Under the analytical mind of Javi Gracia, Watford at long last have continuity

Exclusive interview: The Spaniard talks to The Independent about identity, analysing the game and getting the best out of his players

It’s a Monday afternoon at Watford’s London Colney training ground and, with the whiteboards in Javi Gracia’s ample office wiped clean in preparation for the next game, he starts to explain how you successfully prepare for facing someone like Lionel Messi. This is after all a challenge that the Spaniard has managed with Malaga, having beaten Barcelona 1-0 at Camp Nou.

Even with this, though, there’s some that very much stands out about the 48-year-old’s explanation.

“With a game like that, you know what’s waiting for you,” Gracia begins. “A super-complicated match. When I’ve come up against a player that good, Messi – or even others – it’s about facing him as a team. It’s about reinforcing to the players what areas need to be defended more, why we have to move into specific areas… even against Fulham, to be conscious of the positions taken up by [Andre] Schurrle, by [Aleksandar] Mitrovic. We have to know where to move as a unit.”

Yes, he did just make the leap from Messi and Barcelona to Mitrovic and Fulham. It’s a compliment to the side Watford drew 1-1 with at Craven Cottage last week, but also a testament to Gracia’s mindset. That’s the mindset that has made him especially noted for fine results against the big teams, and that has many around Watford optimistic of a good charge at seventh place and European football this season.

There’s stability. There’s astuteness. There’s a difference.

An hour in Gracia’s company reveals a highly analytical football mind, who seems to see the game in a different way. This maybe illustrates why he’s so good at results against the big sides.

When he was sitting down to watch TV with his family last Sunday, the channel was naturally turned to football. The Pamplona native couldn’t help himself thinking to the next Premier League game against Arsenal – who are managed by his old friend and teammate Unai Emery – and little elements that might aid Watford.

“You’re always thinking about it. You can’t relax. You’re always looking at it like a manager. My kids are focusing on the boots, the hairstyles, the shirts!

Under Gracia, Watford have become a force to be reckoned with (Getty)

“But when I watch football, I see it as more a clash of teams than players. I don’t notice single actions as much. I notice more the structures of teams, the ebb and flow.”

The shapes. Hence facing someone like Messi, or even Arsenal, isn’t about individual qualities. It’s a more general puzzle that must be figured out and unlocked.

Little wonder that Gracia says so much of his job is “plotting and planning” in his office from the early morning. He must then greatly enjoy the challenge of scrutinising teams for their weaknesses, and gain great satisfaction when specific designs to trap them then come off?

“I enjoy it, but not specially with the big teams. I enjoy it all the time. I think it’s our job, trying to give the players information, help them, so later in the match they feel they dominate the situation; that is what we expect from the opposition, that nothing surprises us, that they feel secure. I feel satisfied when the players enjoy themselves on the pitch, because things are happening that we predicted. For me, that’s more than any personal satisfaction, or one result from certain moves. Seeing the team enjoying themselves or assured on the pitch is for me satisfactory.

There is now stability and astuteness to Watford (PA)

“I don’t feel that central to. Yes, we try to do things, but I think that’s part of the job. There’s no obligation. It’s nothing exceptional.”

It’s impossible not to notice a humility to Gracia, one that many at Watford say is a striking difference from his predecessor, Marco Silva. He very quickly deflects any praise for these past big results towards his staff, his players, to the collective. There’s a humility, but also a steel. You’d know not to cross him, which is why some at the club have also taken to describing him – in a compliment to both men – as “Quique Sanchez Flores without as much aftershave”.

Gracia also strikes out from both Flores and Silva – and, in fact, a total of six of his predecessors – as the first Watford manager in five seasons to end one campaign and then start the next.

It chimes with a rare summer where they haven’t made a raft of new signings, only bringing in Ben Foster as regular starter, and thereby finally bringing a continuity to a club often accused of lacking anyone, or anything, to identify with. There is a connection.

And while Gracia jokes “I hope they don’t change the manager”, this continuity and connection is something especially important to him. He publicly mentioned it a lot at Malaga, and to Rubin Kazan, and it entirely fits with his collective view of management and how a team should work.

Gracia has been keen to share the praise he has received among his players and staff members (Getty)

“Every club is different, every city is different but I think what they all have in common is that to have players of the city, or who have been here years, I think it’s necessary. A base. A base of that profile is necessary. I think the support identifies with everything, their team and the players, no matter where they’re from, but I think that’s always a theme, to have that group of players that form that connection, that transmit what that club is, to maintain what is important of that club, independent of who comes and where they come from.”

“It’s important the club has the values it does. All of us who have come here, when you step on the Vicarage Road pitch, or on the training ground, you can see what is the team, what is the support, what is the values of the family of Watford. And that’s what comes across to me: a family. That’s what I think is important to have.”

That’s the essential foundation, but there’s then the question of how you build on it. Is Gracia a manager who imposes a style, or adapts to what he has?

“Well, that’s it. That’s it. To find the middle point is the virtue, the success. I think the most important is first to give licence to the players, the players are the protagonists, and you have to be capable to get the best effect from those players. How is it possible to do that? Well you have to transmit your idea of play, your concepts of play, but within the elements you have. In the end... I play 4-3-3. If I don’t have the players for that, how am I going to play like that? I’m not going to say to one player who has characteristics for something else to do other things he’s not capable of, or aren’t his best virtue.

“There it is, the success of a team… There is the work of a manager. That’s the work of a manager, know how you can play and what’s right at that moment.”

Javi Gracia was named August manager of the month (Getty Images)

At this moment, he’s preparing for Arsenal and an old friend who happens to be literally over the wall at his club’s own London Colney base.

“Unai was a teammate of mine, at Real Sociedad. I have a friendship with him.

“Before coming, I spoke to him about here. We’ve met up. With Unai, everybody knows he’s a great coach, the stuff he did in Spain. Even with Paris Saint-Germain, he won a lot of competitions. He’s done it everywhere, and he’ll succeed here. I’m not sure how much time he’ll need, but I’m certain Arsenal will be a success.”

Gracia’s successful record against such clubs, however, makes the result this weekend at Arsenal much less certain. He just has to figure out the puzzle.