New research from SBO finds the five unluckiest managers in football, and Mourinho’s claims that Manchester United come top of the list when it comes to poor fortune seem to hold water.
Some football managers just seem to get the worst luck. Whether it’s a desperately-needed penalty hitting the woodwork, or a key player being hit with a red card, or the worst of the worst, an own goal, nothing seems to go right.
Mourinho recently made a statement that Manchester United is the unluckiest team – making him the unluckiest manager. And it turns out he might well be right, according to the new study from SBO.
The Manchester team had more missed chances, fewer penalties saved, fewer last second clearances, and more woodwork hits than any other.
Meanwhile, the least unlucky (though maybe not the luckiest, considering his recent departure from the position) manager in the Premier League was Aitor Karanka – having brought Middlesbrough into the League in the first place.
Likewise, Ranieri could probably claim he must have broken a mirror at some point, after winning the Premier League one year and getting sacked the next. But despite that, Leicester City themselves don’t rate particularly highly as either lucky or unlucky in these latest rankings – so maybe it’s just him.
Lady Luck Takes Her Toll
Mourinho may be suffering, but who else has some unlucky streaks to deal with? Here are the top five:
1. José Mourinho – With 20 trophies under his belt, is he really as unlucky as he says? The numbers say yes, but his track record means he might just overcome it.
2. Arsène Wenger – Despite the 19 trophies in the last 20 years, Arsenal haven’t won the League since 2004.
3. Josep Guardiola – The era-defining former Barcelona and Bayern boss has won almost everything in the game, but his team has one of the higher numbers of offsides and almost as many woodwork hits as Man U.
4. Mauricio Pochettino – One of the most promising young managers in the game, Pochettino traded in a safe job at Southampton to really challenge himself.
5. Slaven Bilic – Bilic has been around, managing at club and international level. But he’ll need some luck to turn West Ham into a serious top six team after years of yo-yoing between the leagues, and as number 5 unluckiest manager, it may not be on the cards.
Whichever team you support – or whether you think it comes down to more skill than luck – make sure to check out the stats and the five least unlucky managers on SBO.net.
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(via SBO.net).