After a fantastic unbeaten month in January, we knew we had our work cut out for us in February with 8 games to play. That tally could increase up to 9 games if we beat Burnley so let's just say it definitely won't be an easy month to get results but one thing I've learned from this incredible Watford side that we've built in the last year and a half is that we never give up.
After breaking our club's transfer record twice in one transfer window, we ended up as the biggest spenders in the whole of England with just these 2 signings. It turns out we also were the biggest spenders in all of Europe this window, just £1 million above Manchester City! We made a lot of sales to be fair but that's still quite impressive. Let's just hope that investment pays off.
So first up was Stoke and after they beat us in the first half of the season, we needed revenge. Unfortunately for us, we just couldn't get the win despite a very dominant performance and we get a 0-0 draw at the end of the match. It's a point for sure but just not what we're looking for considering we're fighting for European places this season...
A great win as we beat Burnley 2-0, thanks to 2 late goals from Deulofeu and a new signing which was organised before my arrival at the club, João Pedro. He's a very exciting Brazilian prospect who can play as a striker, left, centre and right attacking midfielder so a very versatile player with a lot of potential who the club signed for just £3 million. A great piece of business there! We move on to the FA Cup 5th round where we'll face Barnsley which, to be honest, should be an easy win for us.
Our one huge game in the Prem this month was against Tottenham and we just couldn't deal with them. Lozano's pace was a bit much for us, clearly, as we lose 1-0 to one of the better sides in the league. Definitely a decent performance from us, we just couldn't find a way past the wall that was Lloris in this match.
First leg about 2,100km away from Watford and we come away 2-0 winners thanks to Jovic and Morilla. Two fantastic goals from two players who will really be the future of this club as we go back to England with a huge advantage going into the 2nd leg. It was expected of us but it's one thing to be favourites on paper, it's another to perform on the pitch and we did both today so I'm very happy.
An easy win against a very weak Barnsley side which puts us in the FA Cup quarter-finals against Aston Villa. Morilla yet again with an incredible performance with Deulofeu scoring our 2nd goal of the game. Not much else to say about this performance to be honest, other than I'm very proud of the lads for the performances they're putting in every 3 days!
I feel pretty bad for those Ludogorets fans who had to travel over 2,000km to come and watch their team get thrashed but I won't complain! A 4-1 win with goals from Hernández and Jovic give us a 6-1 advantage on aggregate as we move on to the 2nd knockout round to face SC Braga. The Portuguese outfit beat Villareal 5-2 on aggregate in the previous round so they're definitely a side to watch out for but I'm confident in the team.
And there's why this update is called "Goodbye Europe?". Winning the Carabao Cup would've given us access to the Europa League directly but we didn't have it in us to win today and Leicester will celebrate the title in front of us. Congratulations to them, they did very well to get to this point but I do wish we would've been the ones celebrating on the pitch at Wembley at the end of 90 minutes. Let's hope we continue performing in the Europa League, FA Cup and Premier League to have another chance at Europe next season now!
An early sending off for Fulham certainly gave us an advantage but we performed incredibly well nonetheless. Domínguez scores his very first Watford goal in the Premier League as Milenkovic scores his very first Watford goal in all competitions so a great day for our new players in the side! What a great performance to end a tough month.
Dropping 4 points against Stoke and Tottenham ended up costing us a little bit as we drop to 7th, although a win in our game in hand would shoot us right up into 4th, ahead of Tottenham and Manchester United on goal difference and Chelsea on outright points.
Another packed month this season with a big Europa League tie against Braga, as well as a big FA Cup fixture against Aston Villa at home. Cardiff and Crystal Palace are 2 games we should be winning, although I'm wary of us being overconfident and will make sure that doesn't happen. Our game against Southampton will be one of our bigger ones perhaps for the rest of the season as they're in 8th place just 3 points behind us so we can't make any mistakes now!
As each month goes by this season, our calendar seems to be getting more and more full. It's coming to a point where I almost wish we were knocked out of all the competitions we're in to just focus on the Premier League! Nevertheless, we had some tough games this month against Braga and some tricky league games to play as well, so let's see how we got on.
We start off March with a great result at home against Cardiff. Of course, it would've been great to win by more goals but I'll take the 3 points even if it means taking away a few years from my life expectancy due to stress... An 89th minute winner from Hernández keeps us in the running for Europa League football next season and you can be sure that we'll be fighting until the very end to get that European spot.
