Roy Hodgson, Watford’s new
manager, insists that Steven Gerrard,
his Aston Villa counterpart, is going
to be “an extremely good manager”.
But the 74-year-old Hodgson, 33
years Gerrard’s senior, perhaps taught
his former captain with Liverpool and
TIM NASH
Gerrard taught harsh lesson by the wiliest of veterans
England some valuable lessons at
Villa Park on Saturday as he guided
Watford to their first win under
his tenure.
In his four matches, Watford
have amassed the same number of
points as Gerrard at Villa: four. In
that time the Midlanders possess
a better goal difference by one —
minus one against minus two — but
Watford have conceded fewer goals.
Villa have won only one in seven
in the league — including taking
one point from the past three
games against teams below them
— to sit closer to the relegation zone
than a European place. They have
also dropped eight points from
winning positions during those
seven games.
Watford, whose past six league
away wins have remarkably come
under six different managers, have
yet to lose a lead under Hodgson.
“Steven is going to be an extremely
good manager because of his
knowledge of the game, because ofhis determination to succeed and
because of his manner,” Hodgson
said. “He has an extremely good
coaching manner and his players
will react to that.
“They respect him and admire him
anyway, but they will do so even more
when they get to know him as a
person and as a man. So I wouldn’t
fear for him at all.
“I don’t know what the
expectations are, Aston Villa-wise.
I don’t know if they expect Steve to
come and lift them into the Uefa
spots — I really couldn’t tell you that.
“But I know they’re going to be
very comfortable in the league next
year and at the end of the season
he will have gained important
experience and will go into next
season even better.”
Gerrard hinted at wholesale
changes for this game after the
1-0 defeat by Newcastle United
but made only one, up front, with
Danny Ings starting in place of
Ollie Watkins. Having stated that,behind. He also looks to be lost at
the moment.
By contrast, Hodgson gave
Ismaïla Sarr his first start since
November 20 — which was
coincidentally Watford’s previous win
— alongside Emmanuel Dennis and
Joshua King, and all three were fluid,
stretching Villa’s back four.
Another area in which Gerrard
may want to look to his former
manager is in defence. Craig Cathcart
and Samir, Watford’s central defensive
pairing, were superb in defending
Villa’s ten corners: more often than
not one of them got there ahead of a
Villa player. Tyrone Mings, Villa’s
captain, has been in questionable
form, although he has missed Ezri
Konsa, who is suspended, at his side.
Gerrard revealed that he would like
to emulate Hodgson. “I really enjoyed
my time [under him] at Liverpool,
even though it was short, but more
so with England,” he said. “If I can get
a small percentage of what he’s
achieved that will be very satisfying.”and with all the talk in the stands
about his lack of changes, one lesson
Gerrard may learn from Hodgson is
to manage expectations.
Another would be to coax a sharper
clinical edge from his side. Watford
forced four on-target efforts from
only eight opportunities and 40 per
cent possession, while Villa managed
one from 20 and 60 per cent.
Creatively, Villa looked stodgy
and pedestrian. Watford — albeit on
the counterattack — were quick
and inventive.
Gerrard appears to still be
struggling to find his best team, the
choice over whether to select Ings
or Watkins being his main dilemma.
The two strikers have played only 293
minutes together under Gerrard over
six games, with one replacing the
other on two occasions.
Both like to play through the
middle but, whereas Ings is a penalty-
box player who likes to receive the
ball to feet, Watkins runs the
channels and prefers the ball inAston Villa
RATINGS
Aston Villa (4-3-3): E Martínez 8 — M Cash 7
(A Young 65min, 5), C Chambers 6, T Mings 5,
L Digne 6 — J McGinn 6, Douglas Luiz 6
(O Watkins 58, 5), J Ramsey 6 — E Buendía 5
(L Bailey 71), D Ings 6, P Coutinho 6. Booked Cash.
Watford (4-3-3): B Foster 7 — K Femenía 7,
C Cathcart 8, Samir 8 (C Kabasele 90+3),
H Kamara 7 — M Sissoko 7, I Louza 7 T Cleverley 8
— E Dennis 8 (K Sema 86), J King 8, I Sarr 8
(J Hernández 90+ 3). Booked Kamara, Sarr.
Referee R Jones.Watford
Dennis 780
1
The London Stadium was an arena
full of mirages on Saturday. What we
thought we saw from West Ham
United was a team who had delighted
at the start of the season but who
have run out of steam, only for David
Moyes to insist that fatigue was not
an issue.
What we thought we saw from
Newcastle United was a team with
swagger and gusto, disappointed with
a draw away from home, but one
peek at the table underlines that they
are a club one defeat away from
relegation hysteria.
Nothing, really, made much sense.
Fans in the away end were wearing
Hawaiian shirts emblazoned with the
face of Joelinton. The 25-year-old
Brazilian has become a cult figure
among the fans, which is astonishing
on several counts. A club in peril
surely does not have time for cult
figures, for fondness, for humour, and
his 11 goals in 114 appearances are
neither awe-inspiring nor atrocious.
