A six-day jolly around the UK (Givry-London, London-Whitehaven, Whitehaven-Burnley, Burnley-London, London-Givry) meant I was able to be at The Valley for the Bristol City game and at Turf Moor for the midweek clash with Burnley. Both games had pluses and minuses, both could have gone either way, but ultimately they meant two more added to the list of games without a win. That set up today’s game, against opponents seemingly on the ropes and probably low on confidence. This had all the hallmarks of one we needed to win, to stop the run, to show the ruthlessness necessary to thrive in this division.
Win? We came away beaten and our tails very much between our legs after a performance right out of the worst of last season. Played ugly and lost, to a team which didn’t match our expectations – although we seldom pressured them sufficiently to find out why they have conceded so many of late. They had a game-plan and stuck to it, breaking quickly and with numbers. We degenerated into a mess with curious substitutions and if Watford could shoot straight would have lost by more.
Ahead of the game there was uncertainty about the team/squad Jones would select, driven not least by whether we would revert to the 4-2-3-1 system or go with five at the back as against Burnley. It proved to be the latter, with Mesik rewarded for his glorious last-gasp strike with a start in place of Bell, with McNamara the right-side wing back and Ramsay, Jones and Koumetio the central three. Coventry and Skipp would be the midfield pair and Campbell, Leaburn and Grant as a kind of front three. So pretty much as you were, with the formation leaving a defensive bias and Knibbs, Carey and Rankin-Costello (he not in the squad) to bide their time, while Kelman and Mbick, plus Alli out wide, were the options from the bench.
We began the game sloppily, poor passes and miscontrol giving away possession and encouraging Watford. Rather out of the blue we almost took the lead on eight minutes. Moving out of defence Koumetio created space and played the ball wide for Mesik. He delivered an excellent cross to find Leaburn in space. But he finished like someone very low on confidence in front of goal, heading wide when he really should have scored. How different the game may have turned out if he had.
That moment was the exception to the rule in the first half as we allowed a succession of Watford chances and ended with McNamara, Skipp and Campbell all on yellow cards (followed early in the second half by Coventry), Skipp going on to test the ref’s patience with further fouls. On 14 minutes the shot from another player cutting inside drew a good save from Okonkwo; on 21 Ramsay misjudged a ball forward only for their guy to shoot wastefully wide from a good position; on 26 minutes it took a perfectly timed flying challenge from Koumetio to prevent what looked a probable goal; and on 29 a simple one-two put another Watford player in, his effort saved by Okonkwo.
We did get more of a foothold in the game later in the half, with a scuffed effort from Campbell after a corner was headed out turned only just wide by Koumetio; and on 46 minutes Campbell might have done better when let in by a Watford mistake. But at the break you felt that Watford had nullified our threat with their 5-3-2 formation, with Campbell and Grant barely in the game, and made use of their extra man in central midfield to create more openings. The stats at the break showed they had 53% possession with eight efforts on goal, three on target, against five and one for us. Bottom line was we had to play better.
Jones kept the formation unchanged for the start of the second half, but replaced Skipp with Mwamba, with a possible red card for the former probably in his mind. The game continued in a similar fashion, although we did have another chance to take the lead. On 53 minutes Leaburn got the better of his marker on the right and took the ball on. His low cross was delivered just behind the incoming Grant, who was unable to control the ball and put it away. And in the next minute it was almost Watford as a break saw them with three on two. The guy was played in on goal but put his shot wide. It proved to be a temporary reprieve as Watford did finally score on 57 minutes. One of theirs was allowed to advance unchallenged into the box. His shot was parried by Okonkwu but only into the path of their forward who scored.
Going behind sparked a triple substitution by Jones on 61 minutes with Knibbs, Carey and Kelman replacing McNamara, Coventry and Grant. We kept to the three/five at the back but with Campbell moving to right wing-back, while Kelman joined Leaburn up front and we were left with a midfield three of Knibbs, Carey and Mwamba. Basically both defensive midfielders had been replaced – and it showed.
Watford dropped deeper but continued to pose a threat on the break. From our free kick on 68 minutes (after Jones was clearly elbowed in the face, one which VAR would have had a good look at) they went up the other end. Okonkwo blocked the first effort and another put the rebound over the bar. We huffed and puffed and created a scramble or two, most notably on 78 minutes as Alli, who had replaced Campbell, was pulled back and the resulting free-kick went in to the mix. Ramsay almost got on the end of it, finally Kelman did, but his effort from close range was blocked by their keeper on the line and then cleared.
On 81 minutes it took a late challenge by Ramsay to prevent Watford scoring again, then Okonkwo made an excellent save from a flicked header at the near post from a corner. On 84 minutes Watford missed another, while our afternoon was summed up by a horrible Carey shot. In five minutes of stoppage time Mwamba picked up a yellow and then Watford finally finished things off as a pass inside caught us out and their guy chipped Okonkwo to put, for them, the icing very much on the cake.
It was a depressing afternoon. We chose what was in essence a defensive formation (as at Burnley as McNamara and Bell/Mesik are not natural wing-backs, although Mesik did get forward well), supposedly keeping things tight, against opponents we thought would be worse than they proved to be (but hardly worldbeaters). We failed to impose ourselves on the game and were caught on the break by passing and movement so often it was embarrassing. We needed to score first but didn’t take the best chance of the first-half, or another early in the second. Then having gone behind we made changes which left us even more open – and confused me at least. Who thought that bringing on both Knibbs and Carey would work (one or the other would have done)? And Campbell as right-side wing-back?
The only positive for me was another excellent display by Koumetio. Jones will have a lot of thinking to do before Norwich come visiting next Saturday. Top of the list is surely that playing with wing-backs and having a sort of front three with Campbell and Grant stymied for space is not playing to our strengths. Not once today did TC have the ball at his feet on the left wing while Leaburn's lack of a goal is looking increasingly a burden. Why have we reverted to five at the back from the start? Is it the result of suddenly having more defenders back and available (such that some have to be dropped)? We badly miss Chalobah back fit to partner Coventry. All is not well and needs sorting out before this becomes an outright crisis.
