BBC: Just 11 months ago, in only his second home game in charge, Alex Neil’s Potters lost 4-0 to the Hornets, Slaven Bilic’s first game as Watford boss. But Watford have since got rid of two more managers – and Stoke showed just much progress they have made under Neil, especially after an 11-man summer refit.

Sky: Twenty minutes passed until either side had a sight at goal with Watford the first to threaten.

Watford Observer: Live Feed

Report: The first half was particularly poor. It wasn’t that Stoke bettered the Hornets during that opening 45 minutes, more that Watford seemed to have forgotten the basics that Valerien Ismael had drilled into them.

Reaction: “Our performance in the first half was not good enough,” admitted Ismael.

Fran’s Watford Blog: The second half had been better than the first, but it had still been a game of little quality.  There were some decent passing moves in the second half, but a reluctance to shoot and some decent defending by the home side meant that chances were at a premium.  The Stoke goal was a rare moment of quality and it was a shame that it came during our best spell of the game when we were finally getting on top.

FTRE: DCW is joined by Mike and WD18’s Charlie Zazzera to reflect on Saturday’s 1-0 loss away at Stoke. We pick the bones out of a largely lacklustre performance and attempt to take the temperature of the new season after a win, a draw and a loss in the first three games. The lack of goals in the last two matches comes into sharp focus as we assess the ongoing search for a new striker and look at the type of player who is likely to fill that particular need.