The point I’m making is it’s a huge gamble. I’m not knocking his abilities. I’m just saying that in our position, namely the club with the worst form record of anybody in the division since November, it’s a huge gamble bringing in a youngish coach with no experience of our league and who failed badly in his last appointment which coincidentally was also out of his own country. Yes people will say that any managerial appointment is a gamble and that’s true, but there are some which would appear lower risks than others, and this isn’t one. It’s a huge call. It could backfire spectacularly. At no point today by the way have I said sacking Silva was not totally the right call. I just think we’ve taken a massive gamble with his replacement. Had we appointed him last summer, he’d have had time to settle and train the players and play pre-season matches and we could all indulge in a more considered discussion about his ability and potential. But we didn’t. He’s been parachuted in now to a relegation battle. He has to hit the ground running.
He looks a bit like a slightly more handsome Joka to me - has a similarly frightening weather-beaten brow and dead little eyes - could be a positive omen...
So have we appointed him yet? I’m a bit confused. Or is it all speculation and rumours? Looks like a good guy but the question is can he get the players back to their beat both in training and mentality wise?
Oh no! Are you sure you want to say that? You know what’ll happen in a few months if it all goes to shitt! I can’t disagree with much of the rest of your post, apart from staying up. It will still be a battle because of the injury situation, Richarlison and doucoure looking fatigued and whether the rest actually have the fight within them. I have no idea about this coach, hopefully he will be able to rally the troops and Watford will benefit from new manager bounce.
My algorithm that distills all Watford news into predictions indicates our first signing of this new era will be a right back called Hami McHamstring from West Ham.
Three tasks. To stabilise us, avoid relegation, get us into the top 10 and play exciting football. Four tasks.
Yes, it's a gamble, just as all appointments are. You have to look at the bottom line. Have our possibilities of staying up improved by sacking Silva and appointing Gracia? I would say yes. That's basically it. We cannot afford to go down. I said at the time during the Everton saga that it had lit a fuse. It would all end in tears and this day has finally come. Watford's owners have been put in an intolerable position and have acted the best way they could have. They blocked Everton's approach, but Silva heard about this and told his representatives to chase Everton. This is why it was so prolonged. Silva wanted to go after just 9 games. That wouldn't sit well with any owner of any club in the world. Should Watford have let Silva go for £15m? No, absolutely not because it gives the wrong impression. People would have questioned the club's ambition and this window some of our players would have been cherry-picked when Silva came calling. The owners will always do what they feel it the best thing for the club. It's a hard decision and I'm personally sad at how it has turned out. When we appointed Silva I was delighted. I thought we had a fantastic young coach, and the way it started it, he looked like the real deal. But as soon as there were problems, he couldn't sort it out. He's not a master tactician. He's very personable, handles the press well and looks the part. I think this has taken him a long way in the game. He had a fantastic home record before coming to Watford, but in all honestly, what's been served up at Vicarage Road this season has been the worst in years. We've been poor for the vast majority of games. Just 3 wins and none of those were convincing. The owners believe in this new guy and we have to be on board and support him. We only need 4 wins to stay up and this should be achieved with a better organised defence. It won't take a lot to turn us around but the only way this can be achieved quickly is by appointing a new coach. Funds will be released for new players as well don't forget, which should be a big help.
For an uneducated, working class white Englishman like me, could somebody tell me how to pronounce his name? Else I’ll have to take a cue from Derek Payne’s commentary.
At least he will have over 10 days to assess the players before we play again. We can't afford any more injuries, so I reckon we will put out a largely reserve and development team in the cup.
The only real question, is "If not him then who?". I'm not sure that any of those with prem experience recently jettisoned by our rivals would have been any better. He's very much a wild card appointment but that was deemed a better option than the status quo.
Our biggest issue is the defence. It's shambolic. Players are constantly in the wrong positions, and it shows there has been very little direction in this area over the past two seasons. Gracia will sort this out immediately. He is strong in this area. I think he could be quietly spectacular. He's not sexy, he's not a media darling, but he will quietly get on with the job and there will not be any issues with him and the board. He's a real team player in that sense. I was impressed with him when he was in Spain.
