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European Pressure Power Rankings: Blatter, Liverpool feeling most heat
The pattern is the same across European football: one bad month of results can put enormous pressure on all but the most successful of coaches. After examining who was under the most pressure in England last week, we've opened up our Pressure Power Rankings to all of Europe, and in this short-term, what-have-you-done-lately environment, this week's rankings look at who goes into this weekend’s matches needing things to go their way.
Thanks to some recent extenuating circumstances, the face on the top has little to do with the domestic club scene. His problems are far more wide-ranging and grand in scope, the implications of which could be felt all throughout the soccer world.
Here are the latest Pressure Power Rankings:
10. Bas Dost
Wolfsburg forward
9. Stefano Colantuono
Udinese manager
WILSON: Most dominant individual showings, before Lewandowski
8. Rudi Garcia
Roma manager
LYTTLETON: Lewandowski, Barcelona's failure headline midweek mania
7. Rolland Courbis
Montpellier manager
WAHL: Mailbag on Lewandowski, Copa America Centenario
6. Javi Gracia
Malaga manager
So is Gracia worried? Actually, not really. He proved last season why he is so highly rated, his side finishing ninth and taking four points from Barcelona, more than any other team. Gracia is following in the footsteps of Manuel Pellegrini: he was youth-team coach under the Chilean at Villarreal, and is now at Malaga, whom Pellegrini took to the Champions League quarterfinal in 2013. That seems a long way off now, but scoring a single goal would be a good place to start.
5. Alexander Lacazette
Lyon forward
Fournier perhaps gave a more realistic summary: “You can multiply a salary by four, but sadly the player doesn't become four times as good.”
4. Mike Dean
EPL referee
LYTTLETON: Chelsea's Costa remains an irritant for opponents
3. Marc-Andre ter Stegen
Barcelona goalkeeper
The challenge for manager Luis Enrique is to remind ter Stegen of that and to keep him confident. It would also help if the form of the players in front of him improved.
2. Fenway Sports Group
Liverpool Ownership
CAULDRON: Will Rodgers be around for Liverpool's brighter future?
1. Sepp Blatter
FIFA president
Blatter's right-hand man Jerome Valcke was suspended by FIFA last week after allegations, which he has denied, that he had profited from World Cup tickets sold above face value. Whether Blatter suffers the same fate will be down to FIFA's Ethics Committee. How this latest investigation implicates Platini, who was favorite to replace the Swiss as FIFA president next February, remains to be seen.
GALLERY: Pope Francis and soccer
Pope Francis and Soccer
Argentina's Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) poses with the San Lorenzo team emblem, which he supports in Buenos Aires, on May 24, 2011.
Pope Francis is given a San Lorenzo jersey as he greets the faithful prior to his first 'Urbi et Orbi' blessing from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica during Easter Mass on March 31, 2013 in Vatican City.
Argentina's San Lorenzo team poses with a huge flag behind them with an image of Pope Francis before the start of their match against Newell's Old Boys on March 31, 2013 in Buenos Aires.
Pope Francis talks with Juventus team president Andrea Agnelli (left) and coach Antonio Conte (right) during their audience at The Vatican on May 21, 2013 in Vatican City.
Pope Francis receives an autographed Juventus jersey from captain Gianluigi Buffon (right) and coach Antonio Conte at the end of their audience at The Vatican on May 21, 2013 in Vatican City.
Pope Francis exchanges gifts with Gianluigi Buffon of Italy's national team during an audience at The Vatican on August 13, 2013 in Vatican City.
Mario Balotelli of Italy's national team shakes hands with Pope Francis during an audience at The Vatican on August 13, 2013 in Vatican City.
Pope Francis holds an autographed soccer ball from Italy's national team during an audience at The Vatican on August 13, 2013 in Vatican City.
Pope Francis exchanges gifts with Lionel Messi and Gianluigi Buffon of Italy's national team during an audience at The Vatican on August 13, 2013 in Vatican City.
Pope Francis welcomes Stephan El Shaarawy of Italy's national team during an audience at The Vatican on August 13, 2013 in Vatican City.
Pope Francis smiles as he receives a jersey from FIFA President Sepp Blatter during a private audience at The Vatican on November 22, 2013 in Vatican City.
Pope Francis shakes hands with Antonio Cassano of FC Parma during an audience at The Vatican on February 1, 2014 in Vatican City.
An Argentina fan holds a flag with a portrait of Pope Francis prior to a Group F football match between Argentina and Iran at the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil on June 21, 2014.
Argentina's supporters hold a banner depicting Pope Francis, Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi as they wait for the arrival of Argentinian players outside the Beira-Rio Stadium in Porto Alegre, on June 24, 2014, on the eve of a Group F football match between Argentina and Nigeria during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Argentina fans hold posters of Lionel Messi, Pope Francis and Diego Maradona prior to the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Round of 16 match between Argentina and Switzerland at Arena de Sao Paulo on July 1, 2014 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
A banner with the image of Pope Francis hangs from a stand of Pedro Bidegain stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on August 13, 2014 during the Copa Libertadores 2014 second leg football final between Argentina's San Lorenzo and Paraguay's Nacional.
Pope Francis receives the Copa Libertadores trophy from Matias Lammens as he meets members of the San Lorenzo team during his weekly public audience on August 19, 2014 in Vatican City.
Pope Francis receives a jersey from Diego Maradona during an audience with the players of the 'Partita Interreligiosa Della Pace' at Paul VI Hall before the Interreligious Match For Peace at Olimpico Stadium on September 1, 2014 in Rome.
Pope Francis takes a group photo with the players of the 'Partita Interreligiosa Della Pace' at Paul VI Hall on September 1, 2014 in Vatican City.
Pope Francis shakes hands with Arjen Robben of FC Bayern Muenchen during a private audience at The Vatican October 22, 2014 in Vatican City.
Pope Francis shakes hands with Manuel Neuer of FC Bayern Muenchen during a private audience at The Vatican October 22, 2014 in Vatican City.
(From left) Philipp Lahm, Manuel Neuer and CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge of FC Bayern Muenchen present Pope Francis a team jersey during a private audience at The Vatican October 22, 2014 in Vatican City.
Pope Francis shakes hands with Robert Lewandowski of FC Bayern Muenchen during a private audience at The Vatican October 22, 2014 in Vatican City.
Pope Francis shakes hands with Xabi Alonso of FC Bayern Muenchen during a private audience at The Vatican October 22, 2014 in Vatican City.
A banner depicting Diego Maradona, Pope Francis and Lionel Messi hangs before the start of Argentina's Copa America semifinal match against Paraguay on June 30, 2015 in Concepcion, Chile.
Spanish club Villarreal visits the Vatican prior to a Europa League match against AS Roma.
A journalist, broadcaster and consultant, Ben Lyttleton also wrote the book on PKs with his “Twelve Yards: The Art and Psychology of the Penalty Kick.”