Hot Seat Watch for World Football Players, Coaches After Weekend Nov. 29-Dec. 1
December is always a hugely busy month in the world of football, as fixtures are crammed in before a winter break or with extra regularity if the campaign continues throughout.
The pressures and expectations start to soar as the midway point of league campaigns draw close and every mistake and run of poor form is scrutinised with extra clarity.
There are more than a few in the game who are hoping for an upturn in fortunes this month. Here we take a look at the 10 players and coaches who are under the microscope at present and will be looking to improve their individual displays and team results soon.
Harry Redknapp, QPR
1 of 10
Queens Park Rangers might have been better in attack at the weekend, enough to get them a much-needed 3-2 win over fellow relegation strugglers Leicester City at home, but they reverted to type in midweek.
A fairly tame 2-0 defeat to Swansea City leaves Rangers one point and one position off the foot of the table despite large summer expenditure and plenty of big names being brought into the club.
Harry Redknapp has failed to guide his team to back-to-back wins—or even draws—this season, and a massive campaign of struggle looks ahead if the manager doesn't change his outlook...or if the club don't change their manager.
Fernando Torres, AC Milan
2 of 10
Fernando Torres' performance in the derby against Inter Milan was beyond ineffective—no shots, no chances created, no real sign of link-up play—and he was dropped completely for the match against Udinese as a result.
Milan opted to not start an out-and-out striker, while Giampaolo Pazzini came off the bench later on rather than Torres.
He is still without a goal at his home stadium and has just one this season.
Simon Mignolet, Liverpool
3 of 10
Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet has been coming in for plenty of criticism of late and, despite a late match-saving stop against Stoke City last weekend, he was back to his worst in midweek against Leicester City, certainly not making it any easier for those backing him.
A terrible pass out of his box gave Esteban Cambiasso an open goal opportunity from 25 yards—mercifully missed, for Mignolet's sake—before his woes were summed up with a comical own goal to open the scoring.
First, he missed the ball and saw his defender head it off the line, then failed to grasp the bouncing ball or see it out for a corner at least, before being beaten by a shot at his near post. The strike hit the post, hit Mignolet on the back of the head and rolled into the net. Luckless, but also of his own making.
Jurgen Klopp, Borussia Dortmund
4 of 10
Borussia Dortmund—bottom of the Bundesliga in December.
It's almost unbelievable, but BVB have been substandard too often. At the weekend, they continued that trend, wasting plenty of chances in attack and gifting two goals to Eintracht Frankfurt in a 2-0 defeat.
Jurgen Klopp's side just cannot find any consistency, luck and positivity in their play or, critically, put an end to the bad run of mistakes. Next up is Hoffenheim.
Steve Bruce, Hull City
5 of 10
Steve Bruce's Hull City side have had a nosedive in form of late, losing four on the spin in the Premier League, but it's really only a continuation of poor results throughout the calendar year.
They've picked up just six wins during 2014 in league play, with only two of those coming this season, leaving Hull down in the relegation zone by a point and with a big run of games coming up from which they must start taking points.
Bruce must find a way to start getting his team some victories before support from the terraces wanes.
Joaquin Caparros, Granada
6 of 10
Over in Spain's La Liga, three teams are really struggling with form of late—not counting the more than likely doomed Cordoba—with Deportivo La Coruna, Almeria and Granada all looking worryingly short of wins.
Joaquin Caparros, head coach of Granada, is without a win in nine and has lost six of those games, being thrashed 5-1 at Sevilla at the weekend to heap the pressure back on him.
Granada are now down to 16th, one point outside the relegation zone, with only one club below them having managed more points than Granada over the last five games.
They face an absolutely must-win fixture next time out, at home to Cordoba who are bottom and winless. Failure to win that could spell trouble for Caparros.
Matthias Ginter, Borussia Dortmund
7 of 10
Back to Dortmund, where central defender Matthias Ginter is one of the players coming in for the most stick over the poor run this season, especially after another horrendous error in the defeat to Frankfurt.
Ginter completely misjudged the run of his goalkeeper as he tried to head the ball back to him, bypassing him totally—though Roman Weidenfeller was most certainly not blameless either—allowing Haris Seferovic an easy task to score.
Ginter has not been anything resembling solid over the past few weeks, and with such troubles at the back, BVB can't expect to escape their woes until they are fixed.
Kasper Hjulmand, Mainz
8 of 10
Staying in Germany, Mainz made a decent start to the season as they went eight games unbeaten from August.
That the run came to an end against Wolfsburg was no disgrace, performing as well as they are, but manager Kasper Hjulmand has been utterly unable to pick his players up enough from that 3-0 loss; they have subsequently not won a match since and now sit with three losses in their last five, plummeting to mid-table.
With two of the bottom three sides to face in their next two games, Hjulmand must stop the rot quickly to avoid getting dragged into the relegation fight.
Rene Girard, Lille
9 of 10
Remember Lille of last year, finishing in a Champions League place behind just the big-spending duo of PSG and Monaco? Their fall hasn't quite been Borussia Dortmund-esque, but it isn't all that far off.
Rene Girard's team have been in freefall of late, losing six of their last nine and with just one win in 13 in all competitions, a dreadful run of form.
Now down in 15th place, Girard's men face PSG on Wednesday evening, who can go top with a win. If Lille lose, they'll be at best two points outside the relegation zone. With just nine goals scored in Ligue 1 this season they are the top flight's lowest scorers. It's all gone horribly wrong.
Mario Balotelli, Liverpool
10 of 10
Not even on the pitch, but still not out the news.
Mario Balotelli hasn't played for Liverpool since returning from international duty injured in mid-November, and he looks to be in trouble with the FA after posting on social media a poster which contained racist statements, per BBC Sport.
The player has apologised and stated that it was his intention to do the opposite—post an anti-racism message.