He was also the player most likely
to be mocked and the player most
likely to be blamed for inadequate
performances, having, in 2019, cost
the club £40 million. He was hailed as
an effective striker but failed to scoreALYSON RUDDthe times | Monday February 21 2022 1GG 7
thegame
Joelinton is cult hero
- even at £3.6m a goal
goals. However, Eddie Howe, soon
after being appointed Newcastle head
coach, discovered a player whose real
talents were being wasted. Joelinton
has passion, commitment and a desire
to fight for every ball, which makes
him far more effective in midfield
than up front. Howe also found he
had in the squad a player who could
have become sulky and resentful of
being the fall guy but who, instead,
has embraced the opportunity to add
midfield bite to a side in trouble.
He should have scored with an
early chance that was well saved by
Lukasz Fabianski, but did anyone feel
the need to groan? No, those wearing
the crazy shirts jigged in admiration
instead. Should Newcastle stay up,
there is no doubt that credit will go to
the signings made possible by the
controversial takeover but, really, the
reinvention of Joelinton has been
integral to the new-found optimism.
There is so much cash rolling
around these days that Newcastle are
a ghost story. All we see now will
surely be discarded as the club attract
bigger and bigger names. Even
Howe feels like an interim, and
so the progression of Joelinton
is even more encouraging and
not the kind of redemption story
normally associated with a team at
the wrong end of the table.
West Ham are baffling
also. If they prepared for
this game with energy,
as Moyes insisted, then
why did they look so
lethargic? This is a
team with every
chance of
upsetting the
established
hierarchy
and winning
a place in the
Champions
League and
yet the
prospectappears to be inhibiting. Their recent
performances have lacked sparkle,
and even their manager admits that
he is not enjoying watching them
right now.
They possess the aura of a team in
the mid-table doldrums, a team who
would rather have hidden under the
duvet than brave the wind and rain of
Saturday lunchtime. They are a sports
psychologist’s dream, however, for
while they have been lacking oomph
they have not suffered. They should
have exploited better the fragility of
Leicester City last weekend but at
least the draw against Brendan
Rodgers’s team, after a last-minute
equaliser, was enough to keep them
bobbing around the top four. If they
are in self-destruct mode, then they
are failing to properly collapse.
Perhaps what they need is for their
Europa League campaign to restart.
Unlike many teams in the
competition, West Ham embraced
the challenges of awkward travel
and Thursday night commitments.
They have largely competed with
flamboyance and verve and the
atmosphere in their home matches
has been as wholehearted as those
villages who go slightly overboard
when there is a royal milestone
and string up miles and miles
of bunting and bake
thousands of fairy cakes.
West Ham are one of
the seeded teams for the
draw, which takes place
on Friday, and no one
will relish facing them.
Perhaps their malaise
is the calm before the
storm, and just maybe
their hopes of securing
a top-four finish depend
on them being ever so busy
on Thursdays.West Ham United
Dawson 32^1RATINGS
West Ham (4-2-3-1): L Fabianski 6 — R Fredericks 5
(B Johnson 46min, 5), C Dawson 7, K Zouma 6,
A Cresswell 6 — T Soucek 6, D Rice 5 — J Bowen 6, S
Benrahma 6 (N Vlasic 73), P Fornals 6 —
M Antonio 5. Booked Fredericks, Fornals, Bowen.
Newcastle (4-3-3): M Dubravka 6 — E Krafth 6,
F Schar 6, D Burn 6, M Targett 6 — J Willock 7
(B Guimarães 88), J Shelvey 5, Joelinton 6 —
R Fraser 7 (M Almirón 79), C Wood 5, J Murphy 6.
Booked Krafth, Fraser, Burn.
Referee C Kavanagh.Newcastle United
Willock 45+1^1Willock celebrates his
goal for Newcastle in
their battle to beat dropPOINTS PER GAME TABLEPosition in points per game
table (actual position)Games
playedPoints Points per
game
= 1 Man City (1) 26 63 2.42
= 2 Liverpool (2) 25 57 2.28
= 3 Chelsea (3) 25 50 2.00
é 4 Arsenal (6) 23 42 1.83
ê 5 Man Utd (4)^2646 1.77
é 6 Tottenham (8) 23 39 1.70
= 7 Wolves (7) 24 40 1.67
ê 8 West Ham (5) 26 42 1.62
= 9 Brighton (9) 25 33 1.32
= 10 Southampton (10) 25 32 1.28
= 11 Leicester (11) 23 27 1.17
= 12 Aston Villa (12) 24 27 1.13
= 13 C Palace (13) 25 26 1.04
é 14 Leeds Utd (15) 24 23 0.96
é 15 Everton (16) 23 22 0.96
ê 16 Brentford (14)^2624 0.92
= 17 Newcastle (17) 24 22 0.92
é 18 Burnley (19) 22 17 0.77
ê 19 Watford (18) 24 18 0.75
= 20 Norwich (20) 25 17 0.68STEVE BARDENS/GETTY IMAGES22
Everton’s points from the
first 23 games is their
worst tally at this stage of
a top-flight campaign
since 1950-51 (assuming
three points for a win),
when they also had 22
and were relegated2
Clean sheets for Watford
in four games under Roy
Hodgson — as many as
they had achieved in
their previous 36 games
in the Premier League
combinedBrentford’s winless league run extended
to seven games at the Emirates
PAGE 10With the number of games played by teams varying from
22 to 26, a points-per-game table perhaps gives a better
indication of who deserves to be where