An end of season review of Watford Football Club

In the aftermath of a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Manchester City, Watford’s season ended with a performance that was characterised by nothing but pure incompetence. It was an embarrassing way to end a campaign that has been far from ideal.

Watford announced that Walter Mazzarri will depart the club, prior to the match against Man City, after one season in charge. He became the latest managerial sacking at the hands of the Pozzo’s (Watford’s owners), however, unlike the sackings of Slavisa Jokanovic and Quique Sánchez Flores, this departure was greeted with a huge sense of relief amongst the fans.

I’ll go out on a limb by saying that this was probably the most disappointing season under the Pozzo’s. It’s not just the league finish that has contributed to my decision, but it is also the style of football, the lack of organisation and discipline that the players have demonstrated and how the team has not progressed throughout the year.

Of the last four seasons, the 2013/14 season was the only unsuccessful one and I do not think this was as much as a disappointment than this season. Our goal was to challenge for promotion in 2013/14 and it was going well initially, but then Watford went on a ten-game winless streak which ultimately ruined the season. It was quite clear that Gianfranco Zola, the manager at the time, did not know what to do and then resigned, a decision which I respected highly. Guiseppe Sannino then came into the job and did an alright job to recover a situation that could have gone pear shaped.

Now I say this season (2016/17) has been worse because our target was to challenge for a top half finish. Finishing 13th last reason was a job well done and by bringing in a previously successful manager in Mazzarri showed our intentions of pushing on as a club and establishing ourselves as a solid premier league team, instead of a team who is always battling to avoid relegation. However, things have been far from that and despite a good start from Mazzarri, it went downhill too quickly. Since mid-November, Watford won one game in ten, losing six of them and this poor run was spectacularly ended with a win at Arsenal, but that could not overturn the overall poor form. Since mid-February, Watford have won ten points out a possible 39. The Golden Boys could have and probably should have been mathematically safe by the end of April, but losing our final six games meant that Hull had to slip up for Watford to remain in the league.

Mazzarri’s Woes

The disappointment comes from such a lack of creativity from Watford. It is the same tactics week in and week out that have not worked. As mentioned earlier, it started brightly with wins against West Ham and Manchester United. When Watford beat Man Utd 3-1 in September it was fantastic, it was probably one of the best games I’ve seen at Vicarage Road as Watford showed great character to win the match. At this moment, Watford fans are thinking of how optimistic the season could turn out, however, this was one of the very few moments I saw that type of display from the Golden Boys.

Tactically Inept

I’ve used the phrase ‘tactically inept’ on a few occasions to describe the team and the manager and this is because I think Mazzarri’s tactics lack innovation. I have noticed this particularly when we go behind; if we concede first, very rarely will I feel optimistic that we will win the game. Only on two occasions (West Ham & Everton) have we won from being behind and this is where Watford start to struggle for ideas. More often than not, the players end up playing route one football by lofting it to Troy Deeney, who does not win the ball, or if he does win it, the flick on will go to an opponent. The most peculiar thing is that this happens when Deeney is up front on his own, when there is nobody to flick on to! Watford are involved in 39.8 aerial duels per game and lose 20.3 of them (as of before the Man City fixture). Not all of these will be from hoofing the ball forwards to Deeney (some will be from goal kicks, free kicks etc.) but it shows you that it is not quite working if you are losing more than half. Watford have been successful in recent years by playing attractive football which has been assisted by the influx of some flair players and some of the most technically gifted footballers the club has ever seen, so let us utilise that and play the ball along the ground!

The players look confused on the pitch; nobody looks like they want to take charge and the defeat against Man City was a fantastic example of this. Mazzarri set the team in his usual way, but the way in which the goals were conceded cannot be attributed to Mazzarri. The make shift centre backs of Behrami and Holebas displayed such naivety when defending. Basic things like not picking up your man, backing off, diving in, all the players were guilty of, not just the centre-backs. I can appreciate that Man City have one of the best attacks in the world, but Watford’s defence should still be doing better than the performance they gave. At other times, I see all the players pointing fingers at each other every time something goes wrong the pitch. There is a lack of organisation about the players and this is demonstrated in the fact that Watford have conceded 16 goals from set plays and three penalties; this is the fourth highest in the league (as of before the Man City fixture). The finger can only be pointed at Mazzarri for this as it is the manager who is the person in control of the players and the manager is who is ultimately responsible for how the players conduct themselves on the pitch. Ok yes, there are times where we can blame the players for a poor performance, but if we see the same errors week in and week out, the manager has to take responsibility. Surely the fact that Mazzarri cannot speak English has to be a component for this. It’s quite unbelievable that Watford haven’t opted to “send Mazzarri on an intensive language course” (to quote Football Manager) to try and improve his communication with the players. Perhaps because Watford have such an array of international players, it may have been irrelevant, but I’m sorry, if he is managing in England he needs to speak English.

