It's sort of odd to be able to do a review following positive results. Since the October international break our results read P8 W5 D2 L1, the solitary defeat coming away at the league leaders two weekends ago. The four home matches since then have also yielded 10 points from a possible 12. In my opinion the main reason for the upturn in results is the solid midfield duo of Kone and Kayembe, playing behind them is the well experienced Livermore. For this weekend I'd expect an unchanged starting line-up but there will be a question of whether Bachmann reclaims his spot between the sticks from Hamer. As for Southampton, relegated from the Premier League, have been equally as impressive with results in the same period. P8 W6 D2 L0, the only points dropped on the road since the October break were draws at Preston and Huddersfield. They are currently unbeaten in 11 matches. Otter's prediction is a tight 1-1 draw Watford v Southampton Head to Head Our league record vs Southampton reads P38 W16 D12 L20, our last home victory was the 3-2 win in September 2007 with goals from Danny Shittu and two from Darius Henderson. Our last meeting was in March 2022, where the Hornets came away with a rare win under Roy Hodgson, both of our goals in the 2-1 victory from Cucho Hernandez. This weekend marks the 40th anniversary since my first Watford match, a 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest in the old Division One on 10th Dec 1983. Since then we have seen some incredible times and less incredible times. Over the years I have seen us play under 31* managers (* I never saw the one match that Oscar Garcia took charge of, I didn't count the glorious return of GT and the less than glorious QSF), heroes come and go, 5 promotions, 6 relegations, 2 cup finals, 3 play-off finals, and seen a Lloyd Doyley goal. I've been happy, disappointed, ecstatic, angry; I've been frozen, baked, soaked, returned home past 1am from midweek away games; and I spend too much time on here! Saints web forum https://www.saintsweb.co.uk/forum/5-the-saints/
I am going and taking my parents for the first time in years. Nailed on to be cold, wet, and a Watford implosion I'd think. #Optimism
Great preview Otter. However a bit upset no mention of werewolf's or villagers Southampton games are always very hard to call. We have seen some impressive wins over them in the past, that League Cup win at the Vic was very impressive. However they did thrash us 1-3 at the Vic in our PL relegation season if I remember and nobody can forget the fasted goal in PL history either. I would think Hamer has surely done enough to retain his place in goal with Bachmann warming the bench for him. Sure he's let in three goals but all of them were down to slack marking and a Porteous suicidal pass. I think Southampton are due a defeat, and I think with our confidence high and the lads playing with a smile again, we might just be the side to spring a bit of a mini shock result. I know I am going to regret such optimism... Watford 1 Southampton 0
Southampton seem to be unbeatable at the moment having not lost in 11 games! Whilst we’ve been in relatively good form ourselves, we’ve struggled so far against the Ex-Premier League sides. Both Leeds and Leicester looked beyond our level. Being dominant in possession, and controlling the game in our own half. The former blew us away, whilst the latter were clinical on the chance they had + a moment of madness penalty at the end. Now whilst we absorbed a lot of the pressure against Hull [who also played the possession game], they were a team comprised of mini-me’s, who were unable to send in crosses over our towering defence, and outside of Twine and Philogene, did not really have that cutting edge technical ability to get through. However the goal they did score was made to look easy as they dashed through the middle of our midfield/defence as if they had a repulsion to the ball. We’ve seen this exact scenario a couple of times now (Middlesbrough being my last recollection), and it’s a little concerning as to how easy it is for a tricky player to waltz through to our keeper. Southampton will bring to the table a similar possession-dominant play style, which is able to carve through most opposition defences in quick speed when the opportunity presents itself, and I’m sure it will, seeing as our defenders like to faff around at the back. This game [like Hull] will be about dealing with that 90 minutes of continuous pressure. How will our players cope without seeing much of the ball; will we see frustration, culminating in clumsy fouls and giving away possession cheaply, or will we see a group of players digging deep and countering quick without dwelling on the ball for too long? Without a doubt we’ll be relying on the counter in this match, so I’m hoping Ismaël opts to start Bayo for this one as he presents a lot more speed and strength than Rajovic.
Wasn't it against Southampton that Doucoure' scored a very, very late equaliser and the Southampton player went on post match rant to the MotD camera's throwing his toys out the pram?
That was Charlie Austin making an impassioned plea for VAR to be introduced! They had a potential winner disallowed and Doucs scored for us with a handball I think.
Two different games- Doucoure’s handball was at home in the last minute to equalise. We then played them away the season after (I think) and Southampton scored a perfectly legal goal and it was disallowed for offside. I think this was the last season before VAR so it almost certainly would have been allowed to stand. We then equalised through Holebas and Charlie Austin’s post match interview was hilarious. The edit someone has made to match his interview with Parklife by Blur is even better
If I recall correctly, in 19/20 QSF's last game was a 2-1 defeat at St Marys. We were leading 1-0 with 15 minutes remaining and Southampton equalised and replays shows that had they used VAR (which was a thing that season) that the equaliser should not have stood.
Correct. Sarr scored a great goal for us, the we crumbled in the last fifteen minutes and JWP scored a stunning free kick for the winner. Chants of "You're getting sacked in the morning!" rang out from the away end.
And of one of the (if not the) fastest goal in Premier League history - just unfortunately not for us
Still is the fastest. 7 seconds if I remember correctly. Ball was passed to Cathcart from kick off, his smashed his pass into Long and he then lifted it over Foster. A very Watfordy thing
What teams do we have a better head-to-head record against? Every time I see one we have the least wins.
York City. Edit, I checked York City, our total record v York is P17 W4 D9 L4 The best record against a current league team appears to be Crewe P30 W20 D3 L7 The best record against a current Championship team is Sheffield Wednesday P49 W23 D11 L15 then Coventry P98 W44 D18 L36. Birmingham have the same % as Coventry but everything in half P49 W22 D9 L18
The win against Hull means that we have won 1 more game than we have lost in our history. Wins: 1813 Draws: 1218 Losses: 1812 That was a landmark victory.
Let’s not forget John Barnes turning up at half time and lying to the crowd about footage of them singing being used in the movie Rocketman in a desperate attempt to create an atmosphere. Truly top level cringe.
Yes he did in a 2-2 draw . https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42587972 Take note of the comments below !
Did we ever win at "The Dell"? I was probably to young to remember it, but I know we lost 0-2 there under GT in 99/00. Pizzed down with rain all game and we were pretty abject.
In Chorleywood there was a sign saying Watford 7. I was sorely tempted to write underneath, Southampton 1.
I shouldn’t think it will be like that because we’ll be at home where we’ve been quite decent, at least I think it will be a mistake to set up like that against a side who may have the third best away record but are not particularly good either in attack or defence (sums up the weirdness of this division that Coventry and Swansea have scored more away and many teams going as low down as QPR have had a better defence on the road so far). https://www.soccerstats.com/homeaway.asp?league=england2 But it will be a good indicator of how far we can go up the table, more so than Hull as I’m not convinced they will last the distance and Southampton are getting stronger. They’re a bit of a bogey side in that we only beat them when they’re in a bad run of form and we’re not complete crap ourselves - we convincingly beat them six times in a row in the early to mid-2000s, that was quite enjoyable. Nice preview especially the penultimate paragraph BTW, Otter - well done on reaching 40 years encapsulating all the ups and downs of supporting a club of Watford’s size and colourful history…
Unfortunately I'll be missing this one as I'm going to Bath Christmas Markets with the wife. Think it'll be a tough game, Armstrong looks in great form and will cause us issues.
We won 4-1 in our first ever top flight away game. Also happened to be my first ever away game as well!
