With the season winding down and Watford stuck in mid-table obscurity, fans are understandably frustrated by the lack of attacking intent.
Just 18 goals in 21 games since the turn of the year, and only three games in that stretch where they’ve scored more than once, raises the question: why can’t Watford just throw caution to the wind and go for it in these last couple of matches?
Interim head coach Tom Cleverley gets the question—and he shares the frustration—but insists it’s not that simple.
“No-one wants to get the ball from A to B as quickly as possible more than I do,” he said. “But with the players we’ve got, that isn’t playing to our strengths.”
He pointed to the youth and inexperience of the current frontline, especially 19-year-old Mamadou, who’s being asked to lead the line against seasoned defenders.
“To pump the ball up to him against two really experienced centre-halves is not playing to his strengths, and it’s not playing to Rocco’s strengths either,” Cleverley explained. “We are a team who likes to draw the opposition out and play through the lines.”
Injuries have also ripped through the spine of that style. “When you lose Chakvetadze, Baah, Kayembe and Sissoko from that model, then you’re up against it,” he said.
Cleverley insists he’s not dogmatic about playing pretty football, but given the personnel, a more direct approach wouldn’t necessarily solve the goal drought. That doesn’t mean, however, that the coaching staff aren’t looking for ways to spark more output.
“I feel like we’re getting into the final third fairly regularly,” he said. “Then getting the ball from the final third into the goal or into a dangerous moment comes down to quality a lot of the time.”
He also noted that Watford have been desperately unlucky at times. “I think we’ve hit the woodwork more than any other team bar one in this division.”
Ultimately, Cleverley acknowledged that there’s no excuse not to find more cutting edge in these final games—even if nothing is technically on the line. “We must be finding ways to have more attempts on goal,” he said, but stressed again that “personnel is a huge factor.”
In short, it’s not about refusing to play attacking football—it’s about finding a way to be dangerous with what’s left in the toolbox.
In other news, “He’s the Right Fit” – Lee Hendrie Demands Watford Back Cleverley This Summer After Surpassing Expectations
