Watford travel to Stoke on Saturday, and will take a squad that, in the mind of their gaffer, is not ideal.
This week that head coach Quique Sanchez Flores spoke of his disappointment that only “12 or 13” players are currently up for consideration when it comes to the starting XI. Whether this is a veiled criticism of the club’s transfer activity over the summer – Flores doesn’t take charge of such affairs – it’s clear that a huge number of the 15 new signings are yet to make a real impact.
Of all the talk that Watford’s roster has experienced far too much flux this summer, currently seven of last season’s promotion-winning regulars are fixtures in this Watford team. While none of these players have let the Hornets down, it’s clearly to the coach’s frustration that millions of pounds worth of attacking talent sit redundant on the bench, all while their teammates are struggling for goals.
Flores is clearly unhappy with a large number of the squad player’s efforts, given that he rotates who makes the bench week by week. In the past six weeks, £4.5m man Steven Berghuis featured as a substitute in three consecutive games, more and more in each, before he was left out entirely, with his boss announcing that he had plenty of work to do to feature again. Berghuis could then easily accuse Flores of mixed messages, after he was suddenly included and used off the bench against Arsenal – two weeks after being told he was out in the wilderness.
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Berghuis is the most exaggerated case, but there are others who may be confused by the way they have been utilised recently. Victor Ibarbo was signed on transfer deadline day, as the club looked for some blistering pace in the final third to replace the outgoing Matej Vydra. He has since appeared three times, each occasion with not long left on the clock to make much of an impact on the game. While Flores explained his absence away with a slight knee injury, it seems bizarre because Ibarbo can bring to the table exactly what this side needs. He certainly provided a vicious attacking threat for Cagliari.
Adlene Guedioura, a cult hero after his herculean efforts in the promotion run-in last season, has appeared for just three minutes, while Alessandro Diamanti, Miguel Britos and Obbi Oulare are other summer purchases which have found on-field time hard to come by – Oulare has had none whatsoever. Only Allan Nyom, Sebastian Prodl, Nathan Ake, Etienne Capoue and Jose Manual Jurado have immediately been trusted by Flores to play regularly.
The widely regarded view is that Flores likes his players to be totally up to tune with how he wants the side to play – whether that takes days, weeks or months to achieve. Flores recently said, when asked about Berghuis: “Sometimes they do that [adapt] straight away and other times we have to wait a little longer. I don’t want to say ‘this players isn’t ready to play’. What I will say is ‘we have to wait a little longer’.”
The Spaniard – as proven by his side’s pragmatic performances so far this season – has a strong tactical view of how the Hornets should set up. It is clearly an intense operation which can take time – all summer signings regularly playing, bar Nathan Ake, were made early in the summer – and Flores is not prepared to use players who are a tactical risk. It is this viewpoint which caused the departures of fan favourites Matej Vydra and Fernando Forestieri. Flores believed them to be too mercurial and not prepared to do the hard graft tactically.
What is clear though, is that Flores cannot continue to rely on a team which is easy to predict at the moment. Injuries and suspensions will mount, and the Spaniard simply has to turn to more of his summer recruits. While he will be desperately hoping that they can get up to speed as quickly as possible, some fans are left pleading with Flores to take a risk on one or two flair players who could improve a current goal tally of six Premier League goals in nine games.
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