Watford boss Quique Sanchez Flores: "It was completely difficult. We expected a tough match. Tottenham play really quick, play intelligent balls, they have a lot of good players so it was very difficult to stop their attacks. "Tottenham have improved since the last time we played. They have more confidence and they are one of the best teams. They have the chance to win the league. "Playing against Chelsea and Tottenham in four days is too much. We did all the best we could but it was not enough." Sounds like the towel was trown in early.
Spurs were the best team we've played against. They thoroughly deserved thei win. BUT we only conceded one goal. Defensively we still seem strong.
Just as well because going forward we didn´t offer anything. Move on, got to pick up some more points soon.
Never really got going. Spurs were on the front foot from the off and but for Gomes could have had a few TBH. We probably won't play a better side all season I feel but we didn't help ourselves at times. Having Deeney starting might have caused them more problems potentially but we were caught out by their movement and quick play.
They really looked good. I was quite pleased we kept it as we did! I was in the Spurs end so would like to nominate the Watford fans as the best away fans I have seen this season
Was not the best game to watch, but I understand what Flores was trying to do and he nearly pulled it off. Problem was that Ighalo is not a strong target man, so he could not hold the ball long enough for support to arrive and their midfield charged at us again. But I am sure Flores had found out some more about our players when asked to play a Plan C. Our seats were right against The Spuds fans, with just a few seats and some stewards between us - my god they are a strange bunch. There was one old boy that got so wound up I thought me might have a heart attack - I kept asking a steward to tell him to calm down - mind you he was easy to wind up!
A fair assessment from everyone here. Never got going until after they scored. A very good side Spurs but it was as if the Hornets were on a damage limitation exercise with no real sense of belief in their abilities to win the game. Got away with it a bit but the record books will show only a 1-0 defeat. We move on.
In terms of effect it was Man City away again. In reality we never looked like scoring and for that matter never looked like we were really trying to play to score. Thats the main negative. Several months later and we have not progressed in finding a way to play against a very good side away from home. Think QSF showed them to much respect and I hope Man U & Arsenal away we put up more of a contest. We were yesterday lucky to finnish second in a two horse race. 1 - 0 flattered us. If Deeney & Ighalo were "tired" why did he not play our back up new striker signing?
Presumably because he is not yet ready and he did not want to wreck the lad's confidence first up against a very good team. Perhaps our expectations are now exceeding our team's capabilities currently. We could have gone gung-ho against Tottenham and would probably have been picked off and beaten heavily. A year ago drawing 0-0 with Chelsea and losing 1-0 to Spurs at WHL would have been seen as somewhat miraculous. This team's and QSF's experience of the toughest league in football will undoubtedly grow. It is unlikely that any team in Spain or Italy would play two such demanding fixtures within 3 days of each other. We should also not expect to run before we can walk. Just as we were not as good as we thought we were after the Liverpool game, we are not as bad as some believe after this recent run.
But Qsf stated that he is a very good player who is "ready" to play and of course he blooded him against Newcastle leaving Ighalo on the bench. If Qsf publicly states that Ighalo, Deeney & Behrami were tired as he did post match it seems logically strange not to play a player who was brought in to have an immediate impact and inhance the options available to QSF's match day squad.
He bloodied him against Nottingham Forest which is a different matter. Obviously QSF thought that even a "tired" Ighalo was a better choice than a fresh but inexperienced Amrabat - perhaps he is ready to play but not yet ready to play against the current second best team in the League? Suarez is also a very good player but lasted only a half - needing to adapt to the pace of the Premiership. Displays and results like yesterday's are obviously disappointing, but we must look at the bigger picture and how we are progressing as a club overall. If we haven't managed to "find a way to play against a very good side away from home" in a year's time then we may start to feel concerned - in the meantime, let's just enjoy the ride.
I made 3 bad mistakes yesterday. 1. going to WHL to watch my team comprehensively thrashed 1.0 2. eating a greasy 1/2 pound burger from outside the ground 3. not going by train instead of the WFC coach which was great value at £1 but dreadful traffic there and back.
It is never a mistake to watch Watford! I wish I could go more regularly. Having seen them lose 1-0 at Darlington, Torquay, L*t*n, Aldershot etc. etc. WHL seems not too bad. The greasy burger does appear to be a bad mistake however.....
I think Oulare has dropped out of the squad due to a couple of poor performances when played but he is young and needs times. With this young chap we've brought for next season too I wouldn't be that surprised if Amrabat is only with us for a season or two...Flores has said he is just cover for the strikers really. How did he play at Forest? Might have come on had Britos not been injured
I also watched Watford lose many games in the old 4th div which I probably enjoyed more than the very poor display yesterday. I'm not knocking the team, I just wished I had stayed home to listen to it on hornet player.
