Not so sure. Whilst the midfield, which has struggled lately, remains intact, the lack of a natural second striker makes this line up a little difficult to predict. It also may allow for more flexibility for movement from the likes of Amrabat and Pareya.
Hope Britos doesn't come out for the second half, he's trying his hardest to give Leicester all three points. I can see him scoring an OG then getting sent off. Awful performance from our number 3
Very good win. And the table is simply amazing! We were already 8th as the "first of the group in mid table". Now thanks to the other results we're still 8th, but the "last of the group of leaders". +3 points on 9th. +8 on relegation zone. Only -1 from 6th.
Initial reaction is a fantastic win and a great response from the side after 'that' match, Pereyra is a touch of class and we cannot go back to 2 up top. It's a real shame Britos gave that pen away as we could have really kicked on but we seemed to get nervous after that. Janmaat gives us a lot of balance and I really want to see a front 3 of Success Pereyra and Deeney with Amrabat coming off the bench to run at tired defences we could be a real danger. Very interesting that Ighalo didn't get a look in today.
Very good performance. They battled so hard and really got stuck in. Good from Batty again, but frustrating lack of final ball just too often. But he contributes more than most and deserves to keep his place. The pen was soft, but so unnecessary. Britos lets unprofessionalism creep in, which is a shame as he could be an excellent defender, IMO. Capoue was better today, if he could maintain that level with great work at both ends, he really will be a great asset.
Very funny - my son and I, who both like Britos, were saying take him off - its too risky. But then he really picked up in the second half! I think that's why I like football - you really can't predict much.
I agree the shape looks better and Success would also fit in well and could be a huge threat. Hopefully Mazzarri sticks with it.
Excellent performance, high intensity even when we tired towards the end. Pererya superb today and Amrabat was a nuisance as usual. Berhami also back to his usual self.
Perfect shape, should have done it months ago From what I've seen of Okaka (sum total of about 10 minutes) he does look useful
Super stuff, we're developing the habit of picking up wins, and we've got some players who are several leagues above anyone we've had since I started going in 1990. Wonder if moaners on here will ever tire of being wrong? Mazzarri seriously knows what he's doing. No passengers today.
3 more important points and deserved. struggling to think of a time I've seen us score so early and win. 33 seconds I believe? Glad I wasn't late Felt nervous at points but on reflection both teams made silly mistakes and I don't remember them having that many clear cut chances. If any we should have had a third
Watford FC vs Leicester City FC - 19/11/16 First 15 mins were great, Pereyra really looked up for it to start with, lovely nutmeg at one point and an absolutely fantastic goal. Britos with a real Jekyll & Hyde performance. Prodl & Kaboul were both good too, defensively. However all three centre backs really need to work on their ball playing. I know that's not the primary job but I lost count of the amount of times they hoofed it straight back to Leicester or sliced into the sky so all the pressure comes back at us, also the amount of dodgy passes from Prodl is dangerous. Okaka is a MONSTER. Amrabat excellent and linked up with Janmaat well, one move in particular was delightful. Zuniga I don't really remember too much of. Thought Behrami was chasing shadows for most of the game, always seems to be a step behind but came into his own in the last 10 minutes and helped us over the line. Capoue was alright, not his best but better than last week. Still sloppy at points, takes long to move the ball but another goal and an improvement so can't complain too much, just frustrating when he has the ability to be the best player on the pitch. Deeney huffed and puffed as usual. Done alright, won a lot of headers against two tough centre backs. Could've scored if Amrabat put him through. Needs some support from the middle though, nobody running on to flick ons. Was shattered though and SO good we can bring someone on to replace him and see the game out. We seemed to try and pass it round a bit more today which was good to see. Still a very sloppy performance at points but for the first time in a while I remember us mounting like a solid 10 minute attack, been a while since I've seen us attack like that. Still not completely sold on the formation / shape, Deeney needs players around him. Great to see some options on the bench, makes me feel much better about our chances when there's options on the bench! We're 8th after 12 games! Crazy!
Sometimes today was like watching the dog and duck. Amrabat hopefully can sort that final decision out he hustles and bustles makes a real nuisance of himself then seems to get a rush of blood to the head and make the wrong decision. Jan Matt and Zuniga looked vulnerable defending. And as for the height in this team we should be more of a threat at set pieces. Capoue played well today at both ends, Pererya great goal and was my MOM.
That gave me a lot of pleasure. Seeing those smug Leicester fans going home with their tails between their legs was a perfect end to a great battling performance. We were out of the blocks extremely quickly, just like the Hull match. Only this time we didn't hit the post twice in that early period, we scored two crackers. The referee was poor all game and gave them a real lifeline with a 50/50 penalty and it lifted them and caused us some concern. I think we would have cruised this match had it not been for the penalty and it did change the momentum, as goals often do. But we defended stoically and even created other good chances to make the game safe. I do think we lack quality with the ball though. How many times did we miskick a clearance or choose poor options with a forward pass. That blind back pass from Kaboul was ridiculous and gave Gomes another moment of concern with his injury as he was caught by a heavy challenge. Three valuable points in the bag and it was a performance which had everything that was lacking at Liverpool and Burnley. It's nice that the Leicester fans got a free hat. I would hate to think they came away with nothing.
