Watford’s 2019/20 season unpicked
When Watford do something odd, stupid or controversial I feel compelled to write about it. Usually, my platform would be Football Whispers but in the past couple of weeks the site has been sold by my employer, Twenty3, and I find myself without the platform to get everything off my chest. So, after being chided by a long-term Twitter acquaintance, here I am.
A helluva lot has happened since I was last able to put down in writing my feelings about matters at Vicarage Road. Relegation, naturally, is the prism through which everything else is viewed. In the time since this was confirmed, I’ve been sent messages of commiseration and asked how I feel. I was confident we’d be relegated after our wretched start. That was fine with me. I reasoned that teams who win one of their first 17 do not suddenly find the panacea. In the event, I was almost wrong. Nigel Pearson — more on him later — almost achieved the impossible. It was not a good season for me in terms of declarations and predictions, and I’ve detailed that in this Twitter thread.
Ultimately, at the start of our fifth season as a Premier League club, I was bored with this league. Given the appalling things which have happened to other clubs this season, not to mention the world, I realise this is rather aloof and insensitive. I’ve no doubt Wigan, Bury, Southend, Macclesfield, Bolton or Hull fans would swap positions. But there is a glass ceiling for clubs in the Premier League. Watford, while never reaching it, have almost no hope of ever smashing through. The glass ceiling, I think, is a top-half finish. Frankly, chasing that doesn’t excite me. Perversely, being in a relegation battle has actually been exciting. Granted, the football served up since the restart has been largely dire. It says something when the nail-in-the-coffin defeat to Arsenal was our best performance of the post-lockdown season by a long, long chalk.
So I welcome our return to the Championship. For a start, it’s a fun league where anything is possible. I don’t for one second think winning promotion immediately will be easy. After five years of dining at the top table, there’s a real danger of a hangover. Particularly if the club’s owners don’t take this opportunity to clear the decks and re-build with stronger foundations. The Pozzo family, specifically owner Gino, have done great things for this club and Watford fans should never lose sight of the fact we’re lucky to have these owners. You don’t have to go very far back in Watford’s history to remember why — Laurence Bassini, Lord Ashcroft, Jack Petchey, take a bow. All that said, mistakes have been made from top to bottom and that’s precisely why we’re in this mess.
Defeat at Arsenal was Watford’s season in microcosm. From the moment Craig Dawson conceded a mindless penalty after just 34 seconds to the sheer number of high-value chances the Hornets squandered, it’s not hard to see why we’re going down. Let’s focus on Dawson first though. There weren’t many — if any — fans who didn’t celebrate the capture of the former West Bromwich Albion centre-half. Dawson was seen as the rugged, experienced, no-nonsense central defender Watford’s backline has been missing for years. His arrival, along with the deal for club-record signing Ismaïla Sarr and free transfer addition of Danny Welbeck led me to grade Watford’s summer transfer business at A- in this Football Whispers piece. That was a grave error of judgement my colleagues haven’t permitted me to forget. It became apparent on the opening day Watford had committed a similarly serious mistake in making the 29-year-old their only defensive upgrade of the summer. The Seagulls duly ran riot against a side which finished 11th and reached the FA Cup final the previous season; 3–0 winners at a shell-shocked Vicarage Road.
Generally, Watford aren’t a big enough club to interest neutrals. But if there’s one thing which gets people’s backs up it’s the regularity with which they change managers. So binning Javi Gracia after claiming a single point from their first four Premier League games was always going to draw criticism. The reporting which came out of that decision claimed the hierarchy had concerns after the 6–0 FA Cup final shellacking at the hands of Manchester City. If so, Pozzo’s first mistake was not acting on his instincts then. Callous though it would have been to ditch the club’s most-successful boss since the legendary Graham Taylor, allowing Gracia to plough on, robbing his successor of pre-season, was misguided. As was re-appointing Quique Sánchez Flores, a coach sacked at the end of the 2015/16 campaign following a dismal downturn in form, coupled with some rather serious concerns about his conduct around the training ground.
