Target men evoke a bygone era
Watford had won just once and drawn five times in 14 league games before Nigel Pearson took charge following a 2-0 defeat by Leicester in December but have lost only twice since, with the manager completely revitalising the team, dramatically improving how they defend high up the pitch out of possession in particular.
Under Pearson they have made 12.1 interceptions per game, up from
10.5, and 63.8 recoveries per game, up from 59.8, and have increased the number of aerial duels they win from 17.6 per game to 23.3. Watford are no longer pushovers.
Pearson has fixed defensive problems and implemented an organised high press which has helped Watford win the ball higher up the pitch and stop counterattacks at source, but it cannot be coincidence that Troy Deeney’s (below) return from injury has corresponded with the team’s sudden improvement and upswing in results. Defenders hate playing against Deeney, an archetypal English centre-forward who combines the tenacity and aggression of a Sunday League target man with the first touch and positional nous of a Premier League goalscorer. He is the sort of traditional No 9 clubs would be falling over themselves to purchase if he were 10 years younger and, in many ways, his play reads more like a defender than a striker.
Compare him to Andre Gray. Despite Gray making 19 league appearances this season (six more than Deeney), his statistics per game show an ineffective attacker, giving Watford a forward line few teams have to be overly worried about keeping quiet.
Danny Welbeck has been similarly anonymous when played, while Ismaila Sarr and Gerard Deulofeu are both wingers who have also been deployed up front in Deeney’s absence. Again the difference is clear: Deeney is a direct threat to goal, as the five he has netted in 10 games suggests, and a crucial fulcrum for Watford around the penalty area. His touch map and pass map from the recent match against Aston Villa
– in which Deeney scored in a 2-1 defeat – underline that he operates largely in the space just outside the box, laying off to others in wide areas or in pockets of space in midfield.
His very presence creates opportunities for others, forcing centre-backs into physical battles they do not want and freeing up the likes of Abdoulaye Doucoure to burst into space, making Watford stronger as a team. Watford’s opponents today, Everton, are another side who utilise the physical attributes of a tenacious centre forward in Dominic Calvert-lewin (left). The English football landscape may be unrecognisable from 30 years ago, but the success of Deeney and Calvert-lewin proves there is still a place for the oldfashioned No 9.