Hot Seat Watch for World Football Players, Coaches After Weekend of Oct. 17-20
Following the first weekend back for domestic action after the international break, the usual glut of bad results, bad decisions and bad sound bites have made for some uncomfortable sleepless nights for plenty within the world of football.
We've taken our usual round-up of all the major leagues and picked out some of the individuals, both on the sidelines and on the pitch, who have come in for scrutiny or questioning on the back of recent matches, most particularly this past weekend.
As ever, we're not suggesting these names are on the verge of getting sacked/dropped, but they will certainly be looking for instant improvements, or else, soon enough...
Adel Taarabt and Harry Redknapp
1 of 10
Queens Park Rangers would have been frustrated to lose out 3-2 to Liverpool, at home, in farcical circumstances at the weekend, but even worse was to follow in the post-match interview.
Manager Harry Redknapp called his player Adel Taarabt "about three stone overweight," called out his effort in a recent practice match and suggested he wouldn't train properly, criticising his effort and professionalism.
Taarabt replied in kind with photos of his physique and facts on his weight—eventually forcing Chairman Tony Fernandes to come out and reprimand the pair of them for embarrassing the club, per BBC Sport.
It's hard to say who comes out of this looking worst, especially with QPR sat bottom of the league table.
Quotes obtained first-hand.
Edinson Cavani...or the Referee?
2 of 10
Edinson Cavani finally found the back of the net at the weekend as he scored from the penalty spot to end a run of four games without a goal in the absence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic—but he was sent off after his celebration.
Initially, it looked rather as though Cavani had bought the foul for the penalty itself as he went down extremely easily in the box—landing a red for Jean-Philippe Gbamin in the process—but Cavani himself was then booked for a "shooting gun" celebration.
He protested the decision, extremely lightly brushing the arm of the referee to call his attention—and was then shown a red by Nicolas Rainville for that "reaction."
Judge the striker as you will, but the referee certainly overreacted too.
Jagoba Arrasate
3 of 10
To the managers now, starting in La Liga, where Jagoba Arrasate and his Real Sociedad side continue their slip down the table.
The boss must have thought he was finally set up for a victory at the weekend with his side a goal to the good at home against Getafe, as the clock ticked past 90 minutes.
Injury time later, and La Real had suffered their fourth defeat in the last five games, as two Abdoul Yoda strikes within seconds of each other had turned the match on its head and left Sociedad outside the drop zone on goal difference.
Robin Dutt
4 of 10
To the Bundesliga now, where Robin Dutt endured a woeful afternoon with his team against Bayern Munich at the weekend, losing 6-0 to the reigning champions.
In itself that's nothing new or terrible—Bayern are a cut above everybody else in the league. However, Werder Bremen were so outclassed on every level that they could have been considered in a different league to their opponents—and if they keep this up, they might be: Bremen are bottom of the league without a win in eight games.
They also didn't manage a single shot during the game.
Jurgen Klopp
5 of 10
While things are bad for Dutt and Bremen, they're not a whole lot better for Borussia Dortmund right now, and Jurgen Klopp knows it.
He'll certainly have expectations of improving things sooner rather than later, but the facts stand right now with BVB one point above the relegation zone, having lost five of their eight games this season and with the fourth-worst defensive record in the Bundesliga.
They play Hannover next week, a must-win game, ahead of the massive clash against Bayern on November 1.
Pedro
6 of 10
Over at Barcelona, Pedro Rodriguez has been given another couple of chances to prove his worth to the team, against Eibar in La Liga and Ajax in the Champions League.
Once more he failed to yield any tangible kind of evidence to suggest he should stay in Luis Enrique's XI, especially with Munir and Sandro making good impacts off the bench—the latter scoring against Ajax—Neymar being in great scoring form and Luis Suarez about to make his debut.
Pedro is well out of favour with the fans, too, as a recent poll on B/R showed.
Gus Poyet
7 of 10
Sunderland suffered a massive and humiliating defeat against Southampton at the weekend, losing by a whopping 8-0 scoreline where they started badly and got progressively worse.
Own goals, ludicrous errors at the back and an obvious lack of effort by the end of the game were all things the manager has to come to terms with and improve—but, as reported by the Daily Mail's Craig Hope, the boss has said he is not responsible for parts of the performance as he doesn't dictate the transfers of the club.
"I’m a head coach, I don’t make the squad, that’s not my job. I’ve got four defenders, I play what I’ve got."
That's probably not going to wash with the club's board or fans when the Black Cats have only won one out of eight this season under Poyet.
Mario Balotelli
8 of 10
Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli continues his search for a league goal for his new club, having spurned a number of chances at the weekend against QPR, leading to more criticism of the Italian.
His best opening was a shot on the rebound from six yards—blazed over the bar—while he also missed the target with other, less probable, shots and wasn't even facing play for the opening goal, which was scored by QPR defender Richard Dunne.
Manager Brendan Rodgers backed his striker to come good after the game, but former defender Jamie Carragher says the Reds should drop the Italian for the Champions League game against Real Madrid, per Sky Sports.
Arsene Wenger
9 of 10
Arsene Wenger has come in for perhaps less criticism than might be expected given his Arsenal side have won only two games from the first eight of the Premier League season, but the pressure to get results seemed to be getting to him after the 2-2 draw against Hull City.
He gave spiky and rather defensive answers to a BBC Sport reporter after his team salvaged a last-minute point at home in the game, prompting a response from former Spurs striker and BBC Sport presenter Gary Lineker on Twitter:
"Must say, I thought Arsene Wenger was arrogant, defensive and patronising to @JacquiOatley in the face of excellent and fair questioning.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) October 18, 2014"
With four or five very winnable games coming up, Arsenal will be expected to move up the table from their seventh place at present very quickly, or the questioning will continue.
Walter Mazzarri
10 of 10
We finish up in Italy and Serie A, where Walter Mazzarri will doubtless be thanking Brazilian midfielder Hernanes for a last-minute equaliser against Napoli at the weekend, but even that won't be enough to lift the pressure entirely.
Inter Milan had lost heavily twice in a row before the 2-2 draw against Napoli, leaving them now with just one win from their last six Serie A matches and in ninth place.
They face a must-win game at out-of-form Cesena next week, a game Mazzarri must surely ensure victory stems from.
