Pressure is mounting ahead of the festive period as a number of top bosses begin to look distinctly uneasy in their respective dugouts.
Ruben Amorim will need a lie down after Manchester United’s wild 4-4 draw with Bournemouth, while Enzo Maresca refused to expand on his previous suggestions that he he is not getting enough support from the Chelsea hierarchy despite his side’s excellent start to the current campaign.
Wilfried Nancy finds himself coming in for increasing criticism after starting his Celtic reign with three straight defeats.
Amorim insists United should have got more from wild Old Trafford clash
Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim rued missed first-half chances after a remarkable match against Bournemouth finished 4-4 at Old Trafford.
United led 2-1 at the break as Casemiro’s stoppage-time header restored their advantage after Antoine Semenyo cancelled out Amad Diallo’s early goal, but they had peppered Djordje Petrovic’s goal with 17 attempts in total and the fact their lead was not larger proved costly.
Bournemouth levelled within 37 seconds of the restart through Evanilson, then took the lead through Marcus Tavernier, only for United to respond with two goals in three minutes – first Bruno Fernandes’ superb free-kick, then Matheus Cunha’s 79th minute strike.
But Bournemouth substitute Junior Kroupi levelled and David Brooks could have won it in injury-time, and Amorim admitted: “If you look at the game you can think we lost the two points in the second half.
“I think we lost the two points in the first half. I think we should have more goals, we should have a different result at half-time.
“It was then similar to Nottingham (Forest, a 2-2 draw in November) where we suffered two goals really fast but we managed to get back to take the advantage and then we need to close the game out.”
Maresca refuses to clarify Chelsea comments
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has refused to clarify comments that he is not getting support at the club.
The Italian was asked to explain his claim made after Saturday’s win over Everton that the previous 48 hours had been his worst at Stamford Bridge but shut down multiple questions about whom he was targeting.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final away to Cardiff, he became visibly impatient with repeated requests for him to make sense of remarks that have fuelled intense speculation he was taking aim at the club’s owners and sporting directors.
“I already spoke about that and I don’t have anything to add,” he said. “It’s Cardiff tomorrow please. I think I was quite clear, no more than that.”
O’Neill urges Celtic to give new boss time
Martin O’Neill pleaded with Wilfried Nancy’s detractors to give him more time to prove himself as he refused to be drawn on whether he would step back into the breach if Celtic were to sack the recently-appointed Frenchman.
Nancy has had a disastrous start to his reign as Hoops boss, with pressure already mounting on the 48-year-old following defeats in each of his first three games in charge against Hearts, Roma and St Mirren.
Veteran O’Neill, who oversaw six wins in seven matches during a ship-steadying stint in interim charge after Brendan Rodgers resigned in October, said: “I could have lost all of those games as well, too”, as he jumped to the defence of the embattled former Columbus Crew boss.
O’Neill added on talkSPORT: “No, you cannot make a judgment on anybody over three games, and the matches were difficult. You have got to give a manager some time.”
Foden believes patience is key to City success
Phil Foden says patience will be the key to picking teams off as Manchester City continue to eat away at Arsenal’s lead in the Premier League title race.
City were made to battle for their 3-0 victory against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Sunday as they moved to within two points of the Gunners – and could be top before Mikel Arteta’s men next play.
City shrugged off a tough start at Palace, taking the lead just before half-time through Erling
Haaland’s header before Foden settled things with a fine hit in the second half.
“The most important thing is patience,” said the England midfielder, whose
excellent season personally continued in south London.
“I think we maybe tried to attack too quickly. In the second half we did a lot better. (Patience) was the key for getting the result. We had more control and more passes, that is the City way. It was a full team performance.”
What’s on today
All eyes will be on the Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday night as League One leaders Cardiff look to score a major League Cup upset over Chelsea – and perhaps deal another blow to Maresca following his comments after a perceived lack of support from the Stamford Bridge owners.
