Watford were as good as gone this time last month. As fans wallowed in their team’s position at the foot of the table, Nigel Pearson was plotting yet another great escape – thus far his arrival has prompted a remarkable turnaround. The Nottingham-born maverick has got the Midas touch when it comes to rescuing lost causes, and his latest assignment has seen him get Watford back on track in double-quick time.
A look back to the start of the season makes for grim reading for hornets fans. The man who started the season at the helm, Javi Gracia, had been the first Watford boss to last more than a full season since 2013. His achievement, which says as much about the board’s itchy trigger finger as it does about Gracia’s managerial expertise, was consigned to the history books just four games into the new campaign after he was shown the door with just 1 point from their opening 4 matches. A hasty sacking by many accounts given Gracia had led Watford to a 13th place finish and an FA cup final just 4 months prior.
The curious re-appointment of Quique Sanchez Flores was announced just half an hour later, and an 8-0 humbling at the Etihad the following week was an ominous sign of things to come. In truth, things never really got off the ground for Flores whose solitary win saw him last just 3 months in the dugout before the board decided to jump ship once more. To the surprise of many, the Pozzo family turned to Nigel Pearson – the straight-talking Englishman who had been stuck out in Belgium leading second division minnows OH Leuven since 2017.
Taken at face value Pearson’s appointment appeared to be a strange one, however his no-nonsense approach to management has noticeably galvanized a squad that was brimming with talent but lacking direction. Flying 21-year-old winger Ismaila Sarr, a club record signing at £30m, had become something of a forgotten man under Gracia and Flores before his hornets career had even begun. Dressing room leader and club legend Troy Deeney was misfiring, and mercurial talent Gerard Deulofeu, electric on his day, was simply not consistent enough to turn his team’s fortunes around.
The ‘Pearson Effect’ was to change the tide for all three of them. The trio have bagged eight goals between them since his arrival in December, with Sarr and Deulofeu running full-backs ragged whilst Deeney looks back to his marauding best. His first game saw Flores’ negative 5-3-2 formation dropped, instead setting out his preferred 4-2-3-1 – he has not flinched since. The tactical switch, infinitely better suited to harness Watford’s most talented players, has translated to 15 points from Pearson’s first 8 games in charge, launching them out of the relegation zone just 4 weeks after occupying the fateful bottom spot at Christmas.
Tricky games against Manchester United, Liverpool and Leicester will put Pearson’s new-look side to the test in February and March. With Bournemouth and Norwich in desperate trouble and Aston Villa in dire need of striking reinforcements, Watford’s prospects of survival are looking better than even the most ambitious hornets fan could have dreamed of this time last month. Pearson, who was Bryan Robson’s right-hand-man for West Brom’s 2005 great escape, and who himself was the main man when he repeated the feat with Leicester in 2015, is perhaps better placed than anybody to lead Watford to Premier League survival.
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