Struggling Premier League managers in the current season: Ancelotti, Grant, Houllier, Hodgson
As the Barclays Premier League moves midway into the 2010-11 season, there are certain teams who have not been able to perform according to expectations. Therefore, their managers have come under a lot of pressure and they are
facing sacking in the coming weeks of the Premier League.
The most important man who is close to losing his job is Carlo Ancelotti, the manager of Chelsea. Given the recent 1-0 defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers, it seems that Ancelotti’s team is not going to be able to retain their
Premier League title. Also, Roy Hodgson is about to be shown the door because of Liverpool’s poor performance. Recently, the former heavyweights lost against Blackburn http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rovers-c40385 by 3-1.
West Ham United dropped, once again, to the last position on the table after a 5-0 hammering by Newcastle United. Therefore, Avram Grant is under thin ice as he is falling below expectations. Also, Aston Villa moved into the relegation
zone after Wolverhampton beat http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 and Villa lost against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. Villa manager Gerard Houllier is also under a lot of scrutiny and will find it hard to hold on to his job.
From all these clubs, the worst case is of Carlo Ancelotti as it is quite opposite to what was expected. Chelsea resumed their title defence on a high note but soon ran out of gas. In the last 11 fixtures, the Blues have managed
to win only 2, which is quite ordinary as per their standards. The downfall started when Ray Wilkins, the assistant manager to Ancelotti, was fired from his job without any apparent reason. Ever since that incident, Chelsea has been like an average side which
is not meant to be a title contender. There are some other incidents that triggered the downfall, including injuries to some key players.
At this moment, Chelsea seem to have already lost the race and are likely to lose their title at the end of the season. If things do not go right for them, they might lose their prestigious Champions League spot as well, which
will not be acceptable to Roman Abramovich as the Russian lives on the dream of the team being European Champions. Considering the history of Chelsea under Roman Abramovich, in which changing managers is like changing diapers, it is very likely that Carlo
Ancelotti will go down. In fact, this could have happened earlier but Abramovich might still be looking at Ancelotti’s Champions League credentials. The Blues are still in the competition and are performing far better than what they have been doing in the
English Premier League.
Among all these managers, Roy Hodgson is the favourite to be sacked in the coming weeks. The Liverpool manager has failed to improve his side’s performance ever since the new owners took over the reins. The away form is especially
abysmal as the club has won only one game away from home and lost 7. The recent defeat against Blackburn might compel the new management to make up their minds quickly. The option of firing him is already on the table and Hodgson’s reaction to the fans had
a lot to do with it. The manager questioned the passion of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 fans, which is not a good choice for a club of Liverpool’s stature.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gerard-c14664 Houllier already has more defeats than Martin O’Neill had in his last season at Villa Park. Houllier came to Villa in order to build the team and compete for the Champions League position. Instead, he has taken the side
into the relegation zone which is not a familiar sight to Villa fans, given their run of form these past few years. Therefore, the fans have turned against him and he is not likely to continue for a long time. Avram Grant is also in a similar kind of situation
as West Ham United is not meant to be at the bottom of all the other teams. Considering the passion of Hammers’ fans, Grant would not want to be in charge of West Ham if it actually gets relegated at the end of the season.
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