Watford Observer: Cleverley wants Watford to ‘inflict more pain’ on Luton

BBC: Under–pressure Luton Town boss Rob Edwards steered his side to a spirited and fully deserved victory over fierce rivals Watford in a predictably feisty derby at Kenilworth Road.

Sky: Before kick-off, Watford mocked Luton’s Kenilworth Road by posting a video of pouring rain in the local area on X with the caption ‘Taking in the sights’. The social media post has received over three million views, but it appeared to give their rivals added motivation as they ran out comfortable 3-0 winners thanks to goals from Jordan Clark, Carlton Morris and Jacob Brown.

https://x.com/WatfordFC/status/1847573854694097263

Watford Observer: RECAP: Luton Town 3 Watford 0

Luton 3 Watford 0 – how the game unfolded at Kenilworth Road

Luton dominated Watford for second successive derby

‘If you throw a performance in like that then you have to take it on the chin’

BHappy: There is really no saving grace, no positive spin on the result, the performance or the afternoon.  Even the better individual showings were merely slightly less inadequate… Chakvetadze trying to find a gap (if failing too often), Dele-Bashiru giving the ball away frequently, yes, but often through trying to do more than merely get the ball clear, to get us playing football.  Elsewhere there was less mitigation.

Fran’s Watford Blog: The players came over to applaud the travelling fans and Tom Cleverley held his hands up to the crowd as they screamed dog’s abuse at him and the players. I am not one to boo or shout abuse, and I hated seeing Tom in that position, but even I wasn’t moved to sympathetic applause after that performance. It was an absolutely dreadful showing by the Hornets. The opposition were very physical and, as has so often been the case, our players just couldn’t cope with it. There was a high press and no space to play in, which meant that most attacking moves were soon stopped. There were also a number of occasions when passes fell short due to the water that was still on the pitch, but that was apparent quite early on and the players should have adapted the game plan to deal with it. We were beaten by a team with an effective game plan and it was painful to watch.