A match that started with the stands reverberating to cheers as Roy Hodgson was introduced as Watford’s latest manager ended with a sixth successive home defeat and to the sound of away fans singing about him getting sacked in the morning.
Three games into his tenure Watford are yet to score a goal and there is no sign of them emerging from their downward spiral.
Not since 20 November have they won a game, the same day Brighton suffered their only away defeat in the league, and neither run looked likely to end once Neal Maupay had put the visitors in front shortly before the break.
Watford’s new manager bounce, such as it was, lasted about 15 minutes, came at the start of the second half with the side already a goal down and their danger had long since been defused by the time Adam Webster ended the contest from close range in the 82nd minute.
“We weren’t good enough to win it,” Hodgson said. “Our first- half performance was much worse than I was expecting it to be. Having analysed the last two games and seen the players in training we had high hopes, and in the first half we did a lot to dash those hopes.”
As at West Ham in midweek Hodgson started with four specialist central midfielders at the expense of effective width, a defensive set-up that might have been designed to frustrate his side’s opponents but instead encouraged them. Despite the crowd of central players Brighton seemed able to find pockets of space and because of it their two wing-backs enjoyed plenty of it in wide areas.
Danny Welbeck started on his return to the club he represented with little success two seasons ago, playing slightly ahead of Maupay in attack, and the former Arsenal forward’s movement, sucking defenders towards the goal, at least partially explains the amount of space Maupay enjoyed when picked out by Tariq Lamptey’s cross shortly before half-time. He did not seem to strike his half-volley cleanly, but that only helped the ball to spin and dip perfectly into the far corner.
Ben Foster had by then saved from Maupay and Jakub Moder, Pascal Gross had sent a free header wide, and at the interval Brighton had enjoyed 72% of possession and all three shots on target. Watford took quarter of an hour to provide any kind of threat but the most significant action Robert Sanchez had been forced into was watching Josh King’s half-volley sail well over the bar.
The arrival at half-time of Ismaila Sarr, who had returned from Senegal’s extended Afcon victory celebrations on Friday, and Imran Louza had an instant, positive effect on the home side. Within two minutes Louza had lifted the ball down the right for Sarr to run on to, cut inside and discomfort the defence, if not in the end their goalkeeper. In the following minutes Louza beat two men with a drop of the shoulder, Sarr prodded the ball through a defender’s legs and Watford looked, if not genuinely convincing, at least quite fun.
This period culminated in the 63rd minute when the ball dropped to Emmanuel Dennis outside the left-hand corner of the penalty area and he brought it down, beat three men, cut inside Lewis Dunk and lashed a shot into the meat of the crossbar.
Within a minute Graham Potter had made two changes of his own, and with the arrivals of Yves Bissouma and Alexis Mac Allister the game swung again. Watford were once again looking ragged when, at the end of the finest move of the half, Joel Veltman crossed and Moder’s half-volley was deflected wide. From the resulting corner the ball dropped to Webster, rebounded back to him off Femenia, and was emphatically shinned in from three yards.
“It was a really good performance and a really good result,” said Potter. “We had good reactions when we lost the ball, good patience when we had the ball and always tried to attack. There was a little bit of an adjustment period at the start of the second half when we didn’t have the same control, but the subs helped wrestle it back.”
Midway through the second half Watford brought on another forward in Joáo Pedro and, having once had too many central midfielders, suddenly they didn’t have enough. His team might have stuttered, but Hodgson certainly knew how to attack when he was asked after the game if his initial selection had been too conservative.
“If anything I would expect you to criticise us for being too gung-ho, and putting four attackers on the field and only two central midfielders,” he said. “I think that would be a more valid criticism than being conservative. We can’t do much more than put the attackers on the field. If they are as good as everyone seems to think they are, when they get the ball at their feet they have to do something with it.”
