Nigel Pearson - Manager

He was bought in for one job, keeping us up. He's nearly there. I honestly thought we were down on his arrival but fair play he's turned things around. Fat Sam would of been playing the exact type of football. We all want stylish football and a healthy points tally but that wasn't the agenda on his arrival. Results and survival. We've seen glimmers of what's achievable so there's hope for ne t season if he stays. I dont believe he will but am more than happy if he's manager next season.

 

Remember Leicester? They sacked Pearson and won the league the next season.

 

Not as good as convincingly beating Tottenham, Wolves and Chelsea in successive home games. Or taking four points from Man Utd and Liverpool away. Not to mention beating a Man City side who are otherwise back to trouncing everyone.

Those are the kinds of teams, especially the first two with their modest resources, that make you think “if they can do it why can’t we”?

That’s the standard we should be aspiring to at least and we’ve so far failed to reach. I’m in favour of keeping Pearson on and I hope he’s the manager capable of achieving that.

 

We've got to walk first. We've stood still since promotion. We probably had a better forward line in our first season and in the Championship than we do now, although clearly Sarr and Geri are upgrades.

It takes time to build a team incrementally. This is what we've tried to do. Adding a good player here and there. It's all about money though. Who can we afford that will improve us and we are able to sign without more attractive competitors also wanting them. It's a tough market.

Yes, I want us to be up there, defying the odds. But teams like Burnley and Southampton, will fluctuate. Palace were storming at one point. Sheff Utd are performing miracles, but that wont be sustained next season without serious investment.

I can see clearly where our troubles are. We do not have a Danny Ings type striker, we do not have a Cahill leader and the back, we don't have strong central defenders like Dunk, Burns, Mee, Ake etc......and these are all players we could have on our books had we made different choices.

What I see with Watford, is a clear path we need to walk down. We are close to being very good, but our shortfalls are damaging. These shortfalls need addressing and I believe the club will do this in the summer. If we do stay up, which I'm optimistic about now, I believe there will be an awakening in that we got away with it this season. Our fight this season could be a good thing, where complacency could be replaced by ambition.

They know all their good work would be undone by a relegation and it could take years to get back to where we are right now.

We do have some quality players on the books. Geri, Sarr, Doucoure, Hughes & Welbeck. Good solid pros like Capoue, Foster, Masina, Dawson, Cathcart & Deeney, plus we've got those promising players on loan I think we'll try to integrate next season like Suarez, Cucho and Estupinan as well as Pedro.

We've got a good basic set-up, which needs adding to, especially at the back. Up front we may be ok with Cucho and Suarez next season. So it could be a case of adding a couple of strong central defenders, and a few youngsters.

Show faith in Pearson and Shakespeare and allow them to build a team. See where that takes us. As I pointed out in another post, Pearson is currently averaging 50 points per season. Give him a bit more reliability at the back, and someone who is a little more clinical up front, who we may already have, then I can see good things for us next season.

 

Area of expertise-reveal alert?

 

I think we should keep Pearson whether we stay up or not. If we do drop, which of our rivals would we rather went down with us?

 

Everyone knows that m8

 

I don't want to keep Pearson if we stay up. He's one of a few you try to get if you need to stay up. Our player's will stop playing for him next season knowing them. They'll get bored.

 

I last walked out of a school 11 years ago and anyway never (for accidental historical reasons) taught A-level. In short, I'm out of date and you've got me on the book.

 

You have to ask yourself is Pearson a better manager than the many we have had over the years since the Pozzo takeover. Our players seem to get bored quite quickly. Switching from great form to utter rank under virtually every manager we have had. Someone will have a table showing wins draws and loses for each. Honestly, I find myself now totally indifferent, I better the records are pretty similar.

As I was seduced by his masterful command of english, I was all for Pearson to stay for a long time, but now not so sure. However if we stay up I think he deserves the opportunity. You have to wonder if he would want to stay and work under the Pozzo model of running a club. So would not be surprised if we stay up, he collects his bonus and says arriverderci

 

If you listen to his interviews, I think he'd love to stay longer. There are a lot of indicators to this.

