Three managers deep into a midtable Championship season, it’s all been very Watford at Vicarage Road this season – here’s Cam from @VoicesoftheVic and my old mate Richard Segal copying and pasting their answers from a year ago for us.

How's the season been for Watford?

Cam: It’s been a really weird one, and hard to put a finger on whether or not we’ve progressed from last season. Off the pitch we definitely saw something change last summer in that they actually put some effort into the transfer window. Every connection (and probably every penny) was exhausted to bring in some really exciting players, and they assembled a very decent squad with quality and depth. Playoffs were the aim, and with the inconsistency and lack of quality of those currently above Watford in the table, it really was there for the taking. Consistency has been the issue, and that has to be expected when you’re onto your third manager of the season; my own opinion is that we’d be comfortably in the top six if we gave Alex Neil, John Eustace, Phil Parkinson, Sergej Jakirovic (you get the idea) or any competent manager a full season in the dugout. Alas, we look to have fallen short of that, and are heading for another season of mid table mediocrity.

Rich: Same shit, different season. Started badly, got rid of the manager. In a really good position by New Year’s Day having put 11 wins on the board and won four in a row over Christmas. Then momentum stalled, Gracia resigned, and we’re now on a run of three wins from the last 14 games.

Watford so far this season…
Charlton 1-0 Watford Knibbs 90
Watford 2-1 QPR Kjerrumgaard 19, 23 – Morgan 45
Swansea 1-1 Watford Vipotnik 82 – Irankunda 35
Watford 2-2 Southampton Baah 65, Irankunda 81 – Archer 10, Manning 78
Watford 0-1 Blackburn Morishita 47
Millwall 1-0 Watford Neghli 10
Watford 2-1 Hull Louza 60, Semedo 78 – McBurnie 25
Portsmouth 2-2 Watford Min-Hyeok 5, Segecic 79 – Louza 46, Vata 56
Watford 2-1 Oxford Ngakia 45, 45 – Alleyne og 3
Sheff Utd 1-0 Watford O’Hare 59
Watford 2-1 West Brom Louza 38, Vata 58 – Price 34
Coventry 3-1 Watford Thomas-Asante 3, Allen 7, Sakamoto 42 – Louza pen 69
Watford 3-0 Boro Louza 15, Kjerrumgaard 32, Doumbia 49
Ipswich 1-1 Watford Philogene 21 – Louza 16
Watford 1-1 Bristol City Bola 6 – Twine 29
Derby 2-3 Watford Sanderson 36, Langas 54 – Kjerrumgaard 61, Kayembe pen 85, 88
Watford 1-1 Preston Doumbia 45 – Jebbison 22
Birmingham 2-1 Watford Seung-Ho 31, Gray 43 – Maamma 61
Watford 3-2 Norwich Kjerrumgaard 33, 61, Ince 78 – Sargent 11, Schwartau 45
Watford 1-1 Sheff Wed Semedo 90 – McNeill 17
Wrexham 2-2 Watford Windass 21, Rathbone 90 – Doumbia 30, Maamma 42
Watford 1-0 Stoke Kjerrumgaard 74
Leicester 1-2 Watford James 7 – Maamma 45, Pollock 65
Norwich 0-1 Watford Semedo 90
Watford 3-0 Birmingham Ince 9, 38, 60
Watford 0-2 Millwall Azeez 69, Coburn 81
Watford 1-1 Portsmouth Doumbia 79 – Segecic 73
Blackburn 1-1 Watford Miller 28 – Kaymebe 26
Watford 0-2 Swansea Stamenic 55, Key 80
Hull 0-0 Watford
Southampton 1-0 Watford Larin 70
Preston 2-2 Watford Dobbin 19, Osmajic 70 – Maamma 55, Offiah og 57
Watford 2-0 Derby Kjerrumgaard 5, Doumbia 90
Watford 0-2 Ipswich Egeli 37, Hirst 77
Bristol City 1-2 Watford Twine 36 – Kjerrumgaard 7, Ngakia 77
Sheff Wed 1-1 Watford Yates 54 – Semedo 90
Stoke 3-1 Watford Manhoef 28, 77, Gallagher 85 – Irankunda 81
Watford 3-1 Wrexham Bola 18, Kayembe 38, Bove 90 – Cleworth 49
Watford 0-0 Leicester

Let's do our annual work through your managers - Paulo Pezzolano, bad choice from the start? Why didn't that work?

RS: I think so - let’s be honest Watford got him in on the cheap and it did not work at all. The rumour was they tried to bring Javi Gracia back in the summer and his personal circumstances did not allow this to materialise. Go forward ten games and then one of only four managers who managed to last a season under the Pozzo ownership was back at his old desk in WD23.

