Successful small steps appear to be the way to take giant strides
The result he asked for before the game was snatched away in the dying minutes, but Tom Cleverley was undoubtedly given a performance by his Watford players at Sunderland yesterday.
A badly out-of-sorts team visiting one of the Championship’s high-fliers, unbeaten at home and possessing attacking players the envy of the division – it was the sort of fixture easily written off as an exercise in damage limitation.
Yet the Hornets didn’t read that particular script and so nearly became the first team to take three points home from The Stadium of Light this season.
That the 2-2 draw would have been a victory but for two pieces of abject defending at set pieces is as disappointing as it is annoying, but nonetheless shouldn’t cast too large a shadow over a display which was one of the best of the season so far.
Young striker Mamadou Doumbia, making his first league start, showed why Cleverley has such faith in him despite his tender years and lack of senior experience.
The Mali international has played less minutes of Championship football in his career than Sunderland’s Luke O’Nien and Chris Mepham have in the last week, yet Doumbia gave them plenty to think about until cramp cut his afternoon short.
Strong and athletic, the striker held the ball up with aplomb, bringing others into play while also having the confidence to get the ball down and run.
With Vakoun Bayo suspended for the next two games, Doumbia would merely need to replicate what he did yesterday to retain his place in the team when his teammate is available again.
Doumbia gave the Hornets an outlet, and with that the confidence to build patiently, so much so that for the opening quarter of an hour they shaded a close contest.
That was, though, until they handed out the first of two gifts to their hosts, every bit as generous as the £10 refreshment vouchers given to every single travelling fan who either journeyed up the day before and stayed over, or clambered upon the supporter coaches at 4am for the mammoth 500-mile round-trip.
A deep corner to the back of the box was returned back into the goalmouth, and as that was happening O’Nien and Yasser Larouci were passing each other on the edge of the six-yard box.
The Watford defender was moving towards where the corner had gone whereas the former Hornets Academy product was reacting to the ball being played back into danger area.
Result? O’Nien headed home totally unmarked from close range while Larouci turned to see that happening with a look of a man who knew that’s also where he would have been best placed.
It was a poor goal to concede, and continues the pattern of the season with Watford being extremely susceptible to crosses.
Nonetheless, the response from Watford was very good and they steadily but confidently worked their way back into the game.
The longer the half wore on, the more of the ball they had – at one stage in the first 45 minutes they were enjoying some 66% possession.
Of course, possession counts for little unless it is turned into goals, but by having control of the ball the Hornets had control of the game.
Not only could Sunderland not threaten, but they were pushed back territorially by Watford, with Imran Louza and Tom Dele-Bashiru orchestrating from the heart of the midfield.
Yesterday was only the third time this season the pair have played together in the league, yet they looked a pairing that been trotting out a similar classy, combative, controlled double act for years.
Louza was so out of favour a few months ago he played a game for the Under-21s, and Dele-Bashiru’s season has been interrupted by injury.
However, yesterday they looked capable of being the fulcrum for Watford for the remainder of the season, fitness and form permitting.
It was Dele-Bashiru who brought the Hornets level two minutes before the break, showing nerves of steel as he waited for the referee to sort out various potential penalty area malingerers before expertly firing home from the spot.
The foul that led to the penalty was one that rightly drew much criticism from home fans, as only defender Dennis Cirkin knows why he decided to try and hook the ball away from Doumbia as he was running away from goal near the by-line.
The young striker probably should have scored when he effortlessly drifted in between two defenders to meet Larouci’s fine early cross, but when keeper Anthony Patterson palmed his header away Doumbia immediately got onto the loose ball and was in the process of getting it under control when Cirkin upended him.
The Sunderland defender had already been booked, and it’s likely he would have seen a yellow card for the challenge that conceded the penalty on most other occasions save for the fact referee Mr Jones would then have had to brandish a red as well.
The home fans let out a few boos at half-time, presumably frustrated their team hadn’t used the fillip of the lead to go on and take control and not at the referee for giving what was surely as clear a penalty as you’ll see.
If they were unhappy seconds after the half-time whistle was blown, they were apoplectic seconds after the same sound signalled the start of the second period.
But there was no blame that could be apportioned to any of the Sunderland players (or the officials) for the goal which gave Watford a 2-1 lead in the 46th minute.
It was, purely and simply, a piece of genuine class from Louza.
Edo Kayembe played a key part – and was as hard-working and incisive yesterday as he has been for some time – by forcing his way through two Sunderland players and then digging out a pass back to Louza.
From that moment on, it was all about the Moroccan.
