Watford have started well this season under Marco Silva.
They are a physical, energetic side, driven by two genuine box-to-box midfielders
in Abdoulaye Doucoure and Etienne Capoue, who has re-found his form in the yellow and
black of Watford having been something of a
disappointment at Spurs.
Watford have lined up as a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 this season.
The difference comes largely in Tom Cleverley’s position – in the 4-3-3 he lines up in the
midfield, largely on the right of the three, with a remit to push up into the hole but
with a greater defensive role than in the 4-2-3-1.
Cleverley is a decent passer of the ball, though
Roberto Pereyra is a more natural creator, but Silva wants energy and snappy tackling
from his side and Cleverley is more robust in that
regard (and less likely to get sent off).
The heartbeat of the team is the midfield pairing of Doucoure and Capoue though, it
must be said, Nathaniel Chalobah is a very decent
fit in the central axis too, bringing probably a
better range of passing than the other two.
All are similar types of player, however, capable
of picking a long pass, bursting towards the edge of the box to strike, and able to run
between boxes, winning the ball back and releasing others just as they can pass and move
themselves.
Watford play with width, inviting the full-backs to push up significantly; it’s worth recalling
that Jose Holebas, one of the two first-choice full-backs, often played as a wing-back or
even a wide midfielder under Walter Mazzarri, and
it shows, as he gets forwards often and well.
Kiko Femenia, who has the distinction of having played for Barcelona and Real Madrid’s B
teams in adjoining seasons, but neither first team, is similarly capable of getting up the
pitch.
They do this to create short passing triangles with their flank’s centre-back and midfielder,
circulating the ball within their half until the chance to move it quickly forward occurs.
Femenia and Holebas play quite close to their wingers, generally Andre Carrillo on the right
and the revelatory Richarlison on the left.
The Brazilian winger, signed from Fluminense, has
been superb, not just in his creativity and scoring but his tackling and general effort
around the pitch – he has made 2.9 tackles per
game this season so far, as well as scoring three
goals and managing an assist, which is superb for an attacking player.
This facilitates Watford’s aim in possession – to spread
the pitch as wide as possible, while retaining possession in their half before bursting forwards.
In aid of this approach, Cleverley’s role in the attacking midfield position is largely,
especially in away games, to switch the play from left
to right, or vice versa, as rapidly as possible: he is
the axis around which Watford move rapidly from one side to the other, while allowing
their central midfield axis either to sit and protect,
or to burst up in support once the ball is wide.
Watford use their strikers Andre Gray or Troy Deeney to disrupt opposition defences as much
as anything – Deeney especially, although he has not started so much this season, is
a physical presence adept at dropping off to
win aerial balls and allowing the wide players to
run in onto his flicks-on.
Gray is more of a poacher, an excellent finisher with speed, but little in the way of an all-
round game; his runs across the box pull defenders around, though, which leaves room for
Richarlison and even the box-to-box midfielders to push up and shoot.
Watford’s goals have thus mostly come from runs into the penalty box or shots from the
edge, for example onto knock-downs or poor clearances or after driving runs from deep
– they create space by making full use of the
width of the pitch, moving the ball horizontally at
speed, and using their strikers to disrupt the opposition defensive line.
Defensively, this means that Watford sometimes struggle to get back into position, and
concerted counter-attacks at speed are effective, causing Watford to foul or concede as they
rush to keep back into a defensive posture.
Manchester City also showed the benefit of overloading on one flank against Watford,
channelling most of their attacks into the right
half-space.
This prevented Watford from attacking down their most dangerous flank and also meant
they bunched over more to the left to try to thwart City’s attacks, robbing the Hornets
of their most potent asset, width.
But, that shellacking aside, Marco Silva has got Watford playing well – a dynamic side
who play to their strengths, have several players
in excellent form, and an astute manager who is
proving last season’s critics very, very wrong.