BITTER.COM
Keyboard critics have turned on the Watford talisman after going six matches without a goal but Hornets boss Pearson says: He is a big player for us and I know his value
NIGEL PEARSON has told message-board hardliners to lay off Troy Deeney, saying: “I know his value to my team.”
Watford captain Deeney has been the target of social media’s outspoken fringes after going six games without a goal in the Hornets’ relegation battle.
One blinkered critic even branded him the Golden Boys’ worst captain – an insult to Deeney’s 394 appearances and 129 goals, which make him the fourthhighest scorer in Watford’s history behind Luther Blissett, Tommy Barnett and Ross Jenkins.
Manager Pearson jumped to the defence of his under-fire skipper ahead of today’s showdown with Newcastle at Vicarage Road, where Watford could take a giant stride towards salvation.
He said: “Troy knows what I think because I have told him and I always give honest feedback to my players. He is very much up for the fight, he is a big player for us and I know the value of his contribution.
“When he has played, we’ve had a much better chance of winning games – and the statistics will bear that out.
“Players are selected to contribute their strengths. He is captain of the side and I expect him – like every other player – to do whatever he can to make the team function.
“Don’t give a disproportionate voice to a minority on social media.”
Deeney has looked laboured, and at times isolated as the lone striker, in Watford’s struggle to regain traction just above the drop zone.
And former England striker Danny Welbeck’s bicycle-kick winner against Norwich in midweek sharpened the focus on Deeney’s individual contribution.
But Pearson’s argument about Watford’s fortunes being muchimproved with his Troy wonder in the starting XI carries irresistible weight. When Deeney was absent for three months after knee surgery earlier this season, the Hornets took just eight points from 36.
Since he returned, and Pearson became Watford’s third manager in 86 days last December, they have collected 23 points from 20 games.
Of the Hornets’ seven Premier League wins this season, Deeney (above) has played in six – and scored in four of those victories.
He played a key role in the amazing 3-0 defeat of previously unbeaten Liverpool at the end of February but took no part in the dismal collapse against Manchester City in September, when Hornets were thrashed 8-0.
Survival specialist Pearson has little time for keyboard warriors when a desperate survival dogfight has been laced with the complications of a pandemic and the biosecure demands of Project Restart.
The Watford boss has already escaped relegation twice after being bottom of the pile at Christmas – as Bryan Robson’s assistant at West Brom in 2005 and at Leicester City five years ago.
He said: “I can’t tell you whether this one has been more taxing than the others because each one is very stressful. I’m someone who lives very much in the moment and the time to reflect is when it’s all over, good or bad.
“What I do know is that some people’s approach is to look at how different it is (post-lockdown) and moan about it – but that only makes the task more difficult because you are giving yourself more hurdles to jump over.
“We have not picked up points in the way we would have liked but, when I arrived back in December, the situation looked a lot more difficult than it looks now – it’s in our hands. We will not always get it right, and players will not always achieve the perfect outcome, but the willingness to do it is key.”