When a team fails to deliver, the pressure that comes with it is certainly on the shoulder of the manager.
It’s very easy to understand why patience turns to panic for fans, club owners, and specifically the managers which eventually lead to a sack.
Managers who seemed comfortable with their job last season or a few months ago depending on when the managers were appointed are now nervously and uncomfortably sitting on a keg of gunpowder due to unpalatable results in their various games.
Managers share a large percentage of the blames on why the team showed poor results whether through players’ poor form or due to the manager’s poor tactical skill set.
Cheapgoals will in this piece talks about Europe’s five managers who are rightly under pressure
- Scot Parker – (Fulham)
Following the dismissal of former Leicester City hero and bringer of the English Premier League trophy to the ‘King Power Stadium’ in the 2015-16 season, in the person of Claudio Ranieri in February 2019. Fulham named the former England international as the caretaker manager of the club.
After his appointment as the caretaker manager of the Craven Cottage side, he led Fulham out of the Championship at the first attempt via the playoffs when his team shut out a 58 goal front three of Ollie Watkins, Said Benrahma, and Bryan Mbeumo of Brentford to delivered promotion for the London side.
After what has been an exhausting journey from the ever-competitive Championship last season now back to the English Premier, Parker is currently not delivering the standard skillset in his managerial career presently with the kind of performances and results from his team has shown out since their promotion to the topflight.
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As it stands, The Cottagers are extremely performing poorly overall. They currently sit 17th on the EPL table, winning 14% of matches, and on average Fulham has scored 1 goal and conceded 2 goals per match.
Ironically, 43% of their matches have ended with both teams to score and their average total goals per match are 3.
Overall, this season Fulham has scored a total of 7 goals, conceded a total of 14 goals, conceded a goal in every 45 minutes of their matches, scores an average of 1 goal in every of their game, and conceded an average of 2 goals per every game.
Albeit, it’s still early days in the season like some would say, having played seven games, lost five, drew one, and won one.
However, if Parker’s Fulham team continues dishing out such abysmal performances in their subsequent games going forward in the season, the former England international may be shown the exit door if he fails to turn things around.
- Frank Lampard – (Chelsea)
Having written his name in gold in the history book of Chelsea as one of the greatest midfielders. The Englishman is in his first season as a manager of a club he donned their shirt for many seasons, having already tasted the toughness and the competitiveness of the Championship with Derby County.
Since he stepped into the managerial position, the Blues all-time record goalscorer hasn’t hit the ground running with great results. It has been a poor start to life as a Chelsea boss, despite the astronomical fee spent in the summer to signed players.
However, in recent weeks Frankie has been able to turn the table around a bit in terms of results, while also showing glimpses of what to expect from him as a manager going forward in the season.
The London side has been the biggest spender in the transfer window with over £222m. Lampard overhauled his squad to bring in fresh legs with the signings of top players, it is a big call for him as a matter of fact that he must compete for the title this season.
Albeit with the 2020-21 Premier League season still in its infancy, the Blues form so far has been on average with three wins, three draws, one loss, placed 7th on the table and winning 43% of their matches.
As the season progresses, if Lampard wants to stay in Chelsea’s dugout for a longer period of time with the kind of quality players at his disposal, his team needs to start showing out topnotch performances else Roman Abramovich won’t hesitate to show him the exit door at the end of the campaign.
- Antonio Conte – (Inter Milan)
It would be a huge surprise if the former Chelsea boss keeps his job at Inter Milan at the end of the season if he fails to win a trophy having invested over £97m on new recruits in the transfer window.
Last season performances were relatively a decent one, even though they weren’t that consistent in the Seria A blowing hot and cold in their performances which led to Juventus winning the title.
While getting to the final of the UEFA Europa League against Sevilla was more like a great achievement for the Nerazzurri. Unfortunately, the Conte side failed to take solace in that competition as compensation for not winning the Seria A as they lost to Sevilla.
Since the beginning of the new season, Inter Milan hasn’t been impressive either with their performances, looking more like they continued from where they stopped last campaign with hot and cold like performances, and their 2-2 draw against Parma it’s a testament to their inconsistency in the league and Europe.
