Hot Seat Watch for World Football Players, Coaches After Weekend Feb. 7-8
Another week of matches has helped some sides take another step toward their seasonal objectives, but others have suffered another setback with a poor result, a poor performance or have generally seen bad press come their way.
Our hot seat watch identifies the players and managers around who have come under pressure of late, not calling for their heads to roll but to keep tabs on any improvement...or otherwise.
Here are our selections for this week, feel free to add your own suggestions below.
Pippo Inzaghi, Milan
1 of 8
AC Milan boss Pippo Inzaghi was always on a hiding to nothing this weekend, facing league leaders Juventus away from home, but even so for the gulf between the two sides to be shown up was a little humiliating for this once-great club.
Milan have fallen to 11th in the table, with four defeats in five in all competitions of late and Inzaghi is struggling to get his side to find any sort of consistency.
Next up is Empoli.
Roberto Mancini, Inter
2 of 8
Roberto Mancini did finally mastermind a win for Inter Milan, a 3-0 home victory over Palermo, but it isn't enough to stop the mutterings that he hasn't improved the side yet.
Inter sit in 10th in Serie A, 13 points off the Champions League places and not looking like they will be closing the gap significantly any time soon.
Atalanta next weekend provides a chance to kick-start a bit of a winning run for Inter, and to get Mancini off our list.
Paul Lambert, Aston Villa
3 of 8
To England now and Paul Lambert, manager of Aston Villa, who saw fans appeal vociferously against him in the drab 2-0 defeat to Hull City on Tuesday night.
Villa are now on a run of five league defeats in succession, the worst run in any of Europe's top five leagues, and have sunk into the relegation zone on the back of that woeful form.
Stoke City and Newcastle United are their next two opponents and, in truth, it's hard to see where Villa's points will come from—they don't score, they concede too easily and nothing is changing at all.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid
4 of 8
Real Madrid's massive 4-0 defeat to city rivals Atletico Madrid at the weekend has seen a big fall out for a number of players—Iker Casillas for his error, Gareth Bale for his non-performance, etc.—but for Cristiano Ronaldo it capped a pretty horrible start to 2015.
Ronaldo has netted just three goals in his five league games, a massively reduced output for someone averaging a goal around every 50 minutes before the winter break, and his performances have been nondescript and on the fringes.
A red card at Cordoba, a two-game suspension and this terrible, lacklustre attempt at a derby match caps a thoroughly awful run for the Ballon d'Or winner, who needs to pick up fast.
Laurent Blanc, PSG
5 of 8
Paris Saint-Germain boss Laurent Blanc has only seen his team defeated twice in Ligue 1 this season, but a series of annoying draws have seen his team drop points and places in the table.
As a result, PSG sit third in the table with just 14 matches left; it's tight at the top and they can certainly still win the title, but it's going to be a much closer affair than might have been expected after two straight championships.
Blanc will likely be out of a job if he doesn't win and progress in Europe. The weekend's draw with Lyon didn't claw back any points, but they should get back to winning ways against Caen next time.
Louis Van Gaal, Manchester United
6 of 8
Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal has his team challenging for the top four, but they certainly aren't playing tremendously adventurous or exciting football at the moment, leading to West Ham boss Sam Allardyce labelling them "long ball" after the weekend game, per BBC Sport.
Van Gaal refuted those claims in his next press conference, by way of handing out diagrams and statistics analysis to gathered journalists, suggesting that his side went long wide, but not forward, in their buildup play.
The manager came in for criticism on social media both for his conclusions/defence and his method of answering the question, but should he? Should managers not be encouraged to explain, professionally, their reasons and judgement?
Manuel Pellegrini, Manchester City
7 of 8
We'll stick in England, and indeed in Manchester, to wrap things up.
Firstly to the Etihad and Manchester City, where Manuel Pellegrini has seen his team's title challenge falter alarmingly once more since clawing back significant points on leaders Chelsea last month.
City's last four games have seen three draws and a defeat to Arsenal, leading to a seven-point gap reopening at the top of the table. Stoke and Newcastle are the next two games, which they need maximum points from if they are to reignite a title challenge.
Robin Van Persie, Manchester United
8 of 8
Finally, back to Manchester United and Robin van Persie, who Jose Mourinho has intimated should have been charged for an elbow offence, per BBC Sport.
"I need a bit more time to understand why some people are punished, others aren't," Mourinho is quoted as saying, no doubt thinking of Diego Costa's recent post-game punishment after an altercation against Liverpool.
The argument stems from West Ham defender James Tomkins claiming, per the Mirror, that Van Persie elbowed him deliberately, intentionally trying to cause damage more so than another occasion later on with Marouane Fellaini, which left Tomkins with a broken nose.
