Watford FC Recruitment Plan 23/24
"Successful clubs are aligned by having a clear vision, clear strategy and are consistent in their messaging and behaviours. They also focus on recruiting players who fit the culture and philosophy."
It’s that time of year again where the football nerds all gather in one room to create a recruitment plan for the club they support, mainly for a bit of fun as there’s not much else to do when the season has finished — but to hope their club actually has a strategy in place and following it to make sure they have the best possible tools to have a good season ahead. With Watford, we’ve not had a strategy for recruitment in years — we’re a bit like a kebab you get on a night out at 2am; It’s mostly horrible with ingredients you have no idea about being chucked together — It could be nice, It could be rancid, you genuinely don’t know. Before I get into what players, style of players I’d recruit, I want to firstly talk about the strengths and weaknesses of a Valérien Ismaël team. Football is all about hiding your biggest weaknesses and extracting the most out of your strengths; and the best way to do that is recruiting players who already fit at least some of that ideology. Also just because a player doesn’t play that way at the club you’re recruiting from, doesn’t mean he doesn’t fit the core values of the team he’s coming into; the skillset of the player is the most important to what you’re trying to do, aided with the coaches on the training ground to get the best out of each individual.
Basic Valérien Ismaël tactical profile:
Mixed/Direct
High press
High line
Narrow width
Quick tempo
There’s obviously more to it than that, but my interpretation of the style we’re likely to witness this season. The characteristics of the team is built from having extreme fitness and leaving it all out there before the subs come on in the 60th minute — and the five sub rule worked to his Barnsley’s team brilliantly; and partly why it didn’t work out at West Brom given it went back to three subs. In possession, the wingbacks are the most important, as they’re the only source of width in the side, with the midfielders squeezing over to create an advantage for a pass down the line for the wingback to cross the ball, or for the ball to come back inside where the space is to create a chance for the on running striker.
Whilst the wingbacks can be the most important, they can also be intrinsic with being the biggest weakness. Given the high line that all of Ismaël’s teams play, the ball over the top down either flank between wingback and centre back is the most common way of an opponent attacking and getting joy from. The second biggest weakness from what I’ve seen is the committing of bodies forward and leaving yourself open to being caught on the counter or in transition, especially from set piece situations.
The high line is key for winning the ball back close to the opposition goal, squeezing them in and looking to force either errors from the player, or causing chaos in swarming the other team. For this to work to a tee, you need maximum fitness and every person fitting the philosophy. I don’t think you can use immobile centre backs on the outside, and you can’t use wingbacks like Gaspar or Ngakia — Sema you could get away with but I’d prefer him as an option further forward.
Another aspect is the GK who operates to extreme lengths in terms of sweeping — for Barnsley; Brad Collins averaged 6.27 per 90 actions outside the penalty area, and Sam Johnstone averaged 4.55 actions per 90 actions outside the penalty area. Now obviously no keeper will be used to that kind of style, not to that degree anyway, but if you compare it to the Watford career of Daniel Bachmann; he’s had 58 sweeping actions in 80 league games — Johnstone surpassed that on match-week 9 against QPR and Collins match-week 23 (under Val) against Bristol City. The question is will Bachmann be trusted with playing this way? or is a new keeper in order?
Lastly, before I get into the recruitment plan, I think it’s important to flag up Ismaël saying in an interview with the times that his Watford team won’t be the same as his Barnsley team, as we’ll have more of the ball — which is what made his LASK side so good and why they went on large winning streaks and topped a group in the Europa League. Having more possession but being extremely effective with it, along with the intense press and vertical play. The other notable thing was in his first West Brom interview, Val brought up that he prefers younger players in his squad as opposed to older players as the former can carry through his style to a better degree.
The Recruitment plan:
Working on the idea that Watford won’t spend more than £10m this summer, potentially a little more — we have to be very precise and bring in players to maximise their value, as well as bringing in players for now. And when I say now, that’s not age dependant, It’s development dependant, as It’s not linear.
Anyway, starting positionally (GK) — with Daniel Bachmann’s contract coming to an end next season, It would make sense to part ways with him, loan/sell Maduka Okoye although the latter is young enough to be moulded into something — and have Hamer and Miles Roberts in the wings. In terms of incoming, I’d like someone who’s naturally that style of keeper, so I’ve already mentioned him;
Brad Collins (Barnsley)
Oliver Christensen (Hertha Berlin)
Fabijan Buntić (Vizela)
Filip Stankovic (FC Volendam)
James Trafford (Manchester City)
I’m going to use data for other players, but for Goalkeepers and Centre backs I think It’s borderline useless mainly because confidence and team style plays too much a part in productivity — some people might disagree with that, but It’s the way I view it.
Regarding central defence, I think Watford aren’t in the slightest suited to playing a high line. I think we have one viable option playing on the right side in Ryan Porteous, nobody can play left side — Wesley Hoedt got torn to shreds at times when it wasn’t a high line and he had to cover the space in behind. Kabasele is Kabasele, and then you’ve got three players all challenging that central spot in the aforementioned Wesley Hoedt, Francisco Sierralta and Matty Pollock who’s coming off the back of a great loan at Aberdeen. Whilst the latter did play on the right side of a three, he did operate in a mid/low block, and I don’t think he has the mobility to do so for us — but I’d be all for him being given a chance centrally. I have to be realistic because if it was down to me, I’d play Porteous central and recruit two new outside centre backs, but the likelihood of that happening is slim, so a left sided centre back is a must for me. I hate to say it, but them lot and Rob Edwards got their back three spot on, playing an aerial dominant Tom Lockyer central with two players who have experience playing full back or central in Osho and Bell either side of him to add the mobility and speed; It’s partly why Luton were so good defensively, they’re comfortable in all spaces of the defensive third.