The logic, in theory, was fairly sound. Sánchez Flores’ first Watford side was solid if unspectacular. Powered by the goals of Odion Ighalo and an in-form Troy Deeney — more on him later — and marshalled by two from Craig Cathcart, Sebastian Prödl and Miguel Britos, the Hornets had a good foundation. But that is to overlook Sánchez Flores’ shortcomings. In attempting to shore up a leaky backline he robbed Watford of any attacking intent and, save for 45 excellent minutes against Arsenal in his first game back, the change did not have the desired effect. That 2–2 draw was followed by an 8–0 humbling at Manchester City, highlighting the size of the task.
One upside from Sánchez Flores’ ill-fated second spell was that he did at least attempt to integrate record signing Sarr — something Gracia made fairly feeble attempts at, calling into question the wisdom of sticking with the Spaniard or spending £35million on someone the head coach didn’t want. One win from ten Premier League games was lost time, though, and Sánchez Flores’ was rightly dispensed with after capitulating at struggling Southampton at the end of November. Pozzo and co. have never been too proud to admit they’ve made an error — see Billy McKinlay’s unbeaten two-game stint in 2014 — and Sánchez Flores fell on his sword for a second time.
Perhaps the most interesting thing to come out of his second spell in WD18 was the interview conducted with The Athletic’s Adam Leventhal in February. In which, Sánchez Flores claimed his training sessions had been observed by technical director Filippo Giraldi.
“They have some attitude right now that is about control of medical staff, about control of training, how the coach trains and they have a person taking notes,” he says. “I don’t believe in that. I’m so sorry, but I don’t believe in that. You sign a coach, you believe in the coach. It’s not normal to have someone taking notes while the coach is in training. I have more than 500 matches as a coach, so how can he analyse me?”
This accusation hasn’t sat right with a lot of fans and it’s easy to see why. The training ground should be the head coach’s domain. In a structure which strips away so many of the responsibilities previously associated with an ‘old school’ manager, running training is one of the few things Watford’s head coaches could expect to enjoy autonomy on. Giraldi spying on training and reporting back to his boss wasn’t well-received by Sánchez Flores. However, flipping the argument on its head, London Colney is where most of the preparatory work ahead of games takes place. Why wouldn’t Pozzo and co. want to know how things were going? Is that not merely arming yourself with all the facts to help make informed decisions?
Nigel Pearson came next to the surprise of all. The first Englishman to lead the club since the Pozzos arrived in 2012 and the first Brit since the aforementioned McKinlay, this was a complete change of direction. Someone perceived as a disciplinarian, who put together organised, hard-working and hard-to-beat teams. Pearson had a history of keeping teams up against all odds — Carlisle United, Southampton, West Brom and, most recently, Leicester City. The madman image of him perpetuated by the media appears to be based on two incidents. Firstly, calling Wardles reporter Ian Baker an ostrich and, secondly, engaging in a wrestling match with James McArthur on the touchline. If you listen to Pearson’s press briefings, watch him on television or read interviews with him, he comes across as a very erudite and well-rounded character. In no way the deranged lunatic we’re meant to believe he is.
This was a masterstroke, to a point. Even before Watford’s abysmal post-lockdown showings, the signs were there. Failure to close out victory at relegation rivals Aston Villa, going on to lose in the fifth minute of stoppage time, was compounded by blowing a two-goal lead at home to Everton ten days later. After the attention-grabbing 3–0 whitewash of Liverpool, a 1–0 defeat at Crystal Palace was a slap in the face before the coronavirus took hold.
