Category Archives: October

21st October 2020- Championship, Watford 3 Blackburn Rovers 1

https://www.skysports.com/football/watford-vs-blackburn/teams/429776

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Who said games involving Watford this season were boring?

The Hornets doubled their goal tally for the season inside 50 minutes on the back of their most fluid attacking display and yet were so fast and loose going forward they inadvertently treated connoisseurs in the art of goalkeeping to an absolute masterclass from Ben Foster, including a stunning second-half penalty save. It was a bonkers game, really, and could have ended 5-5.

The helter-skelter nature of it will take a bumper Hive Live show to explain and will no doubt have infuriated Vladimir Ivić, who loves a 1-0, and former defender Tony Mowbray, the Blackburn boss, but the games come so thick and face in this chaotic league that you just move on, gratefully accept another three points, the fourth maximum haul of the season, and move swiftly onto the next one.

The main takeaways were that, in the magnificent Foster, the Hornets have the best ‘keeper in the league, that this represented the first time the Golden Boys had won three in a row at home since Christmas, the first time they had scored three at home since that memorable win over Liverpool in February and, perhaps most importantly, they are up to third in the league and motoring nicely.

Étienne Capoue is also back, making his first appearance since July 11 and reminding everyone of his class with a double nutmeg late on; James Garner looks a player of real promise while João Pedro is developing really nice and now has three goals this season.

It really was a curious first half. Foster was by far the busier of the two keepers, making three saves that would otherwise have resulted in goals. Christian Kabasele was lucky to not receive a straight red card for denying a goalscoring opportunity and the home side had to feed off a third of the possession and yet they found themselves 2-1 up at the break.

The fact they were, was down to the fact they were ruthless in front of goal, plundering two in the space of four minutes. It also helps when you have a player of Garner’s gifts, a player so keen to pass forward and probe defenders. He sent Kiko Femenía haring down the right on the overlap for João Pedro to neatly tuck in the first after 13 minutes. Garner was at it again less than 360 seconds later, selecting the pitching wedge from his bag this time to send Ismaïla Sarr sprinting down the same right-hand flank. He saw his shot, cleverly fired across the face of goal, saved by Thomas Kaminski and there was Cleverley in support and on hand to nod the ball into an empty net. It was Cleverley’s first goal since the thrilling 2-2 draw with Arsenal here last season.

The Hornets had only mustered three goals in their previous five games and here they had two in 17 minutes. You wondered, at that stage, if they might cut loose and go for the jugular.

But Blackburn showed why they are the league’s leading scorers by coming at the home side real hard before and after the double strike. Foster saved one from Adam Armstrong that dipped and swerved all over the place from right to left. The ‘keeper then saved headers from Darragh Lenihan and Corry Evans in quick succession. So much for the Hornets having faced the second fewest shots on target in the league this season. With the fourth on target in a breathless first half-hour, Blackburn pulled one back with a fine snapshot strike from Ben Brereton. It was now very much game on after just 28 minutes.

The game had now very much loosened its top button and it was end-to-end stuff at times. The emphasis was very much on attack rather than defence.

João Pedro was a whisker away from restoring the two-goal lead before the break following a blistering burst of pace and then cross from Sarr. Everyone had just about caught their breath at half-time and the vast majority at home were just settling down with a cuppa when the Hornets made it three four minutes after the break.

Ken Sema engineered half a yard for himself down the left and whipped off a teasing cross, an absolute nightmare for defenders that Lenihan, under pressure from Sarr, inadvertently turned into his own net. It was the bit of breathing space the team needed as Blackburn came to have a real go and needed to be kept at arm’s-length throughout.

They refused to go away though, refused to be intimidated by the sight of Capoue striding off the bench on the hour. They forced another fine save from the overworked Foster, this time a finger-tip one to deny Armstrong while Nathaniel Chalobah had to bravely chuck himself in front of one from Bradley Johnson. Rovers were causing the Hornets more problems than any side this season and this game was by no means dead.

It threatened to take another twist when Craig Cathcart got the wrong side of Lewis Holtby and referee Andy Woolmer quite rightly pointed to the spot. But Foster got Cathcart off the hook by flying to his left to firmly push away Armstrong’s spot-kick. It was the 12th of his career and he can’t have made many better.

Sarr had a great chance to put the game to bed late on after more approach play from Garner and then the young midfielder tried an acrobatic attempt of his own. It was just the sort of full-blooded game United had in mind for Garner when they sent him on loan. You expect there will be more of this to come in this wonderfully unique division.

Watford beat Blackburn Rovers at Vicarage Road

Watford beat Blackburn Rovers to climb into third place

Watford head coach Vladimir Ivic calls for improvements

Watford players rated after win over Blackburn Rovers

Vladimir Ivic tells Ismaila Sarr and Joao Pedro to put Watford first

Ben Foster wants Watford to kill teams off quicker

The Hornets took control with two goals in quick succession early in the first half from Joao Pedro and Tom Cleverley.

Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster had already made a number of fine saves by the time Ben Brereton pulled one back with a brilliant chest and volley from 25 yards out. The hosts were also fortunate not to have Christian Kabasele sent off after he hauled Adam Armstrong down when the Rovers striker had gone clean through.

Any concerns that the second half would calm down a bit were allayed within five minutes of the restart. An underhit Chalobah pass towards Sema was cut out, and Wilmot was caught slightly flat footed as Brereton escaped only to be pulled back by a welcome offside flag. That could have been a different second half. As it was, and with so much of our threat in the first half having come via the burning pace of Sarr and Femenía on the right, Blackburn telegraphed what was to come by giving Ken Sema all sorts of space to put a cross in on the left. He’s already demonstrated that he needs no space at all to cause damage from wide positions, so it was little surprise that a minute later his vicious cross was turned in by Lenihan.

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-championship/21-october-2020/

16th October 2020- Championship, Derby County 0 Watford 1

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https://www.skysports.com/football/derby-vs-watford/teams/429758

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Well, that’s the goal of the month for October sewn up.

With a strike completely out of keeping with the 75 minutes proceeding it and the 14 minutes after it, João Pedro emerged as the match-winner for the second time in three matches. His teammates ribbed him about the scrappy nature of the winner against Luton, believing it was deflected, but there was no doubting the purity of this one. It came out of the very top drawer, full of pace, power and dip, and not too dis-similar to the one Wayne Rooney, the Derby captain, launched his own career with as a 17-year-old for Everton against Arsenal. David Marshall, in the Derby goal, stood absolutely no chance as the 19-year-old Brazilian crashed one over him and past him from left to right.

It was such a shame the goal, which must top the overhead kick he scored for Fluminense against Cruzerio, came in front of an empty stadium as João Pedro would have been cheered off by the travelling Hornets when he limped off with a touch of cramp with four minutes remaining. He has done a terrific job as a make-shift No. 9, scoring two match-winners, running his socks off and making more tackles than any other forward in the Championship before this round of matches. His best position will become clear when the rest of the firepower returns from injury and suspension, but Head Coach Vladimir Ivić now knows he has a proven match-winner on his hands who will roll his sleeves up, does the hard yards and who can play anywhere across the front three.

The Hornets don’t score many goals but the three they have got have now yielded 10 points. The goals have produced such a high return because of the rock-solid platform the Golden Boys have established in defence. That’s now four clean sheets in five games and just the sort of foundation you build a promotion challenge on. The attacking side of the game will come, especially once Stipe Perica, Troy Deeney, Andre Gray and Ismaïla Sarr are integrated back into the team and you have Will Hughes and Étienne Capoue helping to load the gun.

The pickings in the first half were extremely slim, perhaps exactly as you’d expect for two sides who had scored four goals between them in eight games this season. Derby looked nervy, like a side who had suffered four successive home defeats and the Hornets appeared hesitant, like a side who had gone 10 matches without a win on the road.

Derby’s primary threat came from Rooney, as you’d expect from a player with such rich pedigree. He could open tin cans with his right foot so if anyone was going to prise open this parsimonious Watford defence, stiffened by the inclusion of Nigeria captain William Troost-Ekong, then it was going to be him. He teased over an assortment of balls from dead-ball situations on the left which caused Hornets’ hearts to flutter. Matthew Clarke was a whisker away from getting on the end of one; Curtis Davies got in the way of one that was bound for George Evans and then Duane Holmes fired over when well placed and relatively free from a perceptive Rooney cut back.

Any threat the Hornets did pose came down the left, with Ben Wilmot, Kiko Femenía and Ken Sema making in roads down that side. Indeed, Femenía had the first effort on goal of the half and Tom Cleverley had the last, both ending up high and wide, summing up how things went from an attacking point of view.

The creative juices didn’t exactly flow in the second half either. There was a big shout for a handball by Evans and then Christian Kabasele had a goal-bound header blocked. It looked for all the world that a dreadful game was going to meander aimlessly towards a goalless draw, especially when you consider Tom Lawrence, on as a sub, mustered the first shot on target after 73 minutes. But then João Pedro did what only few players can do: settle games of terrifying small margins with a piece of magic.

It was a rabbit out of a hat and brought about the first away win since January. A lot has changed since that 3-0 win at Bournemouth, but one thing for certain is that João Pedro has come of age.

Joao Pedro stunner gives Watford win over Derby County

Joao Pedro scores stunning winner for Watford at Derby County

Vladimir Ivic thought Watford beat Derby County as a team

Tom Cleverley thinks Joao Pedro deserved Watford winner

Watford players rated after beating Derby County

Watford’s Brazilian teenager Joao Pedro scored a sensational winner as the Hornets earned a narrow 1-0 win over struggling Derby at Pride Park.