The huge workload for the players this season hasn't worked out for a few people and unfortunately, our star right-back Pol Lirola is out for 3 weeks and will essentially miss the remainder of the month. He should be coming back during the international break from mid-March to the end of March but we're losing him for some of our biggest games this month which is a bit of an issue. Let's hope Kiko Femenía can step up in his absence.
Despite the disappointing injury for Lirola, the lads were still roaring to go in the Europa League in front of our fans and we absolutely smashed Braga. Statistically but also in terms of the scoreline, as 2 goals from Deeney and a 3rd goal in 3 Europa League games for Jovic puts us 2 goals up before travelling to Portugal for the return leg in exactly a week's time. It's looking good for a Europa League quarter-final!
Aaaaaaaand things have just gotten worse... Although we get all 3 points against Crystal Palace which is a fantastic result for us, we lose Deulofeu for over a month yet again. The Spanish winger has been injured on 8 different occasions since I joined the club (more than any other player) and the worst part about it is that he's always out for a long time, not just 2 or 3 days like Will Hughes for example. It's a huge shame but we have to keep pushing on as the season isn't over yet.
Well, it's now gone from worse to WORST. Our star goalkeeper Rajkovic, who's kept an incredible 20 clean sheets from 39 games in all competitions this season, is out for 3 weeks. He'll be out until the end of March which at least isn't the end of the season but our goalkeeping duties now fall on 17-year old Gasparini! He's made a few appearances in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup so far this season but it'll be different to have him as our main goalkeeper for a Europa League second leg and some big Premier League games. Let's hope the young lad can deliver.
Incredible! Another big performance from the lads as Jovic and Deeney score yet again and single-handedly take us to the Europa League quarter-final! Gasparini kept a clean sheet and we go through easily, 5-1 on aggregate. What a European campaign this has been so far! Unfortunately for us though, we didn't get the easiest draw. Teams like Rapid Wien and Bordeaux were also in the hat for the quarter-final draw and we got one of the tougher matchups against Valencia. They're one of the best sides in Spain and have knocked out Dinamo Zagreb and Red Bull Salzburg to get here. Not really opponents to go crazy about but we know they're a good side so this'll be a very tough tie. At least we have the second leg at home.
I want to say I'm disappointed but I'm more relieved to be honest. With the numerous injuries to first team players we already have, all I needed was another competition to worry about so good on Aston Villa for knocking us out I guess? I'm still really angry at the performance considering we were so much stronger than them on the pitch but still somehow lost 3-1 though.
And just when we needed points, we go and throw them all away. Southampton come out 2-1 winners against us at home as they capitalised on our mistakes and just didn't give up. We took our lead for granted and it cost us 3 points. April promises to be by FAR the toughest and biggest month of my managerial career and we just really needed some confidence going into it but we're now jumping in with 2 defeats in a row against much weaker sides than us.
Despite dropping points against Southampton, we're still in a very strong position going into the last few games of the season. A win in our game in hand over Manchester United would put us above them in 6th, and another win in our 2nd game in hand over Chelsea would put us in 5th place, in the Europa League spots. We could even make it to 4th if Tottenham slip up, which is a lot to ask for. We need to do our best in the last few games of the season now and pray that other results go our way too. At this point, a 6th place finish and Europa League football would be a miracle.
See what I meant when I said it would be the hardest month of my managerial career? Three away trips to Manchester, Liverpool and Valencia to start us off, then a tough home game against Wolves, then another big home game in our 2nd leg of the Europa League quarter-final, then a trip to London to face Chelsea, then 2 home games against Arsenal and Newcastle. As if we weren't under enough pressure.
The final stretch. After a long and hard season, we now just have a month and a half to make our break our incredible campaign in all competitions. Can we sneak in the Europa League places by the end of the season? Can we get to the Europa League final?!
Well, fair to say our chase for Europe isn't starting off too well... With a 3-0 thrashing at Old Trafford, we now find ourselves having to go to Anfield to try and get some points or we might just not make it in the top 6 this season.
I'll be honest here, losing Deulofeu to a red card late in the game and losing Hughes to injury for the next month hasn't exactly made me hopeful for the next few games not only in the Premier League but also the Europa League. It all seemed to be coming together for us the last few months but we're now getting to a point where we're losing points as well as players and it's becoming difficult to see the positives in these matches. Up next is Valencia away, bring it on.
WELL HOW ABOUT THAT?! A 1-0 win thanks to an unlikely goal from Milenkovic means we go back home to Watford with a huge 1-0 lead, as well as an away goal to boot! Although I realise now after saying that that there isn't really a situation where a 1-0 win away benefits us that much? Losing 1-0 at home means it would go to extra time, losing 2-1 would mean we go out on away goals so we just need to make sure that we either finish the second leg at 0-0 or we win. That's all.