Good hard fought game; momentum slowed by the penalty. Had a feeling we would win this one - we are a more rounded side than last year despite not yet having really seen our best. Capoue and Pereyra are so important. Means that the over reliance we had lst year on just Deeney and Ighalo is gone - if either - both of them were to come back to true form we will look better still. We are nearly half way to safety with only a third of the season gone. Promising.
Great performance, great win. Initial thoughts: Leicester were rubbish. How on earth did they win the league!? Kante must be some player! Essentially played championship tactics and we dealt with it very well. Ref was awful. For both teams. Inconsistent and no idea how he decided what was a yellow and what wasn't. Prodl is a different player so far this season. Immense, so good. Makes a huge difference to the back line. Mazzarri has got the balance right with that team. No Ighalo clogging up our attacks. Amrabat and Janmaat have a real good partnership, and got the best out of Capoue and Pereya. What a first half performance from him! We looked good going forward and solid at the back. Gomes didn't make a save. & we still have Success to come back.
Zuniga was lucky today as well. If this had made contact he was off and already on a yellow too. Brainless.
Good result although down to Leicester being poor to be honest. Zuniga is a professional footballer and can't take a throw in. Maybe he has one arm longer than the other? Okaka makes me laugh. He looks older than Doyley (about 40). Good to see Ighalo dropped
Agree with others about the battling performance. I'm not sure what shape we had in about the last 15 minutes, and some of the hoofing clear was desperate. But I feel excited at the prospect of Success and Okaka running at defences. The Deeney/ Ighalo double act is just one of our options now. As for Leicester, quite a mean spirited team I thought ... very different from last season when everything was going their way...
Vardy is just a horrible chav and a professional leg-leaver-inner, annoying how much he wins and even more annoying when commentators talk about how he has a 'right' to go down/ask for a free kick/penalty, ridiculous concept. They were diving around asking for everything to be fair, and their complaints about possible penalties were way over the top considering they were all very obviously ball to arm if at all, arm right up against the players bodies and hit from about 2 feet away. Someone on reddit said they couldn't believe the amount of time wasting we were doing, which seemed both somewhat inaccurate and wildly mealy-mouthed. All that being said, I don't have any particular animosity towards them, just glad none of it cost us, and jesus christ Pereyra should have made it 3 and put us out of sight! Great play from the Bat to create that opportunity. Deeney worked very hard as usual, but he's still isolated and isn't involved anywhere near as much as other players. He's not having the impact he was last season, and I don't just mean goalscoring, because he wasn't always scoring last season either. Hopefully, he will get back into a groove and start scoring again, preferably from open play; Wally does have a reputation for getting strikers scoring hatfuls, and the quicker attacking play should help him in that regard. Also he needs to get his semi-fashionable hairstyle from midway through last season back, I think he might be like a reverse-Samson; the more hair he has, the less strength he has, and it looks quite like a shlid at the moment.
Showed plenty of character in the second half - just a shame we conceded a needless pen when we looked capable of handing them an absolute thrashing. Distribution a bit of a concern; need a Drinkwater type player in central midfield to knit things together and keep possession. Ref was very poor, didn't seem to understand the game - as others have said, let cynical fouls preventing breakaways go by without a yellow, which does my head in. They seemed very exercised at the end about a handball claim, which you couldn't see from the Rookery, anyone have a clear view of it? I'd like to see multiball brought back: game gets bogged down at throw ins and goal kicks, which leads to less time in play, fewer chances and not as many late goals with players tiring, although it probably worked in our favour today. How Zuniga failed to bury that header I'm not sure.
Yes....it was a clear handball and although the ball was hit hard at Kaboul I think the ball travelled far enough for it to have been given. I certainly would not have been surprised had the ref pointed to the spot again.
I said before that I think Leicester would struggle this season - last season everything just went perfectly and they rode their luck - now they have Champions League and not a big / strong enough squad.
Jan Matt and Zuniga were brilliant as was perayra much more balance in the team today,great win much improved performance than recent weeks,great win to beat the champions of a England lol.
Anyone know when the last time was we beat the English Champions in the league? Must've been a while ago
Miguel Britos, if you're reading this, go see the club doctor. You may have concussion from the immense amount of brilliant defensive headers you made. MOTM by a mile.
I used to hate International Breaks...but we've won all 3 matches this season after them! The first important task today was to bounce back from that mauling at Anfield and 13 days of feeling sorry for ourselves. And boy did we come out of the blocks today. Just brilliant. So we now have a win against the champions on our CV, a first since 1986. Yes Leicester have the worst away record in the league this season, and yes it was probably a good time to play them ahead of their CL game, but still today was a great day. 5 wins already. What a great season this could be. Especially when you think we haven't seen the best yet of so many players such as Success, Okaka, Sinclair, hopefully Pereyra etc. It's the PL and days like Anfield can happen to anybody. It's how you bounce back, and we've passed another test today. Well Done Hornets. We are starting to look like a proper PL club and boy that feels great!!