Transfer Chaos

A slight off the pitch issue for me was his recruitment strategy last Summer. He sold 11 players (nine in the summer, two in January), all of whom I consider to be in or around the first team and bought in 11 new players. I consider this to be poor recruitment, especially when it came to the players he sold. The likes of Almen Abdi, Matej Vydra, Ikechi Anya and Daniel Pudil were all good enough to compete for first team football and they were all sold to Championship sides. Vydra in particular was disappointing because I felt he would have been perfect to start instead of the out of form Odion Ighalo. Allan Nyom, our first choice right-back and one of the most consistent players in our 2015/16 campaign, was sold too. It just did not make sense to me, part of the core of a very successful team in recent years was stripped apart and it posed question marks.

Mazzarri bought 11 players in the summer and you can argue three, maybe four have made an impact on the team. Roberto Pereyra is easily the best signing, it is such a shame he got injured so early because he is probably the most technically gifted player I have seen the club. He should be our prime playmaker next season with the ability he has. Stefano Okaka and Daryl Jaanmat have also contributed, the latter has also been injured, but has proven to be a good replacement for Nyom. Isaac Success, I believe, has been a tad underused, partly due to injury and poor form, but I firmly believe he has a future at the club. Adrian Mariappa had a late run in the side, and he has made it count, but other than that I cannot see the case for the other new signings to start.

I wasn’t a fan of the transfer processes in the summer because I felt the core group of players of our team was dismantled a bit, which would impact team selection and this seasons Mazzarri has been unlucky in some respects due to our high injury list, but is it bad luck, or is it his training programme? I guess we cannot find out, but I’m starting to think the high number on the injury list is not all due to misfortune. Injuries will of course impact team selection, but there have been times where Mazzarri seems unsettled with his first team. Mixing between formations of 3-5-2, 4-4-2 and 4-5-1, and his mixture of players, Mazzarri did not really seem confident on a consistent starting XI. Deeney has played up front with Ighalo, Okaka, Success, M’Baye Niang, Etienne Capoue and Nordin Amrabat just this season. Injuries and the terrible form of Ighalo have led to this, but such unsettlement causes inconsistency, which is why none of our strikers have been prolific.

Calamitous Discipline

The final point I want to make about this season is our poor discipline. Watford have the worst discipline in the premier league with 87 bookings and five red cards. Watford also commit 13.6 fouls per game (as of before the Man City game), which is more than any other team in the league.

The FA has a system where each red card and yellow card represents a number of points and Watford have the most points, hence the worst discipline. Last season Watford had the worst discipline too, but surely that would be something to target for Mazzarri? Instead, discipline has gotten worse and there have been cases were the red cards have nearly cost us the match. They’re not even harsh decisions, most of the time it is stupidity or recklessness that has gotten a player a red card and the consequent suspension impacts the team selection.

It is difficult to blame the manager for players getting booked or sent off, but again he has to take some responsibility because I think his tactics influence the ill-discipline. We do not see what happens in training and how the manager goes about his business, but on the pitch, we do see the effort of the players and generally they do try to do the right things. There are games where Watford have lost and it is the solely the players’ fault, but I feel this season Mazzarri has been implementing tactics that which have not worked and then not learning from this.

Going Forward

Well it certainly will be an important summer for Watford because recruitment needs to be spot on. Obviously, a new manager will come and new players must come in and strengthen the side. I think Watford are lacking a centre-back who can take ownership. Other than Deeney and Heurelho Gomes, to an extent, Watford do not really have any leaders that the players can turn to. I think Watford need to factor that into some of their signings in the summer.

