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Bilic gets off to blistering start

MATT BARLOW

Four goals, three points and his job secure for now, Slaven Bilic allowed himself to savour a triumphant return to English football and consider what he might achieve as Watford manager.

‘Good start, well deserved,’ said Bilic, the former West Ham and West Bromwich boss, who seems to be working his way backwards through the alphabet of clubs with an over-inflated sense of where they belong in the grand scheme of things.

At Watford, he is the 16th permanent manager in little more than a decade under the ownership of Gino Pozzo.

The rules are clear enough. Bilic must win instant promotion back to the Premier League. Shape up as if he might fail and his fate will be the same as predecessor rob Edwards, sacked after just 10 Championship games.

Like the managerial equivalent of a mayfly, the life cycle is accelerated at Watford so it’s best to enjoy the good days. Like this one.

‘Clean sheet, strikers scoring goals,’ said 54- year- old Bilic. ‘Stoke is always tough, a team in form, on the up under Alex Neil. Everything was there. only one game but something to build on.

‘They needed confidence. They needed belief. You can tell them with words but they needed proof on the pitch and after the second goal, they became completely free to enjoy playing football.

‘our front players and wide players have proper quality so this shouldn’t be a fluke. We can copy and paste this. Nobody did something I didn’t expect them to do.’

A tilt at promotion, then Slaven? ‘Based on this, yes,’ he agreed. ‘We have potential and a squad who know what it means to go to Stoke or Preston because they were there two years ago.’

Watford took the lead in the 12th minute, a fine cross by Hassane Kamara headed in by Ismaila Sarr, who looked offside on the video replays but there was no flag, no VAr and the goal stood. Bilic swept his fist through the air in a giant arc, like Shane Warne celebrating a wicket, and the away fans in a corner serenaded the new boss with an ironic chorus of a popular song about getting sacked in the morning. Curious how managerial instability should become so integral to the identity of football’s original family club, once built upon solid sense and the steadying influence of Graham Taylor.

Sarr headed another cross from Kamara against a post as Watford threatened to stretch clear. Stoke goalkeeper Joe Bursik saved the follow-up and pushed another effort by Ken Sema on to the same post, after Aden Flint’s mistake.

Stoke displayed more purpose in the second half without creating clear chances. The closest they came was Lewis Baker’s free- kick, saved by Daniel Bachmann, a goalkeeper who spent six years at Stoke without breaking into the team.

Bachmann was jeered by the home crowd after his antics in the first half, when he over-reacted to slight contact from Liam Delap and collected a yellow card for wasting time at 1-0.

At the other end, Sema scored an untidy second. Hamza Choudhury, on loan from Leicester, clipped a hopeful pass into a crowded box after Stoke only partially cleared a free-kick. Keinan Davis stretched out a leg to pull it down but was smothered by Bursik. The ball spilled to Sema, whose first effort was blocked by Ben Wilmot but the second attempt crossed the line, scored from a seated position.

Stoke fell apart and the natives grew restless. Thousands hurried for the exits and those who stayed made their feelings clear as one basic mistake followed another and Watford took advantage.

Davis scored the third, a low shot slammed in from an angle, and two Bilic substitutes linked up for the fourth, Imran Louza’s cross converted by Vakoun Bayo at the back post.

‘Not good enough in any way shape or form,’ fumed Stoke boss Neil, who was at the centre of the first of the Championship’s seven managerial changes so far this season when he replaced Michael o’Neill in August.

There will be more in this most cut-throat of competitions. Bilic, at least, should live to fight another day.

STOKE (3-5-2): Bursik 6; Wilmot 5.5, Flint 5, Fox 5; Fosu 5.5, Baker 6, Laurent 6, Smallbone 5, Sterling 6 (Clarke 77min); Delap 6, Gayle 5 (Campbell 72, 5). Booked: Fosu, Delap. Manager: Alex Neil 5. WATFORD (4-2-3-1): Bachmann 6; Gaspar 6, Sierralta 6.5, Kabasele 6, Kamara 7; Choudhury 6.5, Kayembe 7; SARR 8 (Bayo 80), Asprilla 5 (Louza 59, 6), Sema 7.5 (Hungbo 87); Davis 7 (Gosling 87). Scorers: Sarr 12, Sema 64, Davis 78, Bayo 84. Booked: Bachmann, Asprilla, Sierralta, Choudhury. Manager: Slaven Bilic 7. Referee: Josh Smith 6. Attendance: 19,905.

THE VERDICT: PREMIER LEAGUE

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2022-10-03T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-10-03T07:00:00.0000000Z

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