Midfielder Ismaël Koné is hoping to build on Wednesday night’s entertaining draw at home to West Bromwich Albion from both an individual and team perspective, when Watford visit Leeds United in the Sky Bet Championship tomorrow (Saturday September 23, 3pm KO).
The 21-year-old was handed just his second start of the season in the midweek thriller against the Baggies, having been forced to be patient for his chance due to stellar competition in midfield and in the wake of a late start to pre-season because of international duty.
A strong performance alongside Francisco Sierralta and Imrân Louza in the centre of the park almost yielded Koné’s first goal in yellow - with a header tipped onto the bar the best of two particularly good chances - while first-half strikes from Tom Ince and Matheus Martins ultimately earned the Hornets a share of the spoils.
He said: “I think it was two points dropped because we had the game in our hands and I don’t think the opponent outplayed us or had a better tactic than us, but on the whole I think we can take lots of positives from it.
“From my point of view, I was obviously pleased to get the chance to play. I believe in myself and my qualities, but we have a great group of players who have done really well when they’ve been out there, so I’ve not got too down about being on the bench. It’s a team game, and really I’ve just been focused on helping the group and contributing when I can.
“In terms of a midfield unit, we all get along so well. There are aspects of our games that are similar and different, and being around the likes of Imrân, Tom [Dele-Bashiru] and Jake [Livermore] every day is brilliant for helping me improve. We’re all aware there’s competition, but we all look at that positively and want each other to do well.
“I should have scored, particularly with the header. I was thinking about when [Mileta] Rajović scored against Birmingham and I kind of dummied the header - this time the ball dropped perfectly to me, and I just have to be more clinical. My heading game has got better, and I can’t wait for the ball to hit the back of the net because a goal really does get you going.”
A point against West Brom extended the Golden Boys’ unbeaten run to three games, and despite the result being tainted with an element of frustration, Koné is confident that the general display exhibited another sign of progress under Head Coach Valérien Ismaël.
“I think a lot of people can see there’s been an improvement this year, compared to last year,” the Canadian star said. “The manager has brought a lot to the team, his style really suits us and I think we’ll go on to win lots of games.
“We know it’s just about making fewer mistakes and having that key detail in the final third. We’re all together and enjoying working with each other every day, and we know we’re close to getting to that next step.
“It’s going to take a bit of time because everything’s new and there were a lot of changes to the squad over the summer, but there’s still a lot of the season left and I believe we will keep improving and gain the consistency we want.”
Watford’s next test lies up the M1 against recently-relegated Leeds United at Elland Road, where former Norwich City boss Daniel Farke has overseen just one defeat in seven outings so far in 2023/24.
Koné is relishing the opportunity to test himself against one of the bookies’ favourites for promotion on their own turf, and is clear that he and his teammates are fully focused on climbing the table with what would be a third win of the season.
He added: “For me these games are what we play and train for. Leeds were in the Premier League last year - we want to be in the Premier League next year so it will be a good challenge and a good indicator of where we are as a team.
“We’ve shown flashes of what we can do and we’re confident we can go there and get the result we’re looking for. We’ll look to take the good bits out of Wednesday, sharpen up the bits we know we need to improve and hopefully we’ll be smiling at full-time.”
