Three hopes, one fear: Watford FC
By Sean Maslin
Hope #3: That Heurelho Gomes’ second act can continue.
The Premier League does not have a comeback player of the year award but if it did may have gone to Heurelho Gomes last season. Gomes, 35, came back to the Premier League last season after basically not playing for four years and was arguably one of the top goalkeepers in the league His work with Watford’s defense helped keep The Hornets out of the relegation zone and at or near the top ten.
If Watford stay up at the end of the season chances are they will have Gomes to thank. Although his name is never really mentioned with the best in the world, keep in mind this is the same goalkeeper that won four consecutive Eredivisie titles with PSV Eindhoven and helped push Tottenham to a top four finish back in 2009-2010.
What will be interesting to see is if another strong season with Watford leads not just to suitors outside of Vicarage Road but another call-up to the Brazilian national team.
Gomes will be called upon this season to make more difficult saves and to keep Watford in matches that they desperately need points out of. If he can do this he will give the second act of his career more legs.
Next: The big fear: That Mazzarri is not the right type of coach for Watford.