Match Day Thread WATFORD v BRIGHTON and HOVE ALBION

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PREMIER LEAGUE

WATFORD v BRIGHTON and HOVE ALBION
Vicarage Road Stadium
Saturday 10th August 2019
Kick Off 1500 BST

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Well here we go again, another 38 games ahead of us, and strangely we start against the same opponents as last season.

Javi Gracia's side were one of the surprise packages of the 2018/19 season, finishing in a secure 11th place, just seven points behind the final Europa League spot occupied by Wolverhampton Wanderers.


But inconsistency ended up being their major downfall. They ended their campaign in pretty dismal fashion, with defeats to Chelsea and the equally inconsistent West Ham United.


And whilst the 6-0 loss to Manchester City in the FA Cup final won't have been the kind of result they were hoping for, the fact they reached this stage is a real sign of progress, eliminating Premier League opposition like Newcastle United, Crystal Palace and Wolves en route to Wembley.

Brighton ended last season in miserable form and their run of nine matches without a win saw the demise of Chris Hughton. New boss Graham Potter will be tasked with turning things around but this is a tough start against Watford who have plenty of quality and home advantage on their side.

24-year-old Belgian striker Trossard has been the marquee signing of the summer and they will hope he can boost their firepower up front.

Our good friend Anthony Knockaert will not be tripping over his laces as he has taken himself off to Fulham.

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Craig Pawson is due to make a quick return to Vicarage Road after being named as the referee for Watford’s first Premier League game of the season against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.

The South Yorkshire official was in charge for last weekend’s 2-1 friendly victory over Real Sociedad, with his last Hornets league game coming in April when he controversially sent off Troy Deeney following a raised forearm against Lucas Torreira in the 1-0 defeat at home to Arsenal.

Saturday will see a video assistant referee help oversee a Watford match in the Premier League for the first time and Andy Madley has been appointed to this position for the clash with the Seagulls.

Let us hope for a good start again to the season, one that looks as if it could be as exciting and entertaining as the last one.

WHEREVER YOU ARE IN THE WORLD ENJOY THE GAME

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Very good luck to the Golden Boys

 

And very good luck to the canaries Dave

 

I wonder how VAR will affect games and the run of play this season....................

 

And good luck to Norwich for the rest of the season, probably best treat your first game as a pre-season friendly, whoever gave you that as a first game was not very thoughtful.

 

So it all starts again, sadly I cannot join you as I am in Wales for a family wedding anniversary party, enjoy the game all.
MOTD starts again as well and here is a scan from the Radio Times. I hope you can read it.
It would appear that Brighton are not playing on Saturday?

 

Team News.

Gerard Deulofeu is fit and raring to go for the season opener against Brighton & Hove Albion, says Javi Gracia.

The Spaniard, who won the Goal of the Season and Individual Performance of the Season awards last season, has not been seen in action since the first half of the game against Bayer Leverkusen in Austria, but he has recovered from a muscle problem and is ready to face the Seagulls at Vicarage Road on Saturday.

Roberto Pereyra is also in the mix to play some part after being eased back in after an extended summer break. Gracia and his medical staff have been keen to manage the playmaker's load after he spent most of the summer training with Argentina for their Copa America campaign. He is ready but he just needs time because this is only his second week of pre-season. He's not in his best physical condition but he can still help the team by playing some minutes."

Unavailable to the Head Coach this week are Nathaniel Chalobah, Adalberto Peñaranda, Domingos Quina and Dimitri Foulquier.

"Foulquier has a problem in his calf because he picked up a knock," said Gracia. "Peñaranda is training but not with the team. Domingos has a muscle problem and Chalo needs some time to recover after the work he has done in pre-season. Next week they will be ready."

New signing Danny Welbeck will not play any part as his return to action is being carefully planned by the medical team as he works his way back from a long injury.

"He is in good condition and maybe if you ask me next week, I can tell you something more," said Gracia.
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Sounds like a good team going out for the first game of the season...

 

¡¡THE WAIT IS OVER!!

COYHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

I am not sure that any of them would have been likely to start the game.

 

While you are waiting for Saturday to arrive, here is something for you to read.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/aug/08/premier-league-201920-preview-no-18-watford

 

Agreed. I was more unsuprised that "Chalo" is just recovering from preseason and isn't even injured, so he is out!

 

Just so I know could you see or read the attached pdf?

 

You had to download the pdf file to read it Scully.

 

Tx not really sure how to post images and scans seems a bit tricky.

 

Very fair review...

 

Telegraph did a good one with us predicted to come 11th ( as did Peter Crouch in the Mail)

They actually had a little dig at the likes of Flores and Silva saying they used us a stepping stone !

However they had a list of ins and outs and for some reason ours was all cobbled together rather than in different sections...

BTW not sure if it was a dig at us but our friend Martin Samuel talked about how Bury are going bust yet Man U pay 80 million for defender and we got 20 million after selling Dodi who only played 17 minutes of football .

Guess he didn't think the spell at Fortuna Düsseldorf last season counts.

 

To be fair he also said it was not our fault that Bury have collapsed
The problem was Bury spent more than they could afford to win promotion and could not sustain it

 

Oh yes - agreed.

Just thought it was the way he brought it up.