Starting around 50% of Watford’s games in the Premier League this season, Christian Kabasele has been the definition of a rotational option for Javi Gracia this season.
After a spell of six matches without featuring, the centre-back was asked to play against both Manchester City and Manchester United, before returning to the bench against Fulham a few days later.
Benched for the 3-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup semi-final, the 28-year-old has also lost his place in the Belgium set up, left out of the most recent squad during the last international break.
Invited to speak on why he kept coming in and out of the team at Watford by Le Grand Debrief for DH in his home country, the centre-back said: “I’m not sure. They are the manager’s choices. For me, every time he’s asked me, I’ve performed, especially in those games against City and United.
“I was a bit unfortunate to pick up an injury on Boxing Day and then the manager decided to stick with the same players. Now it’s up to me to be patient, and to show him when I’m on the pitch that he can count on me.”
Coming off against Chelsea after 16 minutes on December 26th, Kabasele has only featured three times since in the Premier League compared to 14 appearances before that.
Losses against top six teams aside, Watford have won five of their last eight games against teams around or below them, and are currently fighting for that seventh spot, currently occupied by Leicester who have played a game more.
If they manage to clinch that and win the FA Cup, then it would be a very successful season for the Hornets indeed.
As for Kabasele, he has just over two years left on his contract at Vicarage Road, and we’ll have to see this summer if the trust Javi Gracia had in him earlier on in the season has completely disappeared or if it really is just a matter of trying to keep the same defence in order to gain some momentum.
