Tony Adams’ start to life as Granada manager couldn’t have been much worse – a comprehensive home defeat, the wrong records broken, and morale deflated during a key stage of the La Liga campaign.

Having snubbed a coaching role to be amongst Arsenal’s u18 staff this season, Granada made a surprise announcement last Monday – making him their first-team manager.

With 20 points from 32 matches played this term, it’ll take a heroic effort for Adams to help them avoid relegation. They are five points away from safety with only six games remaining.

In similar circumstances which led to the Neville brothers at Valencia last season, Adams has already risked making himself a public laughing stock and given his significant lack of managerial experience, many have wondered why he didn’t opt for a return to the club which cemented his place as a legendary figure.

Granada’s 3-0 defeat to Celta Vigo means they’ve now conceded 13 goals in their last five matches.

Spanish newspaper outlet AS have reportedly heavily criticised the 50-year-old given his tactical decisions, reverting to a traditional 4-4-2 whilst playing defenders out of their favoured positions to devastating effect.

The 3-4-3 and 5-3-2 formations have worked effectively upon occasion this year to secure victories but Adams was also blasted for showing “zero knowledge” about their opponents.

The first manager to pick eleven foreign players in the history of La Liga, he left the likes of Jeremie Boga (on-loan, Chelsea) and Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez on the substitutes’ bench, which proved costly as they lacked creativity and struggled to defend with real conviction when aiming to thwart opposition counter-attacks.