Five top managers who risk the sack
FT Desk
- Updated: 23 May 2023 08:55 CDT
The World Cup begins in just three weeks – and that spells bad news to many under-pressure managers in Europe.
The one-month break from club football will provide the opportunity to many teams to assess what is going right and wrong this season.
Related articles
That will inevitably lead to some struggling managers getting the sack.
What managers have been sacked this season?
FootballTransfers looks at five high-profile managers whose jobs are on the line.
Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Jurgen Klopp will go down as one of the greatest managers in English football history after winning a Premier League and reaching three Champions League finals, winning one.
But everything has fallen apart this season. Liverpool currently find themselves languishing in ninth position in the Premier League after 12 games of the new season.
They have won just four of their matches and already find themselves an incredible 13 points behind league leaders Man City.
Their chances of winning the Premier League already seem over but even a top four finish looks like a slog at this stage of the season. They are eight points off Newcastle in fourth.
Klopp’s future is now being seriously questioned.
Max Allegri (Juventus)
It seems incredible that Max Allegri is still in charge of Juventus, considering what a disaster he has been since returning to the club 15 months ago.
Last season, he oversaw Juve’s first trophyless term in 11 years as the Bianconeri finished fourth and were knocked out in the Champions League in the last-16.
This season has been even worse. Juventus are down in seventh in Serie A, already 10 points off the top, while they have been eliminated from the Champions League after winning just one of their first five group games.
Juventus fans are desperate for Allegri to be sacked but president Andrea Agnelli has resisted so far due to the huge costs of a payoff, plus in order to protect his own position.
Xavi (Barcelona)
Barcelona were eliminated on Wednesday evening from Group C of the Champions League, finishing behind Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.
It was a truly humiliating outcome for Barcelona, who spent over €150 million in the summer in a bid to challenge for the Champions League title. The likes of Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Jules Kounde and many others were brought in at big expense.
However, Barcelona lost away to Bayern and Inter, drew with the Italians at home and only managed to beat Viktoria Plzen at Camp Nou.
This failure represents a huge sporting and economic disaster, which puts the whole future of the club at risk.
Xavi should survive for now but any more bad results that puts a La Liga title challenge at risk could prove fatal for the ex-midfielder.
Diego Simeone (Atletico Madrid)
Diego Simeone is facing the biggest crisis of his legendary reign at Atletico Madrid.
Earlier this week, Atletico crashed out of the Champions League at the group stage for just the second time in the past decade.
They are also having a bad time in La Liga, falling potentially 11 points off the summit by the end of the weekend.
Most expect this to be Simeone’s last season in charge of Atletico but if these bad results continue and a top-four finish looks in doubt, then the Argentine hero could potentially go earlier.
Jesse Marsch (Leeds)
Jesse Marsch was set for the sack coming into this weekend after losing four games in a row in the Premier League.
This left Leeds in the relegation zone and fans even started singing former manager Marcelo Bielsa’s name at Elland Road.
However, Marsch masterminded a shock 2-1 win at Anfield over Liverpool on Saturday.
That has bought the American manager some time, although he remains very much at risk.
