Roy Hodgson, Manager of Crystal Palace at the time, shows appreciation to the fans prior to the ... [+]
Like the latest action movie featuring all your favorite ‘90s stars, Roy Hodgson has been dragged out of his peaceful retirement for one last fight, and it might be his toughest fight yet.
The 74-year-old has been drafted in as Watford’s new manager after the club sacked Claudio Ranieri this week, and like all Watford appointments, he is one for the short term. Ranieri’s 14-game reign at Vicarage Road was short even by Watford standards, but with eight losses in their last nine games, his dismissal comes as no surprise.
Hodgson has been appointed to pick up the pieces and keep Watford in the Premier League. He has done it before with Fulham, West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace, but that’s no guarantee of success.
As the famous escape artist Sam Allardyce found out last season with West Bromwich Albion, even those who do the impossible can’t always do the impossible. Allardyce had saved Blackburn Rovers, Sunderland and Crystal Palace from the drop in the past, but West Brom were one rescue mission too many.
Hodgson made his Premier League reputation at Fulham, who were 18th and two points from safety when he took over in December 2007. That season he had a transfer window to sort his team out, bringing in the massively influential Norwegian centerback Brede Hangeland.
He certainly didn’t have a “new manager bounce”, picking up just two points from his first five games and six from his first ten. Fulham looked dead-and-buried at the start of April before winning four of their last five games to survive on goal difference.
His other two “great escapes” were not quite as dramatic. West Brom were outside of the relegation zone on goal difference when he took over, but they also had a game in hand on the teams below them, and were only three points off Everton in 13th place. Hodgson again had a relatively slow start, drawing his first three games, but only lost twice that season.
Crystal Palace had only played four games when Hodgson took over at Selhurst Park. To put that in perspective, Arsenal lost their first three games this season and could finish in the Champions League spots. It did take Hodgson some time to turn around Palace’s form though. His lost his first three games in charge before a famous win over Chelsea, but then didn’t win again until his ninth match in the dugout.
If he gets the same results at Watford as he did at West Brom or Palace, he will keep Watford up comfortably, the same results as at Fulham and Watford would finish on 35 points, which sometimes keeps teams up, but sometimes doesn’t.
But Watford are in a far more precarious position than any of those three other jobs. West Brom weren’t actually in the drop zone when he took over there, and at both Fulham and Crystal Palace, he had far more time to get his methods across than he will this season at Watford.
Watford's strikeforce is a match for anybody but their problems lie at the other end of the pitch. ... [+]
While teams in midtable like Brentford could easily fall into the relegation mix, there is a bit of a gap between the bottom four and the rest. Watford are only two points off safety, just like Fulham were when Hodgson took over, and they have two games in hand, but that season, there were far more teams in the relegation mix. Two of the teams that eventually went down, Reading and Birmingham City, were 13th and 15th respectively at the time of Hodgson’s appointment.
Out of the four teams in the current relegation scrap, Burnley have enough games in hand to leapfrog everybody, although the loss of striker Chris Wood is a massive blow, Norwich have found a bit of form recently, and Eddie Howe has started to get Newcastle United playing again. Newcastle’s squad was strong enough to finish midtable last season, has been strengthened in January, and could get strengthened further still. Should Newcastle actually get their targets (a big ‘if’ at the moment), then Hodgson’s job will be made that much harder.
Hodgson might be the best possible appointment to get Watford out of the hole they’re in though. He knows how to improve a defense, which is clear to everyone where Watford’s problem lies. If he can do that, then their strikeforce of Joao Pedro, Joshua King and Emmanuel Dennis have more than enough firepower between them do get the results Watford need.
If Watford lose their next match away at Burnley, they will be bottom of the league. They also have a relatively tough run in, so Roy Hodgson can’t afford a slow start this time around.
