Ok, thanks for clarifying.
I was just thinking (and maybe this is too simplistic) that a manager is sacked for poor results - results which are ultimately delivered by the players. So if results are bad enough to warrant sacking a manager surely that means the players haven’t been performing. In that case can under performance really be the sole fault of the manager? Can players be playing at full capacity of their talents and still not succeeding?
I tend to think that poor results are a mix of blame for all involved parties.
Lots of things going on and it's hard to pin down exactly I'd say.
Players could be performing their manager's instructions perfectly well but still getting bad results if those instructions are badly thought out. They might just be bad tactics that don't work. Or they might be tactics that would work well but only with a different set of players, not playing to their strengths, asking them to do things they're no good at etc. There's degrees within that too, some managers allowing more individual decision making, some wanting everyone to stick to a rigid gameplan.
If you give more freedom and they play bad in the situations where they have that freedom you might say that's players' fault. You could also say it's the manager's for giving that freedom when they may have thrived with very specific instructions. Would imagine some players perform better when they're allowed to think for themselves a bit more, others needing to be told exactly what to do at all times.
Communication comes into it. They might have a good plan but be rubbish at explaining it and drilling it in training leaving everyone confused and unclear as to what they're supposed to be doing in certain moments. Other times players might just go rogue, or be stupid, forgetting what they should be doing / who they should be marking / what kind of runs they should be making even if observers would think the manager explained it well.
Some players are just idiots which may in turn bring the question why they were signed and how much of a role the manager had in bringing them to the club. As we know, different managers have different amounts of influence when it comes to transfers.
Motivation a bit of a contentious one. Could be uninspiring with players not being up for it but the counter to that is that a player should be able to motivate himself.