OBSERVATIONS
By Omar Moore
You Orns!
Ten games down, 36 Championship games to go.
Watford have played almost 25 percent of their EFL Championship fixtures this season and find themselves at the crest of midtable: tenth place after ten games. This position symbolizes a mediocre, disappointing start to the new season as a relegated Premier League club, despite the points amassed in the early going.
At this juncture it is necessary to provide some good news and bad news.
The good news is, 1) Watford’s performances are far more uneven and worse than their position in the table shows or suggests, 2) midfielders Imran Louza and Tom Cleverley are expected back sometime in October, and 3) the Championship table doesn’t begin to take shape until early November (later than that with the upcoming World Cup.) The bad news is, 1) Sheffield United and Norwich City, two recent Premier League sides, are setting the early pace and establishing consistency as the top two teams in the Championship, and 2) Watford, at various points have already had a litany of injuries (Ngakia, Sarr, Louza*, Dele-Bashiru, Cleverley, Manaj, Hause, Kamara, Sema^, Joao Pedro) early on. Injuries obviously disrupt any team, especially when that team, in this instance Watford, has yet to find a rhythm this season. One can only hope that none of the Watford players on international duty gets injured.
The following is no surprise: Watford have a thin squad. While the financial sensitivities at the club are a well-known open secret, the ability to be judicious around this issue (while juggling affairs at Udinese) will likely form part of the answer to the question of how far Watford will go this season. Some Watford fans have already pointed to how well Udinese are doing to date. Granted, Watford are not in the Championship’s bottom three (fellow expected well-doer Middlesbrough are), but they have severely underperformed. The question is, why?
Much of the answer is not only due to the lack of depth in the squad; it is far more to do with a lack of mental stick-to-itiveness and cohesion on the pitch. You can have the greatest manager or team known to humankind; if you do not put together a resolute, organized effort for every installment of a match from minute one to minute ninety-five, you will win less games than you will eventually lose. Assuming that this need for segmented, regimented game management has not been already emphasized (and perhaps it has been), a more focused commitment to incremental game management as a team will inevitably forge and force a stronger concentration and adhesive work ethic.
There is no denying that Watford players work hard. What is also clear though, is the mental aspect in Watford’s game is lacking. Which means that confidence is lacking. Confidence, more than anything else, is at the heart of the weakness in all areas of the pitch for Watford after ten games. When the team can only give about 20 minutes of one half of good, solid football at home much less away, confidence is a massive factor. With a fresh new season, a new head coach, the departure of supposed clubhouse disruptor Emmanuel Dennis, why would Watford players still lack confidence this season?
Last season probably still lurks over the heads of some Watford players. The same tentativeness or hesitation from 2021-22 continues when Watford score first. The same conceding goals first or very early in a game persists. Football is more mental than physical, and some Watford players seem plagued by the traumas of the abysmal 2021-22 Premier League campaign. High expectations and pressure some Watford fans, the head coach (Edwards or Scott Duxbury has said he wants to win the league, not just get promoted) and those beyond Watford FC have been placed on the team to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking. Some returning players may not have shaken off the pain last season out of their system.
The current Watford position in the table might be more palatable to some if the board had declared that rebuilding was the remit this season. Some Watford supporters would have been aghast at any such public pronouncement by the board, but Watford have played this season so far as if rebuilding, not returning (to the Premier League) was the focus. Rob Edwards has a project on his hands and the jettisoning of sporting director Cristiano Giaretta may arguably go some way toward reaching this conclusion.
The 2022-23 EFL Championship table at the first international break. (Screenshot: BBC Sport)
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An additional answer to why Watford have underperformed is the obvious lack of appreciable quality in defence. There are five quality players in this current Watford men’s squad. One of them (Ismaila Sarr) is currently injured — or at least was (he’s now on international break with Senegal.) The other four are Joao Pedro, Keinan Davis, Yaser Asprilla and Hamza Choudhury. Imran Louza would come in next or be right alongside those five. None of these players is a trademark defender. The same elephant in the room from last season and seasons past hasn’t lost any weight. Lack of attention by the Watford board to fully bolstering the defence continues to drag the team down like an albatross, as do persistent recruiting issues.
One of the wisest things the Watford board has done this season is say arrivederci to sporting director Giaretta. The departure will further consecrate power in head coach Rob Edwards, a young progressive coach already communicating to Watford players the need to forge a stronger connection with supporters. With Giaretta gone, Edwards won’t be looking over his shoulder at the security of his own job.
Another wise thing the board did was to hold on to Joao Pedro, who made it clear this month that he wanted to stay at Watford for the season and is happy at Vicarage Road. Joao Pedro is the future and present at The Vic and his upside is immense. He is growing in leaps and bounds and is far from his prime at age 20.
As for off the pitch: beyond the long-standing fantastic community work Watford Football Club continue to do, the August Vic 100 celebration and accompanying ongoing history are vital to reconnect any disaffected Watford supporters with the club. This cannot be overlooked or denied. More immediately however, winning will bring any disaffected Watford fans onside. Consistent improved performances obviously will too.
The most important thing to stress here, especially after just ten games, is that all is far from lost. Hull, who topped the table briefly in August, have lost five games and now sit fifth from bottom. There are still at least three quarters of the Championship season remaining. That doesn’t mean Watford fans should meander along in dreamlike contentment in the knowledge that more than 75 percent of the season remains. If anything, it merely means that perspective must remain front and center, and rose-coloured glasses must remain off. This writer has complete faith that despite the poor Watford showing performance-wise and concentration-wise thus far that performances and a turn in fortune will arrive in the next few weeks.
The bright sparks on the pitch in the first ten Championship games amid Watford’s woeful unevenness have been Daniel Bachmann (the team’s best overall performer so far), Choudhury, Davis, Asprilla, Joao Pedro and Hause. Vakoun Bayo has also been good, working very hard for the team. Bayo seems to be finding his way and will continue to score. While the disappointing efforts on the pitch have been a constant in most of these matches — the silver linings are the players mentioned in this paragraph. Watford’s new players still need to acclimatize to each other on the pitch in a competitive match. An igniter is needed in this Watford side. Will Louza be the one? Will Samuel Kalu, still on the books at Watford with little playing time to his name, be one of those to light the touchpaper?
Or will the Watford board wait until January again?
The next set of ten games — or perhaps the next ten minutes at Watford — will hopefully begin to yield some answers.
*-Louza’s injury occurred last season; was included since he is part of the squad and hasn’t played so far this season.
^-Sema, to his credit, has been playing with a groin strain for several weeks now. He has featured in every Watford match so far this season.
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