Slow-starting Watford come through another test of character

Both Watford and Coventry could have won rather than go home with only one point, though the Sky Blues’ case for victory was perhaps a little greater than the Hornets.

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Once again, though, Watford played a large part in handing themselves another character check by conceding so early.

As the great Irish playwright Oscar Wilde wrote in The Importance of Being Earnest, “To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”

Quite how Wilde would have described Watford going a goal down inside five minutes for the third consecutive league game is anyone’s guess, but he wouldn’t have been short of suggestions had he asked the home fans on Saturday when Ellis Sims rose pretty much unchallenged to head home Jack Rudoni’s corner.

In the days before the game, Tom Cleverley had said work had been done to address the issue, only to see those words come back to haunt him.

Rudoni’s set pieces – and his general play overall – were a threat all afternoon, but the goal also showed one of the problems with zonal marking.

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Let’s be clear, Watford have defended set plays far better under Cleverley than they have in the past few seasons. This isn’t panic stations, but it was a soft goal.

Simms didn’t have to do a great deal: just before the corner is taken he is marked, but he then simply moves himself into a zone where Watford don’t have a body, and leaps to steer the ball in off the back post.

That early goal, coupled with the surprise element of both Coventry’s team selection and the shape they played put the visitors massively in the driving seat.

I was sat next to Coventry goalkeeping legend Steve Ogrizovic, who along with the commentators from one of the Midlands radio stations spent most of the pre-match build-up trying to work out what the team-sheet meant.

If those who watch the Sky Blues for a living were having problems working it out then perhaps it’s less of a surprise that Cleverley admitted he and his staff spent the hour between the exchange of team-sheets and kick-off trying to fathom what Mark Robins was planning.

Yet despite the concession of a poor goal and the element of surprise Coventry delivered, Watford should have been level far sooner than they managed.

Ryan Andrews (Image: PA)

When Ryan Andrews' low ball from the right ran just behind Vakoun Bayo, it landed perfectly at the feet of Giorgi Chakvetadze, who can’t have been aware of the time and space he had or else he would surely have taken a touch.

As it was he struck his shot first time and sent it wide, the sort of chance where working the goalkeeper was the least he should have managed.

Cleverley said after the game that he needs to help the Georgian increase his goal tally, and while it feels churlish to criticise a player who has been truly outstanding so far this season, he does need to add that facet to his game.

With their 1-0 lead still intact, Coventry proceeded to boss the rest of the first half while Watford looked like a team that had been given the words to one song while the visitors were actually playing the tune to something totally different.

Rudoni was popping up in pockets and getting between the lines, and Watford struggled to get close to him.

That was rectified at half-time by charging Moussa Sissoko with the job of marshalling the £5m summer signing from Huddersfield, and the Hornets skipper did that well.

The Hornets also found Coventry’s two wide forwards a problem, as it meant their own wing-backs had to drop deeper or they risked drawing one of the outside centre-backs to the flank which then created gaps in the centre.

Ryan Porteous makes a brave head-first block on Saturday. (Image: PA)

It was a fascinating, if uncomfortable, watch as Cleverley and his players set about working out and then countering the unforeseen approach the visitors has taken.

It’s fair to say Coventry could have been 3-0 up by half-time as they had enough clear chances to have put the game out of reach.

If there was a key moment, it was when keeper Dan Bachmann required treatment such that play was stopped for a couple of minutes.

The Austrian keeper takes a lot of stick, so hopefully those who choose to dish it out will also recognise his wisdom and experience on this occasion.

Unlike other outfield players, goalkeepers do not have to leave the field after receiving treatment, and so while Bachmann was down on the ground it provided vital time for Cleverley and his staff to gather the players at the edge of the box and deliver fresh instructions.

It was a smart and canny piece of work from Bachmann and that, along with an excellent fingertip save to deny Rudoni right at the end, were extremely important contributions.

The second half was pretty much a role reversal of the first 45 minutes, with Watford forcing Coventry back and creating the best chances.

The triple substitution just past the hour mark was a bold but important move from the head coach.

With four wing-backs he has the ability to breathe new life into games in a position that is as pivotal to how Watford play as it is physically demanding to perform.

Yasser Larouci (Image: PA)

Yasser Larouci hasn’t had many outings yet, but there has to be a question mark hanging over the defensive side of his game.

It was something which many Sheffield United fans commented upon when he signed, the wing-back having spent last season at Bramall Lane.

As much as it is exciting to see a wing-back in full flow, driving at the opposition defence, it needs to be backed up by stopping the same thing happening at the other end of the pitch.

Many wing-backs in the Championship and below fall into the category of being very good either going forward or defensively, but are less able in the opposite element of the role.

Of course, there’s a reason why they aren’t playing in the top-flight, and that’s because there is a part of their game preventing them from reaching the very top level.

The arrival of Ken Sema and Festy Ebosele was followed shortly after by the equaliser, created by a typically positive run and cross from Chakvetadze, and finished comfortably by Tom Dele-Bashiru whose movement and anticipation made the chance look straightforward.

At that stage it looked like Watford could go on and claim all three points as they did against Derby a few weeks earlier.

Perhaps the best chance to do so came when a powerful surge forward from inside his own half by Sissoko saw the ball worked out to Ebosele who, from a standing start, simply accelerated past his marker and crossed low to the near post.

Sissoko had kept going and met the ball, but screwed his shot wide.

It was a good piece of work from Ebosele, who needs more game minutes before he can be judged, though there was a red flag for the Irish international shortly afterwards.

He was marking Haji Wright when the ball was on the opposite flank but was never truly goal-side of him, and when it was crossed Coventry’s American had got a yard in front but – thankfully for Watford – sent his header onto the post when it seemed easier to score.

The game ended with much concern for Watford and their fans at what looked a bad injury to Chakvetadze.

At the time, I’d not seen him go to ground as Coventry were on the attack, but the extended match highlights on the club’s official website show him going to make a challenge near the dug-outs, immediately feeling his lower back, before crouching and then laying on the ground.

Whenever a player is eased onto a back-board and then slid onto a stretcher it’s reasonable to assume it’s a bleak outlook.

So to hear Cleverley say afterwards it appeared more positive and may have just been a back spasm, and to then see the player himself standing and chatting to fans outside the ground, was far more positive than when he headed down the tunnel holding his head.

Chakvetadze has been exceptional this season, and looks a very different player to the one that offered sporadic glimpses of the same last season without ever really stringing things together.

His move to the No.10 role in Cleverley’s formation has unlocked his full array of threats, and journalists from nearly every opposing team this season have, at some point, commented to me ‘Who’s that No.8 of yours, he’s good’.

If there is one thing to be wary of, then it’s becoming too reliant on him. What we don’t want is for Chakvetadze to become the new Joao Pedro, who far too often was given the ball and expected to beat three or four players while teammates headed for the box and waited for a pass.

The other players have to make runs and move around the Georgian so that he has options, and doesn’t always have to be the focal point of every attack.

Francisco Sierralta was in top form on Saturday. (Image: PA)

Some words of praise for Francisco Sierralta too. The big Chilean defender has slipped under the radar somewhat so far this season, but again on Saturday he gave a dependable, strong performance.

Bar one air-kick late on – when Ryan Porteous came to his rescue by literally throwing his head among the flying boots – Sierralta was effective and reliable, often doing some mopping up when those around him didn’t quite get there themselves.

It was undoubtedly a point gained for Watford, who responded well to the challenges set by Coventry and reacted positively again to the concession of an early goal.

It’s that latter issue which now needs addressing, as each of the 23 other Championship clubs will pose some sort of problem – what Watford need to avoid is adding to them.