Clubs around Europe are significantly underachieving with the likes of Manchester City, Juventus, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United all failing to put in a strong enough title bid early on, whilst the likes of Arsenal are in utter disarray.
Here, we take a look at which manager from a major European outfit could go next, with one of the above-mentioned sides likely to crumble at some stage and have no choice but to push for the exit door.
Once again, a United manager is under pressure and this time, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer can't afford many more slip-ups as the club have already been knocked out to the Champions League and have been chucked back into the Europa League.
At the start of the season, the Norwegian was at under EVENS to be the next Premier League manager sacked, following a home defeat to Crystal Palace, an exceptionally fortunate victory over Brighton & Hove Albion and the club's joint-biggest home Premier League loss, as Tottenham Hotspur bagged six at Old Trafford.
Now, following, their loss to RB Leipzig and a lacklustre 0-0 in the Manchester derby, the United boss is the 7/1 favourite to be the next manager in the Premier League to be sacked and a run of poor results in the league could be enough to see him walk the plank.
Perhaps what's keeping Solskjaer on is the fact that, in 2020, the Red Devils sit top of the Premier League table, having closed a gap of 12 points, having not lost a game from January through to the end of the season after the signature of Bruno Fernandes.
However, a couple of losses in the league and United are out of title contention, whilst the club have just been drawn against Real Sociedad in the Europa League; this could be a worrying few months for United.
Ronald Koeman was only appointed as head coach of Barcelona in August, but the club's former defender has had a torrid start to life at the club, not long after the Blaugrana sacked Quique Setien and the Lionel Messi debacle.
Now, under his leadership, Barcelona have equalled their worst-ever start to a La Liga campaign as they collected just eight points from their opening six games and still sit in eighth, having recently lost to newly-promoted Cadiz once again.
Despite walking into the Champions League knockouts, now Koeman’s position is starting to come under serious scrutiny, even at this early stage, with whispers of players disagreeing with his 4-2-3-1 tactic.
The league title at Barcelona is classed as the bare minimum and the Champions League title is now seen as a requirement for any future manager with the Spanish giants, given how Real Madrid claimed four titles and Barcelona just one since Pep Guardiola left.
Similarly to Solskjaer, it looks as if Koeman could just be one more loss away from disaster and dismissal at the Nou Camp, as in truth, things have only got worse since Setien left.
Guardiola’s understudy, Mikel Arteta, returned to Arsenal with high expectations when he was appointed as Gunners boss last December with the club believing he was the man to take them forward after years of learning the trade alongside one of football's greatest ever,
Indeed, the former Everton and Arsenal midfielder looked to be a sensational appointment as the north London side put in spectacular performances for the remainder of the season, winning the FA Cup and beating the likes of Chelsea, City and Liverpool. However, this season, Arteta has failed to get a tune out of strikers Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as Arsenal have scored just 10 goals in 11 games and currently sit 15th in the table and an embarrassing five above the relegation zone.
The Spaniard’s side are without a win in their last five and the defeat in the north London derby and at home to Burnley has forced many, many Arsenal fans to scream 'Arteta out'.
As of now, the ex-City assistant coach is the favourite to be sacked by a Premier League side next 6/4, but there doesn't seem to be any immediate response from the Arsenal board. One more loss could, and probably will, change that.
Another new appointment this season was Italy and Juventus legend Andrea Pirlo, who took over Serie A serial winners, Juventus after the dismissal of Maurizio Sarri.
Although Pirlo’s side are unbeaten under his leadership in the league, they have only won six of their 11 games and sit in fourth place and six points adrift from leaders AC Milan. Now, with five draws and six losses, Juventus are falling into a place where they are allowing the likes of Milan and Inter Milan to start to build a gap and in truth, a late winner from Leonardo Bonucci in the dying minutes may have kept him his job.
Pirlo has led his team to top of their Champions League group, which may be the club’s focus this season, however, winning the Serie A title is the bare minimum in Turin and failure to put a bid in by January could force the club's hand, especially given how Sarri was sacked for significantly less.
French icon Zinedine Zidane had a record-breaking first spell at Real Madrid as a manager, where he won three Champions League titles in a row and a La Liga title in the midst of complete Barcelona dominance in Spain.
The club's former midfielder returned to the club in 2019 and has since won La Liga again in his first full season, however, he only just reached the round of 16 in Europe and has had a slow start this season, edging over the line to escape the group stage on matchday six.
In La Liga, Zidane’s side find themselves third and still three points behind Atletico Madrid, despite beating them in the Madrid derby recently.
Failure to develop big name signings such as Eden Hazard and Luka Jovic may well have placed doubt in the board’s mind over Zidane's managerial ability and if the Spanish titans continue to fall behind in the title race, he could be cut loose.
No doubt the club are sticking by him based off of previous title wins, but soon this will run dry.
By Tom Eaton
