Javi Gracia's £113m Premier League savvy revealed amid turbulence caution - YEP 24/2/23
Leeds United fans must be braced for highs and lows under new head coach Javi Gracia based on his time as Watford manager during 2018 and 2019
Joe Donnohue
The 52-year-old was announced as Jesse Marsch’s successor
earlier this week and could take charge of his first match against Southampton
on Saturday, pending receipt of a work permit. Gracia’s record in English
football is limited to his time with Watford – a spell in which he stewarded
the Hornets to a respectable 11th place finish in 2018/19.
Gracia took over in January 2018, guiding Watford away from
the relegation zone eventually finishing eight points clear of the drop in 14th
place. However, his task with Leeds is more difficult threefold: Gracia has
been appointed later in the season, has fewer games to pick up results and
Leeds already second bottom of the Premier League table.
This weekend’s fixture at home to Southampton takes on
immense importance considering the only team stationed below the Whites are the
Saints. The south coast club parted company with Nathan Jones earlier this
month and were close to appointing Marsch but disagreements over contract
length means interim man Ruben Selles remains in charge.
Saturday’s match could still pit caretaker against caretaker
if Gracia is not granted a work permit in time to take his position in the
dugout, leaving Michael Skubala in proxy control for a fourth successive
Premier League game.
Watford under Javi Gracia, 2017/18
— StatsBomb (@StatsBomb) February 23, 2023
vs. Top 7: very bad
Not vs. Top 7: very good! pic.twitter.com/P7tdNoguVk
Gracia’s time at Vicarage Road came to an end after an
eight-match winless run, which included seven Premier League matches and an FA
Cup Final encounter with Manchester City, which Watford lost 6-0. However, the
Spaniard did also enjoy some particularly fruitful spells on the pitch and handsome
victories over relegation rivals.
Watford lost just one of their first five league matches
under Gracia, which featured a 4-1 win over Chelsea at Vicarage Road in an
especially memorable fixture. Although, after that run, the team went seven
without a win, picking up just two points in the process.
Gracia began his first and only full season in charge of
Watford with four straight Premier League victories in 2018/19, as well as
registering 5-1 and 4-1 wins over Cardiff City and Fulham, respectively, as the
team flirted with a top-half finish before a late-season slump.
Throughout his time in England there was a great deal of
variance in terms of Watford’s results, performances and even formations.
During his opening seven games as Hornets manager, Gracia used five different
formations, before eventually settling on a 4-4-2 which featured two defensive
midfielders in Abdoulaye Doucoure and Etienne Capoue, Troy Deeney as a
conventional No. 9 and the more technical and diminutive Gerard Deulofeu as a
supporting forward.
Time is of the essence for Leeds and Gracia; results are a
necessity from the word go. There can be little room for error but Leeds fans
may be forced to put up with some turbulence, something they are likely to
stomach if it means the Whites begin to take points off their relegation
rivals.
To that end, Gracia’s Watford were particularly effective at
dispatching of teams around them in the table, but left exposed – often to the
tune of several goals – against the Premier League’s wealthier sides.
During 2018/19, Watford lost just two of their 18 matches
against fellow teams who finished in the bottom half, winning nine and drawing
seven – a crucial factor in the £113 million the Hornets subsequently received
in Premier League prize money for their 11th place finish.
Leeds face Southampton, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City
and Crystal Palace at Elland Road and will visit West Ham and Bournemouth
before the season’s conclusion at the end of May. Those six matches in
particular will have the greatest bearing on whether Leeds remain a Premier
League club in 2023/24.
