Carrick, Spalletti, Amorim: Europe’s Managers Under Pressure, Ranked by How Deep the Problem Runs

Manchester United had most of the ball against Bournemouth at Old Trafford and still lost by three goals without creating a clear chance. That defeat explains a whole weekend. Across Europe’s big leagues, several coaches go into their next match under pressure, and from the outside their crises look alike. They are not. Some are problems of finishing, which tend to fix themselves; some are a missing player; some are a shape that leaks; and some go deeper than any tactical change can reach.

This list ranks six of them not by points or by who is likeliest to be sacked but by how deep the problem runs, from the one a coach can least repair on the training pitch to the one that mostly needs time. Michael Carrick‘s United come first. Oliver Glasner‘s Nottingham Forest, bottom three and still one of the best-built sides in England, come last.

1. Michael Carrick, Manchester United: control without a threat

This is United’s worst start to a league season in 40 years: one win from eight, 16th, a point above the relegation places, eight matches without a win in all competitions after a 4-1 defeat at Como in the Champions League. Carrick earned a two-year contract in May after his interim spell took the club into the Champions League. On Monday the hierarchy met and kept him for Saturday’s trip to Chelsea.

The Bournemouth game showed why one change will not be enough. Carrick dropped his captain, Bruno Fernandes, and started all three summer midfield signings together for the first time at home: Youri Tielemans in the No 10 role, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba behind him, Mason Mount drifting in from the left to add a fourth body in the middle. The plan was control, and it got the wrong kind. United had 62 per cent of the possession and an expected-goals figure of 0.61; Bournemouth reached 2.24. Packing the centre took away the width that might have stretched a compact block, and the player best at breaking a line with a pass, Fernandes, stayed on the bench for 90 minutes. “I’m desperate to make us better and improve things,” Carrick said this week. The difficulty is that the shape he chose to take control of games has also taken the threat out of his attack.

2. Luciano Spalletti, Juventus: a coach who says the problem is not the plan

Juventus are eighth after losing 2-0 at Genoa, a side near the relegation places, having already lost 3-0 at home to Lazio. Spalletti started without his two-striker system, brought it back at half-time and was already two goals down. Tommaso Baldanzi kept finding space behind the Juventus defence, and Spalletti admitted they “never found the right balance with him”.

The more revealing part was his diagnosis. “There was no fight, no willingness to battle for the ball,” he said, adding that he was struggling to make the players understand that football has changed. A formation can be redrawn in a week. A squad that loses duels everywhere, with an injury crisis leaving no time to train the intensity he wants, is beyond a tactical tweak. Sunday brings Napoli, his former club, level with Juventus on points.

3. Pierre Sage, Crystal Palace: a back three without its three

Palace lost 5-0 at Brighton, then 2-0 at home to Newcastle, and were booed off. “I prepare the team, so I’m responsible for what happened on the pitch,” Sage said after Brighton. His back three has been rebuilt match to match, with Chadi Riad and Takehiro Tomiyasu injured and Axel Disasi suspended, and a back three depends on understanding between the three more than any other defensive shape. Each centre-back has to know when the one beside him will step out.

A League Cup win at Fulham in midweek helped, but Ismaïla Sarr is now out for several weeks. Palace are 17th with a goal difference of minus ten. Injured defenders return, so the problem is partly fixable, but Sage needs results before they do, starting at Tottenham on Saturday.

4. Ruben Amorim, AC Milan: a 3-4-3 that opens between the lines

Milan are fifth, seven points off the top, and their owner, Gerry Cardinale, has backed Amorim in public: “I’m not leaving my wingman.” Two heavy defeats in a week still exposed his system. Bournemouth beat Milan 3-0 in the Europa League, and on Wednesday Bologna won 4-2 at San Siro after Milan had led 2-1 at half-time. Raffaele Palladino made a triple change on the hour and his side scored twice in two minutes, the first from a free kick turned into Milan’s own net.

The 3-4-3 is built to attack with five across the front, but it leaves space between the lines when the midfield two are bypassed, and Milan have also conceded from set pieces against Torino, Juventus, Sassuolo and Bologna. Amorim put the Bologna defeat down to fatigue. Both are coachable problems, which is why he is fourth here, but this is the structure he has kept faith in through two jobs, and changing it would mean changing his whole idea. Inter come to San Siro for the derby on Saturday.

5. Xabi Alonso, Chelsea: a structure missing its connecting piece

Chelsea are fifth, went out of the League Cup on penalties at Liverpool and lost 2-0 at home to Tottenham last weekend, the match that explains the issue. Without João Pedro, Alonso played a 3-4-2-1 in a mid-block and tried to go direct to Morgan Rogers. Roberto De Zerbi’s Spurs kept the ball, had 68 per cent of possession and completed 639 passes to Chelsea’s 287, and they shut the route through Moisés Caicedo. Cole Palmer was isolated and then sent off for a second yellow card.

What Chelsea lack is the player who holds the ball up and links the midfield to the front line, and Alonso has said João Pedro will be out for a few weeks. That is a problem with an end date. The structure is sound, though Carrick’s United arrive at Stamford Bridge before João Pedro returns.

6. Oliver Glasner, Nottingham Forest: a good team with bad finishing

Forest are 18th with six points. The underlying numbers disagree. Forest have conceded the second-fewest expected goals in the Premier League and rank fifth for expected-goal difference; they have beaten Aston Villa and drawn at Anfield. They have also turned chances worth 13.4 expected goals into six goals, and Morgan Gibbs-White, Liam Delap and Chris Wood have scored twice from 38 shots. Forest have had the better chances in six of their eight league games and won one of them.

That is finishing, not structure, and finishing usually evens out over a season. At Brentford this weekend, Glasner’s job is to change nothing.

The pattern beneath the list

Read from the bottom up, the list moves from luck to personnel to shape to something harder to name. Glasner needs his forwards to score, Alonso needs a player back, Amorim and Sage need to close gaps a coach can drill. Spalletti and Carrick are different: one says his players will not compete for the ball, the other has a side that keeps the ball and does nothing with it. Those are the problems a sacking is supposed to solve. United have dismissed a manager in each of the last two seasons, and they are back here again.

Tags: manchester united, Michael Carrick, Xabi Alonso, Oliver Glasner, Rúben Amorim, Pierre Sage