He has often said the story of thinking his time as a Premier League manager had gone. Watford's approach took him by complete surprise and it didn't take long for him to agree and take the job.

He was a forgotten man, and ok, he's now back in the shop window, but how many Premier League clubs would take him? I can't think of many if I'm honest. Maybe a Palace if Hodgson retires, or Burnley if Dyche's unrest is to be believed.

He's not sexy enough for the top six, he wouldn't catch the eye of Everton, Leicester, Newcastle. Maybe West Ham would consider him if Moyes went. Basically, I couldn't see him attracting too much interest from established Premier League clubs.

He's said more than once that Watford is a good club, with good people that care about the place. He's said he's had good support from the owners only recently. I think he grabbed the job because it was a Premier League opportunity, maybe as a shop window, who knows, but I think he's really enjoyed being at the club and I think that's genuine.

If he was offered a new contract, I don't see any reason why he would not want to sign it, even if we were in the Championship.

Pearson is not the type of manager who will attract a top job, maybe not even a Premier League job. He's the type of manager who gets a Premier League job because he's promoted a Championship side.

Personally, even though we had that bad run, I'd like him to stay just to see if he can build a strong reliable side, just as he did with Leicester. Yes, I know they struggled under him in the Premier League, but he got them promoted in the first place. They struggled in their first season, like a lot of clubs do, but he worked it out and found a formula that produced winning football. The season after they won the Premier League. That was Pearson's team. All Ranieri did was to keep things ticking over, run things as they were as it was working. As soon as Ranieri tried to change it around, it all went badly wrong.

I'd like to see, if given the chance, Pearson could do something similar at Watford.....but the one caveat to this, is that Shakespeare would have to be by his side. I would not want Pearson running things without his tactical coach close by.

 

I can’t square the circle of seeing the videos of training, all fast one touch football full of tricks and quality, with the hoof we get on match day. If we played like we train we’d be great to watch and I’d keep Pearson in a heartbeat. Unless he’s got deliberately chosen to grind out results just to survive...

 

I think we need to make allowances for the fact that he took over with us rooted to the bottom and the majority of his games in charge have been with us in the bottom three. If he keeps us up then things could be very different next season with a clean slate, starting on the same points as everyone else.

 

Spot on. He was taken to do a job, keep us up. He's edging us closer. Has it been enjoyable, no not all of it. Has he made mistakes, undoubtedly. But he has to take credit to of even got us into this position. Remember he got nobody in January. Well Nacho for some reason. Fat Sam would of done exactly the same but would of demanded signings which was never going to happen.
As you said I'd be more than happy to see him in charge next season, hopefully having cleared some of the deadwood from the squad and he will be championing defenders over the next window that everyone can see is needed except the hierarchy.

 

Yes, the problem for us fans is that every game since he took over has more or less been a must win because of our position. Of course inevitably we haven’t been able to do that in a lot of games leading to a feeling of hopelessness. That wouldn’t be the case with a fresh start, losing to Burnley is par for the course and not a disaster in normal circumstances but it seemed that way with us fighting relegation, but we were only in that fight In the first place because of Nige.

I think at this stage anyone who doesn’t want him in charge must be expecting the owners to instead target and go after a relatively big name manager, and pay a big salary for the first time. Realistically that isn’t going to happen.

 

Not sure it’s fair for you to claim you know the reasons of why some fans might be reluctant to keep him?

At this moment in time I’m on the fence. My opinion at this moment in time is that he will have done a stellar job if he keeps us up. And I’m sure he’s got a nice bonus written into the deal he signed if he achieves that. The club doesn’t necessarily have to give him a new contract to reward him.

