SILVA WON’T FEEL HORNETS STING
Marco can handle flak after Greek odyssey
MARCO SILVA reckons he is ready for anything Watford fans throw at him today after surviving his tour of duty in Greece.
Silva claims any hostility generated in England is nothing compared to the violence he witnessed during his one season with Olympiakos when he won the title.
The Everton manager recalled how one Athens derby at Panathinaikos was abandoned before kickoff because of rioting.
Another volatile clash with PAOK was called off when fans threw flares and missiles onto the pitch, hitting one of his players.
And Silva claims incidents like that have prepared him for his first return to Vicarage Road since Watford sacked him in January last year and accused Everton of tapping him up.
Stopped
“In Greece you play many, many derbies,” he said. “Everything there is completely different. Here the organisation is different and it’s impossible for what happened there to happen here.
“One game against PAOK didn’t finish and one against Panathinaikos didn’t start. The championship match we played against PAOK finished and we won, but the cup match did not.
“They stopped the game, they tried to start it again, but it didn’t finish. If you ask me about the reception, in football you have to be ready for everything.
“I’m ready for everything and my job is to make my players ready for a tough match.
“If I want our players not to feel anything,
I have to be the calmest guy on the pitch.”
Watford remain aggrieved at Silva and the Toffees – and the Premier League are still investigating their allegation that the Blues made an illegal approach for him in October 2017.
Hornets fans had a dig at Silva by waving inflatable snakes during the 2-2 draw at Goodison Park in December.
Chief executive Scott Duxbury claims he will blank him if he sees him while skipper Troy Deeney vowed at a fans forum this week to “kick the s**t” out of Everton.
“The game is not Watford v Marco Silva, it’s Watford v Everton” said the Portuguese.
But he did admit Deeney’s comments have fired up his players, adding: “They’re aware of it. Let’s see what we lose or not from the situation. I know the players talked.” JAVI GRACIA will bear no grudges against Richarlison when Everton’s £45m star returns to Vicarage Road this afternoon.
The Brazilian striker, who followed former Watford coach Marco Silva to Merseyside last summer, failed to score in 15 appearances for the Hornets under Gracia.
But Gracia saw the funny side when Richarlison (above) opened the scoring in the 2-2 draw at Goodison Park in December, joking with him afterwards: “Nice to see you found the net again!”
But while Silva can expect a hostile reception from Watford fans, who believe he was fluttering his eyelids at Everton long before he was sacked in January last year, there should be no ill feeling towards Richarlison, 21.
After buying him from Fluminense for £11.2m, the Hornets made a handsome profit in the space of 12 months and Richarlison is the club’s record sale by far.
Gracia said: “I have the same point of view now as last season – he is a very good player and a very good person as well.
“I think he always kept a very good level. But Everton is not my job – my job is here.”