The inevitable

The end is inevitable, Maverick. Your kind is destined for extinction.

We couldn’t, could we? of course we could. There’s a sense of when not if when it comes to Bilić and Watford this season. But one thing we can almost guarantee is he won’t be in the Vicarage Road dugout at the start of next season. There’s obviously mitigating factors in all of this, firstly an appointment of a new Technical Director in Ben Manga, a huge injury crisis, and an owner who’s desperate to return to the Premier League. To lay down a bit of context, Rob Edwards was sacked after 10 league games due to poor performances and there being a lack of identity on the pitch, which was hard to argue against; however, the flipside of that would be how can you build that identity in 10 league games, especially when the summer transfer window was borderline sabotage. The key in this is Scott Duxbury, who went to bat for Rob Edwards, and felt he could build something longer term at the club, something we all fell for, and it’s why Bilić was appointed.

An Illusion has three stages. First there is the setup, in which the nature of what might be attempted at is hinted at, or suggested, or explained.

With the appointment of Bilić, It was clear Duxbury and Pozzo had a change of heart, and wanted immediate return to the Premier League. It’s well documented that Gino has tried to appoint Gennaro Gattuso as many as four times, and was his preferred candidate to take over for The Championship season, but nothing came to fruition. Despite what many think of Bilić being a Pozzo appointment, it was a recommendation by Scott Duxbury through his West Ham links, as well as good reports from former Watford Sporting Director Luke Dowling, who was part of the appointment of Slaven at West Brom; however according to The Athletic, unrest behind the scenes at The Hawthorns which started in the COVID season over unrealistic transfer requests from the Croatian. Bilić is a manager, he wants total control; however, that kind of management isn’t really practical in the modern game, and hasn’t ever been that way under the Pozzo tenure. Despite there being an immediate upturn in performances under him at Watford, that hasn’t sustained, and the team rarely put in a convincing display, despite having the majority of the better players than the teams we come up against. Injuries do have to play a part in this, but I’d still argue our backup options are still good enough to not lose 5-0 on aggregate to Millwall, 6-1 on aggregate to Swansea, fail to beat Blackpool, a 1-1 draw at home to Rotherham, and to not have a single shot until the 88th minute away at Bristol City. Nobody knows what Watford will turn up each week, we just sometimes get by because of the talent on the field, rather than the setup or patterns of play put in place by the coaching staff.

I don't think that scheduling is uncreative. I think that structure is required for creativity.

This is where Ben Manga comes in. The appointment of the former Frankfurt chief scout gives me a different perspective on this season, rightly or wrongly. He signed a five-year deal in December with the aim of making Watford a sustainable Premier League club in that timeframe; now the issue comes in with the January window, in which I personally thought was a solid 7/10 for us. However Bilić’ comments regarding Joao Ferreira where he more or less said he didn’t need him, and then called Ryan Porteous a “cosmetic” signing. The irony in that is both of those players scored on their full debuts and the reason Bilić could luckily still be in a job. The appointment of Manga has given me a yearning that Gino is stepping back from being in full control, and will let him get on with the job. We don’t know this for sure, but there appears to be a disconnect between Gino, Manga and Bilic, with the former two being on the same page. Do I think Watford will get promoted this season? currently no, but I have hope we’re now starting to build an identity, and the January transfer window with the age profiles being a good example of that. Let’s also not forget we spent roughly £12m in January, which is unheard of for us in the Championship. The discontent comes from the requests of the head coach being Pellistri at Manchester United, where ten Hag pulled the plug on the deal as he wants him in the first team, and the other one being reportedly Jake Livermore, where you can see why the club pushed back, and why they went for Sissoko on a free 18 month deal, on top of a wage cut; Livermore wouldn’t and didn’t want the same deal.

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things.

On the whole, I think Bilić has handled the last month or so pretty poorly, especially with his comments in the media about players, which can’t have a good effect on the mood. Prior to January I thought he was doing a good job with the injuries playing a part, but you didn’t know the style of play at any point even when we had a strong XI. On top of preferring Bacuna over Asprilla and Koné who are both clearly superior footballers and long term hopes of the club, and the recent subs and XIs being questionable, just feels off. Do I think he’s a good coach? not particularly, but I don’t think he’s awful. Do I think Watford could get an upgrade? yeah, pretty easily. However, I wouldn’t sack him, unless something drastic happens. Stick until the end of the season and make a change then. What I do think is, if Manga was appointed in the summer, one of Edwards or Bilić would be doing a better job. Am I putting all my eggs into Manga? fuck yeah, recruitment from the top is a huge part of success, and this guy has a better track record than any head coach we’ve appointed. But this will only work if Gino does take that backseat. For the meantime, a Coventry meeting needs to happen, this league is poor, highlighted by that we’re currently 5th. It doesn’t take much to get us going in the right direction, and hopefully Bilić and the players can improve for the final 16 games of the season.