Once a manager is expected to fall off the merry-go-round there are always others ready to leap back on.

Vicarage Road on Saturday was no exception. Former Portsmouth chief Graham Rix was in Watford's biggest crowd of the season as Martin Hinshelwood came closer to losing his place on the carousel.

Albion are refusing to comment on Hinshelwood's future. While chairman Dick Knight weighs up his options, which are most unlikely to include Rix, the fans calling for Hinshelwood to be chopped should ask themselves the following question.

Do they believe that by changing the manager and nothing else Albion will stay up this season?

I don't and it seems I am not alone. Two men far better qualified than me, and for that matter the chairman, have pinpointed the nub of the problem.

Hinshelwood's predecesor Peter Taylor felt he needed to add five or six players to the squad.

Watford No. 2 Terry Burton, a summer candidate for the post Taylor vacated, says a change would be "totally wrong" without money being available to bring in new players.

Unless Knight has a stash of cash hidden somewhere then he and the anti-Hinshelwood brigade may as well accept that an immediate return to Division Two is imminent. What else did he, or they, really expect?

A glance at Saturday's teamsheets highlighted the gulf in class which Albion are inevitably struggling to handle.

A couple of years ago a handful of the Watford team were playing in the Premiership. The majority of the Albion side were performing in the Third Division.

They over-achieved magnificently last season to win the Second Division.

Reading and Stoke under-achieved when you assess the relative strengths of the squads, which helps explain why the sides promoted behind the Seagulls are coping better with the rise in standard.

Albion have gone into Division One without improving their squad in terms of quantity or quality.

Simon Morgan, Lee Steele and Junior Lewis have left, Guy Butters, Paul Kitson and John Piercy have arrived permanently in their places.

A clear pattern has emerged in the dozen League games so far. The players are working like trojans but just falling short.

Mistakes which they might have got away with in the last two seasons are instantly punished. Chances are fewer and hence need to be taken when they come.

If Arsene Wenger or Alex Ferguson had been in charge of Albion on Saturday the result would have been the same.

It would have been impossible for them to extract any more effort and there is nothing any manager can do about the kind of individual error Michel Kuipers made to gift Watford the points.

There is another aspect Knight needs to consider in contemplating change. A new manager is likely to look to experience in trying to haul Albion out of trouble.

What then happens to the youth policy championed by Hinshelwood and the chairman?

Hinshelwood responded to his ever-increasing need for a result by handing 19-year-old midfielder Dean Hammond his full League debut at the expense of Charlie Oatway and preferring Daniel Marney on the right flank to Gary Hart.

Half of Albion's outfield players on Saturday were aged 21 or under.

That augurs well for the long-term future, but establishing a productive youth policy requires patience and perseverance.

Marney had a good second half after seeing little of the ball in the first, Adam Virgo vindicated the decision to keep him at the heart of the defence in place of Butters and Hammond was composed in possession.

"I wouldn't say I dropped Charlie Oatway, I just left him out more than anything," Hinshelwood explained.

"He has worked ever so hard and I felt he looked a bit tired in the last couple of games.

"Dean did well at Ipswich and he did well again. He wants to play and pass the ball. At times he overdid it in the second half when he was getting a bit tired, but it was positive from him."

Hinshelwood was let down not by the rookies but by those he can normally rely upon.

Kuipers failed to hold a long range shot from former Spurs midfielder Allan Nielsen and Icelandic international Heidar Helguson headed in his third goal in as many games.

Bobby Zamora and Graham Barrett irritated the Watford defence throughout, but Zamora missed Albion's best chance of an enterprising encounter early in the second half when shooting straight at Alec Chamberlain from close range.

"Probably last year he might have rolled it into the corner, but the team are so eager to do well that perhaps at times we are snatching at things," Hinshelwood said.

"I thought we did ever so well again, but the result is another 1-0. The potential is there, we just need that result."

Whether Hinshelwood will still be around to help Albion try to achieve it against Sheffield United at Withdean Stadium on Saturday week remains to be seen.

  • Albion (4-4-2): Kuipers (gk) 6, Watson (rb) 7, Mayo (lb) 7, Cullip (cd) 7, Brooker (lw) 7, Carpenter (cm) 7, Marney (rw) 7, Virgo (cd) 7, Hammond (cm) 7, Zamora (f) 7, Barrett (f) 7. Subs: Rogers, Hart for Brooker (withdrawn 79), Oatway, Melton for Hammond (withdrawn 82), Petterson .
  • Bookings: Cullip (81) foul.
  • Attendance: 15,305.
  • Half-Time: Watford 1 Albion 0.
  • Fan's View: Mike "Gullhanger" Ward.
  • The clich is right: When your luck's out, your luck really is out.

The Albion played their sharpest football of the season, at least in spells. As the first half progressed, you could see the confidence and self-belief beginning to return.

"And what happened next?" as Sue Barker might inquire on A Question Of Sport. Please, don't remind me.

Talk about being kicked when you're down. You would be stretching the point to suggest we deserved to win. But a draw perhaps?

There's another clich that there's no room for sentiment in football. It's one which Hinshelwood must be agonisingly aware of, with his position looking increasingly iffy.

Hinsh has had lousy luck, and been obliged to work within unenviable constraints - so whether he stays or goes, let's at least treat him with some respect.