals Newcastle.

Jurgen Klopp, Borussia Dortmund

Michael Sohn/Associated Press

To Germany and the Bundesliga, where things keep going wrong for Borussia Dortmund.

Jurgen Klopp had to watch on as his side lost yet again at the weekend, this time at home to Hannover 96, 1-0. It meant a fourth straight league defeat for BVB, their sixth of the league season—just one short of their total for the entirety of last campaign.

Despite Dortmund's 100 percent record in the Champions League, it's not going to get any easier for Klopp, either—Dortmund travel to Bayern Munich on Saturday.

Paul Lambert, Aston Villa

Rui Vieira/Associated Press

Aston Villa started the season extremely efficiently, winning games by the odd goal and giving themselves a lofty early position. However, the wheels have quickly fallen off and the side have subsequently slid down the Premier League table.

Paul Lambert signed a new deal on the back of the club's good start, but Villa have since lost five straight matches and have not scored a single goal in that period.

There's no looming threat of the sack, but relegation fears are another matter; Villa struggled through too much of last season and currently find themselves 15th in the table, two points above the drop zone.

Vito Mannone, Sunderland

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We don't usually dedicate multiple Hot Seat Watch... slides to individuals from the same club, but Gus Poyet's situation as manager and Vito Mannone's as a player are different sides of the same coin.

Italian goalkeeper Mannone made an error-strewn start to the season, even before the past couple of weeks, but his poor display against Southampton preceded another terrible display, during which he made another howler against former club Arsenal to gift Alexis Sanchez a goal.

At this rate, it won't be long before Costel Pantilimon is given his chance to establish himself as No. 1.

Fernando Torres, AC Milan

Luca Bruno/Associated Press

Fernando Torres shot back to prominence over the weekend with an extra special version of his now customary failings in front of goal.

The Spanish striker, now with AC Milan in Serie A, has scored just once in six league appearances since joining the Rossoneri. Per WhoScored.com, he has tallied 12 shots to yield that solitary goal, not managed an assist and appears no closer to ending his poor run of form.

Alessandro Lucarelli and Antonio Mirante, Parma

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Parma's disastrous season continues apace in Serie A, with Sassuolo inflicting a fifth straight defeat on the club sat bottom of the table.

Veteran defender Alessandro Lucarelli and goalkeeper Antonio Mirante have to be two of the most culpable players here; experience and regular appearances in the team aside, they've also been two of the most error-prone members of the team, gifting chances and goals far too often.

Parma have the worst defensive record in the league and have lost seven of their eight fixtures thus far.

Carlos Vela, Real Sociedad

David Ramos/Getty Images

To Spain now, where Real Sociedad have failed to build on the early promise of their season and now lie just one place and one point above the relegation zone.

They have only won one match all season—bizarrely, that came against Real Madrid, perhaps the most in-form and entertaining side in all of Europe.

Carlos Vela has simply not hit anything like the form he's capable of, scoring only once so far this season. Despite registering a couple of assists of late, he is not contributing anywhere near enough in the final third and not exactly putting tremendous amounts of effort in either.

Joaquin Caparros, Granada

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Staying in Spain, Joaquin Caparros signed a new deal with Levante in the summer before promptly signing for Granada.

He started the campaign well, but his team's form has dipped alarmingly, and they have registered just one win from eight games in all competitions and suffered four losses in a row before this weekend. The match against minnows Eibar was a chance to get back on solid footing, but as several clubs have already found this term, Eibar are no pushovers.

A 1-1 draw was not enough to stop the rot for Caparros and his side, and in an unforgiving league, his team have the worst recent form along with Elche, who most people expect to get relegated anyway.

Mauricio Pochettino, Tottenham

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Back to the Premier League and England, where more than a few eyebrows are being raised at Tottenham Hotspur under the tutelage of Mauricio Pochettino.

His work at Southampton last season was a key reason for Spurs chasing him so hard—but even that has been eclipsed so far by his successor at St. Mary's, Ronald Koeman.

Pochettino has led his team to one victory in the last five and suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Newcastle on Sunday, meaning Spurs are lying in the bottom half of the table almost a quarter of the way through the season.

Everyone at Chivas USA

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We'll finish up in MLS at Chivas USA—a club that is essentially no more, meaning the futures of each individual associated with the franchise are somewhat up in the air.

The club penned a letter to fans at the end of the regular MLS season, thanking them for their decade of support, which ultimately wasn't enough to stop the side from being replaced by a second team in Los Angeles.

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