Hot Seat Watch for World Football Players, Coaches After Week May 8-11
We're nearly at the end of the domestic season for most major European leagues, but before we hit the campaign finales, there are still plenty of teams, managers and players who need to pick up fast to save their seasons. For others, it's already too late.
Our hot seat watch keeps an eye on those individuals who have had poor results or performances, find their positions under threat or have otherwise found negative headlines coming their way of late.
A big last few weeks could make all the difference, in terms of survival, silverware or simply keeping their jobs.
Gareth Bale
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Real Madrid wide forward Gareth Bale continues to receive criticism for below-par performances, failing to shoot his team toward silverware and generally for not putting in stellar displays expected of a world-record signing.
His agent was quoted, per the Telegraph (h/t BBC Sport) as saying Bale wasn't helped by his team-mates not passing to him enough. Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has responded to this by suggesting it's better that Bale's agent "stays quiet" and insists the atmosphere between Bale and the rest of the players is good.
It would help Bale's cause if he was to help overturn the 2-1 Champions League semi-final deficit against Juventus on Wednesday.
Pascal Dupraz
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Over in Ligue 1, Evian TG had a big chance to escape the relegation zone at the weekend with just two more matches left to play, but manager Pascal Dupraz couldn't lead his side to victory.
Leading 2-1 with 25 minutes to play, Dupraz's team contrived to lose 3-2 at home to Reims, the team directly above them in the table, so there is now a four-point gap for Evian to make up to try to escape the drop—they face Saint-Etienne and Caen.
Dupraz led the team to a 14th-place finish last year, but he hasn't been able to replicate that in 2014-15.
Gaizka Garitano
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Eibar's woeful 2015 has finally cost them: They fell into the relegation zone at the weekend, into 19th place on a three-way head-to-head battle with Granada and Deportivo La Coruna.
A 2-0 loss at home to Espanyol was a sixth defeat on the bounce for Gaizka Garitano and his not-so-merry men, with Eibar having taken just four points from the last available 51.
Getafe and bottom club Cordoba are the last remaining games for Eibar this season, and realistically Garitano needs to eke out another four points to have a shot of staying up.
Leandro Bacuna
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Alan Hutton's injury back in March will have caused Tim Sherwood a headache as he sought to get to grips with his new personnel at Aston Villa, but Leandro Bacuna stepped in admirably and filled the void.
That said, he's very much a one-on, one-off kind of player, capable of ranging from extremely good to extremely questionable within the space of a week.
Hutton's consistency had been a rare bright spot under Paul Lambert's reign, and in each of the last two games the Scot has come on late to replace the Dutchman. The pressure is on Bacuna to perform more consistently as the season draws to a close; his spot in the XI, with a FA Cup final looming, depends on it.
Pep Guardiola
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It's probably not a good thing that a title-winning manager can be labelled as being in the hot seat just a week or two later, but Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich side have flopped considerably since the German Bundesliga was sealed.
A tail-off in league action could be expected as rotations and injuries hit home, but Bayern have also exited the DFB-Pokal at the semi-final and then the UEFA Champions League at the same stage.
Four successive defeats and then an aggregate loss to Barcelona—despite a second-leg win—leaves questions over Guardiola's tactics, decisions or ability to get the best out of his players, depending on your point of view. Or, of course, that he simply doesn't have enough top-level players at his disposal. Either way, as manager, the responsibility will stop with him.
Anyone Associated with QPR's Season
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A dismal season for Queens Park Rangers has come to a dismal end, as the team was thrashed 6-0 by Manchester City to confirm their relegation from the Premier League at the weekend.
Having not appeared to learn any lessons from last time around, QPR have suffered once again as a result of a rash transfer policy, a lack of responsibility from managers, poor club structure and off-field planning, and ultimately, players who weren't good enough.
From Harry Redknapp to Chris Ramsey, the on-pitch direction and results have been dire, especially away from home, where they have won just seven points this season.
Kevin-Prince Boateng and Sidney Sam
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Schalke's terrible end to the season in the Bundesliga has seen them drift to sixth place, 13 points off the top four after a 2-0 loss at Koln at the weekend.
Sporting director Horst Heldt said that there would be "consequences," and the first of those are indefinite suspensions for Kevin-Prince Boateng and Sidney Sam, as reported by BBC Sport. The two, along with Marco Hoger, appear to be taking the brunt of the club's ire for poor displays and the failure to secure a top-four finish.
S04 still have to play Paderborn and Hamburger SV this season, both relegation candidates.
David Ospina
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Our final name goes to Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina, who has been generally good for the Gunners since usurping Wojciech Szczesny as No. 1—but he failed with just about the only thing he had to do on Monday night and cost his team a positive result against Swansea City.
A fairly bog-standard header into the near post area by Bafetimbi Gomis late in the game, without power and not with much pace, should have been saved by Ospina—but he was too slow to get down to make the save, with goal-line technology awarding the goal after the Colombian had desperately tried to paw the ball away.
Considering he had mainly been an onlooker as his team failed to break Swansea down, he needed to come up with far better for his team at his one moment of involvement. Instead, Arsenal lost 1-0.