So, onto those dire displays once Project Restart got underway. Watford improved in their first game against Leicester and nicked a decent point. But we didn’t see anything which remotely resembled a performance again until come-from-behind wins over Norwich City and Newcastle United. By which time six games had been played and Watford had been ‘decent’ for about 45 minutes in total. Pearson paid with his job following the capitulation at West Ham United but the time to have sacked him would have been after straight losses to Burnley (1–0), Southampton (3–1) and Chelsea (3–0). Those are three of Watford’s worst performances I can recall in the Premier League era. Certainly not on a par with some of my other low points — Nottingham Forest (H, March 2005), Scunthorpe United (H, April 2008) or Yeovil Town (H, November 2013) — but rank-bad, listless displays nevertheless. Had the axe fallen at that point — not that I was advocating it — whoever came in would have had games against Norwich, Newcastle and West Ham to secure our Premier League status before facing Manchester City and Arsenal.
Delaying that decision until those final two clashes, only to re-appoint Hayden Mullins as interim coach, was baffling. Changes of head coach at Watford often chime against the perceived wisdom of the neutral. More often than not they have been easy enough to rationalise for Hornets supporters. Not this time. Did the club’s hierarchy seriously think an untested — if well respected — under-23 coach offered a better chance of securing survival than Pearson, with almost 500 games under his belt? One of the rumours which swirled around social media following the West Ham horror show was that Pearson had been involved in a physical altercation with Adam Masina. The only snag was there was nothing to absolutely nothing to substantiate these rumours which had been allowed to multiply in the Twitter echo chamber.
All that said, it had become virtually impossible to imagine Watford staying up under Pearson. Had Aston Villa not pulled off a shock win over Arsenal, they might have done it. Equally, there was absolutely nothing to suggest they would have defended any better or been any more clinical on the final day at the Emirates Stadium. Pearson had failed to get any kind of first-half display from his side once the season restarted and even those precious wins over Norwich and Newcastle came after falling behind and, presumably, some half time words of wisdom. From afar, it always felt like Watford knew they had another chance to rescue themselves just around the corner.
Over the course of the season, three experienced head coaches and four coaching regimes could elicit just eight Premier League wins from this group. To me, that puts the blame predominantly at the feet of the players. Sure, in individual moments the head coaches could all have done better. Gracia’s stubborn refusal to change things and loyalty to under-performing players cost him. Sánchez Flores’ decision to change to a back five to tighten things up backfired spectacularly. Pearson, meanwhile, had a knack for baffling selections and substitutions.
But this isn’t a totally appalling squad devoid of any quality. Ben Foster has been one of the Premier League’s better keepers this season and, had he not committed to a new two-year deal once the season resumed, it wouldn’t have been a shock to see him depart. Kiko Femenía — despite being eviscerated by Gary Neville on commentary during the West Ham debacle — is already being courted by Gracia in his new role at Valencia. It will be no surprise if he’s followed out the exit door by Will Hughes, Étienne Capoue, Abdoulaye Doucouré, Roberto Pereyra, Gerard Deulofeu, Sarr and Danny Welbeck. That’s almost an entire starting XI. So it’s not a question of ability, even if some areas of the squad lack quality or quality in depth. Those responsible for recruitment have to accept a large proportion of the blame and this does not fall at the head coach’s door. This is the remit of the club’s hierarchy, who have arguably tried to be too clever for too long.
Accusations of a lack of want, care and desire are thrown around readily yet hard to substantiate. But if we work on the basis this squad has talented players it’s hard to avoid reaching the conclusion there are some bad eggs in the group. Relegation should at least afford the new head coach the chance to weed those players out. According to Leventhal on The Athletic, part of the reason for Pearson’s sudden exit was a disagreement with Pozzo over future recruitment. There is no guarantee shifting players will be any easier and with coronavirus expected to impact transfer fees, it’s not going to be a seller’s market. If we work on the basis the aforementioned assets will join out of contract trio Heurelho Gomes, Adrian Mariappa and José Holebas in leaving, Watford’s next head coach will be left with the following squad –
Keepers: Ben Foster, Daniel Bachmann.