Cam: Pezzolano came in to very little fanfare and bored exclamations of “who?” from pretty much everyone. A no-mark young Uruguayan boss billed as a ‘promotion specialist’. We’ve seen it all before. The hierarchy looked at his promotions in *checks notes* South America and thought that must equate to success in the Championship. A 1-0 defeat to newly promoted Charlton wasn’t a great impression, and I honestly think if QPR weren’t so charitable in their visit to the Vic he would’ve been gone by the first international break. Pezzolano went to war with his own squad; players were inexplicably being dropped every week, certain players were left to train on their own (most bizarre of those was Kwadwo Baah)… It just wasn’t a happy place. No one had any complaints when he was sacked. His final footprint was a video tweeted by the club themselves showing the dressing room, which could’ve been mistaken for a morgue, being lamented in incomprehensible broken English and Spanish following a 2-1 victory against Hull.

Javi Gracia, you guys love a second (and third) coming. He seemed to be doing alright to me but then resigned, what happened there?

Rich: He did and the club seemed galvanised by his return, with the aforementioned run of wins through Christmas and the best performance under him on New Year’s Day against Birmingham (3-0). It looked like a decent play-off push was on the cards for the second half of the season. As seems to happen every January the difference in opinion between the manager and board as to what players need to be brought in then reared its ugly head and a month later it was time for manager number three of the season.

Cam: Javi is a man that no Watford fan would’ve wanted to see fall victim to Pozzo’s tyranny again. CEO Scott Duxbury rushed to publicly take the credit for yet another masterstroke (he really can do no wrong), but I don’t think bringing Javi back was ever going to be the homecoming he thought it was. Since leaving Watford, Javi has had underwhelming spells at Valencia and Leeds, been sacked by both, and all-but retired - football moves quickly, and for me personally it was hard to get excited. He clearly didn’t want to upset the apple cart too much, and didn’t rush to reintegrate the previously frozen out players. He shoehorned players into his uninspiring 442 system (which, to his credit, worked seven years ago), and we saw midfielders on the wing in favour of our actual talented wingers. The football was painful to watch, and two weeks into his second spell it became clear why: in an interview with a Spanish outlet he claimed that he wanted to leave Watford soon to return to Spain and be with his family. When he eventually resigned, it was revealed to be because he never really fancied it from the start - and it showed. It was best for all parties that he left as we were playing with a handbrake on and players’ development was being stunted.

How have things been under Will Still's non-union Belgian equivalent?

Rich: So so. We have won three games, drawn three and lost two. He has tried out a few different systems and if anything sums the season up it is our last two games where a good attacking performance saw us defeat a decent Wrexham team and then with a back-to-back wins in sight before the last international break we got very lucky to draw 0-0 against a poor Leicester side.

Cam: So here we are again, onto our third appointment of the season again, having wasted two thirds of it on coaches who were doomed to fail from the off. The last thing you should do now to an already disillusioned fanbase is dip into the Mogi Bayat bargain bucket. For context, Bayat is ‘just another agent’ who Watford (and no one else in England) continue to throw money at in exchange for, well, nothing. So of course, the next manager had to be a recommendation of his. Ed Still came in having managed four Belgian clubs by the age of 35, only lasting more than a season once. He’s been written off by all, and you can understand why, but he does seem to be doing as well as he can at this stage. He’s been hit with something of an injury crisis, and it’s tough to get a team going at this stage, but there has been a bit of life injected into us even if it is too little too late. He clearly understands modern football, is very data-driven and has had us playing really good football with our best available players on the pitch. I can’t imagine he’ll last but it’d be nice to see what he could do with a preseason.

What was done in January? What was left undone?

Rich: We made a few signings at the end of the window which left most fans frustrated as to why they could not have been made earlier. Of the three players Saba Goglichhidze and Pierre Ekwah have been good and I expect them both to start on Friday. Man City’s 18-year-old Stephen Mufani had to return to his parent club after a hamstring issue ended his season – a real shame, we only had eight games out of him but he made a lasting impression on all who had the pleasure of watching him play. I would have loved us to bring in another striker, but that’s a copy and paste answer for all 24 clubs in the division.

Cam: There wasn’t too much pressure on the January window because of the work we did in the summer. The squad was overstocked and departures were expected. Perhaps the biggest win was the departure of the worst captain in the club’s history, Moussa Sissoko, which caught everyone by surprise. Man City recalled Max Alleyne, who had really found his feet and looked to be our best centre back, but in return they gave us an even better centre back, Stephen Mfuni (who is now…. also out for the season). The midfield was bolstered, albeit with players who couldn’t feature until March, as Pierre Ekwah and Edoardo Bove were brought in. Both have had limited appearances but there’s a lot of optimism around them, particularly the former who has looked like a breath of fresh air and has started some games. Many bemoaned the lack of an incoming striker, but we have three who all contribute in one way or another. We’re in far better shape than in previous years and our annual mid-season downfall can’t be put down to transfers.

