This coming Saturday Quique takes his Hornets on the road for the first time since returning. Buoyed by an encouraging second half that could/should have returned 3 points at home to Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, we meet last year's champions who suffered a shock loss at new boys Norwich City. Our last visit to the Etihad Stadium in March saw us lose 3-1, however following a fine defensive display in the first half, a controversial goal where the referee chose to overrule his assistant's offside flag opened the scoring and heads dropped. The referee Paul Tierney then said two days later that he made a mistake. Looking ahead, this game will be seen by many as a free hit for QSF and it would be expected for him to put out a defensive formation. I would expect Gray to start as a lone striker again and apprach the game in much the same way that Gracia did 6 months ago. City, on the other hand, would be keen to not drop further points at this early stage as they try to keep up with Liverpool in the title race.
I would go. Solid defensive shape. Two real banks of 4 and then GD & Sarr free attacking roles. Stones will be nervous, Otamendi will be nervous, Walker is always suspect to falling asleep and Zinchenko much like Maitland Niles is a converted full back and is someone GD can get joy out of. With Laporte out, an embarrassing self-imposed defeat to Norwich and a tough trip to Ukraine is a unique cocktail and increases our chances from 0% to 0.8%.
Most eyes will be on the sidelines as the league's most style-conscious managers go head to head. Quique has the edge
Why do we always come up against City when they have just been beaten by a lesser side? Cricket score to nil.
Although it's considered a 'free hit' it's not. Until we get a few wins under our belt then the confidence is brittle. I don't expect us to win but I don't want a hammering by going gung ho - which is not QSF's style. So a small defeat won't dent the confidence too much. I watched the Naaarrch highlights and although Citeh weren't at their best, they had enough chances at 3-1 to win the game comfortably.
Exactly. Losing is no big deal, just so long as we give them proper match and fight till the last minute. i.e. the complete opposite of the cup final.
There really is no such thing as a ‘free-hit’ and it’s a phrase that’s ridiculously overused. As long as you can be relegated on goal difference, no game is a ‘free-hit’.
Yep. And if (a big if admittedly) we could get a battling draw we could easily find ourselves going to spurs away in the middle of october being 7 games unbeaten.
I expect us to lose - however it will not lose us any points against other teams as most clubs will lose there. If we were to get something I might go for a skinny dip at midnight in the sea down the road.
I was surprised on Sunday how Flores allowed the team to attack as much as they did from the start (thought he might get a nose bleed) I was expecting a much more dire defensive job especially as there were no forwards on the bench (I classed Sarr as midfield winger) so not sure he will reprise the 5-5-0 formation from when he took us to City the last time. I was interested to see him play Sarr along the front line and I'm excited for a Liverpoolesque front 3 of Sarr, Dele & Maxi somewhere in the future. I have absolutely no idea what result we can get at the weekend but from zero expectation I now have belief that a result is possible, whatever that means!
I’m feeling very optimistic and have gone for a watford win. Just need to keep it tight early, play exactly like Norwich and sit deep, not allowing for space in behind or between the midfield and defence. Norwich’s back four barely came off the 18 yard line and we need to do the same. Then hit them on the counter with the explosive pace of Deulofeu and Sarr. For the first time I honestly think we might get something other than the typical hiding.
The gods have smiled on us. Citeh confidence shattered by the defeat to Naaarch and what will probably be a 5-0 reverse in Mongolia or wherever Shakhtar play. Then a game against us about 7 hours later assuming the plane gets in on time. Keep it tight, break at speed but don’t push too many forward. Revenge is sweet. Must win game 5-0 Citeh after a promising opening 22 mins.
Nope, we covered this elsewhere. The presumption is the northern chill will see him revert to the classic cashmere scarf/coat combo, eradicating any further unpleasant scenes. We will just put the horrific sweatstain incident down to him forgetting about the balmy Watford microclimate.
Good news and bad news. Good news we've actually got a professional referee for this match for the first time this season. Mike Dean will be in charge. Bad news is Craig "f*ckwit" Pawson is on the VAR. Hopefully there will be no handball goals for him to ignore this time.
Nothing but an utter pasting expected here, quickly putting to bed any ideas that we’ll be alright this season.
Great, so they’ll play Fernandinho now and he’ll actually be decent. There goes our chance of a consolation goal.
John Stones confirmed injured for five weeks. Lads, that means Fernandinho or Kyle Walker paired with Otamendi as centre backs. It’s gone up to 1.2% Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
