Europe’s hottest managers: Jorge Sampaoli has Sevilla challenging Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in La Liga
Bayern Munich boss Carlo Ancelotti is being pushed by new kids on the Bundesliga block
WANT to find out who were the standout managers in Europe last month? Then look no further.
We reveal the upstarts who are challenging the great Carlo Ancelotti in the Bundesliga, a boss who can get the best out of Mario Balotelli and the man who is turning La Liga into a four-team race.
Enrique, Zidane and Simeone’s dominance under threat
The three managerial Kings in Spain – Luis Enrique, Zinedine Zidane and Diego Simeone – are faced with a legitimately menacing intruder.
A man capable of wresting the Spanish crown away from them just as unexpectedly as Simeone converted the Real Madrid/Barcelona two-horse gallop into a three-horse war with Atletico Madrid’s frantic hustle and harry.
Enter Jorge Sampaoli, an Argentine bald-headed bruiser with fire in his belly emanating from a playing career brutally severed by a horrendous leg injury at the age of 19.
His decision to manage was immediate. And so a trend began in the amateur leagues, usurping all manner of opposition, including the football authorities (famously sitting atop a tree shouting instructions at his players when he was barred from entering the playing field).
Climbing the echelons of the managerial ladder via Peru, Ecuador and Chile, he was eventually handed the infamously fraught reigns at Universidad de Chile.
Sampaoli led the club to back-to-back league titles, a proud Copa Sudamericana triumph, and an outstanding journey to the semi-final of the Copa Libertadores.
The Chilean FA came a-calling in 2012 and three years later Sampaoli led this football-frenzied nation to their first ever Copa America title, with mesmeric football, alternating between swift counter-attacking
and possession-football- with-purpose.
Where is he now? Observing the landscape across La Liga’s battlegrounds like a hawk, holding the reigns with utter conviction at Sevilla, in amongst the current managerial greats in the knowledge his team will continue their path of destruction.
A recent tactically majestic 1-0 defeat over Atletico Madrid on October 23 saw Sampaoli vanquish one of his big rivals Simeone.
His next invigorating challenge: Barcelona. Messi. Suarez. Neymar.
Sampaoli can no doubt hear the echoing cries of his own voice, ‘Bring em on!’ as a form of self inspiration to be followed with wilful endeavour by his players.
Mark your diaries for this mouth-watering clash: Sunday, November 6.
Mario Balotelli inspired by Lucien Favre – a perfect match made in Nice
The French Riviera is the ideal companion for Nice, both side by side offering beauty and quaint luxury along the Cote d’Azur, but even the residents within find their surroundings less breath-taking than the existing view from the summit of Ligue 1 against the absolute highest of expectations.
Six points clear of their closest rivals, Nice’s new manager Lucien Favre was voted German manager of the year four times in recent years, having led Hertha Berlin and Borussia Monchengladbach to
top-four finishes on budgets worthy of second -division doldrums.
No wonder Everton came a-calling during the summer, but it is a wonder they dilly-dallied over his signature - Ronald Koeman proving the preferred option.
Well, Favre dilly-dallied not a bit, his patience finally running out and opting instead for the picturesque shores of Nice.
One companion walking – actually, sprinting – alongside Favre is Mario Balotelli, the pair equally motivated to re-ignite their once-blossoming careers.
The Italy striker scored just two goals in 36 league appearances over the last two seasons – but now carries a goal-scoring confidence burgeoning from six goals in just five Ligue 1 appearances, including a man-of- the-match brace in a 4-0 thrashing of second-placed Monaco.
Nice are not averse to resurrecting the waning careers of genuine football geniuses - last season Hatem Ben Arfa scored 17 championship goals (11 more than any other season), prompting PSG to secure his services in July.
Neither are Nice averse to bringing through players from their youth academy, something which Favre was renowned for doing on a scale arguably more successful than any other manager in Europe.
Not only at Hertha and Monchengladbach, but also when he secured FC Zurich’s first Swiss title for 25 years and, inviting more youngsters to travel the divide between youth and first team, repeated the feat the following year!
Favre’s youngsters are currently lapping up their status as table toppers in France, but the now-famous adage ‘you can’t win anything with kids’ will be the ultimate challenge for Favre to prove wrong, as once did a manager-turned-knight at Manchester United 20 years ago!
