Feb9 | OLD WATFORD

A lot happened in both the lead up and aftermath of this game so I’ve tried to provide a bit of context which is shown below in bold.

Pre Match Articles

Gracia: “This Game Will Be No Different”

Match Report: Watford 1-0 Everton

Gray: “I Wanted To Show I Can Make The Difference”

Gracia: “It’s Something Amazing For Us”

Mariappa: “Everyone Is Pulling In The Same Direction”

Highlights: Watford 1-0 Everton

Affleck’s Angle: We’ve Moved On

Pre Match Articles

Marco Silva: Independent inquiry into Everton’s alleged illegal approach for former Watford boss ongoing

Javi Gracia expecting Watford fans to get behind Hornets against Everton

Watford vs Everton: Javi Gracia has no special plans to counter Richarlison threat

Watford vs Everton: Marco Silva claims he’s ‘ready for everything’ ahead of Hornets return

Post Match Articles

Relive our coverage of Watford’s Premier League clash with Everton

Watford vs Everton: Andre Gray ensures miserable return to Vicarage Road for Marco Silva

Watford head coach Javi Gracia delighted after Everton victory

Everton boss Marco Silva claims ‘I did my job well’ while at Watford

RATINGS: How we scored Watford’s performances against Everton

A selection of images from Watford’s win over Everton

Andre Gray says Watford are not putting limits on their ambitions this season

Adrian Mariappa hails ‘terrific’ support from Watford fans after Premier League win over Everton

Watford held off late pressure from Everton to claim a hard-fought victory over their former manager Marco Silva.

After Troy Deeney had appeared to stoke the flames ahead of the encounter at a Watford fans’ forum, Gray made the most of the only moment of real quality in the game when he converted Will Hughes’ cut-back 20 minutes into the second period, scoring his fourth goal of the season.

Gray was a Silva signing early in the Portuguese’s short stay at Vicarage Road, which began in May 2017 and went sour in November that year when he was prevented from going to Goodison. Watford sacked him in January last year amid tapping-up suggestions as their form nosedived. The amiable Javi Gracia took over to restore stability – “he’s better than you” sang the home fans to Silva to emphasise a point backed up by the league table.

They played Al Wilson’s 1968 hit The Snake at Vicarage Road, just before Rocket Man by Elton John and the Z-Cars theme both Watford and Everton use to signal their imminent arrival on the pitch.

Pre Match Report

Marco Silva has said Troy Deeney’s comments about intimidating Everton have been noted by his players and can serve as motivation for their visit to Watford on Saturday.

Post March Report

Before the match, the Watford captain, Troy Deeney, had distanced himself from comments he made at a fans forum this week where he promised to kick Everton’s players. Yet with passions running high in this part of Hertfordshire, as the chief executive, Scott Duxbury, said he would not engage with Silva in the opposition dugout, some supporters greeted their former manager with yellow inflatable snakes.

The Troy Deeney ‘comments’ mentioned above came from a Fan’s Forum which took place in London one evening in the week leading up to the Everton game.

Andy Lewers of the brilliant Hornet’s Nest blog and Love Sport Radio live tweeted what was said by those at the forum. Click on the tweet below to see the whole thread from the evening.

#WatfordFC Fans' Forum – joined by Troy Deeney, Scott Duxbury and Filippo Giraldi
— The Hornets' Nest (@hornetsnestwfc) February 6, 2019

He later provided more details on what was said in a post on facebook.

The media then mis-quoted some of this which led to Silva’s motivation comments. This was how the Evening Standard reported the forum…

Troy Deeney’s Watford Fans’ Forum appearance was a joy to behold… unless you’re Marco Silva

Troy addressed the mis-reporting of his comments on the morning of the game

Andy then talked about the controversy in his usual post match blog.

Now, you will no doubt be aware that some of Troy’s comments from the evening were picked up and published in the national media.

Many of you will have read my tweets quoted in the papers. My intention was purely to keep Watford fans who weren’t able to attend the evening up to date with what was going on.

Sadly, some of Troy’s comments were taken out of context. They were tongue-in-cheek, exactly what you’d expect from the Watford captain, there was no malice in anything that he said and you could tell he had genuine respect for Marco Silva and Everton.

I was perhaps naive in thinking that tweeting Troy’s comments wouldn’t have had consequences. Lesson learnt.

To be fair to Silva (not that I really want to be) he told 5 Live’s Vicki Sparks in his post match interview that he hadn’t really believed the reporting of Deeney’s comments and that Troy clarified them when they spoke before the game. (Apologies for the poor audio quality)