Watford were comprehensively outplayed for the first time this season, as they went down to a flattering 2-0 defeat at Southampton on Wednesday evening at St Mary’s.
The Hornets were well off the pace from the start, and deservedly went one goal down after just 17 minutes as Shane Long expertly steered in an excellent Matt Targett cross.
After a host of missed opportunities, Sadio Mané the worst culprit, the Saints finally made it two as Dusan Tadic raced into the box and rolled beyond Heurelho Gomes. Comfortably their worst display of the season, the visitors will be keen to forget this one and move on, but here’s a few things we learned from the game.
Southampton 2-0 Watford - Here’s what we learned from the game:
Watford are still reliant on key performers…
A tale which is probably applicable to the vast majority of sides in world football, but the Hornets' failure to come close to Southampton seemed a little too much to be down to just two or three players who went missing throughout.
Etienne Capoue has developed something of a frustrating habit of not meeting his heady Vicarage Road heights on opposition territory, and he once again failed to influence a game how a man of his talent should on the road.
Capoue was in fact worse than anonymous – he was noticeably poor – but when he doesn’t boss the midfield then the Hornets look nothing like the same proposition.
Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo were totally out of sorts as well, both were slow in possession and provided nothing of a goal threat, and that certainly didn’t help proceedings. It was a night on which everything Watford did went wrong, but the poor displays from big players were the biggest hindrance.
Does Quique Sanchez Flores know his best back centre-half partnership?
There was certainly a consensus amongst a number of Watford fans that Craig Cathcart needed a rest coming into the game, and that is what Flores duly gave him.
But an unsure start to the partnership of Sebastian Prodl and Miguel Britos – some of the passing was worse than sloppy, and communication non-existent – resulted in Flores turning to Cathcart as a second-half substitute to try and restore some order.
After the Northern Ireland centre-half made the error which led to the second goal, there’ll be plenty of uncertainty in Flores’ mind as to who should line up at Swansea on Monday. The probable outcome to that conundrum is that Prodl and Britos will get another go, but there may also be a feeling that Cathcart is the crucial glue which has held a so far impressive back four together.
Deeney and Ighalo’s next challenge is to combat a back three…
Mauricio Pochettino and Tottenham were the first side this season to spring a back three on Watford’s deadly duo, and after some success, it looks like Southampton may have copied their formula.
Neither player were afforded anything like the chance to be as physically dominant as they have been in previous weeks, with one of the three defenders often stepping in front of them and not allowing them any possession.
It will be fascinating to see whether Swansea implement the same system on Monday night against the Hornets – as a side who rarely field a back three – and whether it is something further opposition have a look at.
If stopping Deeney and Ighalo means stopping Watford, then the front two, who have impressed so many so far this season, may need to find a new formula to continue banging in the goals.
Watford may be tempted to dip into the transfer market
Whether Watford make signings this month, probably dictates whether they finish this season really strongly – with an abundance of energy – or whether the small number of players that Flores likes to use can only stumble into a bottom-half position.
On the one hand, there could well be an argument that signigns are not particularly necessary this month. The Hornets should stay up now regardless of additions, they only need three or four more wins from the remaining 17 games, and could just wait until the summer to make well-thought out, measured signings.
On the other hand, the club may be keen to use their advantageous position as best possible in the market right now. The Hornets have earned themselves a good reputation in the first half of this season and some big players may well be eyeing up a move to Hertfordshire.
What’s for sure is that if Watford want to power into the top half of the table, a dip into the market may well be necessary. If they are comfortable to just survive this season, they may wait until the summer.
The Hornets must keep some perspective
Despite the fact that this was, at times, a comically bad performance, it must be made clear that Watford have had a fabulous season so far and that this kind of night has only come as a surprise because it has yet to happen this term.
It was the first game in which they just haven’t competed from minute one, and that’s not a bad record in January for a newly-promoted side.
Yes, Flores will want to work on a few things, but more important is that he reminds his side how good they can be and have been, and that that is the performance on show at Swansea on Monday.
