Football Season Guide

Watford’s coach Gracia will embark on his first ever full season at the club, he was appointed only in late January, with the Spanish specialist hoping to become the first manager in three years to spend an entire campaign with the Hornets as the team’s Board is known for having a very short fuse. So far this summer the only notable departure from Gracia’s squad was that of winger Richarlison, but the manager seems determined to use 4-4-2 as a formation anyway and the place of the Brazilian in this system was hardly certain. Gracia has three typical target men in Deeney, Okaka and Gray, but he usually starts just one of them, while the second attacking role is likely to be given to the converted wingers Success or Deulofeu. Another tactical trend Gracia uses a lot is using inverted wide midfielders (left-footed players playing on the right flank and the opposite), which opens spaces down the line for the full-backs to venture forward regularly. Romping up and down the touchline full-backs has been a constant feature in Watford’s friendlies so far and this is one of the main reasons why Gracia added two new players for these positions during the summer, which makes it 7 full-backs competing for 2 starting spots. Watford have one of the largest squads in the top flight, something the Hornets needed over the course of the last two campaigns as they have been extremely unlucky with injuries to key squad members over that period. Hoping for better health for his players Gracia is not taking any risks and he seems ready to use rotation to the line-up regularly. The gaffer stated that he’d rather trust 100% fit player than someone with even the slightest of issues. Youngster Will Hughes is tipped for greatness and after playing some very good football under Gracia last spring now the 22-year-old inner midfielder hopes to have his proper breakthrough year.