Youth against wealth is Favre’s major obstacle, with all and sundry very conscious of Paris Saint-Germain’s commercially-supreme shadow closing in after a bumpy start.
Six points separate Lucien Favre from Unai Emery, but neutrals throughout the country are hoping this season is far removed from last season’s effortless – and ultimately very uninteresting – procession to PSG’s crown title.
Ancelotti and Tuchel overshadowed in the Bundesliga
Carlo Ancelotti, two-times Champions League winner as a player and three-times winner as a manager. Thomas Tuchel, as magnetic a manager at Borussia Dortmund as his predecessor Jurgen Klopp.
Ancelotti’s winning, albeit unimpressively. Tuchel is dawdling, unexpectedly.
With Borussia and their high-quality squad already eight points behind Bayern after just nine Bundesliga matches, the press – not to mention Bayern supporters – are having a field day!
But two other managers are occupying the back pages and the public’s fervour with stories to rival, or even exceed, Leicester City’s remarkable miracle of last season.
RB Leipzig were founded in 2009 with the publicly-stated objective of reaching the top flight within eight years.
Seven years later, they made it! A meteoric rise that makes Wimbledon’s successes – the Crazy Gang and AFC – look like snail trails.
Leipzig decided to begin their inaugural Bundesliga campaign this season by recruiting a relative unknown quantity, Ralph Hasenhuttl, to lead the club into what must have felt like an impending cauldron of intimidating giants.
Hasenhuttl was unperturbed and inspiring at the opening-game press conference.
He said: “I have learned that you can get far as a climber. The euphoria of the climb still resonates with this club and our task now is to take the momentum into the season.
"If we manage to impose our game, to act with courage, to function as a unit and not let us be intimidated by big names, I am convinced that a lot is possible!”
Prophetic words can only be defined as ‘prophetic’ when those words materialize into deeds.
Leipzig now sit second in the Bundesliga, two points adrift of Bayern, remain unbeaten this season, and include Thomas Tuchel’s Dortmund as one of their proudest scalps.
So high is unexpectedness associated with this little miracle of a story, and yet another one sits alongside once again on a scale absolutely unanticipated prior to this season’s curtain raiser.
The Bundesliga’s youngest ever manager, Julian Nagelsmann, recruited at 28 years old to grasp the reigns at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, has guided his squad to five Bundesliga wins in succession, an achievement only accomplished once in the club’s history.
Like Leipzig, just one place above them in the table, Hoffenheim remain unbeaten this season.
The German public has so endeared itself to these two underdogs, and although everyone believes they will tumble down the ladder like many aspiring underdogs before them, pub talk about the possibility of another ‘Leicester’ is nonetheless doing the rounds.
When one unfathomable dream is converted into an almost shocking reality, as Claudio Ranieri managed last season, others begin to believe; so here’s to Ralph Hasenhuttl, Julian Nagelsmann and their band of merry men, and the hope that their success continues its beautiful journey with a very merry ending.
A Brit succeeding abroad
Gary Neville’s tenure at Valencia was – by his own typically frank admission – a disaster last season.
So, when was an English manager celebrated for his exploits abroad?
Actually, not too long ago, six years to be precise, when Steve McClaren won the Eredivisie title for the
first time in FC Twente’s history in 2010.
An astonishing feat that was just as astonishingly uncelebrated on English shores.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Norwegian triumph with Molde five years ago was given more credit than the former England manager’s triumph in Holland.
We now have a paltry contingent of six British managers amongst a possible 660 clubs throughout Uefa’s member states outside the UK - a stark contrast to football’s origins in Europe during which time
British managers were the most sought-after commodities as the sport first lit the flames of an intrigued continent over a century ago.
On a significantly brighter note, one of those contingent is staking a claim for championship glory. John Carver should stir the memory bells as the man who took over on an interim basis from Alan Pardew
at Newcastle United a couple of years ago.
His bigger claim to fame – and one that may ring fewer bells – is his brief period 12 years ago as
assistant to Sir Bobby Robson from whom he also took over when Robson was sacked by Freddie Shepherd.
