Tag Archives: Jan21

21st January 2026- Championship, Watford 1 Portsmouth 1

Watford Observer: Gracia pleased to have another home game so quickly after Millwall loss

Watford aiming to ‘take each game by the scruff of the neck’

https://www.watfordfc.com/supporters/digital-digests

Match Wrap: Watford 1-1 Portsmouth – Watford FCDownload

Watford Observer: MATCHDAY AS IT HAPPENED: Watford 1-1 Portsmouth

Five talking points after Watford held by Pompey

Match Report: Doumbia equalises but Watford held to Pompey point

WATCH: Immediate reaction to Watford 1-1 Portsmouth

Gracia ‘very upset and disappointed’ with Portsmouth performance

Gracia confirms Chakvetadze sub was tactical but Pollock had muscle issue

BBC: Portsmouth climbed out of the Championship relegation zone, despite being denied a rare Vicarage Road victory by Watford substitute Mamadou Doumbia.

Sky: Adrian Segecic put Portsmouth ahead in the 73rd minute but Watford levelled through substitute Mamadou Doumbia six minutes later.

21st January 2025- Championship, Watford 1 Preston North End 2

WFC.Net goal commentary: 1

Report: Watford 1-2 Preston North End – Watford FCDownload

BBC: Milutin Osmajic’s double earned Preston only their second away win of the season and denied Watford the chance to move into the Championship play-off places.

Sky: The loss was a third straight home defeat for the Hornets, despite Rocco Vata’s late reply.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Watford 1 Preston 2

Five talking points as Hornets lose third straight home game

Watford 1 Preston 2 minute-by-minute report

‘We are a very inconsistent football team’ – Cleverley

Watford need more reliable performers and less mavericks says Cleverley

Aimless performance in a season where we don’t know what the aims really are

Fran’s Watford Blog: Tom Cleverley was given a very warm reception as he applauded the crowd at the end, but it had been a terrible performance. The early injury to Baah had an impact on the game as a lot of our attacking threat disappeared when he left the field. But it was disappointing to see the players so passive allowing the opposition to completely dominate the game. The Hornets really didn’t get going until very late on. Again, Vata scored a terrific goal to warm up the crowd and there was a rally during time added on, but it was too little too late. The misery of the game just compounded the feeling of doom after the rumours the previous week that Cleverley’s job is in danger. I think Tom has done a terrific job with a limited squad. The players have actually looked like a team, and I have been far more entertained this season than I have in recent years. I really hope that Gino keeps faith with Tom, who I believe will go on to have a very successful career in management. If he doesn’t, I fear for our prospects for the rest of the season.


21st January 2023- Championship, Watford 1 Rotherham United 1

WFC.Net Goal Commentary: 1

Attendance: 18,911

BBC Sport: Watford were left to rue a host of missed chances as they were held to a draw by Rotherham. Mario Gaspar hit the outside of the post early on for the hosts, before Shane Ferguson gave the Millers the lead as he blasted in from close range. Vakoun Bayo grazed the Rotherham bar soon after, while Matheus Martins also struck the upright for the promotion-chasing Hornets shortly after the restart.

Sky Sports: Joao Ferreira rescued a point for Watford in a 1-1 draw with Rotherham but the result did little to help their automatic promotion chances. In addition to Ferreira’s superb equaliser from 20 yards, which cancelled out Shane Ferguson’s first-half opener, Watford clipped the visitors’ woodwork on two occasions on what proved to be a frustrating afternoon for the Vicarage Road crowd.

BHappy: Rotherham aren’t dirty or particularly defensive, but they are strong and organised and, frankly, bigger than us.  With new, young signings and promising youngsters and that we are relatively lightweight…  Choudhury, stamping all over the midfield once again, and Sierralta stand out for their ability to give some back but Koné, whilst he has a good touch and the nous to spot and execute a long range pass isn’t nearly robust enough.  We get bullied once again, as we have far too often this season;  there’s a lack of physical presence up front in particular, where we simply don’t have a target for a direct ball and aren’t clever enough in trying to play through, but also in midfield despite Hamza’s best efforts.

Fran’s Watford Blog: At half time, Richard Johnson was talking about the week that the Academy players have had with the appearances in the FA Cup, the Youth Cup win against Everton and the league appearances including Adeyemo’s tremendous goal against Blackpool.  One thing that he didn’t mention was an event that the under 15s attended on Monday at which Eve Kugler, a child Holocaust survivor, spoke of her experiences during the rise of Nazi Germany.  I was lucky enough to be invited to join them.  Eve kindly spent her 92nd birthday talking to the group.  Her story was both chilling and very moving.  It is wonderful that the club educate the youngsters in this history and encourage them to learn about different communities.

21st January 2022- Premier League, Watford 0 Norwich City 3

Watford Observer: Moussa Sissoko has issued a rallying cry to Watford supporters ahead of this evening’s game against Norwich City.

Attendance: 20,782

BBC Sport: Josh Sargent’s first Premier League goals capped a “crazy couple of weeks” as the new father helped Norwich City to a crucial victory over 10-man Watford which moved them out of the relegation zone for the first time this season.

