More games from 16th November at https://oldwatford.com/tag/nov16
10th November 2018- Premier League, Southampton 1 Watford 1
Referee:Simon Hooper
Attendance:28,153
clips of Jon Marks BBC 3CR commentary Goals: 1
Match Report: Southampton 1-1 Watford
RELIVE: Southampton vs Watford: Jose Holebas secures a point at St Mary’s
Jose Holebas’ late strike denied Southampton a first Premier League win of the season at St Mary’s as Watford came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw on Saturday.
Despite Watford enjoying some good fortune to equalise, manager Javi Gracia also felt aggrieved not to be awarded a penalty when Ryan Bertrand appeared to foul Nathaniel Chalobah. “There were different situations that were difficult for the referee but it was a clear penalty,” he said.
The man at the centre of it all was Simon Hooper, the referee who up until the 57th minute was getting on with his duties with little fuss. But then came the meltdown. First, he failed to award Watford a clear penalty following Ryan Bertrand’s rash tackle on Nathaniel Chalobah and, six minutes later, decided to ruled out a second Southampton goal for what turned out to be a wholly incorrect reason.
The visitors found a way back eight minutes from the end. Southampton failed to deal with a cross from the left, a deflected clearance and there was Jose Holebas to lash home, via a deflection off Cedric, from just inside the penalty area. Southampton were unable to contain their frustrations.
3rd November 2018- Premier League, Newcastle United 1 Watford 0
Match Report: Newcastle United 1-0 Watford
Gracia: “I Can’t Be Disappointed With My Players”
Highlights: Newcastle United 1-0 Watford
Mariappa: “It’s A Lesson We Have To Learn From”
Affleck’s Angle: Spurned Chances At St James’ Park
Gallery: Newcastle United v Watford
RELIVE – Newcastle United vs Watford: Ayoze Perez header settles Premier League clash
Newcastle United vs Watford: Missed opportunities disappoint Javi Gracia in Premier League defeat
IN PICTURES: Images from Watford’s defeat at Newcastle United
Adrian Mariappa: Wasteful Watford frustrate defender during Newcastle United loss
Newcastle recorded their first Premier League victory of the season as Ayoze Perez scored in a 1-0 win over Watford on Saturday. Having failed to win any of their opening 10 league games of a season for just the second time in their history, the relief around St James Park’ was clear to see when the striker headed home (64).
The Magpies rode their luck in the first half, with Watford duo Adrian Mariappa and Gerard Deulofeu both guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put the Hornets ahead.
It might have been very different had Deufoleu been wearing his shooting boots but Fernández held Newcastle together commendably, his presence serving as a form of gloriously adhesive super-glue.
Yeah. Defeat, then. A bloody long way to come for an underwhelming outcome. If there was a consolation it was that there are worse places to visit than Newcastle with its admirable carpet of proper pubs. We visited a third before braving the train journey home.
There were a lot of angry Watford fans after the game. There was some justification for this as Newcastle had been very poor and were there for the taking. But the first half performance had been impressive and the Hornets should have been 3 or 4 up at half time. If the Pereyra shot that hit the crossbar early in the second half had gone in, we would have won the game. But Newcastle worked hard, managed to get a goal from a set piece and it seemed to be game over from that point. Still it is very dispiriting to hear so much anger directed at the players who have entertained us wonderfully so far this season. We are half way to safety with less than 30% of the games played, so are already on the way to having a great season. There will be the odd blip, but that shouldn’t derail the support as we are all in this together. It would be great if some of our more volatile supporters could remember that.
A game that we should have won comfortably but didn’t.
The definition of ‘doing a Watford’.
27th October 2018- Premier League, Watford 3 Huddersfield Town 0
Referee:Mike Dean
Attendance:20,457
clips of Jon Marks BBC 3CR commentary Goals:1 2 3
Match Report: Watford 3-0 Huddersfield Town
Success: “It’s The Time For Me To Give Everything To The Team”
Gracia: “It’s Our Mentality To Be Demanding”
Highlights: Watford 3-0 Huddersfield Town
Femenía: “We Need To Keep Down To Earth”
Affleck’s Angle: Huddersfield Hit For Three
Gallery: Watford v Huddersfield Town
Another Angle: Huddersfield Town
Watford vs Huddersfield Town: Javi Gracia still seeking improvements after Terriers success
PICTURES: A selection of images as Watford see off Huddersfield Town
Will Hughes: Entire Watford squad benefitting from Roberto Pereyra and Gerard Deulofeu’s quality
Isaac Success: Will Hughes hails hard working Watford forward after impressive Huddersfield display
Watford: Isaac Success keen to build on goalscoring turn against Huddersfield Town
Watford defender Adrian Mariappa praised for being ‘always ready’ to play
Kiko Femenia believes Watford need to maintain high performance levels
Watford now boast 19 points from 10 games – bettering their 17 at the same stage of the 1982-83 campaign, where they finished second.
The current Watford manager could not be happier with his squad, but does not expect them to emulate Leicester’s shock title of 2015-16. “This is the best squad in the Premier League,” he said. “I don’t think we’d be able to achieve to win the championship. But we are going to try to enjoy every game, and try to do that for our supporters, help them enjoy it with us.
