Who Is Hot and Who Is Not in World Football After Weekend of Nov. 29-Dec. 1
As winter sets in and November smoothly transitions into December, the world of football remains as split as it has ever been: those who have enjoyed a good almost-first-half of the season and those who are hoping for better to come.
The microcosm of the weekend was no different: some teams, some players and some performances stood out...and, well, so did others, but for very different reasons.
Here's our latest look at who is hot and who is not, taking in the managers and players from the top leagues around Europe.
Hot: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Schalke
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We'll begin in the Bundesliga, where Schalke 04 picked up a convincing win over Mainz on Saturday, moving into the top six for the first time since the season really got underway and closing the gap to the top four to just a single point.
The 4-1 victory was achieved thanks in no small part to the prowess in front of goal of Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who took himself to seven for the season with a hat-trick.
Three wins in the last four have taken Roberto Di Matteo's side back into the reckoning for Champions League places, and with Huntelaar in this kind of form, they'll believe they have a great chance.
Not: Matthias Ginter and Roman Weidenfeller, Borussia Dortmund
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Still in the Bundesliga, but very much at the other end of the scale: Borussia Dortmund lost an eighth match of the season at the weekend and sunk right back to the bottom of the league table as a result.
Matthias Ginter looks bereft of confidence right now and was culpable, in part or in full, for both goals in the weekend 2-0 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt.
The defender's most comedic moment came as he attempted to head the ball back to his keeper—but Roman Weidenfeller had already come rushing out of his goal and failed to communicate that to his team-mate, resulting in a simple tap-in to the empty net for Haris Seferovic.
Hot: Carlos Vela, Real Sociedad
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Over to Spain now and a player who has featured in this list of late—but on the opposite side of the tracks.
This weekend, Carlos Vela hit a clinical hat-trick to give Real Sociedad a deserved 3-0 win over Elche in La Liga—David Moyes' first win as boss of the Basque side. One header and two good finishes on his favoured left foot added to recent strikes back in the tricolour of Mexico's national shirt.
Vela has impressed with club and country in the more central forward's role rather than out from the right.
Not: Roberto Mancini, Inter Milan
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Roberto Mancini has only been (back) in the Inter Milan manager's role for a couple of weeks, yet he has already lost more ground on the top three, his target for the season, and is left in the bottom half of the table after a weekend defeat to Roma, 4-2.
Inter are down to 11th and Mancini, per Daily Mail, has already said he needs additions in January as the current squad doesn't fit his needs, particularly with regards to wingers. Perhaps that's so, but taking over the squad as he knew it, maybe it would be in his own interests to suit the system to the players until additions can be made, rather than the other way around.
It also didn't help Inter that Mancini was sent off during the defeat.
Hot: Lee Cattermole, Sunderland
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Lee Cattermole is a divisive player at times, with his robust style of play and penchant for picking up stupid cards —but he's certainly an effective and impressive performer when he gets it right, as he did at the weekend against Chelsea.
Very, very right, in fact.
Cattermole was excellent at the heart of Sunderland's side, stopping Chelsea attacks and starting those for his own team and being the best player on the park as the Black Cats took a 0-0 draw. If Gus Poyet could guarantee this kind of performance from the midfielder on a regular basis, a lot of Sunderland's problems would be solved.
Not: Steve Bruce, Hull City
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Sticking in the Premier League, Hull City took a 3-0 defeat at Manchester United at the weekend and sunk to 17th place in the process, only outside of the relegation zone on goal difference.
It marked a fourth straight loss for the Tigers under Steve Bruce, while they have just one win from the last 12 in all competitions. Hull's poor league form for the entire calendar year of 2014—six wins from 32 games—was highlighted on BBC's Match of the Day on Saturday and the trajectory is a worrying one for Bruce.
They must pick up points in a busy December where they face the likes of West Bromwich Albion, Sunderland and Leicester City.
Hot: Miralem Pjanic, Roma
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Back to Serie A now and indeed back to Inter Milan, or at least their weekend vanquishers, AS Roma.
Miralem Pjanic was the second-half hero as he struck twice in the final half-hour to secure the 4-2 win for his side and keep them just three points behind leaders Juventus, who themselves had managed a last-gasp win earlier on.
Pjanic's ability to break through from midfield was key to extending Roma's winning run to three league games, getting onto a loose ball to strike the winner before a customary free-kick late on.
Not: Shkodran Mustafi, Valencia
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Valencia lost out to Barcelona by a narrow margin at the weekend, 1-0 in the Mestalla after a late Sergio Busquets goal, but throughout the game it was Nicolas Otamendi and Diego Alves who kept Barca largely at bay while German centre-back Shkodran Mustafi struggled once more.
After taken Ruben Vezo's place earlier in the season, he has endured up and down bursts of form, but this was certainly another less-than-assured display from Mustafi.
He remains too easily beaten in the air, isn't as mobile as he needs to be against the league's top attackers and, above all, remains too inconsistent. With Los Che aiming for a top-four finish this season they need better from him...or to restore Vezo alongside Otamendi.
