Watford manager Javi Gracia is hopeful Nigeria forward Isaac Success will be fit for the side’s upcoming pre-season friendly away at Queens Park Rangers, reports Completesports.com.
The Hornets travel to Loftus Road this Saturday for the first of two friendlies taking place in England ahead of the new Premier League season and the head coach Gracia told the club’s website his squad is in pretty good shape.
Most of the Watford players who featured in their games in Austria against Ajax and Bayer Leverkusen emerged unscathed, with minor problems affecting only Nathaniel Chalobah and Isaac Success.
“[Success] has a little problem with his hamstring, but it is better to stop one day than to regret a worse injury,” said.
“I prefer to stop. I am sure in two or three days he will be ready.”
Success made 30 league appearances for Watford last season and hit the back of the net once.
Watford will begin their 2019/2020 campaign with a home game against Brighton & Hove Albion at home on Saturday , August 10.
By Adeboye Amosu
15 Comments
It is not too late – I am praying for a coach to focus on solely developing Isaac Success as a centre forward.
He has the build, pace, power, aggression and abilities to thrive in this role if properly groomed.
If that happens, he isaac will be in pole position to replace Ighalo in the Super Eagles.
Well said my brother@deo. Isaac is d true heir apparent to SE striking position. He may not be scoring much at club level but he has it in him to deliver at international level. One of d type that are better international player than club side.
Trouble is, the English premier League is not the right league to train, develop and fine tune a striker.
There is too much money to lose. The premier League is the kind of place you hit the ground running, they recruit ‘ready made” players.
If we want a club to develop him, then it has to be the lower leagues or in Europe like Belgium where they can spend time with a player and it will not result in potential losses in the tens of millions if it doesn’t work right away.
I totally agree with you, he has been played out of position for too long his pace and strength is needed in super eagles
Thanks BigD. Having said that though, it depends on how a coach (even the the English Premer League) sees a player and the coach’s overall football strategy.
Isaac Success is already seen as a striker anyway. If he should find himself still in the Premier League under a coach like Sam Allardyce or Tony Pulis (who have a ‘long balls to a big centre forward’ mentality), I think there will be potentials for Isaac Success to thrive and add more items to his attacking toolkit.
Tony Pulis particularly has a reputation of playing with a very tight budget and has never been relegated. If Isaac Success was one of the few forwards in a Pulis squad, the coach would still play his long-balls mentality and would further enhance Isaac Success skills, sharpness, awareness and orientation in the area of being a well rounded, robust centre forward.
Under Gracia in Watford, Success has actually continued his development as a forward but he does get deployed in other areas and with the likes of Troy Deeney ahead of him, I would not get as much exposure that will be needed to make him ‘sharp’ within a short space of time.
@ Deo if Success could only thrive with such Tony pulies n Alladyce long balls system, then he had better call it quit with d SE. Not a chance for sleeping tablet football in d SE. I honestly don’t think thats Isaac style anyway. Right from his golden eaglets days through to his time in Spain, Isaac enjoys n does well with quick passing game football.@Deo, fans wearing long faces with Rohr’s brand of football despite good results n you stylishly recommending long balls for SE. You get plan to kpai people?
Bro Glory,
I sincerely hope he doesn’t thrive under such coaches (ie the Allardyces and Pulises) alone. Variety is what we want.
Also, I wasn’t prescribing the approach and tactics of Rohr of any other coach of the national team to be solely based on long balls.
The idea is for Isaac Success to find himself under a coach that will play him regularly and also make him the ‘arrow-head’ of the team.
The style of football of Allardyce and Pulis – whilst it may not be everyone’s cup of tea – have proven to be successful in certain instances – it is all about having a variety. I wouldn’t mind if Rohr has this style of play as a potential option when ‘all else has failed’.
A typical example was in Afcon 2000 when Nigeria tried (and failed) to break Senegal down in the quarter-finals via patient build-up play.
What happened? Oliseh came in and launched a delicious long-ball from deep for Aghaowa to latch on to and then finish with deadly precision (Allardyce and Pulis would have been proud!).