Nonetheless, here was a challenge we’ve rarely experienced before, certainly since the 1980s. That of being the side… not just favourites but comprehensive favourites, odds-on favourites, expected to win in a top flight game. As with all unfamiliar things it doesn’t feel altogether comfortable, as positive an indicator as it may be of the status to which we’ve elevated ourselves. You’re much less open to disappointment – and pressure – as the underdog. Nor had this edginess been improved by finding ourselves placed at exactly the same spot in Wagamama as we had been pre-Bournemouth. Or by discovering, now as then, that it was much bloody colder than anticipated necessitating hat purchase for the second home game on the trot. (Or, as an aside, that the hat was too small. The costume fitters of the Adhoc theatre group will roll their eyes, full of complaints at the the prohibitive size of my head. Nonetheless… a one size fits all hat shouldn’t be too small…).
A comfortable victory in the end for the ‘Orns and it could have been so much more had we put on our shooting boots for the second half but we can’t complain.
The joy was tempered somewhat by the worrying news of Glenn Hoddle’s collapse. Then, when I returned home, I heard of the Leicester owner’s helicopter crashing and the death of a Brighton fan after their game. The Leicester owners have been such a boon to both the club and the town, when something so awful happens, all football fans share the pain. My thoughts are with the family and friends of all affected this weekend.
20th October 2018- Premier League, Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 Watford 2
Referee:Lee Mason Attendance:31,144
clips of Jon Marks BBC 3CR commentary Goals:1 2
Match Report: Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Watford
Capoue: “I Was So Happy To Score”
Deulofeu: “The Feeling Is Really Good”
Gracia: “I Am So Pleased For Our Supporters”
Highlights: Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Watford
Mariappa: “It’s A Great Honour”
Gallery: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Watford
RELIVE – Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Watford: Quick-fire double sees Hornets seal Premier League win
Watford win at Wolverhampton Wanderers through Etienne Capoue and Roberto Pereyra goals
Watford boss Javi Gracia delighted with manner of victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers
Watford: Javi Gracia praises high levels of Etienne Capoue and Abdoulaye Doucoure
Watford player ratings: Hornets on song as Wolves are beaten in Premier League
IN PICTURES: Watford triumph at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Gerard Deulofeu: Watford’s perfect first half key to success over Wolverhampton Wanderers
Watford fringe players impress Etienne Capoue during Wolverhampton Wanderers win
Watford: Departure from 4-4-2 key to beating Wolverhampton Wanderers, says Javi Gracia
Two goals in 58 first-half seconds saw a dominant Watford seal their first win since September and end Wolves’ six-game unbeaten run.
There was no Troy Deeney, owing to a hamstring injury, meaning Javi Gracia handed opportunities to Gerard Deulofeu and Isaac Success in attack, while the Italian Adam Masina made his first league start at left-back. It all pointed to another home victory for a team who have been described as the best promoted side in Premier League history by Jamie Redknapp, but, in Pereyra and Abdoulaye Doucouré, Watford have players who would grace almost any team in the division.
After an even start that had been short on chances, Watford took the lead on 20 minutes. The move started with some really good work from Deulofeu before Doucouré played the ball out to Capoue who blasted a low shot from distance into the Wolves net. There was a momentary delay before the celebration as we couldn’t quite believe what we had seen. It was a terrific strike. We had hardly stopped bouncing when the second goal went in. Straight from the restart, the ball found its way to Pereyra on the left from where he effortlessly curled a shot over the keeper and into the opposite corner. Well, that was unexpected!
6th October 2018- Premier League, Watford 0 AFC Bournemouth 4
Bad day for 10-man Watford as they suffer heavy Bournemouth defeat
Watford vs AFC Bournemouth: Eddie Howe felt Christian Kabasele’s two yellow cards was ‘right call’
Javi Gracia admits it was a ‘bad day’ for Watford in Bournemouth defeat
Watford vs AFC Bournemouth: Christian Kabasele red card put Cherries in control, says Joshua King
Watford vs AFC Bournemouth player ratings: Defenders disappoint in desperate Premier League loss
Pictures from Watford’s heavy Bournemouth defeat
David Brooks opened the scoring for the Cherries before Joshua King converted from the spot after being brought down by Christian Kabasele, who was sent off for a second bookable offence.
The result moves Bournemouth up to fifth in the Premier League after back-to-back wins, while Watford drop to eighth after failing to register a victory in their last four games.
Javi Gracia said Watford must now get down to work to ensure no repeat of their hefty defeat. “It has been the first game where we hadn’t competed at the same level as other games,” the Watford manager said. “Today we have conceded more chances, we’ve made more mistakes than in all the other games put together.”
the first 14 minutes were OK… Bournemouth dropped deep and invited us into congested areas, but we did an encouraging enough job having accepted said invitation. This culminated in Andre Gray’s shot being blocked as he span away on the right hand side of the area, and shortly afterwards the cumulative attritional effect of a series of attacks peeled open a space for Will Hughes to have a go. It was a relatively comfortable ask for Begović, who held the ball down to his right, but as an opening salvo it was perfectly acceptable.