Summer Ins >>> Nestory Irankunda, 19, RW, Bayern, £2.5m >>> Jeremy Petris, 27, RB, Charleroi, £1.5m >>> Othmane Maamma, 19, RW, Montpellier, £1m >>> Marc Bola, 27, LB, Samsunspor, Free >>> Nampalys Mendy 33, DM, Lens, Free >>> Nathan Baxter, 26, GK, Bolton, Free >>> Hector Kyprianou, 24, DM, Peterborough, Free >>> Vivaldo Semedo, 20, CF, Udinese, Undisclosed >>> Luca Kyerrumgaard, 22, CF, Udinese, Loan >>> Max Alleyne, 20, CB, Man City, Loan >>> Caleb Wiley, 20, LB, Chelsea, Loan

Winter Outs >>> James Morris, 24, LB, Orient, Undisclosed >>> Moussa Sissoko, 36, CM, Panathinaikos, Undisclosed >>> Daniel Backmann, 31, GK, Orient, Loan >>> Alfie Marriott, 21, GK, Slough, Loan

Player of the year candidates?

Rich: I have been thinking on this question and its been a difficult answer with no one standing out. We should see the very talented Othmane Maamma back on the bench this weekend after missing the last half a dozen games – I reckon he’ll be the next player to leave Watford for a huge profit under the current regime it will be interesting to follow his career.

Cam: Imran Louza, Imran Louza and Imran Louza. Despite the talent across the squad, no one has kept consistency like him. He’s not given below a 6/10 performance once this season and he carries us on his back most weeks. There’s a theme among Watford fans that whenever the going gets tough it’s always our best player’s fault (see Joao Pedro, Ismaila Sarr, Yaser Asprilla, now Imran Louza) and so I can’t imagine he’ll win player of the season. But there really is no other option. I’ll credit Marc Bola, because we all thought he was coming in to deputise at left back, but he’s been outstanding and the exact kind of signing we’ve missed for many years.

Weak links?

Cam: As mentioned previously we’re in something of an injury crisis at the moment. Both right backs are out for the foreseeable and our makeshift option also picked up an injury on international duty, so you can get some joy there. We’re struggling across the backline at the moment as we can’t pick the same two centre backs every week due to injury, and Bola, who has been our only left back for most of the season, cuts a tired figure. The midfield has been a place of weakness recently though. Nampalys Mendy had something of a resurgence after a tough time under Javi, but he’s knocking on a bit now and the minutes look to have caught up to him. Edo Kayembe seemingly has to play 90 minutes of every match, so if QPR approach the game with the slightest bit of physicality he won’t know what to do about it. Expect him to end up on the wing towards the end of the game, such are the measures we’ll go to keep him on the pitch. It’s bizarre. If QPR force us to play a possession game, you’ll have a field day. We only win when we have less of the ball, and we can be effective on the counter - the Wrexham game a few weeks ago is a great example of that - but we’re also very easy to stop if you don’t give us that space.

Rich: We have not kept enough clean sheets this season – just two on the road and not a lot of confidence that will be extended any time soon.

Still harbouring play-off hopes? How do you see the season finishing?

Cam: It would take winning every remaining game to have a shot at playoffs. And we can’t string two wins together. So, we can safely rule that out. I just want to see players get back from injury and have our best team available for a few games, and let’s see what Ed Still can offer. These games are still important for him - effectively serving as an audition. Tom Cleverley was in the same about at the end of 23/24, we went on a good run, and he stayed. It’s probably a big run for Kwadwo Baah too; his first game back from another injury will be this Friday, and it’d be really nice for everyone to see him get a consistent run of games to hopefully bring him back to his best. Above all, we need to avoid Vicarage Road becoming a toxic place again as it normally is at this point every season. Let’s win some games, score some goals and have some fun with it.

Rich: There was a glimmer of hope before the Leicester game, but that draw has just about done it I think. We’re the only team not to beat Sheffield Wednesday across two games and we’ve only managed a point from two games with Blackburn as well. Those are the ones we’ll look back on as costing us a place in the top six. Let’s enjoy the last few games, let’s get Edoardo Bove playing a bit more before next season and hope to get a few more wins.

Links >>> Watford Official Website >>> Vicarage Road - Ground Guide >>> WFC Forums — Message Board >>> Watford Observer — Local Press >>> Voices of the Vic — Podcast

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