Sky Sports exclusive: Christian Kabasele says Watford must find the right balance if they are to stay in the Premier League
Monday 20 April 2020 08:28, UK
Christian Kabasele spent one restless spring morning thinking of a theory that would solve a nagging problem.
The Watford defender was sleep-deprived, but this had nothing to do with his side's ongoing battle to avoid the drop. Naturally, however, he found his solution out on the pitch.
In a video posted onto his Instagram account this month, the centre-back was seen playing football with his son Daniel in his back garden.
Having already been dismissed twice this season in victories over Norwich and Wolves, the Belgian is seen clipping the heels of the young pretender as he dribbles through on goal. It was a cynical act worthy of a third red card in a matter of months, by all accounts.
"What a lot of people don't know is that the previous week, my son was waking up every morning at 4am," Kabasele tells Sky Sports. "I was a little bit upset about that. He had to pay for this. Since then, he's slept every night, so I think he understands!"
Kabasele's path to the Premier League, like his son's route to goal, was not a smooth one.
As with Vincent Kompany, he came to England via Belgium and is of Congolese descent. Aged just eight months old, his family home in Congo's second city Lubumbashi was robbed, leading to them moving on to Brussels and then Liege.
Eventually, but not until after a spell in Bulgaria with Ludogorets, he arrived in the Premier League on a five-year deal from Belgian side Genk in July 2016.
All this puts into perspective Watford's plight before football was suspended, perched outside of the relegation zone by virtue of a goal difference that is one better than Bournemouth.
Overcoming previous hardships have helped the 29-year-old with the pressure that comes with battling the drop. He has previously spoken out against online racism, and the imposing central defender is equally forthright when it comes to the challenge ahead, if and when the season resumes.
"For sure, there will need to be a pre-season," says Kabasele, who has been in regular contact with his manager Nigel Pearson as well as his assistant Craig Shakespeare over the past month.
"It's a must. Normally, during the summer break, we stop for six weeks and after we train for four or five weeks.
"So we have to be well-prepared to avoid any stupid injuries. You only get the match fitness by playing some games, so the question is whether there's the possibility to play any friendlies before the league re-starts.
"I miss football a lot. I miss feeling the pressure of the game and the routines around the matches during the week. I miss that a lot. Sometimes, it's good to have that pressure in your life in order to enjoy. Not being able to do that for over a month now is difficult, but it's not difficult when you put it into the context of what's happening around the world."
Watford were languishing at the foot of the Premier League table when Pearson became the club's third manager of the season at the start of December, but barring the 8-0 debacle at Manchester City in September, it has been a lack of productivity at the sharp end that has been their undoing.
Indeed, Watford have made just three errors that have led to shots faced, with just one leading to a goal. Every other side has had at least 10 - and much of that is down to the work of Kabasele, who is hoping such a low-risk approach under Pearson pays dividends.
"The only thing we can do at the moment is try to keep our fitness levels as high as possible and wait for the league's decision," he continues. "I'm keeping in touch with my team-mates in our group chat and to be able to speak with them is important.
"Before the season started, I felt everyone could see that we were a side capable of competing for a Europa League place, having got to the FA Cup final as well as the league table [Watford finished 11th].
"Having achieved this over one season, we knew we had to do this more often, but in the short-term now, we just have to stay in the league. It's as simple as that. We'll see if the league starts again, but the first objective is that Watford stay in the Premier League."
That objective is far closer to being realised after perhaps the most unexpected result of the season to date, when Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool visited Vicarage Road on March 1.
The Premier League leaders' quest to go a full season without defeat ended with a whimper as Ismaila Sarr's double and Troy Deeney's strike ended their 44-game unbeaten run.
But it was a victory built from Belgian steel. Kabasele made 13 clearances, more than any other player and three more than his defensive partner Craig Cathcart as the pair consigned their opponents to their first blank in front of goal in the league since March 2019.
Indeed, Klopp's team mustered just one shot on target, and created chances worth only 0.28 expected goals - their lowest total of the campaign.
"Our mindset was really positive from the first minute," Kabasele says. "In the week leading up to the game, we felt we were able to beat them.
We spoke about going at it full pelt for 45 minutes. For me, it was the best day I've ever had in football.
"One team had to at some point, so why couldn't it be us? Once the game started, it immediately felt like we wouldn't lose. In the first half, we saw they weren't at their best, so we had extra motivation at half-time. We were speaking and said, 'it's now or never'.
"We spoke about going at it full pelt for 45 minutes. For me, it was the best day I've ever had in football."
Such has been the Hornets' season, they followed up that landmark success with a meek display in a 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace the following week - meaning they have only secured back-to-back victories twice this season, coming during a three-match winning run at the start of the year.
When Deeney has been fit, Watford have invariably profited, with their upsurge in form this term coinciding with his return from a knee injury which kept the club captain out for 10 league games.
"Troy is our leader, and he's a great team-mate," says Kabasele. "He's always very open and he tries to help everyone. Whenever there's a bad moment on the pitch, he's there to wake up everybody and to keep our focus until the end. We hope to keep him fit as much as possible.
"But when you see the performance of every player that day against Liverpool, nobody was below an eight out of 10 if you were to rate the team.
"This showed what we are capable of and is the type of performance we want to build on. We must take with us the positives of that game but also the negatives of the defeat to Palace. We need the right balance if we are to stay in the league next season."
For now, Kabasele has plenty of time for another theory.
