Woeful Watford have the air of a team in limbo in Norwich defeat

At a loss: Watford crumbled to defeat away to Norwich on Wednesday
Stephen Pond/Getty Images
Giuseppe Muro12 May 2016

The season is ending on a sour note for Watford after the players put in the performance of a side whose manager is leaving at Norwich last night.

It is one of the worst kept secrets in football that Quique Sanchez Flores will move on in the summer and the campaign cannot end soon enough for everyone at Vicarage Road.

Watford were well beaten by a Norwich side who were still relegated from the Premier League. Dignified as he may have been amid increasing uncertainty over his future, Flores is now presiding over a slump.

The Hornets have lost three of their four games since it emerged the 54 year-old was set to depart. They have lost the energy and desire which made them successful in the first half of the season.

Survival was the order of the season for Watford but their nosedive in form has been alarming.

It is one reason why owner Gino Pozzo has decided to replace Flores but it has also highlighted the need to refresh the squad this summer. Whoever is in charge of Watford next season, something needs to change.

The club released a statement before kick-off following speculation Walter Mazzarri was to replace Flores.

“The position on the head coach remains the same,” it read. “We are extremely pleased with the work of Quique and his staff and all of the players this season. Every objective set has been achieved.

“However, we have two very important games to play. We have a meeting arranged immediately at the end of the season to discuss continuing the project together.”

Flores says he does not know when that meeting will be but it is difficult to see him lasting long. He said the game felt like an end-of-season “party match” and his players “lost intensity and did not take care of little details”.

Watford captain Troy Deeney said: “It is frustrating and disappointing, but we have got a few days to recover and prepare for Sunderland, so let’s make sure we put it right on Sunday.

“We wanted to go out fighting and to please our fans, but we conceded four sloppy goals.”

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