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There were mixed reꦿactions💖 on Sunday morning when Watford announced the sudden departure of popular manager Marco Silva from the club.
In the early part of the season, Silva transformed the Hornets from relegation b𒐪attlers to European candidates with a mixture of positive attacking football and shrewd signings.
The club’s away form was par🍰ticularly impressive, with convincing wins over Southampton, Newcastle United and S🌳wansea, as well as defeating Arsenal at home.
Richarlison arrived from Fluminense and immed🌌iately set the Premier League alight, with Kiko Femenia, Will Hughes and Nathaniel Chalobah also enjoying strong starts.
If it wasn’﷽t for a serious knee injury suffered in September, Chalobah would surely have gone on to be one ofꦫ the stars of Watford’s season, with the ex-Chelsea midfielder already having achieved England honours.
Former Derby midfielder Hughes also impressed before he suffered injury, having scored in consecutive games agains🉐t West Ham and Newcastle.
Watford conceded plenty, though, and defence has been an issue all season. Nonetheless, the huge number of goals scored meant thaꦡt Watford looked set to establish themselves as a secure top half outfit.
That all changed in October, when Everton sacked Ronald Koeman and quickly i🌊dentified Silva as their replacement.
The Portu🧔guese ℱremained quiet on rumours linking him away from the club although, crucially, he never made a concrete statement that he wanted to stay.
One of the reasons Watford for Silva’s sacking was “the unwarranted approach by a Premier League rival”, which they clearly believed was a major factor in the club’s downturn in form – they have only won three games in 13 since th⛄at approa🅺ch in mid-November.
After Silva’s sacking, Watford quickly acted, bringing in foജrmer Malaga coach Javꦅi Gracia as his replacement.
The Spaniard, who signed a 18 month contract, has gained a reputation for taking points off big teams, with one of his ♑most famous results being a win over Barcelona at the Nou Camp.
Gracia’s Malaga went unbeaten against Real Madrid home and away in the 201♉5/16 season, and also beat Atletico, recording consecutive top ten finishes from 2014/15.
Wh💮en Malaga were struggling at the foot of La Liga earlier this season, many fans were calling for Gracia to return to the post he held until May 2016, before he joined Russian giants Rubin Kaz𓂃an.
His defensive coaching is sound, a quality whi🦋ch he will need to employ on a Watford side who have shipped plenty of goals this season.
Only Stoke in 17th have conceded more goals than🌱 tౠhe Hornets.
He also speaks good English, meaning he will not need a translator – something which Walter Mazzarri consistently used when talking to his players and the press, 𒀰to the disappointment of the Watford board.
Gracia is entering a club which is not known for sticking with🌊 managers, and he has never stayed at a club longer than two years, but his track record in terms of results is positive and if he can get off to a good start, Watford could finally be set for a spell of managerial stability in the Premier League.