Javi Gracia- Watford boss (again)

[Cjay]

Given Fabrizio Romano gets his information from Radz it's pretty safe to make him his own thread as our most likely new manager.

52 year old former Watford and Valencia manager.

After a decent playing career he started his managerial career in the Spanish lower leagues.

Managed 2 promotions from the Spanish equivalent of League 1 to Championship.

Had a spell in the Greek lower leagues before finding himself at Almeria in the Spanish 2nd division where he won promotion to La Liga.

Went to Osasuna in la Liga and they got relegated and he left.

Had 2 seasons at Malaga where they finished 8th and 9th respectively in La Liga which is OK for them.

Then a poor season in Russia for which he was sacked.

Then his spell at Watford, got to the Fa Cup final and had them mid table generally.

A poor spell at Valencia and finally a title win in Qatar.

Style is quite similar to Marsch and direct.

It's not pretty, it's effective if it works but nobody would say its pretty.

Probably better to think of it as similar to Marcelino whose successful rather than Jesse Marsch/Sean Dyche which its not far off.

4-4-2 and direct.

Mixed bag results wise.

[Jaydog]

Who’s the other one on the two man shortlist?
Annoys me that we know one and not the other.
Benitez I presume?

If it’s similar to Marsch then it’s uninspiring, obviously.
Only saving grace is he kept Watford up I suppose and presumably the players fit his style

[Irish Ian]

Does he speaky ze english?

[Cjay]

Scraping the barrel at the last chance saloon, aren't we. Maybe he keeps us up... feels like a dice roll right now.

He has to be better than a man less qualified than Dave Hockaday surely?

In truth scraping the barrel was always likely.

Free agents with good reputations like Benitez and Favre and Marcelino have enough standing in the game to know a desperate situation when they see one.

Gracia similar to Marsch had a brief highly rated spell but it was brief and has long since gone.

He hasn't much to lose

[Cjay]

Does he speaky ze english?

Well actually

[Cjay]

Who’s the other one on the two man shortlist?
Annoys me that we know one and not the other.
Benitez I presume?

If it’s similar to Marsch then it’s uninspiring, obviously.
Only saving grace is he kept Watford up I suppose and presumably the players fit his style

It's narrow and direct relying on full backs to provide width (see video in other thread).

There will be very little intricate triangles.

I don't think the pressing is as stupid as Marsch.

But from memory at Watford it was very much hoof it to Deeney and get round him.

Press occasionally but sit back is fine to.

It's basically DycheBall with a bit of Spanish panache

[LTID]

Who’s the other one on the two man shortlist?
Annoys me that we know one and not the other.
Benitez I presume?

If it’s similar to Marsch then it’s uninspiring, obviously.
Only saving grace is he kept Watford up I suppose and presumably the players fit his style

The other name is Benitez, but had only held early talks so far.

Gracia is at advanced talks, looks to be a short term appointment.

[Irish Ian]

The other name is Benitez, but had only held early talks so far.

Gracia is at advanced talks, looks to be a short term appointment.

Benitez would so well to wait for WH instead of taking a risk joining our sinking ship

[Jaydog]

The other name is Benitez, but had only held early talks so far.

Gracia is at advanced talks, looks to be a short term appointment.

End of season job hopefully.
He keeps us up.
Then all the worlds great managers form an orderly queue. We are Leeds so feel lucky that we will consider talking to you

[danhirons]

he keeps us up and surely he'll be getting the job permanently as he will have performed miracles to keep us up given the situation we're in atm

doesn't fill me with confidence, but let's be honest, who cares what style he implements as long as we start picking up some points

[lufc1304]

End of season job hopefully.
He keeps us up.
Then all the worlds great managers form an orderly queue. We are Leeds so feel lucky that we will consider talking to you

Imagine not wanting to manage the basketcase that is Leeds Utd

[BradWhite]

I'd rather have Rafa Benitez if he is the other one on the short list.

[mentalcase]

I'll be happy if he keeps us up, in the meantime, maybe, just maybe the board might try sounding out a permanent manager, Potter will be on the dole soon, he did a respectable job at Brighton with limited resources, he could possibly do a decent job with the players we have.

[1964white]

A bit of a journeyman.

Twelve jobs.

Longest stay in a managerial post - two years.

His other eleven jobs lasted under twelve months.

Shortest stay - three months.

No thank you

[SG90]

We can't be picky at this point. Much better than Skubala and at least he has PL experience. Did well at Watford, and got them to the cup final, so hopefully can repeat it with us Yes he got the sack, but who hasn't under the Pozzos lol?

[SG90]

It's narrow and direct relying on full backs to provide width (see video in other thread).

There will be very little intricate triangles.

I don't think the pressing is as stupid as Marsch.

But from memory at Watford it was very much hoof it to Deeney and get round him.

Press occasionally but sit back is fine to.

It's basically DycheBall with a bit of Spanish panache

Would take Dycheball at the point tbh. 6 points from 9.

[1964white]

Would take Dycheball at the point tbh. 6 points from 9.

Who do we hoof the ball to?

[Musicman1965]

No, another sub standard manager, we can do better

[Cjay]

Would take Dycheball at the point tbh. 6 points from 9.

If it gets points that's fine

Style does concern me though.

But also I thought the players looked defeated vs Everton

It's OK getting up for 2 games with little expectation of winning but when it counted they couldn't

Already know we have some mentally weak players.

A bigger name or atleast someone with a bit of gravitas about them could potentially get that extra 10% off there name and reputation alone.

With Gracia it's a bit meh

[SG90]

Who do we hoof the ball to?

Little Brendan or little Cry I imagine