It should not be as black and white as ‘stay up, keep him’. If it looks like a large part of next season (or all of it) is played behind closed doors, we won’t have any backing from the stands still which is a factor for us to be successful in the PL - if that happens, then the football needs to be far better than it currently is. Yes we will have the benefit of starting on a level playing field points wise - but this current brand of football will have us sinking fast again. A big conversation will be needed with him regarding playing style and how he plans to implement that. In the current climate, that should be the biggest indicator of whether he should continue or not in the event of us surviving.

Gino hasn’t been scared to pull the trigger before in similar circumstances and we shouldn’t kid ourselves that he hasn’t already had some sort of conversations about a replacement. But it’s not worth going elsewhere if the style isn’t going to change. I don’t think there’s any sensible Watford fan club who realistically thinks we would get a ‘huge’ name. Whoever gets the job, I think should get a deal longer than 1-2 years. And should be unveiled as someone being allowed to stamp their own imprint on the club - I won’t hold my breath for that...

And talk of any manager getting an input into signings ‘Nigel getting his own men’ etc is futile really. He might say we are good enough defensively - but I think Gracia likely said that...and was given an expensive winger and Craig Dawson. We all know what needs to happen for a manager to get a bigger say on transfers.

‘Repeat the same mistakes, end up with the same problem.’

 

Of course I don’t know, I’m just guessing. But ultimately every previous managerial appointment has ended in failure with the exception of Joka. He then went on to fail spectacularly with Fulham and had one of, if not the worst defensive records in premier league history, so we can probably guess how his journey with us will have ended up.

I think it’s fairly well educated guess that if they get rid of Pearson they won’t be going after a well known manager with a proven track record. It will be a Javi type appointment, somebody most of us have never heard of. Who knows, this time might be the time it finally works out, but if Pearson keeps us up then unlike any of our previous managers he certainly won’t have failed, not yet at least.

 

Guess we will just have to see.

Aside from my personal thoughts on whether he should or shouldn’t be given the job, I do hold an option that he won’t be given it. The football on show is just awful to watch and has done him no favours. Some might claim its needed to be this way to grind out some results - but I don’t think it’s done his job prospects much good.

 

The squad needs a major overhaul. Having some stability with the manager/coach would help to counter that to an extent. I think he should stay in place regardless of us going down or not, but my feeling is he won't be here next season.

 

Any chance we could get QSF back for the last 3 games?

I'd rather have Pearson in this situation than any of our recent managers, except maybe Jokanovic.

 

I agree the football hasn’t been great, would that change with a fit Gerry and a forward that isn’t Troy though? We’ve got players like Pedro to be integrated into the team as well that should help. A couple of defensive upgrades would help no end as well, defenders who don’t hoof it at every opportunity, assuming of course Pearson hasn’t directly told them to do that.

I’m inclined to think that with Gerry injured Pearson is just trying to go with what he thinks will work best given our situation, he probably thinks now isn’t the time to experiment and he’s probably right.

I’m not necessarily completely convinced either and also think it may well he a moot point as it’s likely they just won’t want to keep him. But I always used to be excited about which manager we might bring in in seasons gone, back when I thought the owners actually had a grand plan they were heading towards. With the gradual realisation they have no plan when it comes to appointing managers, given the circumstances I’m willing to overlook things like style of play etc when it comes to Pearson.

 

When you talk about the football on show do you mean throughout or just since lockdown? The purple patch after he joined was pretty good. We beat some good teams by playing half-decent football, often relying on a high press. Results had obviously dried up a bit into February but any chance to coach the players or try something different was wrecked by the shutdown.

The post-lockdown football has been poor but I tend to think what we're seeing now is a product of the intense pressure of the situation the players are in. They're reverting to a very base level, often out of panic, and I don't see how that can realistically be coached out of them - especially as the frequency of games probably means training ground time is currently much reduced.

 

With Joka we’d probably lose our last three games 4-3, so at least we’d go down in style. QSF might manage two nil nils and probably go for the record 10-0 against city.

 

There are question marks against him for sure. That 11 game run of only 1 win and 6 points cannot be ignored. We were on a downward slope before the shutdown.

