Watford sack looms for Walter Mazzarri as fans' doubts grow amid run of 4 points from the last 21
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Walter Mazzarri is fighting to save his job with injury-ravaged Watford in free-fall and the fans turning on him.
Although the Italian head coach lamented his crippling list of unavailable players after the 4-1 home defeat by Tottenham, the floodwaters are rising fast.
The Hornets’ pathetic defending on New Year’s Day had little to do with injuries and more to do with slapdash standards – and the top brass at Vicarage Road were not impressed.
Mazzarri came out swinging afterwards, insisting he does not fear the sack and claiming: “The president (Gino Pozzo) and I have spoken and the first objective was to avoid relegation.
“If you look at the table, we are doing even better than this. We could have been where Crystal Palace are, but we aren’t.”
(Photo: Getty)
Mazzarri’s bluster has only finite support in the boardroom.
Watford’s budget is based on finishing 17th, one place above the drop zone, but with £1.9million per place at stake in Premier League prize money, he is expected to do better.
When he became the club’s eighth manager in four years last summer, former Inter Milan and Napoli coach Mazzarri was handed a three-year contract and brought nine backroom staff with him.
But after taking just four points from a possible 21, Tuesday night’s trip to Stoke marks the start of a pivotal month in which four of the Hornets’ next five games are against teams also in the bottom half.
Even allowing for the absence of nine first-team players through injury or Africa Cup of Nations duty, he dare not lose his next two home games against Middlesbrough and Burnley.
Pozzo wants to know why Watford’s catalogue of injury woes runs so deep when they had the best fitness record in the Premier League under Quique Sanchez Flores last season.
(Photo: Getty)
Since widely-respected head of medical Richard Collinge left the club in September, the Hornets’ treatment room has been busier than a war-zone’s field hospital.
Winger Nordin Amrabat is the latest casualty, limping off against Spurs, and a growing section of fans who were prepared to cut Mazzarri some slack over his refusal to speak in English are now scathing of him.
Although he is courteous in his dealings with the media, Mazzarri will need to turn on the charm in the Potteries – after Stoke’s 1-0 win at Vicarage Road in November, he bolted down the tunnel without shaking hands with opposite number Mark Hughes.
He later visited the away dressing room to complete the formalities as an afterthought.