V BUZZING!
WATFORD C PALACE Hornet Hughes knocking on England door HODGSON: I’VE GOT A LOT TO GIVE
TWO games into Watford’s campaign and an old adage is being borne out – where there’s a Will, there’s a way.
The Hornets have started the season with a bang, impressing with some slick attacking football and picking up maximum points so far.
One of the men leading the charge is Will Hughes, whose stunning long-range goal capped an all-action display at Burnley last weekend.
Sean Dyche went claret in the face complaining about the midfielder’s tackling, but his own manager singled him out for all the right reasons ahead of today’s match against Crystal Palace.
Plagued
Javi Gracia is delighted to have Hughes fit and firing after an injuryplagued 2017-18 – and is backing the 23-year-old to gatecrash the England squad if he maintains this form.
“I think he’s ready,” said Gracia (right).
“I knew from the first day I saw him that he was different. He’s a special player, with great quality in all the details.”
It is appropriate that Hughes has Gracia as manager, for there are a few similarities between him and some of the Premier League’s top Spanish midfield imports – the low centre of gravity, patient passing, the vision. He’s the Surrey-born Silva, the Mata of the M25. Spaniard Gracia added: “When you see Will, you can see he’s not the strongest physically. “But he’s a clever player – he can see the spaces and you can see his quality in every touch, the way he controls the ball. He’s a good passer and has a good shot on him, as he showed against Burnley.” Hughes is versatile, too, which has helped Gracia find a winning formula despite a few absentees. He said: “Last season he played many times as a second forward, playing behind the striker, but this season he’s operating more from the right side. I think it’s a good position for him. With his qualities, he can come inside and play.
“We have a right-footed player on the left in Roberto Pereyra and a left-footed player on the right, and this gives us a good balance.”
Momentum
The next challenge for the former Derby man is keeping up the momentum – he made just 11 league starts last term, after all.
But Gracia is confident Hughes can inspire Watford all term.
He added: “I’m sure he’s going to be very important for us this season.” CRYSTAL PALACE boss Roy Hodgson will know it’s time to retire when he finds it hard to get out of bed.
Until then the 71-year-old will continue to thrive on being at the coalface of football management because of his passion for work.
It took six months to realise how much he missed football after being sacked by England.
He said: “I did the usual things, go on holiday with the wife, relax but then I began to become unsettled.”
His local club Palace made Hodgson (below) an offer he couldn’t refuse and his wily old head kept them in the Prem.
Palace rewarded him with a new contract until 2020 and he is determined to see it out.
He said: “I am driven. I feel good enough. What keeps me going is the passion for the work. You can’t have a long career without that.
“You could lose the love and desire to go out in all weathers, but I haven’t. I am here as a football coach doing the job I love most, working with players and I feel good enough to still do it.
“I don’t think about my age very often. I don’t get up in the morning and think ‘Oh, God. I am this age’. I have my good days and bad days, but I had them at 26 as well and that hasn’t changed. “You can’t have a career in football without passion and a love of the game. Either you’re fit enough to do it or you aren’t.
“My energy levels haven’t dropped, or my enthusiasm.”