Watford goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann has admitted fellow goalkeeper Ben Foster is finding things difficult after being replaced as number one at the club.
The veteran goalkeeper had been Watford’s number one for much of this campaign but has been out of action since the middle of January after breaking his finger.
That has seen number two Bachmann step into the void, making his debut in the 2-0 win over Huddersfield on January 16th and staying there since.
It’s an opportunity he has taken with both hands, conceding just three goals in eight league games thus far and keeping an impressive six clean sheets as well.
That’s seen Watford suffer just one defeat in their last eight games, a run that has seen them move up the table and plant themselves firmly in the Championship promotion hunt.
Bachmann, naturally, has received plenty of praise, with the suggestion in some corners that he should remain number one moving forward. That would see Foster, a loyal servant, replaced, and the Austrian admits it is hard on his teammate.
“I have to honestly say that he is very fair,” he told Laola 1.
“It is, of course, not an easy season for him because he has more or less lost his place for the first time in a long time.
“First for years at West Bromwich and then for over two years at Watford, he has never had anyone who could dispute his place.
“It is, of course, not easy for him, especially towards the end of his career, but it is really difficult to be in order how he behaves. He is very helpful.”
Being number one is a sudden turnaround for Bachmann, who had endured a frustrating 18 months at Watford before Foster’s injury.
He returned to the club in May 2019 after a year-long loan spell with Kilmarnock FC, where he was their undisputed number one, managing 22 games in all competitions and an impressive 14 clean sheets in them.
That was not a status he could replicate at Vicarage Road, where last season he managed just two appearances in all competitions and was not in the squad for any of their Premier League games.
Such a change was naturally hard to take for the 26-year-old to take, something he admits to openly.
“I’m a little proud of myself because it wasn’t easy mentally,” he added.
“After a very positive season in Scotland, I logically came back to Watford with different expectations, so the next 18 months were, of course, very difficult mentally.
“It would have been easy to bury your head in the sand and not be fully focused mentally. Still, I was fully focused every week for 18 months, like playing.
“Now, of course, it feels very good to have played nine times in a row, including the cup game at Manchester United. In the league, it was six to zero in eight games – it couldn’t go much better.”
