Watford end-of-season review: forwards

If any part of this squad needed a refresh post relegation it was up front and, mercifully, we got it.

Yet, as we head into 2021/22, we’re still pondering the futures of Troy Deeney, Andre Gray and Isaac Success — what’s the saying? The more things change, the more they stay the same.

If I park my flippancy for a moment, we did see a big change in 2020/21. João Pedro came to the fore in a way he might not have had we not been relegated while Ismaïla Sarr built on the promise he showed in the Premier League to stamp all over the Championship.

Ken Sema was rehabilitated after time away on loan at Udinese and Success even scored — a belter, too, in the final-day win over Swansea City.

So, here we go, the forwards. Which, in this instance, incapsulates wingers as well as strikers. You can read part one here and part two here.

Wingers:

Although he spent the first part of the season crowbarred into an awkward-looking front two with Pedro, we’ll start with Sarr who enjoyed his best football wide on the right. Holding onto the club’s record signing was a boon when it looked as though any one of Manchester United, Liverpool or Crystal Palace could move for the 23-year-old. Perhaps ‘luckily’, the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic meant those clubs didn’t have their usual transfer market muscle and Sarr remained at Vicarage Road. It would be interesting to see a parallel universe where he — perhaps along with others who looked set to leave — moved onto pastures new. I suspect things would have been ugly.

After his African Cup of Nations exploits with Senegal, it took Sarr a little while to get into a physical condition to compete and the rough-and-tumble nature of the Championship was always going to make or break him. While it certainly didn’t look beyond him at any point, it really wasn’t until Xisco Muñoz moved him back to his rightful right-wing berth that he really took flight. Pace, directness and end product made Sarr a threat most teams simply could not live with. The trail of left-backs left in his wake grew by the week with Gaëtan Bong and Xavi Quintillà just two who endured particularly torrid afternoons against Sarr.

Whereas in the early part of the season he seemed to be slinging crosses into dangerous areas for fun without finding a teammate, his production went through the roof in the second half of the campaign. That has as much to do with who was playing up front as anything else, though. Sarr thrived against back threes, finding space in behind the wing-back and left-sided centre-half and it was a wonder teams didn’t get smart to this.

If we weren’t already convinced this was a player who was simply too good for this level, his crowning moment was his spectacular double in the win over Reading in the run-in. The first was quite something, cutting in and bending the ball into the far corner. But that was the mere appetiser to the main course, an absolute blast from an impossible angle into the roof of the net which, had goalkeeper Rafael Cabral been in the way, he’d have lost a body part.

The only other winger to feature regularly this season was the aforementioned Sema. This reintroduction to the squad, let alone the team, came as a surprise. When the Swede was packed off to Udinese on loan I figured that was it for him in England. He’d looked short of the required level in the Premier League — not helped by Javi Gracia’s insistence on playing him on the right — and you don’t usually return from a loan to a starring role in the Pozzo network.

In reality, it probably had something to do with his left-footedness — something lacking throughout the squad — and a complete shortage of wingers. But we soon saw the Sema Watford had wanted to sign from Östersunds. He got the assist for Craig Cathcart’s winner on the opening night and followed that up with a redemptive goal in the League Cup win over Oxford United.

With Vladimir Ivić refusing to consider a back four due to his lack of natural left-back, Sema benefitted and made himself one of the first names on the teamsheet at wing-back. By the end of the season that was probably to his detriment as he was visibly flagging in the final weeks but, by then, the job was as good as done. His flurry of goals during the midst of that six-game winning run proved crucial.

However, Sema went without an assist between the final day and the 1–1 draw with Queens Park Rangers in late November. Judging a player on assists is a little harsh — it takes someone else to finish the chance after all — but based on Infogol we can see he underperformed slightly against a seasonal expected assists total of 7.3. That said, he carried real threat whenever he got his head down and charged for the byline. The sight of Sema punching his way into the box from a deep position before cutting the ball back became a regular theme throughout the campaign.

Sema is another who looks vulnerable after promotion. However, his versatility will make him a useful asset to Muñoz and he will surely relish another crack at Premier League football.

The only other wingers who got a taste of first-team football this season were youngsters Hungbo and Maurizio Pochettino. Of those, Hungbo (88 minutes) played far more. Whether it’s because we’ve been so starved of academy graduates or he’s genuinely got the talent to be of use to Watford on a regular basis, I have my doubts, but it was a very welcome throwback to see a player progress through the academy — albeit we picked him up after his release by Crystal Palace in 2019 — and make an impression.

His lively debut at Manchester United in the FA Cup suggested Hungbo was fearless; prepared to grab the game by the scruff of the neck. In 15 minutes he showed a willingness to run at the Red Devils and try his luck and that have-a-go attitude remained throughout the rest of the season. An 11-minute cameo at home to Nottingham Forest stands out. In particular, a dangerous low cross which had someone been willing to gamble would surely have resulted in a goal.

Given his chance in the penultimate game at Brentford, and after yet another bright start, injury struck and Hungbo’s season was over. That was cruel on someone who had made such an impression in more tense moments throughout the season. He deserved the opportunity to go out and prove his quality over 90 minutes. At 21 and with only brief loan stints at Margate and Aldershot Town behind him he needs regular football. A loan to the EFL surely beckons in 2021/22.

