Hot Seat Watch for World Football Players, Coaches After Weekend of March 7-9
Our hot seat watch is back: It's that time of week again when we turn our attentions to the sinners, the stupid and the unlucky alike, those who are facing difficult times over results, performances or receiving criticism for their actions.
We're not calling for sackings or players to be dropped, rather looking at those who need an improved run of form or for things to calm down off the pitch for them.
Our latest round-up focuses on three of Europe's biggest teams, a couple of fallen giants...and a goat.
Louis Van Gaal
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We start off at Manchester United, where manager and players alike have once again been coming in for criticism.
Louis van Gaal has borne the brunt of the ire from fans and pundits after his team continue to play stodgy, unattractive football which isn't bringing in enough results either; despite spending around £150 million last summer, Roy Keane thinks van Gaal still needs "two or three more years" to rebuild the squad and silverware is now no longer an option after an FA Cup quarterfinal defeat at home to Arsenal.
On-loan forward Radamel Falcao has had to play with the under-21s to get match fitness up, the striker Van Gaal sold, Danny Welbeck, to accommodate Falcao in the squad scored the winning goal for Arsenal and, eight months after the manager joined and said it would take six months for the squad to play his way, they are still something of a dreadful, disjointed side to view.
Angel Di Maria
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With some stars not performing and Jonny Evans recently banned for spitting, Manchester United could ill-afford more players to be sidelined for stupidity—so Angel Di Maria's red card against Arsenal hasn't gone down at all well with the club.
Di Maria had just been shown a yellow card for diving by referee Michael Oliver, before grabbing out at the official's top and shouting at him—resulting in another immediate yellow and, thus, red card being flashed.
Van Gaal admitted the sending off was Di Maria's own fault, per BBC Sport:
"I think he's touched the referee and that's forbidden in every country, so he has no excuses. In Spain, he knows that he doesn't touch the referee, but that is also in his emotion. I've already spoken with him, he knows my opinion but also I have to see on the video."
Anthony Ujah
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Over to Germany now and the Bundesliga, firstly with FC Koln where forward Anthony Ujah scored the fourth goal in a 4-2 win for his side over Eintracht Frankfurt at the weekend—and got carried away in his celebrations as he tried to grab the team mascot, a goat named Hennes, and drag him onto the pitch.
Not really what is meant in a sporting sense for grabbing the bull, or any other animal, by the horns.
Naturally, Ujah came under a fair amount of criticism on social media, but has since apologised, via his Twitter account (h/t BBC Sport) and it seems the goat will be fine.
Huub Stevens
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Eight games now with no win for Stuttgart and boss Huub Stevens, who missed out on their big opportunity to try and turn things around by only drawing 0-0 at home with fellow strugglers Hertha Berlin on Friday night.
While a first clean sheet in five was a welcome sight, Stuttgart now only average one goal per game over the whole season—and a thoroughly shocking six goals scored at home in 12 matches this term.
With two of their next three games seeing Stuttgart face Champions League-place teams, points are going to be at a premium and Stuttgart are already five points from safety.
Carlo Ancelotti
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Over in Spain, Real Madrid are second in La Liga and into the last eight of the Champions League—yet all is not well.
A 1-0 weekend defeat to Athletic Bilbao saw them fall off the top of the table, prompting criticism of Carlo Ancelotti's selections and tactics. Then a midweek defeat at home to Schalke 04 saw Real Madrid come within a whisker of exiting the Champions League, completing a miserable few days.
Ancelotti admitted his side played "very badly" and apologised after his team were booed off, per BBC Sport.
"All the criticism we get is justified. We need to look at our defence, that's where all our errors were. No team has put four past us at home. We had problems in every aspect of the game: offensive; defensive; desire; fight and concentration. It's not easy to explain what's happened. We've lost confidence. It is quite incomprehensible after what we did until December."
Cristiano Ronaldo
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Plenty of players were booed and targeted with comments too, with Iker Casillas at fault for several goals.
It was Cristiano Ronaldo though who has had plenty of fans and media turn on him, with the Portuguese star reportedly opting not to talk to the media until the end of the season, per ESPN. He was also criticised for an anonymous performance against Athletic and has been well below his 2014 level since the turn of the year.
Meanwhile, As reported that very nearly a third of Real supporters think Ronaldo should lose his place in the team after this run of form.
All this comes after Ronaldo scored twice in the game against Schalke—breaking the Champions League record in the process.
Vincent Kompany
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Returning to Manchester, the blue half of the city are not in the best of moods right now after a loss to Barcelona in the Champions League and another to Liverpool in the Premier League of late—and news has now emerged that captain Vincent Kompany was close to fighting with team mate Fernandinho.
Daily Mirror reports that Kompany was left on the bench in the next game, against Leicester City, after a furious "dressing-room meltdown" where the Brazilian midfielder pointed out that his skipper was at fault for a Liverpool goal, a claim Kompany refused to acknowledge.
The report further indicates he argued against manager Manuel Pellegrini, who sided with Fernandinho, and any others who challenged him—not what they need as they seek comebacks in league and Continental trophy hunts.
Pippo Inzaghi
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We finish up with a familiar face in our column, AC Milan boss Pippo Inzaghi.
A season which has gone from uncertain, to improving, to decidedly disappointing continues to meander aimlessly toward a conclusion with which nobody at the club can be happy with.
A 2-2 draw with bottom-half club Hellas Verona at the weekend leaves Milan in 10th, below rivals Inter now and with three draws in their last four games. Indeed, Milan have won just once from the last five and twice in the last nine, with those two victories coming against Serie A's bottom two clubs.
Fiorentina away is next up and it doesn't look like Inzaghi is able to inspire his team to anything approaching a challenge against a side fighting for European places.
