Hot Seat Watch for World Football Players, Coaches After Weekend of November 1-2
It's that time of week again, where we take a look around the major leagues and round up those individuals who are facing scrutiny or criticism on the back of recent results.
This is a list nobody wants to be a part of, and though it doesn't mean that jobs or positions in the team are under imminent threat, it certainly indicates, at the very least, that improvements have to be made.
Whether a player or a coach, few in the football world are immune to questioning; here are the latest individuals who take their place in our hot seat watch.
Jurgen Klopp, Borussia Dortmund
1 of 10
A few months ago it would have been somewhere between improbable and impossible to think that Jurgen Klopp and his team would be on any kind of under-achievers list, but the German coach and his side are almost propping up the entire Bundesliga as we head into November.
A weekend defeat to league leaders and great rivals Bayern Munich—2-1 by the end of the match after BVB had taken the lead—leaves Klopp and Co. off the foot of the table only by virtue of goal difference, with seven points from 10 games.
Incredibly, Borussia Dortmund are two points from safety. It cannot go on.
Christian Benteke, Aston Villa
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Aston Villa were enduring a rotten run of form prior to the weekend, having lost five straight league games without managing to score a single goal in the process.
Fans would have been delighted by a first 45 minutes at home against Tottenham Hotspur, then, as Villa led 1-0 at the break and had looked much the more dangerous side, thanks largely to the exploits of returning forward Christian Benteke.
The Belgian totally turned things around after half-time, though, playing the villain for the Villains as he was shown a straight red card for a hand to the face of Ryan Mason.
Shorn of their attacking outlet and threat on goal, Villa sat back, tried to hold out...and failed. Two late goals for Spurs made it six defeats in a row, a slip down to 16th place and now they'll be without Benteke for another three games.
Carlos Vela, Real Sociedad
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Carlos Vela shouldn't and won't take the whole blame for Real Sociedad's poor start to the season, but another anaemic display from the forward left La Real defeated 1-0 at home at the weekend—and saw manager Jagoba Arrasate dismissed.
Mexican forward Vela once more looked disinterested, incapable of affecting play in the final third and, yet again, spent more time arguing decisions which didn't go his way than trying to create chances for his team-mates.
Whoever the next manager is at Anoeta, they have a job getting Vela's mind focused and the player back in form just as much as they do trying to take the side up the table.
Fernando Torres, AC Milan
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AC Milan forward Fernando Torres is our third and final repeat-performer from last week, not improving his end product or performance in the slightest over the weekend as his side lost 2-0 at home to lowly Palermo.
Torres operated as the lone striker, right through the middle, but, while service was admittedly lacking, he was also guilty of losing possession easily, not giving the defence enough movement to be troubled and missed the target with each of his four shots, per Squawka.
He's still waiting for his first goal at the San Siro, and his team have dropped to seventh in Serie A.
Brendan Rodgers, Liverpool
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Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers could do no wrong last season, but football changes fast—this year he's gotten precious little spot-on.
A weekend defeat to Newcastle United left Liverpool three places and three points outside the top four, with a woeful display to go alongside the 1-0 loss. Already it totals four defeats in the new Premier League campaign for the Reds, who finished as runners-up in May.
Things didn't get much better during the week, as his weakened team selection caused consternation among fans and Liverpool suffered a third straight Champions League defeat, losing 1-0 at Real Madrid. Next up, league leaders Chelsea.
Walter Mazzarri, Inter Milan
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Inter Milan boss Walter Mazzarri continues to struggle in his fight to get his team back up toward the upper echelons of Serie A, with another defeat hauling them back a step this past weekend.
This time it was a defeat at bottom-of-the-table Parma which cast the latest spotlight over Mazzarri, only their second victory of the season which ended a long losing streak.
The 2-0 loss only serves to indicate just how far Inter remain from the top clubs in the league, let alone in Europe; Inter are ninth, seven points behind second-placed Roma already.
Luis Enrique, Barcelona
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It doesn't take long for accusations and questioning to start in the football world.
But two games on from having a near-perfect domestic record with not a single goal conceded, Barcelona have suffered back-to-back defeats under manager Luis Enrique, dropping off the top of the table in the process.
It hasn't stopped there; Dermot Corrigan of the Irish Examiner questioned whether the manager knows his strongest team and Lionel Messi was reported by Marca to have been unhappy with the team selection for El Clasico.
Chris Smalling, Manchester United
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Manchester United were already struggling for numbers defensively before the weekend, not to mention for points, so they could ill-afford any indiscipline in the Manchester derby against rivals City.
Chris Smalling opted to not worry about such trivialities, being booked for two ludicrous decisions in a matter of minutes; firstly charging down a goal kick and later going sliding into a challenge he could never win, already knowing he had been booked.
Following that red card and an injury to Marcos Rojo, United's back-line ended with a winger at right-back, a midfielder and an untested youngster at centre-back, and Luke Shaw at left-back.
Armin Veh, Stuttgart
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Stuttgart's struggles continue apace in the German Bundesliga, with the latest defeat—a 4-0 loss at home to Wolfsburg—leaving them precariously perched above the relegation zone.
VfB have won only twice this season in their domestic league, and the expectation must be that Borussia Dortmund will, sooner or later, overcome their own shocking start to rise up the table. A win for last-placed club Werder Bremen after the departure of Robin Dutt also closes things up at the bottom.
Veh might have won the Bundesliga title with Stuttgart in 2007 but things are much different now at the club, and he needs a considerable improvement, fast.
Arsene Wenger, Arsenal
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Arsenal won 3-0 at the weekend against bottom-of-the-table Burnley, with all the goals coming in the final 20 minutes of the match after they had earlier struggled to break down their newly promoted opponents.
The victory didn't keep manager Arsene Wenger immune from criticism on social networks—and that only intensified after a midweek Champions League draw, where the Gunners threw away a healthy lead to only take a point at home to Anderlecht, 3-3 the final score.
Any goodwill from finally winning a trophy with the FA Cup last season has well worn off with many fans and, with Arsenal having drawn more than they have won this season, there is once more expectation that Wenger gets the team on a more consistent footing very quickly, lest this season's silverware be beyond their reach.