One touch to get the ball out of his feet, and a second to send a sweet, curling drive from almost 30 yards round a defender, beyond the reach of Patterson and into the top-left corner.
A truly superb goal that underlined an excellent performance, one which would surely have earned him the man of the match award but for the two late saves from Egil Selvik.
Suddenly the home crowd turned on their team, on the officials and, whenever things weren’t happening quickly enough for them, on any Watford player who dared to take more than a couple of seconds to release a throw-in or take a free kick.
It is always amusing to observe opposing fans when surrounded by them in the press box, particularly when they castigate Watford players for the very things, like slowing play down and requesting the physio come in, that their own heroes would readily repeat if they were 2-1 up away from home with time ticking by.
Likewise, the tendency when the supposed favourites in a game struggle to live up to the billing is to assume they have played badly.
When Watford beat Liverpool at Vicarage Road to end their long unbeaten run pre-Covid, the media looked at all sorts of things that the Reds did wrong, or didn’t do, as they sought to explain the result.
What they overlooked was that the Hornets just played better on the day. A team can only play as well as it is allowed to do and, as was the case yesterday, Watford did not let their opponents do much at all.
That’s not to say Watford were totally passive and sat everybody behind the ball to try and strangle the life out of the game.
They kept playing, moved the ball around with alacrity and simply by having possession and looking to progress they made it much harder for Sunderland to threaten, to the point where the frustration in the home stands became more anger and bitterness.
Occasionally the noise would fade, just enough to hear the 600+ Watford fans way up in the upper tier to the left – what an effort not just to get there, but to perform to a level which matched those in yellow shirts on the pitch.
There comes a point in any game where, when protecting a narrow lead, eyes are drawn towards the clock and yesterday as it moved into the 80s there was a real sense that Watford would see it out.
Unfortunately, and it may be a truism, the journey from 80 to 90 seems interminably long when you are winning narrowly, and yet flashes by when you’re losing.
Mamadou Doumbia tussles with Luke O'Nien. (Image: PA)
And so, in the 89th minute, a second piece of awful set-piece defending prevented victory.
As a corner from the left came in a sprint from Wilson Isidor got him to the front of the six-yard box before Francisco Sierralta and Ryan Andrews.
The striker didn’t get much on the ball, but deflected it into a gap behind whereupon Cirkin got himself goal-side of Dele-Bashiru and flicked it home.
Suddenly the previous 45 minutes was forgotten and the home fans felt they had what was rightfully theirs.
But then came an excruciating spell of stoppage time during which the Hornets appeared to forget everything they had ever been taught about seeing a game out, holding their shape or simply not trying to hand victory away on a platter.
First Eliezer Mayenda slid a pass through for Isidor to run onto in the box, but Selvik stayed upright, didn’t commit himself and managed to block the striker’s shot with his thigh.
A minute later Milan Aleksic simply outstripped James Abankwah through the centre and raced into the box, only to find Selvik impassable again and this time the Norwegian saved with his feet.
Those two saves preserved a point and it would have been ridiculously harsh had either found the net and sent Watford home without any reward – but as Cleverley pointed out after the game it was schoolboy stuff in the closing stages that could have been very costly indeed.
Selvik was given the Sky Sports man of the match award, and while over the 90 minutes Louza felt a more deserving recipient, the keeper certainly impressed.
His two saves drew the main praise, but he was composed on the ball with a sweet left peg, and knew when to go long and when to play into the feet of those around him.
He also looked very happy and comfortable collecting the ball in mid-air, making his full debut a very satisfying one.
And it was, in the main, a very pleasing afternoon.
The game was part one of three in a week where many feared Watford might end up with zero points from nine, with the potential for some punishing defeats based upon current form and the strength of the trio of opponents.
Building on the resilience and fight shown with 10 men against Norwich, the display at Sunderland was another good stride forward.
Yes, there were errors and areas where improvements could easily be made, but this was a performance. A solid, committed, determined performance with a clear plan that was delivered with purpose and belief.
Cleverley is right to suggest Watford are more able to build and develop if they focus on each task as it comes, rather than being distracted by the potential of what might be possible come May.
The last few weeks have delivered disappointment, on and off the pitch, controversy and discontent.
It is ok to have such feelings. There is nothing wrong in being critical or wanting to ask questions and get answers.
But what is important is being able to separate feelings towards, and support for, what happens off the pitch from the events on it that test us emotionally for 90+ minutes every three to seven days.
Yesterday was very good. There’s another big challenge on Tuesday.
It is possible and legitimate to focus on that, and support those involved in it, without losing sight of whatever each of us may think of the bigger picture.
