Spanish club Villarreal have sacked coach Fran Escriba after a poor start to the season including a 4-0 defeat by Getafe on Sunday.

Escriba was dismissed on Monday with Villarreal 14th in the La Liga standings after six games in which they also lost to Levante and Real Sociedad, drew with Espanyol and beat Real Betis and Alaves.

"Villarreal have decided to terminate the contract of Fran Escriba as first-team coach,” the club said in a statement. “In the coming hours, the club will name who the new Villarreal coach will be."

Villarreal were promoted to Spain’s top flight in 1998 and 10 years later finished runners-up to Real Madrid in their best league campaign