A stupid question about football, please don't shoot me

[karohemd]

Why do they always sack the coach/manager when a team plays badly and not the crap players? Surely it was them who missed goals/let opponents through/screwed up/whatever. OK, the coach is responsible for the strategy but hardly if the players can't hit the ball.

Oh, and using unfavourable match conditions that apply to both sides equally (weather, state of pitch etc.) is no valid excuse. :oÞ

*ducks from the onslaught of comments this will undoubtedly provoke*

ETA: Told you it was a stupid question, but at least some seem to share my opinion that the players have some share of the blame, too.
Cheers for the insights.

Comments

[briggsy.livejournal.com]

The manager chose the team, he made the mistake of picking an internationally inexperienced goalkeeper for the most important match in over a year for England. The goalkeeper doesn't just keep goal, he orders the defence about into an effective unit, and he sees the entire match.

England looked good in attack, although quite dispirited after the poor start. We certainly aren't crap at football; despite the managerial shortcomings we only just missed out. However our players never seemed to be in the right place when the ball was cleared or richocheted.

In the end it was quite gutting to know that we should have qualified, that our players are good enough, but that the management was so poor it negated it all.