When long-balls work, they work well! You bypass all your opponent’s midfield with an aerial pass, sure to cause defenders problems. Omeruo and Ekong struggled against these sort of balls against Algeria in the just-concluded Afcon.
But I agree with you: I don’t want a coach for the Super Eagles who makes long-balls as their ‘Main Strategy’ but one that makes it as ‘One of their winning strategies’.
However at club level, I maintain, Isaac Success will benefit from a coach who makes him the arrow-head and plays him regularly as a centre-forward adept both in the air and on the ground – either running at defenders or receiving ball-to-feet.
@ Deo, u take entertainment out of football, its pure rubbish n waste of precious time no matter how successful. Intact such football feels ones belly with lots of sick instead of butterflies.Reason loads of people don’t like Mourinho despite some success. See when you truly play good entertaining with great energy,tenacity n with strong desire to win, fans will know n still appreciate even when d results sometimes are not favourable.
So so true bro Glory, if a coach leans to much to one side, they become boring and their style, not only becomes predictable, but can also be rendered ineffective.
That is why Mourinho – that you quoted – can also at times play boring but practical football to get results whilst also adapting to the opposition before him.
Any coach who only relies on just one style lacks dynamism.
As a worker, you must have several tools in your toolkit so you can pick the one that suits the nature of problem that confronts you.
If you have only a hammer in your toolkit, every problem will look like a nail to you (when in fact they may be something else).
Which is why I said, a coach who has long balls as one of his potential strategies will be dynamic and be able to adapt to different oppositions.
A striker like Isaac Success who has played on a variety of coaches will be able to take something away from each of them to add to his overall skills and experience.
Sure u quite right on being dynamic. But those long ball must always come as last resort. Well Tony pulies n Alladyce, they are not. They purely anywhere belle face football coach.
Yes bro Glory but it worked for them though ( when they have the personnel across every department to execute this strategy to perfection).
Do you remember when Allardyce managed Bolton (our own Okocha was there at the time)? They were a nightmare to play against. Arsene Wenger and Mourinho used to hate going to the Reebok stadium!
Do you remember the hey days of Stoke under Pulis? Britannia stadium was a fortress!! Do you remember that Peter Crouch goal against Man City from long range?? Teams just hated playing them with those long balls and long throw-ins that caused problems!!
I know that style of play is neither pretty nor everyone’s cup of tea, and I don’t necessarily subscribe to it, but my brother, if played well, it can be effective o!
Crouch goal against Man City for Stoke:
https://youtu.be/bS9Xrme-9yA
Pls @Deo I watched Stoke under Tony Pulies once n I almost lost every pinch of interest on football. Peter Crouch? Wetin u dey take @:Deo? Maybe one drag might make me see ur point clearly. Man dem wan hear u talk about players like Romario Farias, Denis Bergkam,Kanu, Samuel Eto Fils, George Weah. You come dey ask me wether I no see Peter Crouch. Stokes n Bolton kind of football need one to always go to d stadium with binoculars. Yes Okocha played in Bolton. He brought entertainment Alladyce never believed could happen on a football pitch n that almost change Alladyce football philosophy.
Why am I not surprised? You are not a fan of long-balls anyway!
In my own opinion… Junior Oluwafemi Ajayi of Al-Ahly Egypt can give any striker in the Super Eagles now and in the future a good run for their money any day… He plays regularly for his club against the backdrop of some potential SE attackers who are not regulars in their club… He was named in CAF best eleven last season including notable internationals like Mo Salah and Sadio Mane
…when you have played football it’s very easy to spot players who have a natural talent to getting the job done… Players like Dennis Bonaventure… Taiwo Awoniyi… Anderson Esiti and Azubuike Okechukwu are suppose to be getting invites now to Super Eagles including Anthony Nwaekeme who would have been useful even in an attacking midfield role perfectly in last Afcon… Eddy Onazi Ogenyi is also more polished than Wilfried Ndidi who is mostly a tackler and accounted for three goals off eighteen yard area in last Afcon… Some of these players being picked regularly ahead of others should have their positions challenged to spur them to refine their game… Ndidi was poor in the just concluded Afcon…