However, with the Seria A still in week-6, Inter currently sits in 6th position on the log, having won three-game, drew two, and lost one.
According to ‘Footystats.org‘, Inter’s performances on the average is rated ‘Good’ with the winning of their matches rated 50%. While on average they’ve scored 2.5 goals, conceded 1.67 goals per match, and 83% of their matches have ended with both teams scoring.
Their average total goals per match is 4.17 and they’ve scored a total of 15 goals this season, with these stats its shows they’re a side that can score goals and also concede.
However, as Conte takes to the touchline to continue their European journey in the Champions League, he needs to start delivering consistent results both in the league and Europe to avoid been sack at the end of the campaign.
- Ole Gunner Solsjkaer – (Manchester United)
When former United midfielder Roy Keane opined that “Ole Gunner Solsjkaer will be sacked anytime soon unless the players dramatically improve their performances“.
As much as the former captain is right with his opinion, one fact still remains that the manager himself also needs to improve dramatically in making the right decisions that would favor the team going forward.
United’s defeat to Michael Arteta’s Arsenal side on Sunday inflicted them with their worst defeat with any sense of urgency in their performance. From six Premier League games so far this season, which cumulated into their worst start to a campaign in the last seven years and leaves them languishing in 15th position on the log.
Although Ole has been enjoying a lot of plaudit in light of the remarkable, comprehensive 5-0 performance against Julien Nagelsman’s RB Leipzig side in the Champions League, on the home front he hasn’t been able to replicate such performances which have been a major concern for all United faithful home and abroad.
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The former Norway international job has once been under threat after a poor start to the season, culminating in an embarrassing 6-1 massacre to Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham side.
While he still hasn’t turned things around in the league, he has been able to bribe United’s fans with fantastic performances in Europe against Paris Saint Germain and RB Leipzig.
If poor performances on the home front continue as such of the match against Arsenal and another opponent, it’s just a matter of time before Keane’s opinion becomes a reality.
Without looking at the good work Solsjkaer did last season helping United to a third-place finish and also doing well in Europe this season, all of that would be thrown into the bin and he would be fired if the inconsistency continues
- Simeone Inzaghi – (SS Lazio)
If there is any name that was associated with Lazio for more than a decade there is no other name than Simeone Inzaghi, although he spent two years of that time away from the Biancocelesti before returning back again.
After the dismissal of Stefano Pioli in 2016, Inzaghi was named the caretaker manager of the Roman club having never managed in the Seria A before.
Since he took over from the former coach having moved up the ranks from the backroom, it’s has been a huge improvement with the team finishing 8th on the log in the 2015-16 campaign as the caretaker.
Bielsa was brought in to take over from him and tinker the Biancocelesti to success, but the union didn’t last long and surprisingly left the club after two days of being in charge, which therefore led to the permanent calling of Inzaghi in the 2016-17 campaign.
The Lazio team of the 2019-20 campaign captured the Serie A fan’s attention with their incredible playing style along with impressive results under Inzaghi which surprisingly see them became serious title contenders.
The Biancocelesti lost their form following the resumption of the league after the pandemic break which cumulated into them losing the league to Juventus and also failing to qualify for the Champions League.
The Piacenza born has transformed the Biancocelesti, which has also cumulated into them winning titles and also become contenders for the league.
Meanwhile, Lazio’s budget isn’t as astronomical as that of Juventus, Inter Milan, or AC Milan to some extent, but under the former forward they’ve spent close to a total of £133m, making a profit of £157m and lifting three major titles in four years.
Although Inzaghi’s 2019-20 campaign was a season of many high and lows. However, this season if Lazio fails to at least qualify for Champions League football he probably might be dismissed.
Conclusion
In as much as firing and employing is the call of managers, that doesn’t mean some of them ain’t fantastic with their job but when things aren’t going smoothly for them in their respective job they get fired and replaced.
However, the season is somewhat fresh and some of them could still turn things around and end up staying longer than expected. But then it’s left to be seen how things would pan out.
