Chris Wilder has urged his players to deliver the supporters an end-of-season smile, as Watford prepare to conclude the Sky Bet Championship campaign at home to Stoke City on Bank Holiday Monday (May 8, 3pm KO).
Though the play-offs are out of reach - with the Hornets sitting in 13th place after 45 games, on 60 points - the Head Coach is hopeful the team can build on a number of positives exhibited during last weekend’s dramatic draw at Sunderland, and sign off for the summer on a high.
“It’s a big game on Monday, and as I’ve said on a number of occasions, I’ve always been focused on going through right to the end of the season,” Wilder said. “We need to finish on a high, and the supporters will be wanting to see a big finish.
“There were good things from the Sunderland game, but I’ve talked about there needing to be improvement across the four cornerstones of the game - tactically, technically, physically and mentally - and we need to be better to turn losses into draws and draws into wins, instead of the other way round.
“Physically and mentally we struggled at times last week - we couldn’t get up to the ball or get out from a conditioning point of view, and then mentally we needed to quieten them down for a period after we scored our second goal, and we didn’t do that.
“We know overall it’s been an extremely disappointing season, and a win on Monday wouldn’t solve everything, but it would make people feel a bit better and it’d kickstart the work for next season in the right way, so we’ll be aiming to do that. There has to be pride every time you put the shirt on, and we’ll do what we can individually and collectively to get the right result.”
Visitors Stoke travel to Hertfordshire with a point to prove themselves, with Alex Neil’s side seven points further back in the standings after a similarly inconsistent 2022/23, and Wilder is expecting a hard-fought battle at The Vic.
He said: “Stoke are another big club in the division, and I suppose their season has been similar in aspects to ours. They’ll have had good parts and bad parts, but like us ultimately they deserve to be where they are in the table.
“They’ve got a talented manager and a lot of good players, but for whatever reason it’s not quite worked out on the pitch. I’m sure they’ll have a similar mindset to us, in terms of wanting to finish the season with a win, so we will need to be wary of their threats.”
In terms of team news, teenage attacking duo Yáser Asprilla and Matheus Martins will be missing having travelled to South America for the Under-20 World Cup, but Wilder suggested some other youngsters could be involved in his squad.
“There are a couple of players unavailable, but a few of the younger players have trained with us this week so we’ll see how that goes,” Wilder added. “Jack Grieves, Adrian Blake and James Morris have all been with us.
“I’ve been a bit disappointed not to have used them more, but going to places like Sunderland you have to make sure the timing’s right. I had a chat with Jimmy Gilligan and Richard Johnson earlier in the week and I’m really impressed with the work they’re doing with the Academy, and there’s a lot of exciting talent coming through.
“We’ve seen that with Ryan Andrews breaking through recently, and the likes of James, Adrian, Jack and Tobi Adeyemo all playing games this season. I’m a big believer that there has to be a pathway, but also they have to earn the right to be selected. If any of them do make the team on Monday, it’ll be because they deserve it.”
