Apologies for the late match thread.... I've been away working on my fitness just like Emmanuel.... So here we are again another midweek game! Good luck and safe travels to the 1000 or so Hornets making the trip to Carrow Road tonight. Squad depth is a massive talking point and the fear of player burnout is becoming more of a worry now we've lost Bayo for a couple of weeks. However we do have the return of Kayembe plus Dennis nearing a full start. We even have Ngakia signed up for another 4 injury hit years with us. Yay. I would expect early subs from Val tonight - Ince, Kone, Dennis, Martins all to come on by 55 minutes. Hopefully we will be in contention still by then. In other news Dan Bachmann has inner ear distortion (possibly the aftershock of Uncle Ron's rants on social media). For Norwich they will be missing there best forward in Johnathan Rowe. However this means the "always scores against us" Ashley Barnes probably starts and if he doesn't deliver the other "always scores against us" Josh Sargent will likely come on to replace him. Grant Hanley is likely to play which is a positive as he struggles against us most games. Last time out we came back from 2-0 down at The Vic with a late Asprilla winner. Here's hoping for a better first 12 minutes this time around! Highlights: Form for Norwich is better than ours. They drew on Saturday away to QPR 2-2 and sit 9th. We know our form has been poor but somehow we are still 11th and only 4 points behind them. My wild guess of a formation:
Thanks for the preview Tony. For some reason or another, we generally raise our game against Norwich home and away. Probably the side we most consistently beat nowadays but that doesn't mean it will be a walk in the park. We made the reverse fixture so much hard work and I hope we do not repeat that tonight. Of course we are a striker down now with Bayo out for a few weeks(?) but Dennis must surely be approaching "I can start a game" fitness. I don't hate Raj but he was really poor against Leicester and we played better when he came off. Sooner we get Kayembe back in the middle the better. Norwich have some dangerous players and we will have to start well (which for us is a problem). Even when we are on a bad run of results we generally come away with a result against these for some reason or another. No doubt their fans' class us as a bogey side in this regard. I'm going to be daring and suggest a slender win and a clean sheet. I know this will come back to bite me at FT. Norwich 0 Watford 1 (Dennis)
Hoping for a faster and more positive start than last time we played Norwich I assume Dennis won’t start so that will likely leave Raiovic up front, I don’t completely hate this if we play to his strengths and actually put balls into the box for him to attack.
Looking forward to the " Hornets sunshine " popping through from Norwich later in what is a dreary February Day!
I don't do social media at all so may be missing some long-running gag from the wan kers in Watford's comms team, but what is that actually supposed to mean?
Other than the reference to pancake day I honestly have no idea, perhaps some of our younger members can confirm if there is any other reference we’re missing here? I do know the song choice (there is a song playing over it) murder on the dance floor by Sophie Eliss Bextor, has recently become very popular again due to featuring in the film Saltburn, though.
Saltburn is still disturbing me after being forced to watch it by my wife. I think it's her long play revenge for me taking her to Vicarage Road once....
Whenever I look at our team formation (as shown above) it gives me the jitters before we start. Livermore sat in front of our defence with just two midfielders in front of him. Chak and TDB are not going to have a chance controlling anything in midfield, not unless Asprilla and Sema drop into a 451. I think this is why we are so basic in options.... Oppo is decent / dominates midfield and game over, or oppo is weak and we push forward and get lucky now and then...?
It’s pretty windy, so I’m considering opening the door and chucking a tenner out and seeing if it’s more exciting than an Ismael borefest.
You think Hive Live's coverage is anything other than crappy? At least Sky's one seems to work pretty seamlessly.
I'll be driving down to Somerset listening to it on my headphones while my three kids bicker in the back and my wife sleeps in the front passenger seat. If we score I'll be the one shouting!!!!! Come on U Orns
Funnily enough I am far closer to Carrow Road at this present time than I am the Vic. I'm still not going to this game. 7-0 to the East Anglian mine-warners.
We'll surely win, but can't quite decide if it will be Kayembe or Dennis coming off the bench to grab a casual hat-trick. Canaries 2-5 Watford
Gutted, I normally watch us at my parents place, but my Dad supports Leeds, and they are also playing tonight on Sky TV, so I will stay at home and sit next to my wife whilst watching Eastenders and the epic Welsh soap opera, Rownd a Rownd (Round and Round in Englush) Norwich 0 Watford 0
