Match Day Thread WATFORD v BRIGHTON

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Watford vs Brighton and Hove Albion
Date : 26th August 2017
Venue : Vicarage Road Stadium
Kick Off : 1500 BST

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Whenever I arrive in England I drive along the coast and there is the Brighton Stadium perched up on the side of hill. Of course it is a recent addition to the sky line with the first match played there in the 2011-12 season. In 1997 the club were homeless having sold their Goldstone Ground to a property developer, so for two seasons played their home games 70 miles away at Gillingham. In the 1999-2000 season they returned to Brighton, playing on the converted athletics ground Withdean Stadium. Five years later and they were just one division away from the premier league, but have had to wait until now to finally make their way to the top. If ever their was a tale of bad management almost seeing a club removed from the scene, to one that now has a future of sustainable growth, look at Brighton.

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Watford high turnover of managers in recent years doesn't seem to have held them back too much but perhaps now fans will be hoping that ex-Olympiakos man Marco Silva, who left the KC Stadium for Vicarage Road this summer following Hull City's relegation to the Championship, can provide some stability and remain in the job for more than one season at least.

The Portuguese head coach will certainly be happy with the way his team have started the campaign so far. After a thrilling 3-3 draw with Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool on the opening weekend, the Hornets then produced a very professional performance at the Vitality Stadium last weekend to overcome Bournemouth by a 0-2 scoreline.

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Chris Hughton has had experience with Newcastle United and Norwich City as a head coach in the English top tier, although it's fair to say that his tenures at both St James' Park and Carrow Road didn't end on the best terms.

In their opening two games of the season, the Seagulls have really struggled to create chances and have failed to score in both of their fixtures in the Premier League so far. Watford meanwhile kept an impressive clean sheet at Bournemouth in their last outing and Silva will be expecting them to keep things tight at the back whilst dominating possession.


With the suspension of Jose Holebas Watford will have to reshuffle things a bit at the back. Young Brandon Mason may be in line for his first Premier League minutes of the season against the Seagulls on Saturday, with only centre-back Miguel Britos seeming a realistic alternative should the 19-year-old be overlooked.
Silva has ruled out a change to a three-man defence, which was commonly used by Walter Mazzarri last season, to act as a stop-gap to address his imbalanced squad.

"No, we won’t do that for the match," he said. "I can say to you for this match we won’t do that. Maybe in the future we’ll do, for this match no."

So we must wait and see what the team will look like. I just doubt that it will similar to the one played on Tuesday night.

Referee: Graham Scott
Assistant Refs: R West and D Eaton
Fourth Official: R Madley

Match Day referee Scott has officiated one game in 2017/18, showing six
yellow cards.

WHEREVER YOU ARE IN THE WORLD - ENJOY THE GAME ​

 

Really looking forward to this game after the damp squib the other night, back in my usual seats in the SEJ. The catering was pretty hopeless the other night, hopefully that will be sorted by Saturday. I must say the ground is looking fantastic and the pitch is superb. The improvements are so much appreciated after the embarrassment of the three sided ground for many years. It is easy to look back at Watford past with great memories but there were many campaigns of boring dross and lousy facilities. The match day experience is so much better now, booking,
seats, view, toilets, sound system etc.

A club, and at last, a stadium to be proud of.

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Thanks OFH. First game of the season for me and really looking forward to it and getting back to the Vic. Almost unheard of, both Merson and Lawro have got us down to win (2-0 and 2-1) so we've obviously got to be careful...need to forget about the shambles on Tuesday and think back to last Saturday with the commitment we've seen in th PL so far. COYH!

 

In the interest of accuracy and fairness one thing is much much worse now, THE PIES. My daughter bought a pie last week (with my money, still looking for the change!!). It was a tiny, burnt offering, hardly fit for human consumption.

I remember being at Vicarage Road in my childhood accompanying my father to the football and greyhound meetings. We regularly had a steak and kidney pie as a treat, it seemed enormous at the time and full of proper meat. Is this selective memory or wot!!

 

A mate of mine, ex-army and Wiganite former STH for over 20 years at the Vic Upper GT (til they moved him out of his seat) had the chorizo pie at the Sociedad match the other week, stating that it was the best pie he's had in a football ground for 30+years, possibly ever.

 

Some people are easily pleased. Perhaps he's on a diet?

 

On the Premier League PIE chart the pies at WFC are unfortunately amongst the dearest, they must be the smallest.

 

mmm.... that sounds good

 

better oop north!

 

horse meat.

 

i have seen dog in a Bradford curry house

 

Was it alive or in a Chicken Tikka Masala?

 

COYH, got to get another 3 points tomorrow!!

 

Good luck to the Golden Boys!

 

I've seen it in a Watford chinese restaurant. And in my frequent forays across Europe as a teenager, I developed a liking for horse meat - sweet and tasty, if a tad stringy.

 

I'm going left field for the left back tomorrow - Dja Djedje

 

He knows his "football" pies for sure, I'll find out for myself tomorrow all being well.

 

Thanks OFH. I doubt Hurricane Harvey will be letting me virtually attend this game. But hopefully a win will brighten my otherwise very damp weekend.

 

I just hope you stay safe. You can always watch the highlights when it is over.

 

Thanks Frenchy. Looks like the Rio Grande Valley will be avoiding the worst of it. But the outer bands will be bringing a deluge and the power is likely to go out tonight. I was due to be working in Corpus Christi next week too - looks like a few days off for me.

I am patting myself on the back on my preparation this time and my only concern is running out of beer.