WEDNESDAY
8.45am
Aranalde is sitting in the coaches’ room, his gaze fixed on a large, high-definition computer screen with a laptop next to him.
Although Gracia has made a point about watching every minute of Newcastle’s 10 Premier League matches this season in the previous few days, Aranalde is the man responsible for analysing opponents.
Watford use DVMS, the feed of every game from the Premier League, with six different cameras. Aranalde always prefers the tactical camera with its wide angle that covers the whole pitch. He clips and labels 50 attacking and defensive actions and even though he works quickly it takes 90 minutes for every game and two hours after that. Aranalde reduces it to 25 clips to create a showreel for Gracia and eventually compresses it into a four-minute video to present to the players. “When we watch three games we can work out a pattern of play,” he explains.
Aranalde has already done the work for Newcastle and is on to Watford’s next opponents, Southampton. It never stops.
“The technology helps us a lot,” Aranalde says. “We see the whole picture. It is then a matter of spending the time and the ability of the eye to watch the game. We try to find things and then practise them in training.”
Sitting next to him is goalkeeping coach Inigo Arteaga, who is in charge of Watford’s set-pieces. It is an increasingly vital area. “From the DVMS we download every set-piece for every team from the beginning of the season. I will look at 100 corners and watch them from different camera angles,” Arteaga explains. “We have a base of our own set-pieces but will vary them.”
Next to them are analyst James Best and scout Isidre Ramon Madir. Madir will go down to the home dressing room at half-time and speak to Gracia before the head coach talks to the players, showing him on an ipad what has been picked up. “It means I can explain in one minute two or three important things – and show them,” Gracia says.
10am
Kit-man David Walter is loading the five metal skips he will take to Newcastle. He checks, doublechecks, packs and unpacks. And then he does it a third time. Walter will lay out the kit in the away dressing room at St James’ Park the night before the game. “You then have that peace of mind that you have got everything,” he says.
Out on the training pitch, Gracia is shouting. “Touch and move!” It is a training game; replicating what Newcastle might do, based around shadow play, spotting strengths and weaknesses. The session ends at 11.27am followed by a fiveminute stretching routine led by Solla. “I have to control the ‘load’ and design the week for the coaches. We try to organise all the drills in the direction of the things we are going to find in the match,” he says.
12.45pm
Pozzo is at the serving hatch, waiting for his lunch. It is extremely unusual to have an owner as hands-on and involved as the 52-year-old Italian, who bought Watford for £500,000 in 2012, cleared the £10 million debt and, along with Duxbury, masterminded gaining promotion and transforming the club.
The investment on and off the pitch is significant. The “Watford way” is now established, a method based on an impressive scouting network developed from the family’s ownership of Udinese in Italy.
There is an obsession to improve and while there was initial scepticism – in particular the high turnover of managers, which has seen nine employed in six years – that perception has changed. Gracia is poised to break that trend by signing a new, extended contract, but Watford’s system is stress-tested. The club
also have the fifth lowest wage bill in the Premier League, with many members of the squad knowing that it can be a showcase for their talents. Even so, as Everton found in the summer when parting with £50million for Richarlison, Watford will only sell on their terms.
Pozzo is talking to Capoue. There is olive oil on every table, another staple. The players mingle; they do not group along nationality lines, even though 14 countries are represented in the first-team squad. Italian defender Adam Masina fills a cardboard box and the players are encouraged to take food home for dinner. “They are young, some of them live alone and it’s not always easy to cook for yourself so we say ‘OK, we have amazing food so take it with you’,” Garcia Romero says. “It’s not always easy to find the best fish, for example, so we say, ‘Take this’.” Like other clubs, there is a liaison team to answer the every need of the players and their families – although a line was drawn when one player called at 5am asking for a taxi to be booked for him.
Duxbury explains how important it is that everyone mixes together. “I have a clear vision of how I want to run this football club, both on and off the pitch,” he says. “When you have a clear vision, you create a harmonious environment where everybody is working for the same goal in a unified and enjoyable workplace.” question – “name the eight English players who have played in Serie A this millennium?” – before he also heads to the meeting. Although injured the striker will attend, as do all the first-team squad, fit or not. Gracia outlines his plan to face Newcastle, showing his first video and a slide presentation of the week.
“We played against Wolves [a recent 2-0 away win] and the way they defend we had to do something orientated towards that during the training sessions,” Gracia explains. “We then showed them a short video of around two minutes and said ‘We are going to do this’.” There is a similar approach to Newcastle.
Twenty minutes later, in the driving rain, the players are on the practice pitch. With a match only 48 hours away, it is time to “taper” training: less hard work, more tactics. The session lasts precisely an hour. Some stay out to practise finishing; others free-kicks. Laughter fills the air while a group of young Watford fans – it is half-term – mingles with the players in the canteen after they return from another yoga session. “Everything is done with a purpose. It’s part of the job and you see the benefit,” Capoue says. “The club is pushing us to get that edge. They are not waiting.”