It seems that teenage striker Mamadou Doumbia is set to start once again for Watford at Stoke City tomorrow (Saturday).
The Mali international only turned 19 earlier this month, and was thrust into the first team when Vakoun Bayo was suspended after picking up a red card against Norwich City at the start of February.
He has since started the last four games, but prior to that had played less than an hour of Championship football after joining the club in the summer.
However, he kept his place for the game with Luton on Sunday despite Bayo being available again, and Tom Cleverley hinted heavily when he spoke to the media yesterday that Doumbia would lead the line again this weekend.
“He has done a lot of things right and not many things wrong,” said the Watford head coach.
“He hasn’t managed to get a goal yet but he’s won two penalties that I don’t think many strikers would win, just through sheer attitude and endeavour.
“He’s had a part to play in two other goals, so that’s four goal involvements in four games.
“For me, he doesn’t deserve to come out of the team.
“Bayo will be better for getting some minutes against Luton: he’d not started and played significant minutes since the game at Coventry which was 28 days before Luton.
“So he’s got some minutes under his belt and we’ll build Bayo back into it, but now I’ve got depth in attacking options.”
One of the outstanding performers in the last couple of months has been Imran Louza, who captained the team against Luton.
“We have mutual respect, we both play in the same position and see the game in a similar way,” said Cleverley.
“We played with each other in the Premier League as well.
“It took time for Imran. We had a strong midfield at the start of the season but we’ve clicked since October/November time.
“He has been magnificent and for me is one of the best midfielders in the league.
“We have created a game plan to get him starting a lot of our attacks and controlling our builds.
“We’ve tried to play to his strengths, but what has really impressed me about Imran has been his leadership qualities.
“He’s stuck his neck out as a leader and a vocal one at that. He cares a lot about how well we’re doing.
“What people don’t understand sometimes is when a player is maybe not double aggressive in a challenge, they think they’re not good out of possession.
“But Imran is. He understands where he needs to be, he can cover the ground.
“Although physically he’s not going to be a destroyer, he’s got a lot of qualities out of possession that people might not see.”
