Watford Team Preview

Watford

Looks like it is going to be a long season for Watford. After losing their best player from last season in Richarlison, they haven’t really upgraded. Sure they signed Deulofeu but he was already there last year except now he’s here on a permanent deal. It wasn’t the best transfer window for Watford, they did add a couple of full backs in Marc Navarro and Adam Masina from Espanyol and Bologna to improve their backline because Watford were awful last season at the back conceding 64 (3rd worst in the league). They’ve also added Ben Foster who will likely start over the former starting keeper Gomes which is really their most significant signing as Foster is a really decent keeper, an upgrade to Gomes for sure. Watford stayed up pretty comfortably last season, but a very good start to the season under Marco Silva was the main reason, Watford wondered around top 4 early but when the distraction of Everton came along, Silva lost the team and eventually got sacked after a few horrible results. Watford never really regained consistent form, they did just enough to avoid a relegation battle but with Richarlison gone this year, their attacking strength is expected to fall off which could be a huge blow for the team as they relied on being a good attacking side last year. One player that could turn out crucial is Andre Gray. After struggling last season with only 5 goals, he is going to be very important for Watford and as he know he was really good the year prior with Burnley so it’s essential he regains that form this year because Deeney can’t be the only one scoring goals. Overall, it just doesn’t look like it will be a promising season for Watford, they haven’t made many significant signings and its highly doubtful they get off to a quick start like last year so relegation battle is a very possible scenario here and it’s not like Javier Garcia has been very successful so far with this team only winning 4 of the 15 matches in charge losing 8 which is relegation form and Watford can’t afford to keep playing like they did late in the last season. Losing an attacking talent like Richarlison was bad enough and it’s still quite likely that they will struggle at the back. These are some really bad signs for this squad. Expect them to be around the 15-18 places this season.

Transfers

In – Ben Wilmot, Gerard Deulofeu, Marc Navarro, Adam Masina, Ken Sema, Ben Foster, Domingos Quina

Out – Brandon Mason, Costel Pantilimon, Mauro Zarate, Richarlison, Tommie Hoban, Nordin Amrabat, Jerome Sinclair(Loan), Randell Williams(Loan), Dodi Lukebakio(Loan), Harvey Bradbury, Daniel Bachmann(Loan), Alex Jakubiak(Loan)

Expecations and Results

Last Year’s Finish – 14th

Target for 2018-19 – Avoid Relegation

Key Players – Andre Gray, Troy Deeney, Abdoulaye Doucoure, Ben Foster, Ricardo Pereyra, Jose Holebas

Manager – Javier Garcia