In his capacity as caretaker at Newcastle on each occasion, Carver was not able to cement a reputation as a manager with head-coach know-how.
The 51-year old is looking to change that at Cypriot club AC Omonia.
Desperate financial troubles, 14 new players in the summer, chosen by technical director – and ex-Newcastle player – Nikos Dabizas, a squad with over 10 nationalities to communicate with, and knitting
together this collective mix-and- match with five wins and three draws from his opening nine league encounters, Carver has done a stunning job.
Omonia is the unabashed giant of Cypriot football, having won 20 league titles. Expectations amongst their notoriously vociferous support – currently banned from matches due to crowd trouble – are
very high, and frustrations are equally palpable as they hanker after a first league title since 2010.
Carver was aware of the situation when he took over, and is also aware that five managers in the Cypriot top flight have already been sacked this season! Omonia’s
board have faith in Carver, which will hopefully be repaid by a man
whose heart-on- the-sleeve passion remains his strongest asset.
Top 5 managers in October
1 Craig Harrison (The New Saints, Wales) – after five league titles in a row, Harrison’s thirst for success shows no sign of wilting after beginning the season with a 13-game winning run.
2 Julian Nagelsmann (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, Germany) – five wins on the bounce, a club record in the Bundesliga, is exemplary for the 29-year old manager.
3 Lucien Favre (OGC Nice, France) – Topping the French league, six points clear of their closest rivals, Favre is now proving his worth outside Germany.
4 Paulo Fonseca (Shakhtar Donetsk, Ukraine) – following in Mircea Lucescu’s footsteps with a 13-match unbeaten league campaign.
5 Mircea Lucescu (FC Zenit, Russia) – Still unbeaten this season, lying second on goal difference, and a 100 per cent Europa League record including three clean sheets, Lucescu is proving being 71 is no barrier.
Longest current league winning runs
Craig Harrison (The New Saints, Wales) – 13 wins
Bekim Shotani (Trepca 89, Kosovo) – 8 wins
Rui Vitoria (Benfica, Portugal) – 7 wins
Georgi Dermendzhiev (Ludogorets Razgrad, Bulgaria) – 7 wins
Adrian Sosnovschi (Milsami Orhei, Moldova) – 7 wins
Longest current unbeaten league runs
Alyaksandr Yermakovich (BATE Borisov, Belarus) – 17 matches
Stale Solbakken (FC Copenhagen, Denmark) – 15 matches
Matjaz Kek (Rijeka, Croatia) – 14 matches
Urs Fischer (FC Basel, Switzerland) – 13 matches
Paulo Fonseca (Shakhtar Donetsk, Ukraine) – 13 matches
Craig Harrison (The New Saints, Wales) – 13 matches
Highest goals-per-game scored
Craig Harrison (The New Saints, Wales) – 3.85 goals per game
Julio Cesar Ribas Vlacovich (Lincoln FC, Gibraltar) – 3.6 goals per game
Brendan Rodgers (Celtic, Scotland) – 3.1 goals per game
Georgi Dermendzhiev (Ludogorets Razgrad, Bulgaria) – 3.09 goals per game
Luis Enrique (Barcelona, Spain) – 3 goals per game
Lowest goals-per-game conceded
Mehmet Shehu (Partizani, Albania) – 0.11 goals per game conceded
Julio Cesar Ribas Vlacovich (Lincoln FC, Gibraltar) – 0.2 goals per game conceded
Thomas Christiansen (APOEL FC, Cyprus) – 0.22 goals per game conceded
Dino Toppmoller (F91 Dudelange, Luxembourg) – 0.33 goals per game conceded
Adrian Sosnovschi (Milsami Orhei, Moldova) – 0.33 goals per game conceded
Battles to watch in November
England: Jose Mourinho (Manchester United) vs Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) - Saturday, Nov 19
Spain: Diego Simeone (Atletico Madrid) vs Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid) - Saturday, Nov 19
Germany: Thomas Tuchel (Borussia Dortmund) vs Carlo Ancelotti (Bayern Munich) - Saturday, Nov 19
Italy: Maurizio Sarri (Napoli) vs Simone Inzaghi (Lazio)
Russia: Igor Shalimov (Krasnodar) vs Mircea Lucescu (FC Zenit) Sunday, Nov 27