Former Golden Boy Alon Hazan reckons the Hornets have landed a sought-after coach who makes maximum use of the resources at his disposal and plays a brand of football that will be suited to the Championship.
Hazan, the former Israel international, watched Vladimir Ivić land back-to-back league titles with Maccabi Tel Aviv and is thrilled his former club have secured the services of the Serbian as their Head Coach.
“He has been one of the best coaches in Israel and would have had lots of interest from Europe,” said Hazan, who achieved two promotions with the Hornets in the space of 18 months.
“The big advantage with him is that he improves the players he has. There were some players the previous coach at Maccabi Tel Aviv did not desire should play for them, but he used them and made them much, much better.
“He is very organised and a very good coach and he brings order. He is tough and looks like an army commander. The players will work very hard and the only time I saw him laughing or kidding was when they won the title.”
Ivić is known for being a flexible tactician and fielded a Maccabi Tel Aviv side in a 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3 and 3-5-2 formation in his two seasons with the Israeli giants.
“He likes to change the system,” said Hazan.
“Sometimes he plays with three centre-backs and then suddenly switches to two. He likes to make the system for the team they play against and likes to surprise the opponent.
“He likes fast wingers, likes his players to work hard and make a high press. His team are quite patient when they have the ball and he likes them to counter-attack and get in behind.”
Under the guidance of Graham Taylor, Hazan was part of the Watford team that won promotion from the second tier of English football at the first attempt in 1998/99 and feels Ivić has the skillset to negotiate the unique challenges of the Championship.
“His style is high tempo and that is the Championship,” said Hazan. “The Championship is different to anything I have seen in my life. You can be more skilful but lose to a team who works hard.
“It will be very interesting to see how he deals with it and it's important he starts well. If he starts well, the players will follow him and go with his instructions, then I think he will have success with what is still a very good Watford team.”
