Watford end-of-season squad review: midfielders
By the season’s end there were new faces and new heroes throughout the Watford side but no part of the squad saw a bigger refresh in 2020/21 than the front half of the team.
While Dan Bachmann, William Troost-Ekong and Francisco Sierralta all played crucial roles, we still saw plenty of Ben Foster, Kiko Femenía, Adam Masina, Craig Cathcart and Christian Kabasele — staples of the Premier League years.
It was in attack where the biggest refresh was — and probably still is — due but there was a changing of the guard in midfield too, thanks to the summer departures of Abdoulaye Doucouré and Roberto Pereyra, and Étienne Capoue’s move to Villarreal in January.
That is where we start part two. You can read part one here.
The mainstays:
The exits of Doucouré and Pereyra always seemed inevitable but losing two players of such huge influence provided an opportunity, rather than a cause for crisis talk. Will Hughes had been one of the few to come out of Project Restart with any credit, thriving under Nigel Pearson in midfield, so it was a blow when it was announced the supremely silky midfielder would miss a large chunk of the first half of the season.
By the time we finally saw Hughes consistently, we were in the doldrums of Vladimir Ivić’s reign and the Serbian was seemingly reluctant to start Hughes — in fact, it wasn’t until Xisco Muñoz’s appointment that the former Derby County prodigy started a game. We all know what happened next; the new head coach persisted with his most talented midfielder on the left of a midfield four until finally seeing sense for the 6–0 thrashing of Bristol City. The rest is history. But it doesn’t really bear thinking about what might have happened had Muñoz stuck stubbornly to 4–4–2.
The Robins were in awful nick by that stage and down to the bare bones due to injury crisis. Nevertheless, everything clicked that day for Watford and it’s no coincidence Hughes was back at the base of midfield, the beating heart of a slick, fluid 4–3–3. He stayed in that quarterback role thereafter, doing a very passable impression of Capoue and playing his way into Player of the Season contention despite missing almost four months of the season.
With his contract up in 2022, getting the former England youth cap signed to a long-term deal is one of Watford’s biggest priorities this summer. For his part —speaking in an interview with The Athletic — Hughes has confirmed his intention to remain at Vicarage Road. Regardless, the blond bombshell is the first name on the teamsheet in the Hornets’ midfield. The player around which everything else is built.
Alongside him for much of the campaign, Nathaniel Chalobah finally had the season we’ve been waiting for since he returned in 2017. Much of that delay hasn’t been his fault with injury and the form of the aforementioned Capoue, Doucouré and Hughes denying him a run of starts. It took a little while for the one-cap England international to find his groove but, by the time he was handed the armband for a run of games during February, we were witnessing the best of Chalobah in a Watford shirt since 2012/13.
He oozed confidence and authority, as well as scoring important goals against Cardiff and Birmingham City in quick succession, patrolling the midfield in the manner we’d become accustomed to under Gianfranco Zola whilst on loan as a teenager. Whether it was anything to do with being entrusted to lead the side, or simply that he’d finally been able to nail down a starting place, is anyone’s guess.
What 2020/21 also confirmed is that Chalobah’s best role is not screening the back four. He did a decent job filling in after Capoue left and clearly the physical and defensive sides of the game he has covered. He might even look more outwardly combative than Hughes given his frame too. However, Hughes’ ability to dictate play and passing range make him a better fit at №6.
The challenge is now reproducing that form in the top flight — something Chalobah has struggled to do since that knee ligament damage suffered shortly after his 2017 return. In fact, he’d only made 18 starts in the three preceding seasons and ten of those came in 2019/20. There’s a chance his progress this season could be halted if Watford choose to bolster the midfield this summer.
In a similar vein, Tom Cleverley made a triumphant return, skippering the side for much of the season in Troy Deeney’s absence. There’s always been a question about what he adds on a technical level but you cannot overlook the 31-year-old’s intangible qualities. He is the battling, snarling, never-say-die growler in midfield — ‘A little rat’, according to Foster’s YouTube channel — and every team needs a Cleverley: someone who is streetwise and has a little bit of cunning up their sleeve.
Having made a combined 15 starts in the two seasons prior, Cleverley managed 34 this term and it was never more apparent how important he’d become than when he was ruled out over the Easter period by minor knee surgery. His selfless running, ability to nick a goal and leadership had become crucial by that stage but his absence opened a door.
Like Chalobah, it will be interesting to see how involved Cleverley is next season. He performs a different role and is a very different player. With his experience and leadership, it’s not hard to envisage him being a big part of things next year. He might not be the star of the show but he knits things together nicely.
