Taunted Silva is in crisis at Everton
Third defeat in a row, 12th in total, after Gray winner
WHAT is Portuguese for schadenfreude? Marco Silva’s return to Watford began with a handshake and ended with an embrace too.
As Lee Probert blew the final whistle at Vicarage Road, the Everton manager greeted opposite number Javi Gracia as he had done before kick-off. But after another chastening 90 minutes, the smile had long been wiped from his face.
Then he was off, down the tunnel, unable to face it any more; the taunts, the chants, the crisis unfolding on his watch.
Watford fans may be optimistic in warning their former manager that he faces an imminent sacking but, after three defeats in succession and another largely uninspiring display, there is perhaps only one saving grace for Everton – they do not play again for 17 days.
Watford captain Troy Deeney had told fans to forget about abusing Silva and instead let the players twist the knife. But for an hour yesterday, neither side kept their side of the bargain. The home crowd unleashed a barrage of abuse and, rather than ‘kick the s*** out’ of Everton, Deeney and Co stuttered as both sides struggled for quality.
But then came the decisive moment of genius from a most unlikely source. Craig Cathcart had been tasked with keeping Cenk Tosun at bay but it was his delightful reverse pass that allowed Will Hughes to slide the ball across goal for half-time substitute Andre Gray to win the game.
‘We prepared that,’ Gracia joked. ‘It’s more the pass of a striker than a centre-back!’
The goal breathed life back into Vicarage Road as the home fans turned on Silva once more. ‘It’s not important, I cannot control everything,’ said Silva of Watford’s ‘strategy’. ‘I was really welcome from the people that were working with me many, many months, they welcome me really well.
‘The most important thing is the people who really know everything and they welcomed me really well because they know the truth.’ Silva was axed by Watford last January amid claims he had been tapped up by the Merseyside club. Now he is staring down the barrel once more after Gray, the man he signed for a club-record fee, sent Everton to a 12th league defeat of the season. Gracia was the beneficiary on this occasion, as the home crowd rallied around their current boss.
‘It’s not usually [like that] but I’m very grateful,’ said Gracia. ‘For me the most important thing is to see all the people around me happy. I don’t know Marco Silva very well. I wish all my colleagues the best but every game I want to win.’
Silva insisted his side deserved at least a draw and twice the bar rescued Watford, first from Gylfi Sigurdsson’s looping effort and then from Lucas Digne’s free-kick.
The Frenchman had salvaged a point in stoppage time when the two sides met at Goodison Park but there was to be no such reprieve
this time around. Instead, Silva and his players were left to rue the officials’ decision to award a corner in the build-up to the goal, with Kurt Zouma earning a red card at the final whistle for his protests.
‘What he said to the referee is what all the other players are saying in that moment,’ said Silva. ‘It wasn’t a corner. The referee and assistant, they have to see that because it was too clear. If Jordan Pickford, Zouma, Michael Keane, all the players there, if they can see it, how is it possible they can’t see? It’s very strange.’
The returning Richarlison, meanwhile, was ineffective and hooked after Gray’s opener to the delight of the home fans. But it was in Silva’s troubles that they basked in most passionately.
The stadium DJ whetted the appetite with a rendition of Al Wilson’s ‘The Snake’ before the crowd took over. Silva’s popularity among his own fans is waning and that was tested when Etienne Capoue fired at goal from five yards, only for Pickford to save with his head.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin came close with a header late on but it was another of Silva’s former strikers who had the last laugh. WatFORD (4-4-2): Foster 6.5; Janmaat 6, Mariappa 6, Cathcart 6.5, Holebas 6.5; Sema 5.5 (Gray 46min, 6.5), Doucoure 6, Capoue 6, Hughes 6.5 (Chalobah 90); Deulofeu 5 (Cleverley 81), Deeney 5.5. Booked: Deeney, Holebas. subs (not used): Gomes, Masina, Penaranda, Kabasele. eVeRtON (4-2-3-1): Pickford 6.5; Kenny 6 , Digne 6.5, Keane 6, Zouma 5.5; Gueye 6.5, Gomes 5.5 (Walcott, 63, 6); Davies 6.5, Sigurdsson 6 (Calvert-Lewin 74, 6), Richarlison 5.5 (Bernard); Tosun. sent off: Zouma (90min). subs (not used): Stekelenburg, Walcott, McCarthy, Coleman, Lookman. Referee: Lee Probert 6.