The point to playing behind closed doors next season is a valid one, but surely that means someone who is a "motivator" is more important? Ironically, if we go down, I think Pearson's job prospects are greater. Would we get a better coaching set-up then Pearson/Shakespeare in the Championship? I think not.

He's achieved a lot. We only had 9 points from 17 games when he took over. We were adrift of even Norwich. We've out performed all our relegation rivals by a distance. We've picked up 7 points more than West Ham, 10 more than Bournemouth and Aston Villa and 15 more than Norwich.

He's lost the use of our best player in Geri and has had the shutdown to contend with. That's a lot on his plate and by and large he's done well. He basically had to gain a season's total of points and only had half a season to do it.

For me there are more plus points than negatives. Give him a stronger defence and maybe someone who can finish up front and I'll believe he could really rejuvenate the side. I think he should be given the opportunity to see what he can do. With Pearson I believe we're in safe hands, but maybe he's not the guy to take us to the next level. I think a season or two of just being steady, like we were last season, would be ok right now.

 

Started extremely well - but Liverpool was an anomaly of a result amongst some very poor ones after losing to Villa in injury time.

As I say - it’s difficult to be critical of Pearson due to the nature of the predicament we are in. I’m not against him being given the job. I just don’t think he will be. And I think the club need to have a serious look at a blueprint for the next few seasons when making their decision. I don’t think it should be a case of ‘he kept us up, carry on as you are’.

 

Like a broken record - but worth saying I think Pearson or not, it’s imperative that whoever is in charge is given 2 new CB’s that can play football. That will increase our chances immensely next season. Without that, I think any manager will flounder.

 

Pedro having so little game time is almost certainly a symptom of our situation. Whether you agree or disagree our current predicament means Pearson is probably extremely wary of attempting to blood an 18 year old. I think it’s very much back to basics and stick to what you know. Ironically if we were in Bournemouth or Villas situation he’d probably get more game time because we’d have nothing to lose at this stage. Of course we don’t know, but next season he’s far more likely to start to get more meaningful game time.

 

I’d say our track record with signing young players and giving them a chance lends itself far more to him getting as much game time as he gets now.

When things like that get mentioned, I think some fans talk from a position of what they WANT to see and somehow imagine that it will. Rather than looking at the deeper reality of what’s happened over the past few years and accepting it’s far more likely he gets few minutes, may or may not get shipped out on loan, and we persevere with Deeney. Literally every indication shows that.

 

Yea it is awful at the moment but we've had glimpses of what we can produce. Didn't Everton say the same thing about Fat Sam on securing their premier status and in the end did it quite easily. If we can secure our future in the top flight it's not just the management team that needs looking at.

 

Richarlison and Sarr are obvious exceptions to that. It took a bit of time to get Sarr in the team, but ultimately if Pedro stays with us and isn’t sent out on loan then he will need to get in the team for any potential value to be realised.

Players like Quina and Dele Bashu (sp?) are different because they didn’t actually cost any money. There isn’t really any urgency to get them in the team and the reality is they probably aren’t that good anyway.

 

Richarlison and Sarr cost far more than Joao Pedro. And there was a ready made spot for Richarlison in the team. And Sarr is obviously an exception because he cost £40m. Joao Pedro cost just over £3m. That’s a Marvin Zeegelaar fee. It’s half an Okaka.

I think anyone expecting Joao Pedro to become a regular may have to wait well into next season and probably beyond.

I want him to play/succeed. But it’s nowhere near obvious that he will.

 

Pedro was only just over 3m? I thought I'd read close to 10m.

 

I’m not disagreeing with you, but I think our current predicament is not conducive for Pedro to get any real game time, but next season if we stay up there is a greater chance he will. Whatever his fee, given the fan fair around us signing him I think it’s clear the owners see real potential in him and I think they’ll want him integrated into the team.

 

£3.6m from a look around statistical football websites.