Season Review: Mediocre Watford must start being more ambitious
Watford are in danger of becoming a bit of a nothing club in the Premier League, if they haven’t already. The Hornets comfortably beat the drop this season but never really looked like they wanted to aim for greater heights.
They looked like they were heading somewhere at the start of the season under Marco Silva but talk of a job at Everton destabilised everything and eventually led to the Portuguese being sacked in January.
Watford then turned to former Malaga boss Javi Gracia, who has only won four of his first 15 matches in charge.
While avoiding relegation is always the primary objective for clubs like Watford, they really need to start building towards something otherwise there will never be any incentive for players to stick around, as they may find out this summer.
SUCCESS – ABDOULAYE DOUCOURE
Watford will struggle to keep hold of star midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure this summer.
The 25-year-old has been linked with a move to nearly every top Premier League club during the course of this season.
Despite his central midfield role, Doucoure finished the season as Watford’s top goalscorer in the Premier League (7).
Doucoure is much more than a goalscoring midfielder; he is also more than capable of breaking up opposition attacks.
In fact, no player in the Premier League won possession in the middle third more times than Doucoure this season (199).
FLOP – ANDRE GRAY
Watford shelled out a club-record £18m fee to sign Andre Gray from Burnley last summer but the forward has barely been seen this season.
The 26-year-old has endured a really tough time at Vicarage Road and will surely be fearful of his place at the club over the summer.
Gray only started 16 times for Watford this term, making a further 15 appearances from the bench.
In that time, the England striker only netted five times for the Hornets. Considering Watford’s top scorer only scored seven times, it’s not a bad return but also no where near enough for a club-record signing.
Grade - D