I suspect you, like many, are so overjoyed to be rid of Silva that it’s totally natural to then wax lyrical over his replacement simply because he’s not Silva! There are two separate issues today. Sacking Silva. Appointing Gracia. I’m very pro the first and very worried about the second. The consensus seems to be that anybody but Silva will keep us up. Now we’ve changed coach, we will be fine. New Head Coach bounce etc. People who hated Silva now seem to be clinging to every positive fact they can about our new boss. What I’m saying today is while I’m glad Silva has gone, I think we are taking a huge gamble in his replacement. Not in replacing him, but who we have chosen to do so. I think some people are blinded today simply because Silva has gone and aren’t questioning this new appointment enough.
Here’s a wild guess but I bet he knows that it’s the best league in the world and that all players want to come here and it’s been his ambition to work here.
According to Adam Leventhal, Gracia will meet with the squad tomorrow and assess ins and out this week.
I bet 90% of that is down to the players concerned. No-one will ever make a defender out of Zeegelaar. Or possibly Janmaat.
Or defence has been a mess. From the beginning of the season we were conceding from set pieces. The number of centre back pairings hasn’t helped and neither have the injuries. A problem I noticed over the last couple of months is the amount of times the full backs were caught out of position, in attacking positions high up field. A simple pass into the space behind them and we were under the cosh and often conceded from this. A couple of loan signings might help get those four wins. I think Deeney will be needed to show his leadership skills. We miss the energy of Cleverly. I still think that Richarlison needs a rest but can’t see it happening.
Should that read ‘will TRY to sort it out’?! Sorting out our defence has proved beyond the wit of several previous Head Coaches, such as Mazzarri who arrived with a big reputation for sorting out defences! And does contain mostly Championship quality players in your opinion and several others on this forum too! He will be parachuted into a new country and league and have just days to do so. Any new defensive signings will equally have to find their feet very fast.
I'm not overjoyed that's Silva has gone. I'm really surprised you made that remark. I had big hopes for him and I'm sad about how it turned out, but it was inevitable it would happen. I'm making the best of the situation. What's the point in being downbeat over the new appointment? A new coach gives new hope that there will be a change in fortune. That has to be a good thing. Something had to be done.....doing nothing would have been far too damaging. The big gamble would have been keeping Silva.
Just been watching Barcelona 0-1 Malaga on youtube when Gracia was boss. The defending was very well organised which can only be a good thing for us.
But I don't think the defence has been given any consideration. QSF proved you can be tight with limited players. His record at one point was 30 goals conceded from 29 games, which was incredibly good. So it can be done. Now I'm not advocating we play an ultra defensive style, but good organisation goes a long way. We won't be victims to those sucker punches served by Swansea and Palace. Teams like goal shy Huddersfield would not run riot against us. It will stop all this unnecessary haemorrhaging of points. I feel there is now optimism and cause for hope for our season. Give the new guy a chance, he certainly deserves that.
Well I think it was a fair assumption to be made, as you’ve been very critical of him of late, and with total justification. I do stress ‘of late’ here because like me, you were a fan at first, but like me and many others the attraction wore off after his behaviour during the Everton approach and subsequent results. I think it’s fair to say most of the forum are overjoyed he’s gone. I base that on reading all the posts today. I’m fairly pleased myself. The point I’m trying to make is today has brought two pieces of news. Silva goes. Grazia to be appointed. I’m just suggesting that in our happiness at the first, we give due consideration as well to the merits of the second. Is Grazia really a decent appointment or is the happiness simply that he’s somebody else in charge other than Silva?
I'm glad he's gone, we were only going one way with him here The football at the beginning of the season was brilliant, but as soon as injuries decimated the squad he had no plan B, and more importantly was not interested in having a plan B There is a time for good football but there is a time to be more pragmatic and grind out results