The same goes for Pochettino, who got six minutes in the same game as Watford’s right-wing berth was filled by guest appearances for the afternoon. If the Argentine with a famous father is to be anything more than under-23 ballast — and if the club’s coverage is anything to go by he’s done well — he needs to test himself at senior level too.

Strikers

Seeing the number of strikers Watford have used this season took me by surprise. So it says a lot that about those options that it felt for long periods like there really was only a single genuine №9 at the club: João Pedro. Except the Brazilian isn’t a №9. But he has done a more than passable impression of one.

Used sparingly following his January 2020 arrival from Fluminense, the Brazilian wunderkind made just three substitute outings totaling 25 minutes. It was not clear whether he’d be a regular this season after Nigel Pearson kept the harness on a player who’d reportedly been on the radars of Barcelona, Manchester City and Liverpool before Watford beat them to the punch. That went out the window the second the teenager was handed the №10 shirt following relegation. Clearly, this was a player the club were pinning a lot of hope on.

In the early weeks, his pairing with Sarr as an unorthodox front two lacked penetration, though there were encouraging signs too. Neither was a natural striker and it showed in their reluctance to get in the box. However, Pedro has honed those skills over the course of the season and while it’s not inconceivable he could move back out to the left of a front three again, he will predominantly be in the mix as a striker next season.

From beauties (Derby County) to tap-ins (Luton Town), he scored a good variety of goals, showing an awareness of the positions to take up and no little fight in the process. If there’s anyone out there who still thinks South American football is all Jogo bonito then watch any clip of any game from the continent to re-align your views. Still, Pedro was young, skinny and green when he landed in Europe so a crash course in English football in the Championship was no bad thing. His unquenchable thirst for a scrap made him easy to love — particularly at Bournemouth — and his refusal to be bullied by the bigger, older boys was admirable.

Next season will be another learning curve. Watford are going to have to do something to bolster their forward options but Pedro should be an important part of the attack.

So here we are, the unavoidable part: Troy Deeney and Andre Gray. It’s easy to lump them together as experienced and expensive strikers who have been here a while but we do need to separate them.

Starting with Deeney, it’s been a rough season for Watford’s long-serving №9. After reminding all and sundry he scored ten times ‘on one leg’ in 2019/20, things finally seemed to catch up with Deeney this season.

He’s spoken — a lot — this post-season, and that adds context to his year. For starters, Watford wanted to move him on 12 months ago but failed. The result was a disrupted pre-season and late integration into the first team. We didn’t see Deeney until that memorable cameo in the win over Luton Town. Like that, he was gone again until November 4 when he was an unused substitute in the helter-skelter Coventry City victory.

It’s at that point he made a critical contribution to this campaign and that shouldn’t be forgotten. His run of goals, seven in 13 games between November 28 and February 1, contributed to 16 points. Without it, Watford wouldn’t have been promoted. So Deeney’s impact on the season should not and cannot be brushed under the carpet. But that run of games and goals also coincided with the absolute pits of Ivić’s reign and any lingering hope of seeing the Deeney of 2012–2015 was extinguished — as was Ivić’s own Hornets career. But the less said about that, and Deeney’s part in it, the better.

Speaking to the WD18 Fans YouTube channel at the season’s end, Deeney revealed he hadn’t played a game fully fit in seven years — which is admirable. Something was clearly holding him back and after the 0–0 draw at Coventry (Birmingham) he underwent treatment for an Achilles tendon injury, effectively ending his season. How long that had been blighting him would be interesting to know. But taking Deeney out of the firing line either enabled or at the very least coincided with Muñoz shaking things up; formation, style, personnel, and the end result we all know.

Winning promotion has probably saved Watford and Deeney an awkward decision. Contrary to what I’ve been claiming all season (thanks, Transfermarkt) he has another year on his contract. By which point he will be 34 and a natural parting of the ways will surely occur. Until then, it seems unlikely anyone will match his salary meaning he can remain at Vicarage Road, a Premier League player but surely without the expectation he will start most weeks.

So, Gray. Another one whose season suffered from a false start, it would be hard not to feel for him had he not managed to not only breach Lockdown regulations on multiple occasions but also be caught doing so.

The well-intentioned but poorly executed club PR rehab interview did him no favours and nor did his performances. Much like Deeney, the hope was he would thrive at a lower level. While there were glimpses — his well-taken run and finish off the bench against Birmingham City among them — a return of five goals against an xG of nearly double that, per Infogol, is indicative of a player who needs a change of scenery.

Unfortunately for all parties, Gray is another high earner who, turning 30 this month, will hold little to no resale value should anyone take a punt on him. The upshot? This most unhappy of marriages will limp on for another 12 months before the inevitable and long overdue parting of the ways.

Unbelievably, we’re still going.

Next up it’s Success. A goal against Swansea on the final day serves as an infuriating reminder of the fact there is a player there, somewhere. But it’s been five years now and you can count on one hand the number of good performances he’s managed. His penchant for throwing himself to the floor in protest is grating, too.

Stipe Perica was the biggest loser of Deeney and Gray sticking around. A tall, physical forward, he looked like the replacement for at least one of those but never really recovered from getting injured in the same game he scored his only goal — against Bournemouth at home. Muñoz clearly never fancied him and return to Italy seems his best bet.

Glenn Murray — who has since retired! — was another surely signed to fill a Deeney-shaped hole that never materialised. I can honestly say I saw him once in a Watford shirt: at Wycombe. It was the last time anyone did.