Defenders: Daryl Janmaat, Craig Dawson, Adam Masina, Craig Cathcart, Christian Kabasele.
Midfielders: Tom Cleverley, Nathaniel Chalobah, Domingos Quina, Tom Dele-Bashiru.
Forwards: Troy Deeney, João Pedro, Andre Gray, Isaac Success, Ignacio Pussetto, Adalberto Peñaranda.
There are the plethora of loanees to consider too: Pervis Estupiñán, Cucho Hernández, Luis Suárez, Ben Wilmot, Ken Sema, Marc Navarro, Jerome Sinclair, and doubtless others we’re not even aware of. That is some mess to unpick, and quickly thanks to the truncated pre-season.
Despite his final-day suggestion he could have played his last game for Watford, it seems unlikely Deeney won’t be here when the EFL season begins on September 12. It’s virtually impossible to believe the 32-year-old won’t be viewed internally as an integral part of the rebuild, someone who will help set the standards and maintain the club’s identity and dressing room culture. He may even rediscover his goalscoring touch in the Championship — ditto Andre Gray, please — but the time when Watford and Deeney will have to go their separate ways is hoving into view.
The complete reliance on their talismanic №9 as an out ball held the Hornets back in the Premier League. He is not mobile enough nor enough of a goal threat to play any other way in the top-flight and there was a marked improvement with Welbeck leading the line. It was a shame, if inevitable, the former England international missed a significant portion of the season with a serious hamstring issue. Yet, in the final few games, he found momentum and offered the dimension the attack had been so clearly missing. Holding onto him will be a coup but it’s hard to imagine he signed up for Tuesday nights at Wycombe Wanderers last summer.
The same has to be said of wonderkid João Pedro, signed to much fanfare amid reported interest from some of Europe’s biggest clubs. The Brazilian teen was used sparingly in his first seven months in England. The rough-and-tumble of a notoriously testing Championship campaign is not the way to bed Pedro in and a loan move surely awaits. The same goes for fellow South American prodigies Estupiñán, Suárez and Cucho who have shone while out on loan.
All of which leads us back to the much-maligned Giraldi. The club’s technical director appears to be below only Pozzo and non-executive chairman Duxbury in Watford’s hierarchy and has been an ever-present in the eight years since the family purchased the club. He has been on the receiving end of a considerable amount of criticism from fans online and, as part of a recruitment team which felt Dawson was an adequate defensive upgrade, rightly so. Equally, he is not the sole member of a network which spreads across the globe and counts numerous scouts on the ground and a sophisticated video scouting system back at HQ. Even if everyone involved in that takes their portion of the blame, Giraldi isn’t the decision-maker. That is Pozzo, who takes a high level of involvement in arrivals. Giraldi is merely the public face; the one who used to be active on Twitter. That fans don’t understand what he does or how far his remit stretches breeds suspicion. That suspicion has only been amplified by Leventhal’s excellent reporting for The Athletic. As well as suggestions he has been overseeing training, a piece released after the 4–0 humbling by Manchester City suggested Giraldi had influenced in-game decisions. To reiterate an earlier point, the structure at Watford means the head coach coaches and picks the team. Strategic, transfer, contractual and medical decisions are the club’s domain. If the new coach can expect meddling from above in one of the few areas they have the autonomy, we’ve entered even more concerning territory.
Like it or not, relegation is an opportunity to right some wrongs. But it won’t be easy to secure an immediate return to the so-called promised land. It took three seasons to get it right last time around and the league has only got tougher in Watford’s absence. The club will have to invest; placing absolute faith in the goals of Deeney and Gray, the experience of Dawson, Cathcart and Cleverley will result in a harsh return to reality. Whoever misses out in the playoffs will be a tough nut to crack while Nottingham Forest, Millwall, Preston, Blackburn and Bristol City will hope to crack the top six while Stoke, Middlesbrough and Huddersfield will all expect to do far better.
This is the biggest test of Pozzo’s reign so far.