Left sided centre-back options:
Auston Trusty (Arsenal)
Aleksa Terzic (Fiorentina)
Neto Borges (Clermont Foot)
Haydon Roberts (Unattached)
Jonathan Panzo (Nottingham Forest)
Hassane Kamara said goodbye to Watford fans at the end of the season as he makes his way to Udinese in a big money move, leaving the club with no real option at left wing back — Sema can play there but It’s not ideal and James Morris isn’t at the level where he can be relied upon consistently for game time. On the right side I think we’re fine as despite what I said about Morris, I think Andrews is the better footballer and can be called upon and continue his upwards trajectory; competing with Joao Ferreira who’s had a few injury issues but is much better suited to being a wingback, and I don’t think we’ll bring another player in on that side given we already have four who can “play” there. Ideally in this position you want speed, 1v1 ability and good enough crossing ability.
My number one pick for this role would be another Barnsley player but who’s available for a good price and who’s just had a successful loan at Millwall, and that’s Callum Styles. He’s played multiple positions and roles last season, midfield full back and wing back.
Other mentions for the left wing back position:
Jordan Zemura (Udinese)
Mads Pedersen (Augsburg)
Alfonso Espino (Cadiz)
Mats Kohlert (SC Heerenveen)
Watford have lost a bit of physical edge in midfield ever since the departures of Capoue and Doucoure, and we’ve lost a lot of games by not being competitive in the middle enough. Imran Louza, who has his injury issues especially this season, needs someone next to him that can carry the load at times, but also offer something in possession, as well as having those physical traits that are so clearly lacking. Louza is also better futher up the field rather than coming deep to collect the ball, he’s best in and around the edge of the box and making late runs to score goals — he needs help in there; and despite not being 100% in a dysfunctional team, his numbers were seriously good considering.
The number one choice for me would be Krystian Bielik. He’s also had his injury troubles of recent seasons, but did just come off the back of starting 35 games for Birmingham City, and is slowly but surely getting his mojo back and why Derby paid £10m for him in the first place. He’s got the physical aggressiveness, along with being secure technically and dominant in ground/aerial duels. Under Ismaël, the midfield is for the most part bypassed, so you need to win your individual battles and second duels consistently.
Other mentions for the DM/CM position:
Ben Whiteman (Preston North End
Ethan Ampadu (ambitious) — (Chelsea)
Batista Mendy (Angers)
Jens Stage (Werder Bremen)
On to the attacking positions. I think It’s vital Watford give Yáser Asprilla as much game time as possible this season; he’s got a year under his belt and has improved physically, but not to the level we’d want just yet. Some of the criticisms labelled at Ismaël is his teams can’t perform against teams who sit deep; my counter argument to that would be, you need specific skillsets to unlock these defences, did he have a playmaker at West Brom? Barnsley he didn’t have that either, but he did at LASK with Peter Michorl in which LASK dominated possession (56%) the majority of games. Which is why I’d start Asprilla on the left coming inside, likewise on the middle/right side I’d have Chris Willock from QPR. We need someone who offers that ability to score from distance, but also someone who’s good 1v1 and can go either side with creativity too. He’ll need to adapt to the high intensity out of possession, but that’s probably the easiest to adapt to with a pre season — he’s also known to Helena Costa through his move to Benfica; as well as being in the last year of his contract, so wouldn’t cost too much.
Other mentions for the AM/FWD position:
Jerry Yates (Blackpool)
Aaron Collins (Bristol Rovers)
Ephron Mason-Clarke (Peterborough United)
Mounir Chouiar (Basaksehir FK)
Finally, the striker position. We need someone who’s a good off ball presser, mobile, can link play, whilst getting into good positions to score, not asking for much eh? we need two 9s for sure, but I’ll focus on the main one we need, and It’s a personal favourite of mine; Kevin Denkey. He’d be our main transfer, costing in the region of £2m, maybe slightly more, but he’d fit this system nicely. Very good dribbler, servicebale link up play, speedy and can score a variety of goals, whilst having that instinct to be in the right place at the right time. The main criticism I have for him is his actual finishing ability — he can be erratic and very wasteful when all he needs is to be that slightly more composed. It would take him from a 6-10 a season striker to a 15+ season striker, and I’d rather Watford gambled on that now rather than wait for the inevitable improvement which puts him out of our reach completely.
Other mentions for striker options:
George Hirst (Leicester City)
Lyndon Dykes (QPR)
Petar Musa (Benfica)
Sydney van Hooijdonk (Bologna)
If we lined up for the first game of the season would you be happy? It’s obvious but we need more goals in the side, we need more energy and we need more physicality, we just need to be a team again. Hopefully Val and Manga and Co can give that to us, because it’s been a tedious and tough watch the past three/four years. Thank you for reading, up thee Orns’