In football, players always take the glory but coaches take the heat when things are going wrong in the team. Presently three high profile coaches are on the hot seat and things are going horribly wrong for them. The coaches are Andres Villa Boas of Chelsea, Arsene Wenger of Arsenal and Claudio Raneiri of Inter Milan. The question is will these coaches still be managing their respective clubs come next season?
Andre Villa Boas
The young Portuguese was brought in from Porto at the beginning of the season after guiding the Portuguese giants to four trophies last season.
The young coach who was an assistant for Jose Mourinho in Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan followed the footsteps of Mourinho by joining Chelsea. He came to Chelsea with high expectations but questions were asked about his pedigree and age as a manager since he is only a few months older than Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard. But Roman Abramovic took a gamble and took the young manager.
Things however have gone terribly wrong for the young coach as he is faced with the worst record of all the Chelsea managers since Roman Abromovic took over the London club. He has lost control of the dressing room as there have been reports of feuds between him and the senior players in the club. Chelsea has lost six games this season and has drawn seven. They have failed to impose their game against the big teams this season.
Chelsea is currently in danger of missing out of the Champions League spot next season as it is fifth on the table and fighting for the elusive fourth spot with Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle.
It is no secret that Roman Abromovic craves to win the Champions League, but after losing 3-1 to Napoli midweek, Chelsea is one foot out of the competition. Crashing out of the Champions League may be the final nail on the coffin for Villa Boas since the management of the club has not hidden its desire for the ultimate prize in European club football.
In the FA Cup, they were held to a draw at home to Birmingham and have a second leg away tie. The FA Cup is the only realistic trophy they can win this season but will that be enough to save Villa Boas’ job? Roman Abramovic is known for his impatience and his penchant for sacking managers at will and has shown his support for the under fire manager so far but that support may change if Chelsea is eliminated in Europe.
The whole team is in shambles with Fernando Torres forgetting how to score and the defence in disarray. Chelsea has conceded 31 goals this season already. It remains to be seen if Abramovic will give the young coach time to build his own team and turn them to world beaters by conquering England and Europe.
Arsene Wenger
Last week’s 4-0 bashing of Arsenal by AC Milan in the Champions League and their possible elimination in the Champions League coupled with their crashing out of the FA Cup losing by two goals to Sunderland ended any hope of Arsenal winning a trophy this season. It will also make it seven seasons in a row that Arsene Wenger’s men will finish trophy less.
To make matters worse for the Londoners, they are in danger of missing out of the Champions League for the first time since Arsene Wenger took over as coach of Arsenal 16 years ago. Arsene Wenger is no doubt one of the most successful managers in the Premier League but it looks like this season may be his last at the Emirates.
In the beginning of the season, Arsenal sold two of their prize assets – Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasir and this has weakened the squad considerably. He brought in replacements that are simply not good enough. Arsenal captain Robin Van Persie has been the only leading light for Arsenal season and his future next season may not be at the Emirates.
The Dutchman will clock 29 this year and this is his last chance for a big move and the way Arsenal is going they are likely not to win anything as long as Wenger remains the coach of Arsenal. In most top clubs around Europe, Wenger would have been sacked long ago but the board in Arsenal still believes he is the best man for the job. The board at Arsenal need to realise that if they are to become a force in English football and challenge the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea, Wenger needs to leave the club.
His refusal to buy quality players has been the reason for his failures and Arsenal has become a feeder club for the big teams selling their big players every season. Many world class players have left Arsenal because of lack of ambition in the club. Players like Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabragas, Samir Nasir, Emmanuel Adebayor have gone and Van Persie is likely to be the next. Wengers’ blueprint for success is simply not working in Arsenal.? Observers believe the time has come for him to leave the club for a new challenge somewhere.
Claudio Raneiri
The Italian manager is known as the ‘Tinker’ man and has been fairly successful in his coaching career. He has never won the league in his coaching career and was brought in by Massimo Morratii to bring some stability to the Italian Club. Inter Milan used to be known as the nearly men of Italian football.
The Caciopoli scandal saw them winning the league title after Juventus were stripped of the title. Jose Mourinho came and raised the bar by winning the treble with Inter a first for any Italian team. He left to join Real Madrid immediately after his success and since then things have been going downhill for Italian club.
Former Liverpool tactician Rafa Benitez was hired immediately and won the club world cup but was axed immediately by the impatient Morrati. Leonardo was brought in but left after a season. Gasperini, former Genoa coach took over and was sacked before mid season and Ranieri was brought in to bring some stability to the club.
After a slow start to his coaching career in Inter, they achieved some great results and things were beginning to look good for the Italian side but after beating Milan, things went from bad to worse for Ranieri’s men.
They were mauled 4-0 by Roma, lost to relegation threatened Novara and were defeated 3-0 at home to Bologna and their poor run of form has see them placed seventh on the table six points off the last Champions League spot. There are reports that Pep Guardiola of Barcelona or Andre Villa Boas will take over from Ranieri next season and he may get the boot before the end of the season if Inter’s results don’t improve and with the ever impatient Moratti he may face the sack anyway sooner or later.