An error-strewn affair, without even a shot on target until the 74th minute, was eventually decided by a real moment of class from the 19-year-old, turning on the edge of the box before bending a brilliant right-footed effort into the top corner.

Wayne Rooney ‘seething’ after visit from friend who later tested positive for Covid. Derby County and Watford squads now likely to take tests

The announcement of the starting eleven was underwhelming. No Troy, no Hughes, we knew that, but no Sarr either. The club may have been aware that he wouldn’t realistically be back in time (despite Senegal’s Tuesday game with Mauritania having been scratched, so a little difficult to reconcile) but we didn’t. And no Capoue, despite the suggestion that his return was a possibility. The first eleven, certainly the attacking side of it, looked a bit botched together and the bench, flimsy. Vladimir Ivić had picked a side based on what he had available, but it was a side that looked even more focused on defensive solidity, asking an awful lot of two young attacking players in João Pedro and Domingos Quina.

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-championship/18-october-2020/

3rd October 2020- Championship, Reading 1 Watford 0

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https://www.skysports.com/football/reading-vs-watford/teams/429748

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The Hornets, who have been steadily getting better as the season has gradually unfolded, suffered a setback here after being on the receiving end this time of a single goal in a game.

There was never going to be much between these sides – there never is, given they had won 39 games each in the previous 100 fixtures – and it was always going to be decided by the smallest of margins when you factored in the Hornets’ resilience at the back and their haul of two goals in three games. And so it proved, with George Pușcaș scoring the most Championship of goals four minutes before the break.

That was all it took to win this one between two previously unbeaten sides. The way Reading celebrated at the final whistle showed you how much the scalp of a former Premier League side meant to them, as well as the team spirit they have fostered in a four-from-four start, so this was a further lesson in what the Hornets are going to encounter, week in, week out, in their proposed promotion bid.

Vladmir Ivić did not suffer a single defeat in 52 games of the regular season in Israel. He has now tasted one in the fourth of this marathon 46-game season and it will be fascinating to see how he and the team respond after the international break. You often learn most about yourself and your team in adversity anyway. It was never going to be plain sailing.

The Hornets made the brightest of starts and the three points looked there for the taking. Jeremy Ngakia and Kiko Femenía were clearly told to play as high and as wide as possible and that was reflected in the two-pronged nature of the threat the visitors posed. Indeed, they slung over, and flashed across, four crosses in the first five minutes to demonstrate they had come here to take the game to the hosts.

There was a first time cross from Ngakia that found the head of Tom Dele-Bashiru; two from Femenía, the second resulting in a screwed shot from Ngakia who was playing so high he was able to get on the end of it, and another from Dele-Bashiru who started very brightly indeed.

In his first league start for the club, Dele-Bashiru settled in really nicely on the left of a midfield three and as well being the player given freedom to support the front two, he also did his defensive duties, with a recovery tackle on Andrew Rinomhota the highlight of his early work. It was therefore a shame when he limped off on 37 minutes after going down for a second time with a problem with his left knee.

James Garner also caught the eye, particularly with his set-piece work. He crashed a 22nd-minute free-kick against the underside of the bar and then slung over a deep and dipping free-kick from the right that Craig Cathcart was a whisker away from getting his head on.

Reading had barely thrown a punch, apart from when Michael Olise flashed over with his left foot, so it was somewhat surprising and indeed against the run of play when Pușcaș put them in front four minutes before the break with a deflected strike. They had fired a warning shot just seconds before when Ben Foster made a double save, but the visitors didn’t heed that warning and were guilty of being too deep when Pușcaș bundled the Royals in front from close range. It was the first league goal the team had conceded since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored his second on that fateful day the Emirates at the end of July, some 368 minutes of football ago.

Ivić was not prepared to see how the second half unfolded early on before making a tactical tweak. He immediately moved Ken Sema forward to play as part of a front three and the Swede was terrific, popping up in little pockets, probing and prompting. He played a lovely slide-rule pass to the overlapping Femenía and his cross was crying out for the intervention of a No.9.

You hoped the Hornets might kick on after that extremely promising start to the half, get an equaliser and then push for a winner, but that never happened and, if anything, Reading got stronger as the half wore on. The Royals looked particularly threatening from set-pieces to the far post and it needed a smart save from Foster to prevent Tom Holmes from putting the game to bed on 69 minutes.

Ivić opted for a last throw of the dice on with eight minutes remaining, bringing on Glenn Murray for Ismaïla Sarr in his third and final change. Murray scored eight goals in 18 games on a loan spell here in the first half of the 2014/15 season, but he didn’t get a sniff here on his old stomping ground. It kind of summed up the day that the best chances arrived long before the arch poacher was on the pitch.