Watford FC season grades: defenders
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2. Jeremy Ngakia (11 starts + 3 sub apps, 0 goals) F
I was stunned to learn Jeremy Ngakia clocked up more minutes (916) this term than in all but his first season at Vicarage Road (1,602). That is where the good news ends, though.
The 2023/24 season already felt like the final throw of the dice for Ngakia at Vicarage Road. To the frustration of many, he shared right-back duties with Ryan Andrews in the early weeks, eventually losing his place before, inevitably, succumbing to injury. We saw him just twice in 2024 thanks to a number of setbacks and, regardless of where you stand on his ability, it is hard not to feel sorry him. This was, after all, somebody who arrived with a decent pedigree after breaking into West Ham United’s first team as a teenager and made a bright start to his Watford career during Lockdown.
Despite some promising moments early in the campaign, it is hard to envisage Ngakia ever finding a level of consistency in availability — let alone performance. All of which makes the decision to award him a lengthy contract extension — per The Athletic — hard to comprehend. That is if the club ever confirms what has since been corroborated by the EFL. Watford simply aren’t in the position to carry passengers and Ngakia is precisely that.
3. Francisco Sierralta (23 + 4, 0) C
Another who seems stuck in a perpetual cycle, Francisco Sierralta did at least provide some intrigue in 2023/24 by being deployed in midfield. However, I’m grading him with the rest of the defenders as he clocked up more minutes there (1,357) than elsewhere (804).
Did Valérien Ismaël’s experiment work? It’s hard to say either way with a great deal of conviction. He was probably better than anticipated at the base of midfield before being replaced by Jake Livermore. That switch coincided with our best run of the season, which tells you everything you need to know. Cumbersome at the best of times, he never seemed a likely №6 and his inhibitions — or shortcomings — in possession were exposed in that advanced role.
Restored to the centre of a back three under Tom Cleverley, that is — for me — his best position. But, like Ngakia, you know the Chilean will always miss a portion of the season through injury. Also like the much-maligned full-back, this was also his most prolific season in terms of minutes (1,968) since his maiden campaign (2,208). With Cleverley expected to revert to a back four next season, opportunities will again be limited but he rarely lets you down either. Having just turned 27, it feels like now or never for Sierralta at Watford.
4. Wesley Hoedt (44 + 0, 3) A
Player of the Season, Goal of the Season winner and captain for the majority of the season. Yet still Wesley Hoedt was not the unanimous choice among Hornets supporters. In fact, he felt like the best of a pretty mediocre bunch. In a year where there was no outstanding candidate for the major gongs, he came out on top by dint of being there more than most. He missed just two games — for collecting 10 yellow cards — but otherwise remained remarkably available, even playing in the cups. In fact, in his post-season review with The Watford Observer, he revealed he felt worse after dropping out the team than during his ever-present run.
Unquestionably talented and a cut above this level on his day, Hoedt is also capable of dropping a stinker and did that plenty of times, too. He can be rash and clumsy and it’s easy to see why someone with Netherlands caps once signed to replace Virgil van Dijk has ended up at mid-table Watford. Though that is — per the same WO interview — precisely where he does not want to be long term. We were warned by disgruntled Anderlecht fans when he signed that he was ‘arrogant’ and ‘blamed others’. While that has not come to pass, he was patently clearly unimpressed and played to the gallery after the capitulation at home to Huddersfield Town, shrugging his shoulders and gesticulating as he alone attempted a lap of appreciation.
Signed in January 2023 as part of the ill-fated final roll of the promotion dice under Slaven Bilić, it’s not hard to see a scenario where it suits everyone for Hoedt to move on. He presumably joined thinking he was six months away from a Premier League return. He could not be much further from realising that aim. One imagines he will be on a decent wedge in this era of austerity and, at 30, not wild about the idea of spending the final years of his prime in the Championship wilderness.
5. Ryan Porteous (33 + 4, 3) B
A real up-and-down season for the Scot who has continuously struggled to hit the heights he reaches for Scotland while pulling on a yellow jersey. Yet despite his evident struggles — particularly during autumn — he remained largely first choice with Sierralta being deployed in midfield and Mattie Pollock a non-option until January.
Porteous possesses the underlying qualities you want from a ‘proper, old-fashioned centre-half’. He is strong, brave, happy to get stuck in, good in the air and does the basics well. But it is football intelligence, decision making and positioning that continually let him down. Nobody at Watford collected more bookings (14) or conceded more fouls (48) last season.
