Watford head coach Javi Gracia has warned his Nigerian forward Isaac Success about his future conduct after he was booked for an altercation with a ball boy during Wednesday’s defeat to Tottenham.
The Hornets were trailing 2-1 to Spurs at Wembley in injury-time when the incident took place between Success and a ball boy.
The striker was frantically trying to get hold of the ball and ended up slapping it out of the youngster’s hands.
The Nigerian was subsequently shown a yellow card by referee Graham Scott and Gracia has now warned him about his actions going forward after watching the replay of incident.
“I think I have my opinion about Isaac’s behaviour and I don’t like to see that. I don’t like to see that from my player with a boy,” Gracia said ahead of Watford’s game against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.”
Also Read: Success Savours Goal, Watford Win Against Newcastle
Gracia added: “I think we have to look after the boys always and it is not a good reaction is what I can say.
“I am not here to educate the ball boys on what they have to do or what they don’t have to do. It is not my job.
“What I can say is we need to improve our behaviour next time.”
Watford took the lead through Craig Cathcart in the 38th minute but two goals from Tottenham in the final 10 minutes courtesy of Heung-min Son and Fernando Llorente turned the game around.
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COMMENTS
Ball boys should behave themselves as well. This coach should learn to defend his players rather than issuing unnecessary warnings.
If I were Isaac Success, with the pressure of time and my team losing, I probably might have slapped the ball away too from the ball boy. But this European coaches can like to be too “politically correct.” Isaac was trying to help the situation and his team. It was not selfish. So, the coach couldn’t fault the ball boy, but just Isaac who was helping Watford to equalize and earn a point?
But Isaac needs to learn to flow with the mentality and strict discipline of the whites. The hoes stories and now this? Funny, it reminds me of Ifeanyi Udeze of the set of Taiye Taiwo. Udeze had just be signed to a premiership club, but he was a quick-tempered footballer — just like the average street footballer in Nigeria. In a particular match, an opponent gave him a hard tackle, trying to rob Udeze of the ball who was defending his team’s 18 yard from the flank.
Furious, Udeze left the ball and went to confront the player. But the ball had not gone out of play and another opposing player seized the moment, played the ball to the 18 yard and it was goal! Udeze’s coach was livid in the post-match conference. I think Udeze lost his place in the team after that match and he was relieved at the end of his contract. His career never really recovered after that episode.