The Next Manager

The favourite to take the manager position is Hull manager Marco Silva. I think Hull made the right move in sacking Mike Phelan. Silva came in and was so close to keeping Hull in the league. If it wasn’t for the 2-0 shock home defeat to Sunderland, Hull would have pulled it off. The Portuguese manager had a 38% win ratio at Hull compared to the 13% of Phelan.

It would be exciting to see Silva get the position and I believe he will add the discipline and organisation that Watford are currently lacking. With the organisation, I would expect the players to know their roles on the pitch which will led to a clever execution of skills and tactics, rather than the mindless finger pointing and moaning which we are seeing right now. Hopefully he will turn Vicarage Road into a bit of a fortress which always makes good viewing for the fans.

Other candidates include Claudio Ranieri, who would also be an interesting appointment, the man needs no introduction after his remarkable triumph with Leicester City. Other names thrown around are Leonid Slutsky, former Russia manager and Alan Pardew. I do not really know anything about how Slutsky sets his teams up, but I am a tad sceptical of Pardew following his bad run with Crystal Palace.

To add some curiosity into the mix, Gianfranco Zola is priced at 21/1 by Coral, Slavisa Jokanovic is priced at 15/1 by William Hill, Frank Lampard and Ryan Giggs are priced at 26/1 by BetVictor. They’re all very unlikely appointments, but who knows what the future holds. I cannot see Zola coming back following his appalling spell at Birmingham City, but I would welcome back Jokanovic if he can get back on terms with the Pozzos, but I just do not see that happening.

Players to Target

I think Watford need an experienced centre-back. The club has been linked with Thomas Vermaelen, former Arsenal captain and current Barcelona benchwarmer. I think he would be an absolutely fantastic signing adding leadership, determination and experience to the Watford back line. The Hornets have also been linked with Colombian centre-back Jeison Murillo who currently plays at Inter Milan. His statistics on Football Manager are quite impressive, so he could be a decent signing?

It looks like Niang is going to go back to AC Milan, so it’s important to sign a replacement. A good attacking winger would work well on the right-hand side, maybe we could re-sign Ashley Young if his wages allow us to, or perhaps maybe we can look to loan a youngster from a bigger club, like we did with Nathan Ake and Nathaniel Chalobah. It could be worth giving Steven Berghuis a run in the team after a successful loan spell at Feyernood, where he won the league.

It is always difficult to know who the club will sign, but I strongly think they need a centre-back. In addition, a creative midfielder/winger could be on the shopping list as Pereyra and Mauro Zarate both have long term injuries. I am hoping the former will be fit the start of the season, but Zarate has an ACL injury, so he will be out for another 6-8 months or so.

Starting XI

Let’s assume we get the signings I have mentioned above and nobody is sold, this is how I imagine/would want the starting line-up to look next season (quite hypothetical because who knows what will happen).

I want Watford to play with two up top, because the lone striker system is not working. Sticking to 4-4-2 would be a good fit for the side, a system which worked so well under Flores and a system that Leicester won the league with.

I’d like to see Capoue and Doucouré to sit in when we have the ball, allowing the wingers to go forward and demonstrate their creativity. I like Success up top because his pace will work well playing off Deeney, similar to how Ighalo and Deeney worked so well last season.

End of Season ‘Awards’

On a lighter note, what we traditionally see is player of the season, goal of the season awards etc. This review is none different and I have listed mine below.

Player of the Season:

None. There has not been one player, in my opinion, that has stood out for the whole season. Abdoulaye Doucouré probably comes closest after having a great run in the side since Christmas, but players have had inconsistent performances throughout the season.

Goal of the Season: Roberto Pereyra v Leicester (2-1 Home win)

Best Match: Watford 3-1 Manchester United

Worst Match: Watford 0-5 Manchester City

Signing of the Season: Roberto Pereyra

One to watch for next season: Isaac Success (if he can keep fit)

It’s not been a great season, but let’s think of the bigger picture. We are competing in the premier league for a third consecutive season which is what we could only dream of about 7-8 years ago. Showing that we should be a team challenging for a top half finish shows how far the club has progressed in recent years. Italian owners have a reputation of destroying football clubs, notably with Queens Park Rangers and Leyton Orient, but we have remained structured and efficient with most of our duties. Let’s just hope the summer recruitment goes well and the following season is one to remember.