Jose Mourinho is under serious pressure at Tottenham Hotspur right now.
Truth be told, you'd be forgiven for wondering whether 'The Special One' has lost his touch ever since he won the 2014/15 Premier League title during his second spell at Chelsea.
Since then, Mourinho has been without a league trophy, winning just the League Cup and Europa League, while being sacked by the Blues and Manchester United in the space of three years.
Mourinho's recent struggles
And contrary to the adage that Mourinho always performs in his second season in charge, Spurs' sophomore effort under the legendary coach has descended into farce in recent weeks.
What was once a title charge in north London has now descended into a lame bid for Champions League football with just three Premier League wins since November.
And with four league defeats in their last five games as well as an FA Cup exit at Everton, it's easy to see why Mourinho could be facing his third dismissal at the hands of an English footballing giant.
Best managers of the century
However, amongst all the negativity surrounding the Portuguese, there has been an unexpected ray of light courtesy of the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS).
That's because, just as sentiment slamming Mourinho is increasing in volume, the footballing data analysts have looked favorably looked upon the Spurs coach in their latest set of rankings.
The IFFHS named their picks for the 15 best managers of the 21st century, combining their annual statistics for both national team and club coaches before awarding and totalling points accordingly.
Top 15 coaches ranked
But all the maths and details aside, you can check out the full list down below to see why Mourinho shouldn't be feeling too down in the dumps right now in spite of Tottenham's form.
15. Marcelo Lippi - 100
14. Rafael Benitez - 103
13. Luis Felipe Scolari - 110
12. Guus Hiddink - 112
11. Fabio Capello - 120
10. Marcelo Bielsa - 121
9. Didier Deschamps - 131
8. Diego Simeone - 152
7. Vicente Del Bosque - 157
6. Carlo Ancelotti - 165
5. Arsene Wenger - 181
=3. Pep Guardiola - 183
=3. Sir Alex Ferguson - 183
2. Joachim Low - 213
1. Jose Mourinho - 226
GIVEMESPORT's Kobe Tong says
For me, Guardiola has been the best manager of the 21st century.
It's staggering to think that the Manchester City coach has won 30 major honours in less than 13 years of management, winning eight league titles across three of Europe's top five divisions.
And with the Citizens on course to win a third Premier League title in just four years - a rate of success we haven't seen since Fergie's day - I'm happy to toss aside his European struggles as a mere inconvenience.
But regardless of whether you agree with me or not, I'd be pretty surprised if I was alone in raising my eyebrows at Mourinho taking the gold medal, though there's no denying that he deserves a place in the top five.
I can't help feeling that his decade-long drought in the Champions League, half-decade without a league title and four years without a trophy should level out the undoubted success that he enjoyed in the 2000s.
And besides, even if you're the most ardent defender of Mourinho, you'd still have to admit that the way his Tottenham tenure is going, the only way is down as far as his IFFHS ranking is concerned.