Sky Sports: Watford manager Claudio Ranieri was in need of a spark, but there would be an 11-minute stoppage due to floodlight failure to further frustrate the hosts’ attempts to respond. After the lengthy stoppage, it was Norwich who doubled their lead as Sargent rose above Hassane Kamara to give the Canaries daylight (74).

BHappy: There was an edginess about the atmosphere at Vicarage Road, not abetted by the fact that plenty will have planned to arrive in plenty of time for a 7.45 kick off and instead arrived very early for 8 (and the magnificent GT scarf display which Norwich, oddly given the cold, were the first visitors on such an occasion not to really join in with).  But expectation too (yes, extraordinary).  We’re not very good at that really, traditionally, winning when we’re expected to but we’ve done well enough against the Canaries in recent years and reports from Norfolk suggested that the eye-catching win over Everton wasn’t borne of some great about-turn in form on Norwich’s part.  They were still pretty awful.  Nonetheless, as the flares warmed our cheeks and the fireworks went off and the yellow smoke dissipated (all of which adornment feels rather desperate in hindsight, though it would of course been a glorious opener to a fine evening if we had won) we were all hoping for an early goal to settle the nerves.

Fran’s Watford Blog: So, half-way through the season and we have dropped into the relegation zone for the first time. We have been on a downward trajectory for some time, despite some decent performances against the better teams, which makes it very hard to see us recovering from this.  The frustrating thing is that we have the talent in the team, but there didn’t appear to be enough fight today.  It has to be said that each of the Norwich goals came from individual mistakes and there was a horrible irony in the fact that Norwich only had two shots on target but scored three goals.  To survive at this level, we have to cut out the mistakes and start getting results against the poorer teams in the division.  We seem to be incapable of doing that.

21st January 2020- Premier League, Aston Villa 2 Watford 1

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Referee: Martin Atkinson
Attendance: 40,867
1-0

Watford throw away lead to lose at Aston Villa

Late Tyrone Mings goal sees Watford defeated at Aston Villa

Nigel Pearson thinks Watford did not deserve to lose at Aston Villa

Watford players rated after defeat to Aston Villa

Ben Foster thinks Watford were naive in their defeat to Aston Villa

A 95th-minute winner off the boot of Tyrone Mings gave Aston Villa a priceless 2-1 victory over Watford to leapfrog their opponents and claw themselves out of the relegation zone.

Troy Deeney had put the Hornets in front when he powerfully headed home from five yards out after Gerard Deulofeu’s cross from the right. Deeney almost grabbed a second but was denied by an excellent reaction stop from home goalkeeper Reina.

Watford are now second bottom, in the relegation zone on goal difference, but Pearson kept defeat in perspective. “I think we’re a bit unlucky but that’s life and we’ll deal with it,” he said. “It’s easy to reflect on performances when things go your way, we’ve been a bit unlucky.

Bobby is in for Sarr, the mythical João Pedro makes a Premier League bench for the first time.  The opening spell is stodgy… Watford don’t commit forward, look almost tentative attacking. The absence of Sarr will be painfully evident throughout… if the quality of delivery has sometimes let him down, his pace, directness and aggression is about more than the end product.

We left the ground feeling very disappointed and had to walk through a crowd of exuberant Villa fans chanting, “Deeney what’s the score?”  On that note, it was lovely to see Villa fans on social media after the game singing the praises of Troy for stopping to have his photo taken with them.  A true pantomime villain who loves the back and forth with the fans.

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2020-01-21
https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/premier-league/21-january-2020/

21st January 2018- Marco Silva leaves…and Javi Gracia arrives

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Watford Observer

Marco Silva sacked by Watford after just 26 games

WATFORD OPINION: Marco Silva shot himself in the foot the moment he failed to distance himself from Everton job

Marco Silva: The errors which undermined Watford tenure

Marco Silva timeline: Departed Watford boss’ key Vicarage Road moments

Javier Gracia confirmed by Watford as new head coach

Watford have appointed Javi Gracia as head coach – but just who is he?

Javi Gracia: New Watford head coach says improving confidence will be his primary goal to improve club fortunes

New Watford head coach Javi Gracia has an impressive CV – but there are reasons to be cautious too

BBC SportMarco Silva: Watford blame Everton as they sack manager and hire Javi Gracia

Watford have named Javi Gracia as their new head coach, hours after the Premier League club sacked Marco Silva.

Javi Gracia: ‘Effective, rather than thrilling’ – what can Watford fans expect?

skyWatford manager Marco Silva has been sacked following a run of poor results, with the club apparently unhappy at Everton’s pursuit of him earlier in the season.

Marco Silva’s fall from grace has been spectacular, says Oliver Holt

Marco Silva sacked by Watford: This gifted coach is his own worst enemy

Watford have appointed Javi Gracia as their new head coach on an 18-month contract, having sacked Marco Silva on Sunday morning.

Javi Gracia says he already feels at home at new club Watford after being announced as Marco Silva’s replacement.

 guardianWatford have sacked their manager Marco Silva following the club’s 2-0 defeat against Leicester on Saturday, citing the “unwarranted approach” from Everton last year as “the catalyst” for the decision.