Europe's Biggest Under-Achieving Clubs Featuring AC Milan, Man City, Spurs
Welcome to the latest edition of our feature looking at Europe's top underachievers, with another group of teams in the biggest leagues having suffered disappointing results at the weekend.
Last week's edition saw the likes of Sevilla, Lyon and Manchester United included, but all three are out of the under-achievers' list this time around after picking up wins and improving their league positions.
In another change to our regularly featuring teams, both Sunderland and Anzhi Makhachkala—who lost their sixth straight game at the weekend, are 11 points from safety and already look doomed—will no longer feature, as we instead look higher up in our quality level to teams expected to challenge for trophies and European positions.
That might have been the case five months ago for the Russian team but certainly no longer. Sunderland, meanwhile, continue to under-achieve with their league position but would perhaps only be expected to sit mid-table at best.
The sides featuring from here onward then should be expected to sit amongst the top three or four, perhaps, in their respective divisions.
Enjoy!
8. PSV Eindhoven, Dutch Eredivisie
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PSV Eindhoven had gone seven games unbeaten in the Eredivisie at the start of the season to make themselves strong candidates for the league title once again but have been on an extremely poor run of form since.
Indeed, since that run came to an end, they have won just once from the following six matches, with the weekend's 2-1 defeat at NAC Breda their third in four games.
Those results have seen PSV drop to eighth in the table—only five points off leaders Vitesse on account of how tight the table is, true, but way below where they should be regardless.
PSV are home to Heerenveen in their next match.
7. Valencia, Spanish La Liga
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Over to Spain now and our first of two La Liga sides, where Valencia are still struggling to put anything resembling a Champions League-place challenge together.
Los Che had to come from behind twice at home to Real Valladolid at the weekend to rescue a 2-2 draw, meaning they've won just once in their last five games.
They also have the leakiest defence in the entire top half, sitting in ninth place with 21 goals conceded in only 13 matches. They are seven points behind fourth-placed Villarreal and, at present, even a Europa League spot looks out of reach unless things pick up significantly.
Valencia travel to Elche next time out.
6. Bordeaux, French Ligue 1
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With Lyon improving of late, Bordeaux become our sole representative from Ligue 1 in France.
Having finished fifth only two seasons ago—and dropping to seventh last term—Bordeaux would have hoped to be in the mix for around a top six finish during this campaign once more, but things haven't been going to plan.
A 3-0 home thumping against Nantes was the latest in a disappointing string of results in the current season, despite a recent improvement.
Bordeaux have dropped back down to 12th with that loss, though they are just two points off sixth—three points separate sixth from 15th in Ligue 1 right now.
As a result, a few good wins will propel Bordeaux up the table, but another run of defeats will see them sink even further very quickly and lose important ground on the teams ahead.
They play away to Rennes after the international break.
5. Tottenham Hotspur, English Premier League
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Things are tight at the top of the Premier League in England, too, which makes Spurs' failure to take points off mediocre teams all the more galling for their fans.
Tottenham have scored only nine goals in 11 games—including a few penalties—and missed a string of chances against Newcastle at the weekend as they lost 1-0 at home.
That result leaves Spurs down in seventh position now, having won only two of their last five matches. The top four race will be extremely close this year judging by the first quarter of the season, so Spurs have to get their final third in order fast.
They travel to take on Manchester City after the international break.
4. Manchester City, English Premier League
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Speaking of Manchester City...
One place below Spurs, City sit eighth in the Premier League, but while goalscoring certainly hasn't been a problem for them, their away form in general has.
At the Etihad, City have won all five games, scoring 20 and conceding twice, but away from home, they have won one, drawn one and lost four, scoring only eight and letting in 10.
To put that in perspective, when they won the league title two years ago, they lost four games and conceded 17 goals all season long in 19 away games. So far this year they've played just six away from home.
Their latest game of woe was a 1-0 loss at lowly Sunderland, leaving City in eighth and awaiting their home game to Spurs next time out.
3. Hamburger SV, German Bundesliga
6 of 8Hamburger SV have failed to win two league games in a row at any time this season, and they suffered a second straight defeat at the weekend after losing a high-scoring game 5-3 at Bayer Leverkusen.
Former player Son Heung-Min was their tormentor as he hit a hat-trick in less than an hour.
HSV average just one point per game this season and sit in 14th place after 12 games, four points above the relegation playoff zone.
They are away to Wolfsburg next time out.
2. AC Milan, Italian Serie A
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Just when it seemed AC Milan's season couldn't get any worse...
Mass Allegri's team had the perfect chance to kick-start their campaign at the weekend as they played away to the division's bottom side, Chievo.
Instead of a morale-boosting win, however, Milan could only manage a tame 0-0 draw, with both sides ending the game with 10 men.
Milan have won just a quarter of their league games this season—three from 12—and only remain in the top half of the table by virtue of goal difference.
Their tally of 13 points has them 10th, level with Parma (11th), Udinese (12th) and Cagliari (13th) in the mid-table scrap for points and positions.
With only the top three earning Champions League places in Italy, Milan are currently 15 points off the pace to take their place amongst Europe's elite next term. They are at home to Genoa next time out.
1. Real Betis, Spanish La Liga
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With no Sunderland or Anzhi, our first new bottom-ranked under-achieving club is La Liga's Real Betis.
Having finished seventh in the table last year, they have this season sunk right to the foot of the Spanish top flight, with just two wins from their 13 games, fewer than every other club in the league.
It's hard to know if their biggest problem is in defence or attack; only two clubs have scored fewer goals than Betis and only two have conceded more.
It's not an insurmountable task to escape the relegation fight just yet, but they are three points adrift of safety and have taken just a single point from their last five matches.
Their most recent game, a 4-1 defeat to Barcelona, can be discounted as par for the course in La Liga—but they need to pick up points quickly, starting with their next game away to Sevilla in a huge local derby match in Andalucia.
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