‘Sacked in the morning’: Watford boss on £3.4m striker rage amid angry Portsmouth scenes
The furious first-half scenes involving Nestory Irakunda at Fratton Park took centre stage last night - the Watford boss has given his verdict on the explosive incident which proved a big talking point.
Paul Pezzolano has revealed the factors behind the sub call which prompted Watford danger man Nestory Irankunda to combust at Fratton Park.
The under-fire Uruguayan manager explained his view the £3.4m Bayern Munich signing lacked freshness, leading to his first-half withdrawal at Fratton Park last night.
Pezzolano took the unusual step of hooking the highly-touted Aussie striker after just 35 minutes, leading to chants of ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning’ from the travelling faithful as his side laboured.
Irankunda then exploded in rage in the away dugout, punching his seat, throwing down his water bottle in anger and then storming down the tunnel.
Pezzolano on Irankunda: ‘He didn't seem fresh’
It looked like it was all falling apart for Pezzolano, with his job hanging by a thread at a club renowned for hiring and firing managers under owner Gino Pozzo.
The 42-year-old rallied however, with his call reaping dividends as sub Rocco Vata laid on Imran Louza’s leveller and bagged the second as Watford turned the game on its head, before Adrian Segecic bagged the goal to make it 2-2.
Pezzolano saw reasons for concern in Irankunda’s performance - even though the 19-year-old wasn’t injured.
He told the Watford Observer: ‘He didn't seem fresh.
‘He wasn't able to recover after an effort and we didn't want to take any chances with any risk of injury or anything like that. We are playing a lot of games one next to each other.
‘He's a young player and he has been living a different situation. He's been scoring goals and putting in some really good performances, many things going so well all of a sudden. This might be good for him.’
Watford defender Mattie Pollock backed Pezzolano’s call - highlighting the ends justified the means as Vata stepped up for the visitors.
Pollock played down any lasting issues over Irankunda’s reaction at a club which seems to once again find itself in a volatile state, as they sit in 16th place in the formative Championship table.
He added: ‘I've spoken to him (Irankunda) in there and he's totally fine. He understands that that's football. We have a lot of trust in the gaffer, so if he makes a decision we all trust it.
‘I'll probably be taken off early in games - maybe I should have been tonight! Rocco has come on and done unbelievably, so that's on the manager. Nestory is fine.’
Watford boss takes solace from Fratton recovery
Pompey will rue the fact they didn’t have a greater advantage than one goal at the break last night, as they had the better of the game with Watford in turmoil.
The visitors were rocked by Minhyeok Yang’s fifth-minute opener with Yang, Marlon Pack and Andre Dozzell all having chances to extend the Blues’ advantage. Pezzolano took positivity from Watford turning the game around from a difficult position.
He added: ‘As you can imagine, that (the first goal) defines the game so much. When you concede a goal like that in the first minute then it's probably a cause of why we didn't look great in the first half.
‘We managed to overcome that and show a different face and be competitive throughout the game.’