WATFORD OPINION: Why Walter Mazzarri's dismissal no surprise after season decline

In the Chelsea press room on Monday night, amid the swell of food, national newspaper journalists awaiting title celebrations and Diego Costa stealing pieces of chocolate cake, there was only one topic on anyone's lips.

Whispers over Walter Mazzarri's future have increased from the odd word here and there to a crescendo of noise over the past few weeks, and the writing has been on the wall for at least a fortnight.

It would be an excuse to blame Gino Pozzo's penchant for upheaval, though.

While outsiders may view Watford's Premier League survival as an achievement in itself, the complexities, and disappointments, of the season muddy the water - although it is abundantly clear where Pozzo's Italian head coach went wrong almost from the start.

There was little indication even in the days before his unveiling that Mazzarri would use a translator in his first meeting with the press.

READ MORE: Where it all went wrong for Mazzarri

But having spent three months picking up the English culture – and presumably tongue – in Manchester last year, you assumed it would be a temporary measure.

It was not – and within weeks it became increasingly clear striking up any sort of rapport with the 55-year-old would be impossible through a middle-man.

In his defence, some of Mazzarri’s more questionable statements could be attributed to mistranslation both into Italian and back again, but that is little excuse in what is an increasingly 24/7 quotes-led football world.

That poor grasp of English extended to the training pitch. The image from Anfield in November of Troy Deeney speaking to Mazzarri while using one of the Italian’s coaching staff as a translator was as damning as it was revealing.

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He regularly employed bilingual Miguel Britos and Stefano Okaka to assist in relaying instructions to their team-mates at London Colney, but this both undermined his leadership and risked his message being lost in translation.

That goes some way to explaining the Hornets’ shockingly poor ability to defend set-pieces throughout the campaign; football might be a universal language, but having to use a phrasebook to make your feelings known is unlikely to help construct a solid defensive unit.

You get the feeling that Mazzarri would have been afforded more sympathy from the stands had he avoided routinely blaming anything but his side’s own failings for their failures – and there were plenty through the campaign.

There have been press conferences, both before and after matches, where you almost feel for the Italian when you consider the response some of his comments will receive.

The most recent memorable occasion came when questioned over a possible six-game losing streak to end the season – something he said was ‘normal’ during the course of a Premier League campaign. It made me wince.

There was, however, a certain element of truth in his ongoing battle with injuries, and losing influential playmakers like Roberto Pereyra and Mauro Zarate for long periods would weaken any side.

Picture: Action Images

But there has not been a week where injuries have escaped the topic of conversation during press conferences, and the excuses had begun to wear thin even before the club’s injury ‘crisis’ was averted at the start of the year.

Mazzarri’s devolution of responsibility transcended the language barrier and has plagued the Italian for much of his career – and an opinion piece from this website earlier in the season, imploring him to change his stance, irked his staff sufficiently to request a meeting where it could be discussed.

As it was, results are the making of any manager, and everything else would prove secondary had they been delivered with any semblance of consistency.

Mazzarri did not help himself in this regard. Renowned for a steadfast commitment to 3-5-2 earlier in his career, he continued in the same vain in the early weeks of the season.

Players like Nordin Amrabat, Jose Holebas and Etienne Capoue flourished in what was an expansive, entertaining vision of life under the new reign.

But once the consistency of selection fell away, so did the performances. Watford have failed to form any hint of an identity this season. How do you describe their play from one week to the next?

Mazzarri’s teamsheets often have the club’s own media team guessing how they will line-up, and square pegs in round holes were a regularity long before any injury crisis made them a necessity.

There have been highlights. A wonderful win over Manchester United in September banished any early concerns from a difficult opening six games, and a shock 2-1 win at Arsenal in late January was the perfect tonic for Mazzarri on the back of an FA Cup exit at Millwall.

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But a catalogue of basic defensive errors - Watford have shipped only one goal fewer than Sunderland, and have conceded 15 from corners alone – along with often insipid, uninspiring and predictable forward play, have proved Mazzarri’s downfall.

Coupled with an array of excuses which have become far more consistent than his team’s performances, an inability to connect with fans – often disappearing down the tunnel straight after full-time, and only furthered by his inability to communicate in English – saw patience wearing thin sooner than it had done a year earlier for Quique Sanchez Flores.

Ultimately, Mazzarri is a good manager. His record in Italy speaks for itself, but here is not a man for turning. Often seen smoking in the concourse of away grounds and recently criticised for calling his players into training 12 days in a row, Walter does things his way.

But that might not be the right way if he is to ever succeed in English football. Certainly, it wasn’t the right way for Watford.