The new boys:
The man who took the chance created by Cleverley’s absence was Philip Zinckernagel. The Dane had been forced to wait patiently after signing from Bodø/Glimt in January but, after impressing at Manchester United on his debut, did not start again until March 3 against Wycombe. Signed as a right-sided winger with goals and assists in abundance during his time in Norway, when opportunity knocked Zinckernagel was deployed in the centre of midfield as the most advanced of the midfield trio. In fact, we didn’t see the 26-year-old in his natural position for more than a handful of minutes for the entire rest of the campaign.
There’s no getting away from it: Zinckernagel divided opinion. Coming off the back of a prolific spell in Norway and with a glowing tribute from Adam Leventhal, the expectation level was high. Arguably, we never saw the player Watford’s Twitter analytics community hoped we’d get. But it’s difficult to overlook Zinckernagel’s impact in the centre of midfield. He injected some much-needed craft and guile, tiptoeing beyond and creating opportunities for others and a run of five assists in six games gave an indicator of what he can do.
Off the ball, he was arguably better than expected too. His positional awareness and intelligence were strings to his bow few might have expected and given he’d been signed to add depth to Watford’s wide options, he looked fairly well at home in a position he’s otherwise occupied sparingly throughout his career. The great shame was that we saw him play wide right for 22 of the 1,010 minutes he played. Whether that changes next season or not remains to be seen. One feels that if Muñoz had any intention of using him as a winger he’d have found a way to do so by now. Someone else could have played in midfield at Brentford after Joseph Hungbo went off injured. I expect Watford to make at least one midfield signing, most likely a creative player, and for that reason, Zinckernagel looks vulnerable to me.
Incredibly, we’re still going — and yet central midfield was a worry after Capoue and Domingos Quina were allowed to leave for Spain in January. The arrival the same month of Dan Gosling failed to incite much excitement but the former Bournemouth man played a key, if underappreciated, role in promotion in the long run.
His stand-out moments came, ironically, in defeat against his former club and his winner at promoted Norwich City, shoring up Watford’s position in second ahead of a nasty looking run-in. On paper, the second was more significant — and in reality too. Yet the sight of Gosling standing arm-in-arm with his new band of brothers, refusing to buy the Cherries’ usual nonsense now he was on the other side of it was a joy to behold. In fact, the way the entire team retaliated to the melée at the Vitality Stadium stirred something within you. This was a group united and Gosling’s defiance encapsulated that beautifully.
Whether he will ever be a regular seems unlikely. The preferred midfield axis was unaltered by Gosling’s arrival but he brings experience, nous and Premier League know-how with him. An unfussy, versatile and durable type, he’s also homegrown which will be a boon in the Premier League.
Another late-season addition was Carlos Sánchez. Again, I have to eat some humble pie here and say I was not overwhelmed by this signing — a 35-year-old who hadn’t kicked a ball since the previous season didn’t seem very progressive. I wasn’t exactly heartened by the views of West Ham supporters I follow either. This felt like yet another over-the-hill late-season arrival, something we’ve become used to under the Pozzos. See also: Lucas Neill or Albert Riera for previous examples of the genre.
But, like Muñoz, and Watford themselves, I was wrong. The Colombian’s experience told virtually every time he entered the fray and he proved a more than useful midfield stop-gap. His second-half display coming off the bench against Reading was a masterclass in controlling the midfield and seeing out a victory. In fact, so dependable has he been, I’d have had no qualms with Watford extending his stay by another year. Alas, the club has already announced he — along with Achraf Lazaar — will move on come June 30. He won’t quite go down in the pantheon of late-season legends along with Ben Watson, Adlène Guedioura or Matt Connolly, but he won’t be joining Neill, Samba Diakité or Park Chu-young either.
Forgot they played for us:
A couple of honourable mentions at this stage: Capoue, captain of my heart, a man it proved so difficult to replace we have redefined his old role entirely.
In all seriousness, he never really looked ‘up for’ the Championship and spent the first month in self-imposed isolation. When the transfer deadline came and went and it became apparent he wouldn’t be leaving, the languid Frenchman made himself available for selection once more but it was always going to be short-lived. He hadn’t suddenly discovered a burning desire within to play at Adams Park on a Tuesday night.
That much was evident in his horrendous half-arsed slice past Ben Foster in the wretched defeat at Huddersfield Town. That result saw off Ivić though, so I guess, being flippant, we have to laud his contribution this season on some level.
Another January LaLiga migrant was Quina, who headed for warmer climes with old friends Granada.
This was a surprise and his campaign was a disappointment. If there were to be any positives from relegation, I felt sure it would be increased playing time for Quina and Ben Wilmot. Yet, for varying reasons, neither really made the most of this season. Given the Pozzo model, you have to wonder if selling to Granada for what will surely be a profit on the reported £1million paid to sign him from West Ham will be a result for the club?
There’s a player there, in my mind. His effortless ability to slalom past defenders, dropping a casual shoulder to bamboozle his opponents has been a delight to watch — in isolation. Consistency has to follow and there’s a nagging doubt he’ll never get that at Vicarage Road.