He was arguably the biggest beneficiary from Cleverley’s switch to a back three and even had a stab at right-back in defeat at Southampton. With two players alongside him, his frequent darts out of defence were less glaring and meant there was adequate cover behind him. Next season, you would anticipate him partnering Wes Hoedt at the back again — unless he does so well with Scotland at the European Championship that someone makes us an offer we can’t refuse.
6. Jamal Lewis (32 + 4, 0) C-
So, so, so many questions.
Was he ever any good?
What on earth did Newcastle United see in him?
Come to think of it, what did we see in him?
Can he take a throw-in properly?!
I’m no psychologist but Jamal Lewis looks like a man who lacks conviction in everything he does. From the way his socks are rolled down around his ankles (yes, I know it’s the fashion among young footballers), to the way he clutches the cuffs of his undershirt for 90 minutes. And then there’s his ridiculous ability to manage a foul throw every. Single. Time. Somehow Championship linesmen have failed to cotton onto this. Either that or they simply can’t be bothered to flag it 20 times a game.
Yet there must be some ability there because only the top 0.1% make it to this level. He has played for 30-odd times for Northern Ireland, was highly thought of at Norwich City and cost Newcastle United a reported £15million as recently as 2020. But it was hard to see much — if any — evidence of any of that in 2023/24 and, if anything, his performances got worse as the season went on.
Watford have the option to make that deal permanent this summer. One assumes they won’t take it — even if Newcastle aren’t hoping to recoup much of their outlay. Quite frankly, £1.5m would be daylight robbery based on this term.
15. Mattie Pollock (10+8, 0) B-
This was the season Mattie Pollock reinvigorated his Watford career — and how.
Already well behind the eight ball following a chastening Championship debut at Millwall in 2022, Pollock had scarcely been seen since, coming off the bench eight times without starting in the first half of the season to help see out games. No one would have begrudged him a move in January when it became clear he wanted to leave if he wasn’t going to see meaningful action.
Handed a first start of the season at home to Southampton in the FA Cup, Pollock was arguably man of the match. He followed that up with credible displays at Sheffield Wednesday and against Cardiff City and was in and out of the team for the rest of the season. Impressive in Cleverley’s must-win first game at Birmingham City — particularly in the opening 10/15 minutes when the Blues lay siege to Watford’s box — Pollock has proven himself a more than useful squad member.
Unlikely to break up the Porteous-Hoedt axis, he is now arguably ahead of Sierralta in the pecking order now — particularly if it’s to be a four-man defensive line next season.
42. James Morris (10 + 2, 0) C
The James Morris debate has become so binary it’s hard to have reasoned discussion about him on social media. It’s reasonable to assume most fans would like him to succeed. His story is a nice one, reminiscent of Watford of old, even. Picked up from Southampton’s Under-23s, handed a trial, then a short-term contract and now a longer-term deal. Not quite ‘One of our own’ but the next best thing and beggars cannot be choosers.
But there is also more than a grain of truth in the assertion he has not kicked on massively in almost three years at Vicarage Road and often looks physically off the Championship pace. Valérien Ismaël entrusted him to start in the early weeks of the season as Jamal Lewis got up to (his idea of) speed and those were his best displays in a Watford shirt. He looked at ease in himself and the inverted full-back role. Yet by the end of the season, it felt like he had regressed and he was wretched in the final-day defeat at Middlesbrough.
At 22 and a half, this is the last season Morris can be considered a youngster. A new left-back will be a high priority for Cleverley this summer so the battle begins again for Morris as he enters the final 12 months of his contract. There is the option for an additional year on top, making this a big season.
45. Ryan Andrews (26 + 14, 3) B
The great hope for fans desperate to see a homegrown youngster cement his place in the team, Ryan Andrews’ 23/24 season was far from linear. He job-shared with Ngakia in the early weeks of the season before getting his chance when the former’s body let him down.
A combination of his popularity and the excitement he offers going forward masked some of his flaws on the defensive side, before Ismaël dropped him. A proper explanation was never quite given and unfounded accusations of ‘bullying’ were quashed by dad Wayne Andrews on Twitter. Before we knew it, a fully-blown shit-storm had emerged from nothing.
None of which was likely to help Andrews Jnr’s case as he warmed the bench and watched Tom Dele-Bashiru try his best to fill in for him for a month. It was a baffling decision and one that only fanned the flames of Ismaël’s tenure in its final weeks.
Overall, it was a good season for Andrews. He has looked increasingly accomplished as a Championship full-back and a threat going forward, chipping in with a handful of goals. There are still areas for improvement but that is hardly surprising for a 19-year-old. Surely first-choice right-back next season another 35+ games will only benefit him.