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In football, the role of a manager is one that comes with immense pressure. In a world that is increasingly obsessed with immediate results, managers are expected to deliver success quickly, and failure is not an option.
The job demands not only tactical expertise but also excellent leadership skills to manage the egos of star players, handle the media and satisfy the demands of the club's owners and supporters.
Even the most successful managers can find themselves facing the wrath of fans and the media when results go wrong, and they can quickly become the scapegoat for the team's shortcomings. The pressure is always on and the manager's job is never secure.
Without further ado, let's take a look at five top managers who have been fired this season.
#5 Steven Gerrard
Aston Villa had high hopes when they replaced Dean Smith with Steven Gerrard.
The former Liverpool captain and Premier League legend did a great job in his first job as manager at Rangers, leading them to the Scottish first division title in 2021. But shortly after his appointment, it became apparent that Gerrard was out of his depth as Villa finished 14th in the 2021-22 Premier League season.
Fans were already miffed with Gerrard as the team failed to exhibit any recognizable patterns of play. The English manager struggled to bring out the best of the club's new signings.
After getting off to a poor start to the 2022-23 season, Gerrard was given the sack on October 20, 2022 after they suffered a 3-0 loss to Fulham.
#4 Patrick Vieira
Patrick Vieira's dismissal from the Crystal Palace job shows just how quickly things can change in the world of football. It wasn't long ago that Vieira was being viewed as the man to lead Crystal Palace through an era of resurgence.
After getting off to a decent start to the season, the Eagles seemed completely lost after the World Cup break. Vieira's men failed to win a single Premier League game in 2023. They went 12 games without a win, and Vieira was sacked following a 1-0 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion on March 15.
Under Vieira, Palace had made progressive strides. They became effective at pressing, and under his tutelage, the average age of their starting XI in the Premier League dropped from 29 years and 213 days to 27 years and 113 days in the span of 18 months.
But due to their drastic deterioration in form, something had to give. Vieira was forced to leave his team, with just three points separating them from the relegation zone.
#3 Antonio Conte
Antonio Conte more or less worked his way towards getting sacked. After Spurs relinquished a 3-1 lead to settle for a 3-3 draw against Southampton in their latest Premier League outing, Conte went on a tirade of sorts. In his post-match interview, the Italian manager berated his players and the culture at the club.
He said (via TalkSport):
“The problem is we have shown we are not a team. We are 11 players. “I see selfish players. I see players that don’t want to help each other, don’t play with heart. It is the same every season, no matter who the manager is. They’re used to it here.
“Don’t play for something important. They don’t want to play under pressure. They don’t want to play under stress.
“Tottenham’s story is this. Twenty years there is the owner and they never won something but why? The fault is only for the club, or for every manager that stay here."
After a stint that lasted a little over a year, Conte was sacked on March 26 with Spurs sitting fourth in the Premier League table.
#2 Julian Nagelsmann
In what was perhaps the most surprising move on this list, Bayern Munich sacked Julian Nagelsmann on March 25.
Bayern Munich have slipped to second in the Bundesliga table but are only a point behind Borussia Dortmund. Nagelsmann's Bayern Munich were also set to square off against Manchester City in the quarter-finals of the Champions League when news of his sacking arrived.
Bayern CEO Oliver Kahn revealed that the fluctuation in form following the World Cup had caused them to pull the trigger. Nagelsmann had a 71.4% winning rate at Bayern Munich, and his sacking has reportedly not gone down well with much of the current squad.
#1 Thomas Tuchel
Chelsea are as trigger-happy as they come in modern football. Managers keep getting sacked at Stamford Bridge, and Thomas Tuchel is the latest to fall victim to this.
Tuchel had led them to Champions League glory in the 2020-21 campaign, which was his first half-season at the club. He led them to the finals of the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup last term, but they fell to Liverpool in both games.
After a rather ordinary start to the 2022-23 season, the Blues decided to drop the guillotine on Tuchel.
Tuchel had already had run-ins with the new Chelsea board, and there was reportedly a breakdown in communication between the two parties. They failed to get him his top transfer targets, and it looked like the two parties were not on the same page.
Eventually, Tuchel was relieved of his duties on September 6, 2022. The German coach has now replaced Julian Nagelsmann as the new manager of Bayern Munich.
