5 things we learned: Liverpool come crashing down at Swansea

Marco Silva pays the price for Watford’s poor run

In a somewhat controversial move, Watford sacked manager Marco Silva following a string of only one win in 11 games. By all accounts, Silva is a very bright manager destined for great things in the future. That future will not be at Watford, as the Portuguese manager paid the price for Watford’s poor string of results.

Any evaluation of Silva’s performance needs to account for the lengthy list of injuries, which included 10 first team players. But the turning point came after the overt flirting between the young manager and Everton became too much of a distraction. Once it became clear Silva was in fact ready to move on to a bigger job, the Watford locker room seemed lost.

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Following a great start to the season that saw the Hornets in contention for the Champions League places, the team seemed to lose focus around the time of Everton’s advances. Watford began giving up late goals and blowing wins, a factor which could be (and apparently has been) attributed to a certain level of distraction among the players. Watford have given up more goals in the last 10 minutes of mathces than any other team in the Premier League.

The 2-0 loss at Leicester was the final straw and perhaps a shake-up or a fresh start was needed both on the club’s side and the coach’s side. Silva’s track record is impressive enough that we should see him back on the sideline soon, probably of a club with serious aspirations, whether in England or somewhere else.