We did finally have a positive performance in the league as we beat Wolves 3-1 and continue to fight for European football next season. This was our first win in the Premier League since we won against Crystal Palace on the 8th of March so over a month and it definitely felt great not only in terms of the points we got from the match but also in terms of morale.
Incredible!!! We're through to the Europa League semi-final for the club's second ever appearance in a European competition after we beat Valencia 1-0! In truth, a 0-0 draw would've been fine too but Morilla just wanted to make sure that we went through and scored a wonderful 92nd minute goal to fully secure the win. What a huge result for us and what a huge step forward for this club.
A MASSIVE result here away at Stamford Bridge as Fischer misses a penalty very late in the second half and we hold on to a 1-0 win, courtesy once again of Morilla who's really stepped up as a key part of this side in the last few months. These are 3 crucial points that could really make or break our chance at Europa League football next season so let's hope this boosts the lads' confidence for our last few games.
What is going?! A 1-0 win against Chelsea is followed by a huge result against Arsenal as we end the Gunners' chance of a Premier League title. Onguéné put us on the right track and Hernández, who's been an absolute gem this season, secure us another 3 points in games that surely everyone would've expected us to lose. What a result. Come on Watford!
And just like that, our hard work goes to waste... Come on! Newcastle are basically relegated at this point and have literally nothing to play for yet we still lose to them? And at home nonetheless? What an incredibly disappointing result. We're getting really close to the end of the season now with just 2 games left in the Premier League and we can't afford to keep losing points like this.
This might just be the end of our Europa League campaign this season. Chalov scores 2 late goals in the second half as Leverkusen cruise to a 2-0 win. They really limited our chances and kept most of the ball so I can't really complain at the result, congratulations to the German side.
And more points dropped. This will come down to the very last day of the season. A 93rd minute winner from Sterling gives City all 3 points and wins them the Premier League title as we now sit here, hoping and praying that Liverpool can do us a favour and beat Tottenham on the last day. We'd need to beat West Ham away to get to 6th place and even then, that would be on goal difference so still no guarantee it can happen. First up, we have a 2nd leg game against Leverkusen but to be honest, I gave up on our chances there and was entirely focused on the league.
Well, had Deeney scored that penalty it might've been a different story but we bow out proud semi-finalists in the 2019/2020 Europa League and will be fully supporting Leverkusen as they take on Bayern in the Europa League final. PSG and Arsenal will be battling it out for the Champions League title so some very interesting teams in the European finals this year. Now then, onto the big one. West Ham away.
Well, we did our part! As I took the lads over to the away end of the London Stadium to thank the fans for their incredible support this season, I couldn't tell from their chants if they were just happy we won today or if something else was up. We stayed out for a while until it was time to go back to the dressing room to see if we'd made it to 6th place. As we entered the tunnel, I suddenly heard a huge roar from fans in the stadium and again, I just couldn't tell if this was West Ham fans celebrating their survival in the Premier League or if it was our fans! I immediately took out my phone to go check out the scores and the live league table...
AND WE'VE DONE IT!!! FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW, WATFORD FC WILL BE IN THE EUROPA LEAGUE!!! After getting knocked out in the semi-final this season, we now have even bigger ambitions in the competition and we can definitely thank Liverpool for this one, who beat Tottenham 3-2 at Anfield and gave us the opportunity to come in 6th, level on points with Tottenham but finished ahead on goal difference and finishing behind Manchester United in 5th also on goal difference. Oh wow what a season... I can't believe we made it to the Europa League. After an incredible comeback last season with an 11th place finish and an FA Cup win, we don't have any trophies this year but a 6th place finish which is the club's best finish since the 1982/83 season when Watford finished in 2nd! Incredible.
Another generous investment from the board who have given me £52 million to improve the squad for next season but as we know from this year, selling a few deadwood players here and there could bring us a total of about £100 million to spend if we play our cards right. Europa League football will definitely be attractive to a few players so I hope we can bring in some big names this summer.
Fair to say the youngsters took the spoils at the club awards this season! Onguéné got the second most votes for Player of the Season but won Signing of the Season and Young Player of the Season at 22 years old while Tonali, Miranda, Hernández, Rajkovic, Lirola and Morilla all feature in the club's Team of the Season. We have a very young and incredibly exciting squad here at Watford and I plan on making that squad even younger and better this summer. Let me tell you, it's a great time to be a Watford FC fan!
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