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Odion Ighalo leads the way as Watford make a case to be taken seriously

It is the hard work of Deeney that ensures that Watford can play 4-4-2 without getting outnumbered

Jack Pitt-Brooke
Tuesday 22 December 2015 00:42 GMT
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Odion Ighalo, with Troy Deeney, after scoring Watford’s third on Sunday
Odion Ighalo, with Troy Deeney, after scoring Watford’s third on Sunday

Odion Ighalo has been the best striker in the country this year, with 28 goals for Watford in the Championship and the Premier League. With two games left in 2015, he is on track to break the 30 mark, which is impressive for anyone, let alone a player who arrived on loan having not been especially prolific before in Spain, Italy or Norway.

Ighalo scored twice against Liverpool on Sunday and could have had four or five, ripping Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho to pieces with his movement. The 26-year-old Nigerian is a committed Christian who afterwards gave God “all the glory” for his two goals and the victory. On the pitch, though, he owes an awful lot to Troy Deeney, his captain, strike partner and creative supplier.

Deeney set up Ighalo’s first goal on Sunday and was involved with his second. In that sense it was a very typical afternoon. The bustling No 9 has created more chances than any other striker in the Premier League this season.

It is the hard work of Deeney without the ball, dropping back into midfield, which ensures that Watford can play 4-4-2 without getting outnumbered. Ighalo himself runs hard, hassling defenders and goalkeepers, forcing mistakes. They are the first line of defence and an inspiration to the rest of the team.

After Sunday’s game, Watford manager Quique Sanchez Flores explained how it all works. “If you play with two strikers separated from the rest of the players, it is very difficult to stop the other team,” he said. “But if you are playing with all your players within 30-35 metres, attacking and defending, you reduce the possibilities of the opponent. This is the key. Our two strikers give us a lot of possibilities when we have the ball, but when we don’t have the ball, we build a compact block.”

Sanchez Flores has done remarkably well to improve this Watford team since he took over from promotion-winning manager Slavisa Jokanovic in the summer. That was when Ighalo decided to sign a permanent deal at Vicarage Road, and on Sunday he praised the skills of his new Spanish manager. “He is one of the best coaches I’ve worked with, in terms of game plans and encouraging his players,” Ighalo said. “He is a very intelligent guy and deserves big credit for everything we are going through now.”

Watford have now won four league games in a row and sit seventh in the Premier League table, just one point behind Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. They can start to think about a very different season from what they were expecting but Ighalo will not change his ambitions quite yet. “We are not safe yet, we only have 28 points, and our main aim is to battle against relegation,” he said. “If we reach 40 points, we thank God for anything that comes after that.”

The unity of a team thrown together from all over the world by club owners the Pozzo family is remarkable. Their compact shape is a lesson to less-disciplined teams. If other sides had strikers who worked as hard as Deeney and Ighalo, then they could afford to play 4-4-2 as well.

Said Ighalo: “Some people may have been surprised, but when I walk out with this team every week, and we work hard for each other, run together and fight for every ball, I’m not surprised any more. But we need to keep going like this. This result against Liverpool may make top teams respect us more and not just treat us as a side who are not going to be around the Premier League for long.”

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