Silva Bullet (and coup de Gracia?)

OK, so there was supposed to be a Leicester report. Sorry about that. Birthday drinks on Saturday night delayed that exercise and by the time I got round to sitting down events had moved on apace and an account of events at the KP Stadium had become almost superfluous, like a restaurant review of a curry shop that shut down a week ago. In brief then… Leicester’s always a great away trip even though we always lose. Karnezis done great. We looked tough and pretty competitive and could have nicked a point but didn’t; Leicester had enough to exploit the cracks in our side and deserved the win. Oh, and Lee Probert did well enough; we moan when they’re awful so credit where it’s due. Yes, the Deeney “goal” was probably onside but a marginal decision advised by his assistant. Andre Gray and Troy together worked again, but Gray needs some of whatever made Luther so indifferent to missing chances back in the day. He missed loads, of course… but was always there for the next one and never seemed to let it bother him. Each open goal that Gray’s positive running earns looks like a traumatic experience for the striker.

Some of those cracks are long-standing of course, not news. Which brings us to the decision to get rid which disrupted our Sunday morning. It is a decision, first and foremost, which is a Good Thing. Some might argue that this is overdue but even those would surely concede that this is decisive action taken with a new guy lined up and engineered with minimum fuss. None of Everton’s hapless floundering in search of a new coach, job done.

So…that’s a good thing. Handled well. As for the decision itself? There’s regret there, I think, probably on all parts. “A shame”. The opening couple of months of the season saw the best football we’ve played for a very long time, certainly the best football we’ve played in the top flight since GT’s time. The contrast has been the most startling thing, the contrast between that and what has followed, much as there were steps of decline that featured a flattering win at Newcastle, a forgivable defeat against United. Leaving Evertongate aside for a minute, there’s stuff to be learned about how a manager reacts when things stop working. Alex Neil at Norwich suffered from this, the best young manager around until Premier League Norwich lost a game or two and then he wasn’t. Silva never looked like recovering his position, of righting the ship.

The persistence with a system that patently doesn’t suit the situation or available personnel is surely high on the charge list. A high energy game looked fabulous with a (largely) fit squad in August, less so with leggy players in December. Richarlíson has faded to nothing, I don’t remember the last impactful game he had, our fullbacks are repeatedly exposed, our forward line doesn’t really work for ANY of our forwards (excepting the point against Southampton, won by Troy Deeney through force of personality). Injuries, yes, and that’s another question altogether. But we have a stronger squad and better players available than performances have reflected.

You suspect that Silva would have been afforded more time but for the Everton thing, and the fall out therefrom. Indeed, for all the Pozzos’ tiresome reputation as hirers and firers their stated preference is to execute managerial changes at the end of a season, it would have taken more than this to disrupt that policy. In attributing blame however, the wording of a club statement pointing the finger squarely at Everton was odd. Certainly the Toffees’ conduct was graceless, unfitting of a proud club and worthy of every bit of disdain that we’ve thrown at them… but the problem wasn’t the approach itself. It was Silva’s response to it. Had the Everton thing not happened, the potential for such an issue would always have been there.

At the time we observed that going to Everton would do his reputation no favours, since big budget or no he’d scampered too quickly up the ladder; should he fail at Goodison any chance of another Watford going for him thereafter would be tampered by his shameless ambition and lack of judgement. Now he ends up in the same place without the Everton pay-off. He’ll get a job somewhere of course, and may well learn from this experience but his inability to deal with Stuff Going Wrong – be it on the pitch or the failure to secure his preferred targets off it – will be as much of a concern to any potential employer.

As for the Hornets… an interesting range of reactions from media and pundits. That there are those saying “who do Watford think they are, tenth in the League and getting rid of a bright young manager” should be no surprise… this is the sort of stuff you expect from your mate who doesn’t really follow Watford and only pays attention when Something Happens. Forgivable on your mate’s part, less so on the part of those paid to be experts on the back of half-arsed pub talk (that’s you, Michael Owen). Martin Samuel’s odious clickbait is at one extreme beyond that – rather than reading it, why not click on “Daily Mail” in NewsNow and do yourself a favour by Hiding Publication?

But otherwise there’s been a refreshingly balanced take on the affair from the Times (behind their paywall), the Guardian and the Independent. Reassuring that someone’s paying attention. Not that the Pozzos and Scott Duxbury care, particularly.

The paradox remains, however, that in this which is surely the second most successful period in the club’s history (much as definitions of success may vary), we look back arguably at only Slavisa Jokanovic of our managers under the Pozzos in a positive light. All managers leave clubs eventually of course and that will almost always take a sheen off… but of those that preceded the Pozzos certainly Dyche, Mackay, Lewington are generally regarded positively. Circumstance and expectation plays a part of course, but nonetheless.

To reiterate, highly significant that Javi Gracia is already in place. Indicative that this has been in the pipeline for a while, and casting a new light perhaps on the lack of incoming traffic thus far in January. Quite what the future holds, whether we add to our numbers, whether players return from treatment to strengthen the fold or whether Carrillo and Richarlíson’s contribution is damaged by their mentor’s departure we will have to wait and see.

Either way, change was needed. Change has arrived.

Yoorns.