5 Teams That Are Underperforming This Season

Preseason plans, summer signings, crowd expectations and that new-season buzz. Sometimes, it all counts for nothing.

For these five teams, the new campaign has represented an enduring and testing time for their respective fanbases. They've had to battle very disappointing starts both domestically and, in some cases, on the continent.

For a few of these sides, a backlash was widely expected, but some fans have been left simply scratching their heads as to why it's all going wrong.

AC Milan

Everyone expected Udinese to fall down the Serie A table after losing Kwadwo Asamoah and Mauricio Isla to Juventus, but no one thought AC Milan to be quite as weak as this.

Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic departed the San Siro during the summer along with a host of other long-serving names, and the Rossoneri simply haven't recruited heavily enough.

Despite the rising stars in Stephan El Shaarawy and Mattia De Sciglio, along with the retention of Kevin-Prince Boateng and recruitment of Riccardo Montolivo, il Diavolo have won just two of their opening seven games in Serie A.

A 0-0 home draw to Anderlecht in the UEFA Champions League was a drab way to start the competition, but an inspired Christian Abbiati made sure of an Italian win in St. Petersburg during the following round of fixtures.

Worse still, president Silvio Berlusconi expects a title challenge.

Athletic Bilbao

After the heady heights of last season, it was simply implausible to expect Athletic Bilbao to repeat their heroics this season.

However, even after losing Javi Martinez for a Bundesliga-record €40 million to Bayern Munich, no one expected Los Leones to fall so graciously.

The Fernando Llorente saga is far from helpful, and reported training-ground incidents between El Rey Leon and Marcelo Bielsa contribute toward the sour mood descending over the club (via Goal.com).

Bilbao sit in 16th place in La Liga, with a win over Osasuna last time out lifting them out of the relegation places.

They've still got Iker Muniain, Ander Herrera, Andoni Iraola and Markel Susaeta on the roster—they simply have to improve their league standing with talent like this available.

Then again, they started poorly last season.

Queens Park Rangers

Queens Park Rangers did a lot of recruiting this summer after narrowly avoiding relegation to the Championship last season.

After scraping clear, Mark Hughes promised that QPR would never be in that position again while he was in charge. Seven games into the new season, Rangers are bottom, winless and clueless.

Ten new players, no cohesion, no teamwork. Marquee signings such as Park Ji-Sung and Esteban Granero unable to create, Bobby Zamora unable to finish.

Watching West Bromwich Albion vs. QPR at the Hawthorns, it was easy to see that while the R's saw lots of the ball, they couldn't do anything with it.

As the crowd screamed "shoot!" for what seemed like the hundredth time, Granero reluctantly had an effort from 16 yards. Low and behold, the ball went in the net.

If they can try that a bit earlier, they stand a chance of winning some games. For now, QPR fans believe they'll survive the drop. More performances like this, however, and that belief could change.

Stuttgart

After finishing sixth in the Bundesliga last season, Stuttgart had a pretty quiet summer.

They shed some deadwood in Matthieu Delpierre and Khalid Boulahrouz, and brought in Tim Hoogland on loan from Schalke 04 for depth.

Unfortunately, however, Bruno Labbadia's side have started very poorly. The opening loss to woeful Wolfsburg was a sign of things to come, as Bayern Munich dished out a 6-1 mauling the following week.

They need to get back on track soon. They face a tough away trip to Hamburg this weekend, and they'll have to negotiate the rest of 2012 without striker Cacau.

Regular stars such as Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Serdar Tasci are not performing, and the team will now lean even more heavily on leading scorer Vedad Ibisevic.

Montpellier

Montpellier currently sit 15th in the table after eight games, chairman Louis Nicollin thinks most of his players are a**holes (via Goal.com) and many of last season's top performers are being linked with a move away.

And to think this team won the Ligue 1 title last year.

After an uplifting season of fortune, it seems MHSC are on the descent. Olivier Giroud is gone, Younes Belhanda and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa won't be around for much longer and Nicollin isn't getting any happier.

Their immediate form is up and down to say the least. Eight points from eight games isn't relegation form, but it's far from standout, and the recent home loss to Evian TG was embarrassing to say the least.

On a plus note, La Paillade have good youngsters coming through like Benjamin Stambouli and Remy Cabella.

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