Analysis: ‘Premier League? You’re having a laugh’

Sifting through the wreckage of an early exit from the Capital One Cup, amid the debris of Miguel Britos’ appalling disciplinary record and the Watford careers of Matej Vydra, Fernando Forestieri, Gabriele Angella, Lloyd Dyer, Essaid Belkalem and Daniel Pudil, it was possible to to salvage something to cling on to. No, honestly it was.

Leicester City were the only team promoted from the Championship to avoid relegation from the Premier League last season and they bowed out at the same stage of this country’s secondary cup competition as Watford did last night. Their exit was even more ignominious, losing 1-0 at Shrewsbury Town. Do you think anyone celebrating another year of Premier League football at the King Power Stadium remembers that August evening at Gay Meadow? No, us neither.

Ditto for Crystal Palace the season before. We can’t imagine there were too many Eagles who gave a monkeys about the Capital One Cup defeat to Bristol City when they were bouncing at Selhurst Park to the tune of ‘We Are Staying Up’ the following May. If Watford finish 17th, by a single point ahead of the relegated team in 18th, no-one will care one iota about a truly woeful performance at a rain-soaked Deepdale. But Quique Sanchez Flores has been around the block enough times, in various countries, to know this was not an encouraging night. He will remember how Copa Del Rey wins over lowly Las Palmas and then Pontevedra, in the 2004/05 season, helped create confidence and momentum in the league which carried Getafe to safety, against all the odds, in their maiden season in La Liga.

Most alarming for the head coach, who lost his rag with Giedrius Arlauskis towards the end over the keeper’s distribution, will have been the sight of those with a point to prove, those with their Hornets’ careers in the balance, those who had the opportunity to say, ‘Try and leave me out now, gaffer!’, fell woefully short of expectations. Now, we aren’t talking about the need to make a Lloyd Dyer style celebration at Rotherham – they would have had to score, for a start – but just something, anything, to cause the head coach to think long and hard about his matchday squad for the game at Manchester City would have sufficed. On this soporific evidence, he has a lot of players demotivated, either by default or as a result of being cast in the wilderness. The club needs to ship out those he does not fancy and sharpish before any resentment and discontent starts to fester at the training ground.

That, however, may be easier said that done, especially those on Premier League contracts out of the financial reach of other clubs. There were 29 scouts at Deepdale last night and few of them will have reported back to their chief scout that any of the Watford players on view were worth pursuing an interest in. The Wolves scout had a completely wasted journey if he had come to see Dyer. If the winger, Pudil and Belkalem needed any further indication of exactly where they fit into Sanchez Flores’ plans then they were given a harsh reminder in the pouring Preston rain. I mean, if they aren’t summoned from the bench to replace any of the lot who were second best to Preston all over the park then they are never ever going to feature. Tommie Hoban would also have been forgiven for wondering why he was given a new four-year contract if he can’t get in a second string XI.

‘Go on, Matej. You think you deserve to play, then show me what you can do. And, by the way, all the best up there on your lonesome.’

The most disheartening sight of the night was Matej Vydra. He looked thoroughly fed up and sulked around for most it. His trademark darts off the shoulder of the last defender were, encouragingly, still in evidence but no-one was on his wavelength. In being cautioned, for the first time since last October, after kicking the ball away, the Czech Republic striker showed just how frustrated he was at being asked to lead the line, on his own, against a well-drilled and rugged back four.

If Troy Deeney, the powerhouse of a striker, is struggling for service and sights of goal playing the role then the considerably shorter and less physical Vydra was on a hiding to nothing. It almost looked as if he was being hung out to dry. ‘Go on, Matej. You think you deserve to play, then show me what you can do. And, by the way, all the best up there on your lonesome.’ If you were going to play Vydra last night then play him alongside someone, in a 4-4-2 or a 3-5-2, and at least give him a chance. Otherwise it was a futile exercise giving him his first start of the season as this 90 minutes would have told the head coach absolutely nothing he didn’t already know. If the club are willing to offload him, as looks likely, last night would have done precious little for his transfer value in front of the onlooking scouts.

Fernando Forestieri, another favourite with the supporters, buzzed around, showing some of his obvious flair yet the way he applauded the fans at the end could have been viewed as him waving goodbye. The head coach would not have liked how wasteful he was possession or his unwillingness to track back but he was a bright spark on a fairly lifeless evening.

The watching Tony Coton will have winced at the handling from crosses of Arlauskis and surely given Miguel Britos and Nathan Ake a right rollicking for their role in the winning goal had he been between the sticks. Britos did not heed the warning given to him after going through the back of Joe Garner early on and was always walking a tightrope thereafter. The way Garner charged around, with a point to prove against his former club, had the defenders and the holding midfielders hopping around like batsmen used to do against his namesake, Joel Garner, in the 1980s. Preston adopted an in-your-face approach and Britos, not for the first time in his career, failed to keep his cool. He looked rusty in his first game for nearly three months and after another suspension and no obvious opportunity for game time, it could be a while before he is even considered for selection for the matchday squad. Sanchez Flores admitted afterwards he had second thoughts about playing him here.

Ake looked like he hadn’t played for weeks in the process of falling over several times, taking a foul throw and being alarmingly out-paced and out-muscled on the break by Kyel Reid, the former West Ham winger. Gabriele Angella rarely put a foot wrong, which was quite an achievement on a night like this. He at least looked like he cared at the final whistle.

Almen Abdi can rarely have performed so ineffectively in a Watford shirt, Connor Smith will not look back on his first start in more than a year with much fondness and Ben Watson only looks like replacing Valon Behrami and Etienne Capoue if they are injured. Juan Carlos Paredes tried hard but god forbid anything happens to Allan Nyom. Miguel Layun was the pick of a bad bunch as he never threw the towel in and contributed in defence and going forward. It was a repeat of his solid yet unspectacular performance at Everton but sustained over the course of 90 minutes this time. He was one of few who boarded the chartered plane home knowing he had given his all.

Another positive was the half-hour cameo of Steven Berghuis. Coming off the bench at Deepdale would not have been what he envisaged when persuaded to swap the Eredivisie for the Premier League but he showed exactly what he means when he says he prefers playing on the right. It was bemusing to see him trot on, in luminous green boots, to take up a position wide on the left but his hunger for work and desire to be involved saw him end up on the right. He demonstrated what a threat he can be when he cuts in on his left foot to either take aim or thread a reverse pass through the eye of a needle. The head coach was deep in conversation with Berghuis as the team trudged disconsolately off the pitch.

“Premier League? You’re having a laugh,” mocked the Preston fans. The 369 Watford fans who made the long trip north would not have seen the funny side.

The player ratings below are no laughing matter either.

RATINGS: Look away now if you played for #watfordfc last night. These aren't pretty reading.. http://t.co/zxni9r7T0B pic.twitter.com/LzAtVMCbgF — WD Sport (@WDSport_) August 26, 2015

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