Hot Seat Watch for World Football Players, Coaches After Weekend of March 13-16
Our hot seat watch for the weekend takes a look at the players, managers and other individuals involved in the game, assessing which of them have come in for criticism or negative headlines over the past few days.
Bad results or performances, moments on the pitch or words after it which reflect badly on themselves or the team are all reasons for inclusion—but there is really no end to the list of actions that people in football can take which seem to attract bad press these days.
Here are our latest selections of those who need to step up their game fast.
Cristiano Ronaldo
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Real Madrid got back to winning ways at the weekend, beating lowly Levante 2-0 thanks to a Gareth Bale brace, but it wasn't the most convincing or emphatic of performances as the result and points on the board suggest.
Cristiano Ronaldo looked more dangerous in the game than of late and came close to scoring on two or three occasions—but received plenty of negative press on social media for his reactions to Bale's goals.
The first came after Ronaldo's shot was cleared off the line and Bale whacked in the loose ball; instead of celebrating, Ronaldo appeared more frustrated that the goal wasn't his own. Later, a shot from the Portuguese forward was diverted in by the Welshman and credited to the latter.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
2 of 8
Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted a brace for Paris Saint-Germain at the weekend, but it wasn't enough to give his side victory as they fell to a 3-2 loss at Bordeaux.
As he left the field, however, the Swedish striker was overheard claiming France doesn't "deserve" PSG, according to the Guardian, leading to French sports minister Patrick Kanner contacting Zlatan to demand an apology and an explanation.
Ibrahimovic claims his words were against the referee, not French people:
"Regarding my comments after tonight’s game; they were not against France or the French people. I spoke about football. I lost the game, I accept that but I can’t accept when the referee doesn’t follow the rules. It’s not the first time and I’m sick of it. My sincere apologies if anyone was offended or took it the wrong way."
Cordoba Board and Their Expectations
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Cordoba suffered a 2-0 reversal at the weekend, away to Malaga, leading to the sacking of Miroslav Djukic as manager.
With an interim boss set to be appointed, it means the bottom side of La Liga are now on their third manager of their first campaign back in the top flight of Spanish football—and must raise severe questions of exactly what the board expected from this year.
No investment, no great strategy, no backing the original manager who took them up—Albert Ferrer, sacked in October—and not even a real reason for getting promoted last year: They finished seventh, outside the playoff spots, but were bumped up as Barcelona B were not eligible for promotion and finished above them.
All told, Cordoba had little chance of survival this season, have only won three of their 27 games and sit seven points from safety after eight straight losses....and none of it is a surprise. Except, apparently, to the board.
Gaizka Garitano
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While Cordoba have taken action after that eighth loss, Eibar have so far resisted: Gaizka Garitano remains in place at the Basque club, despite the defeat to Barcelona, also by a 2-0 scoreline, similarly being the eighth in a row.
Eibar and Garitano have points from earlier in the season to fall back on still, with the great first half of the campaign seeing them up in eighth, and that form is still currently enough to keep them out of the drop zone—but it's getting very close.
They are now down to 14th, two points above the dotted line and face a vital game at Granada, 19th, next weekend. They must get a result there and end this terrible run.
Pippo Inzaghi
5 of 8
Over in Italy, things just go from bad to worse for Pippo Inzaghi of AC Milan—and we're not just talking about his style of hat-wearing.
AC Milan were a goal to the good heading into the final 10 minutes at the weekend in the Serie A match at Fiorentina, which would have been an excellent result and three important points to try and climb higher into the top half...but Milan could not hold out and collapsed late on.
Two goals in the last seven minutes turned the tie around, Fiorentina took the three points with the 2-1 win and Inzaghi was left to rue a run of just two wins in 10, with those victories coming against the league's two bottom clubs. The only consolation? Next up is Cagliari, the league's third-bottom club.
Rudi Garcia
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At the top of Serie A, the gap just keeps widening. Rudi Garcia would have been hopeful his latest Roma squad had the depth and quality to challenge Juventus over the course of this entire season, but it's just not happening for the capital city side.
They lost 2-0 at home to Sampdoria on Monday night, incredibly taking them to just one win in their last 10 league games—and yet they still sit second. Of course, this was the first defeat in that run, but it is still way below the expected points return for a side hoping for a title tilt.
Garcia's side are now 14 points behind leaders Juve and instead must pick up to ensure Champions League football next season: Lazio are one point behind, while fourth to sixth are also all within only five points of Roma.
Sam Allardyce
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We'll finish up with a couple of under-pressure managers from the Premier League, starting with Sam Allardyce of West Ham United.
"Big Sam" and his side suffered an all-too-easy 3-0 loss to Arsenal this weekend, never looking like troubling the Gunners after they fell behind before the break—and that meant a third straight loss and a eighth straight match without a win.
West Ham are down to 10th in the Premier League, and their season is quickly coming to an early end in terms of any meaningful activity.
Manuel Pellegrini
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Manchester City are on a poor run, winning just three of their last nine in all competitions.
While defeats to Barcelona and Liverpool might be explainable, there is little that manager Manuel Pellegrini can do to justify a defeat to relegation-threatened Burnley—but that's what happened at the weekend as City went down 1-0.
With Chelsea drawing, the Citizens lost further ground on the tile race; indeed, they are very much now in the fight for top-four finishes, with City in second and Liverpool in fifth separated by just four points.
Four teams are fighting for those three spaces behind Chelsea for next season's Champions League and it seems inconceivable that last year's league champions might not get one of them. However, if Pellegrini doesn't get his side firing quickly, that's the fate which awaits them.
