Tag: Ivan Juric

Atalanta s have sacked manager Ivan Juric following a 3-0 home defeat by Sassuolo at the weekend, which left the club languishing in 13^th  place in Serie A after 11 matches.

The Croatian, appointed in June to succeed Gian Piero Gasperini after his nine-year tenure, struggled to replicate the form that led to Atalanta finishing third in the standings last season.

They have managed two league wins this campaign and trail leaders Inter Milan by 11 points.

He was recently upbraided  following a touchline row with Nigeria International striker Ademola Lookman,  

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“Atalanta BC announces that Ivan Juric has been relieved of his duties as first team coach,” the club said in a statement. “Atalanta BC would like to thank Ivan Juric and his staff for their hard work and wishes them all the best for the future.”

The 50-year-old became AS Roma manager after the sacking of Daniele De Rossi in September 2024, but lasted less than two months in the job before being fired.

He then took charge of Southampton in December of the same year, only to leave the club a day after their relegation from the Premier League.

Former Fiorentina boss Raffaele Palladino has been tipped by local media to be the new manager of Atalanta, who prepare to travel to Napoli on November 22 after the international break.

Atalanta new manager Ivan Juric has urged the club management to try to dissuade club attacker Ademola Lookman from leaving this summer.

Lookman is a target for Premier League club like Arsenal, Liverpool and La Liga champions Barcelona, but according to Juric, the reigning African Footballer of the Year is very much in his plans for next season.

 “The idea would be to keep both Lookman and Ederson, even if the club has clear ideas on the market and I have not made any request on players, not even on those I have had,” said Juric, who previously coached Southampton in the EPL.

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Lookman was in good form for Atalanta last season, registering 20 goals and 7 assists from 40 appearances across all competitions.

The 27-year-old has one-year left on his contract with La Dea and it is yet to be seen if he will be offered a new contract.

Ivan Juric admitted Southampton must learn from their mistakes and solve the “huge problems” that led to their record-setting relegation from the Premier League.

Southampton were condemned to relegation in record time after a 3-1 defeat at Tottenham on Sunday.

Juric’s bottom of the table side have lost 25 of their 31 top-flight games in a wretched campaign that will end with their return to the Championship after one season.

Southampton’s fate was sealed by Brennan Johnson’s first-half brace and a Mathys Tel penalty, with Mateus Fernandes’ late effort little consolation for the fans who travelled to north London to see the last rites of their team’s doomed season.

Relegation with seven fixtures left gives Southampton an unwanted Premier League record, surpassing Derby and Huddersfield’s relegations with six games left in 2008 and 2019 respectively.

 “It is clear if your last two years in the Premier League, you don’t compete and are relegated too easy then it means there are huge problems in lots of situations,” Juric said.

“I think now is a really important moment to understand all the mistakes the club (made) in the last three or four years and start to create something really good because these fans deserve it.”

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Juric arrived in December to replace the sacked Russell Martin, but the former Roma boss was unable to stop Southampton’s slide towards relegation.

They have won only twice in the league all season, making it all the more surprising to Juric that the Southampton fans at Tottenham did not turn on the players at the final whistle.

“A new experience. I said to the players, they have to be really thankful they have fans like this. It was something incredible the way they love their team, even the players that we are relegated with,” Juric said.

“This one I can say is something incredible. They show love in this moment, it is great English culture, great Southampton culture, it is incredible.”

Southampton still have one goal left as they try to avoid being the worst team in Premier League history by bettering Derby’s current record-low total of 11 points from 2007-08.

Juric is desperate to avoid that fate and said he wants to lead their Championship promotion bid next season.

“The goal has to be that, to avoid being the worst team in Premier League history,” he said.

“I am manager of Southampton and it is easy to say, ‘now I want to go’ – we have to keep working. We owe that to our fans and this is our goal.

“It is really good to be a coach in the Premier League and if I took the long way to come back here, I am ready.”

Meanwhile, Ange Postecoglou was relieved Tottenham claimed a first win in five top-flight matches ahead of Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final first leg against Eintracht Frankfurt.

Postecoglou has come under fire from frustrated fans amid mounting speculation that he will be sacked if he doesn’t win the Europa League.

“Every time we went forward in the first half we looked dangerous and as threatening as we’ve looked for quite a while,” he said.

“Overall the important thing is we got the win, scored three goals and everyone got through unscathed and ready for a big night on Thursday.”

Roma sacked Ivan Juric, less than two months after hiring him to replace Daniele De Rossi, as the Serie A club lurched deeper into crisis following Sunday’s 3-2 home defeat to Bologna.

Juric, who was hired until the end of the season in September, was dismissed with Roma languishing in 12^th  place in Italy’s top flight, just four points above the relegation zone after 12 matches.

 “We would like to thank Ivan Juric for his hard work these past weeks,” said Roma in a statement. “He handled a difficult environment with the utmost professionalism, and for that we are grateful. We wish him all the best in his future endeavours.”

Italian media report that former Italy coach Roberto Mancini is the front-runner to become Roma’s fourth coach of 2024 following Juric, De Rossi and Jose Mourinho, who was fired in January.

Mancini is available after losing his job as coach of the Saudi Arabia national team, a position he took after surprisingly resigning from his Italy post in August last year.

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 “The search for a new head coach has already begun and we expect an announcement in the coming days,” added Roma.

Whoever takes charge will arrive at a delicate time as supporters fume at both Roma’s players and the direction of the club under billionaire American owner Dan Friedkin.

The sudden sacking in September of club icon De Rossi, who had signed a three-year contract in the summer after guiding the capital club to the Europa League semi-finals, enraged fans.

Senior players Lorenzo Pellegrini and Bryan Cristante have been repeatedly targeted with boos from the stands following rumours around Rome that they had a hand in De Rossi being fired.

De Rossi was sacked after Roma picked up just three points from their opening four Serie A fixtures but Juric has failed to bring supporters to his side after just four wins from 12 matches in all competitions.