Marco Silva – the Portugese who has attracted loads of interest from the lower reaches of English football over the last three or four years.
He made his debut in the Premier League with a stint at Hull City. Battling relegation , Hull lay bottom of the points table at Christmas and things were looking gloomy for them. Silva brought with him a lot of optimism which the club so desperately needed. There was a marked improvement in the results as Hull City went on a long unbeaten run at home. However , the improvement was not enough to lift Hull out of the relegation zone and they were demoted with a match still left to play in the season.
He left Hull City shortly after and within two days , he was appointed as the head coach at Watford. Once again , Watford was a team , aiming to take the next step up from relegation battlers to a top ten side of the league. Things started well for Silva there and Watford found themselves in the top 4 by mid October of the 17/18 season. The so called ‘big boys’ of English football had all struggled at Vicerage Road and every team found it hard to take points off Watford. However , a massive dip in form saw them take only 11 points of the next 16 matches , which inevitably brought about the end of Marco Silva’s managerial stint.
Many English teams were pursuing Silva with Everton winning the race. It seemed as if Everton was the idea chance that Silva needed. Not having to bat an eye about relegation , Everton wanted to go back into the top 6 of the Premier League after a dismal season. The quality of players that the team has added to the cash that was available to Silva at the start of the season , surely carried a lot of promise for the Evertonians. Silva grabbed the headlines with the signing of Richarlison from Watford for a club record fee. Other notable incomings included Andre Gomes and Yeri Mina from Barcelona and Kurt Zouma from Chelsea. Everton did already have the dependable Pickford at goal , who was coming off a very impressive campaign with England in Russia.
The season started on a high note for Everton with Richarlison banging in goals and immediately becoming a fan favorite at Goodison Park. It was as if the Brazilian , together with the Portugese manager could do no wrong. As the season went on , Everton’s promise gradually fizzled out and the early season optimism is also fast fading. Truth be told , Everton were never really expected to defeat the big teams of English football. But they were at least expected to put up a fight. Their performance so far has been well off the mark. That includes a 6-2 drubbing at home at the hands of Tottenham Hotspurs on a day when Goodison Park recorded the highest attendance.
The boos were loud and clear. And something needs to change. Everton’s exit from the FA Cup to a lower division side , further added to Silva’s problems.
The stats for Everton have definitely improved under Silva. But at the end of the day , as the Portugese reiterated , “A manager will always be judged by the results “.
The results are stacked heavily against him. Can Silva turn it around at Goodison Park ? Time is running out for the Portugese. And yesterday’s loss to Wolves didn’t help him either. The fans are losing their patience with Silva. It is only because of Everton’s early season form that they still sit in the top half of the table. Their recent performances in matches they were expected to win , have surely pushed them a few places down the table than they would have actually liked. Silva needs to act fast. The players need to respond to the manager’s ways. Otherwise , it will be yet another dismal season for Everton in the Premier League.
– Sayan Chakraborti
The Sport Catalogue 