Watford boss praises his players after victories over Millwall and Barnsley
12:59pm Monday 6th February 2012 in Football
Dyche delighted after tough week
Sean Dyche was delighted with the mental strength showed by his Watford side as they secured back-to-back victorious during what was an unsettling week.
This time last week vice captain Adrian Mariappa was at the centre of transfer speculation regarding a possible move and whilst he did remain at Vicarage Road, leading goalscorer Marvin Sordell was pulled out of the Millwall match just two hours before kick-off.
Watford did not have time to find a replacement but that did not stop the Hornets from beating Millwall 2-0 and then following it up with a 2-1 victory over Barnsley on Saturday - to lift the club 12 points above the relegation places.
Dyche was delighted with the character and professionalism shown by his players in the last seven days.
He said: "Tuesday was particularly difficult and the group has seen an important player who has done well leave the club and sometimes that can affect their mentality, but I thought they have been terrific.
"On Tuesday there was no sign of anything and the players got on with what they have to do and against Barnsley, they showed the strong mentality the group is starting to develop.
"It has been there all season but wins show the evidence of it.
"I am very pleased at the end of this week because it has been a difficult week for so many reasons."
Barnsley's late goal may have made the finish to Saturday's match a little nervy but on the whole, the Hornets were comfortable for the majority of the contest.
It was not as free-flowing as the performance against Tottenham Hotspur a week earlier but it was a professional display from Watford.
Dyche said: "It is difficult in football to win perfectly every week and it is important that you find a way of winning and today we did.
"That sounds negative because we played well in the first half particularly and started brightly at the beginning of the second half through good game management. We didn’t look fazed, Scott Loach has had hardly anything to do, we kept a solid shape and we knew they would push on – which they did. But we were aware of that and Eustace pops up with his second and we were looking like good value for the win.
"I expected the game to just drift because we were managing it well and without being as fluid as we have been, we were in control and then we conceded a soft goal.
"Overall, I think we were good value for the three points."
He continued: "I thought our shape was good, we penetrated at times and forged a number of good chances without our keeper having to make a save.
"It was a sign of that nice mix I am looking for – strong at one end and productive in the other.
"Even with them knocking long balls on top of us towards the end, they didn’t carve out many chances."
Two goals from John Eustace helped guide Watford to victory and Dyche believes his captain is enjoying playing in a more advanced role following the summer signing of Jonathan Hogg.
He said: "John gives good performances for us every week. We know he has a goal in him and he is enjoying more freedom in there because with Hoggy in there (holding midfield), John can get forward more."
Comments(16)
akureyri-geitungur
says...
1:33pm Mon 6 Feb 12
A win at Nottingham Forest is what is required, start to really knock down the teams below.
buckler
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1:38pm Mon 6 Feb 12
LoveKeithDublin
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1:55pm Mon 6 Feb 12
Heard a couple of muted versions at home and at Pompey away, but it's yet to catch on.
In my opinion, Eustace is as deserving of any player in the team to have his own song, given his commitment levels every week and the fact he took a pay cut to sign a new deal.
stevyweavy
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2:24pm Mon 6 Feb 12
buckler wrote:Actually if you were watching Dyche at all he seemed as frustrated as everyone else that we had dropped back. He kept shouting and gesturing to the players to get further forward - so I think he has realised that Watford's best defence is attack but now all the players have got into the habit of dropping back.
Still don't get why Dyche got us sitting back at 2-0! Even there bunch of hillbillies were leaving the ground and feared the worst!
buckler
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2:27pm Mon 6 Feb 12
stevyweavy wrote:Actually I saw Dyche gesturing loads of times to get the ball back to Billy C! He went 4 5 1 not the players, get real it was his negative ideas!
buckler wrote:Actually if you were watching Dyche at all he seemed as frustrated as everyone else that we had dropped back. He kept shouting and gesturing to the players to get further forward - so I think he has realised that Watford's best defence is attack but now all the players have got into the habit of dropping back.
Still don't get why Dyche got us sitting back at 2-0! Even there bunch of hillbillies were leaving the ground and feared the worst!
Stoney77
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3:17pm Mon 6 Feb 12
buckler wrote:am i missing something?....we won the game didnt we?
stevyweavy wrote:Actually I saw Dyche gesturing loads of times to get the ball back to Billy C! He went 4 5 1 not the players, get real it was his negative ideas!buckler wrote: Still don't get why Dyche got us sitting back at 2-0! Even there bunch of hillbillies were leaving the ground and feared the worst!Actually if you were watching Dyche at all he seemed as frustrated as everyone else that we had dropped back. He kept shouting and gesturing to the players to get further forward - so I think he has realised that Watford's best defence is attack but now all the players have got into the habit of dropping back.
smeg
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3:21pm Mon 6 Feb 12
buckler wrote:What a load of tut. 4-5-1 does not mean you have to drop back and Dyche clearly was telling them to push up. There is different opinion and there is bu11sh1t. Don't make stuff up if you want to be taken seriously.
stevyweavy wrote:Actually I saw Dyche gesturing loads of times to get the ball back to Billy C! He went 4 5 1 not the players, get real it was his negative ideas!
buckler wrote:Actually if you were watching Dyche at all he seemed as frustrated as everyone else that we had dropped back. He kept shouting and gesturing to the players to get further forward - so I think he has realised that Watford's best defence is attack but now all the players have got into the habit of dropping back.
Still don't get why Dyche got us sitting back at 2-0! Even there bunch of hillbillies were leaving the ground and feared the worst!
luther blissett
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3:33pm Mon 6 Feb 12
I like Dyche, but this decision led to the pressure at the end. So my opinion is that he made the correct decisions to get us to 2-0 but on this occasion, he got it wring at the end.
Bush Hornet
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4:01pm Mon 6 Feb 12
smeg wrote:this is all about the Croxley rail link
buckler wrote:What a load of tut. 4-5-1 does not mean you have to drop back and Dyche clearly was telling them to push up. There is different opinion and there is bu11sh1t. Don't make stuff up if you want to be taken seriously.
stevyweavy wrote:Actually I saw Dyche gesturing loads of times to get the ball back to Billy C! He went 4 5 1 not the players, get real it was his negative ideas!
buckler wrote:Actually if you were watching Dyche at all he seemed as frustrated as everyone else that we had dropped back. He kept shouting and gesturing to the players to get further forward - so I think he has realised that Watford's best defence is attack but now all the players have got into the habit of dropping back.
Still don't get why Dyche got us sitting back at 2-0! Even there bunch of hillbillies were leaving the ground and feared the worst!
lutondown
says...
4:26pm Mon 6 Feb 12
Bush Hornet wrote:not that old chestnut!
smeg wrote:this is all about the Croxley rail link
buckler wrote:What a load of tut. 4-5-1 does not mean you have to drop back and Dyche clearly was telling them to push up. There is different opinion and there is bu11sh1t. Don't make stuff up if you want to be taken seriously.
stevyweavy wrote:Actually I saw Dyche gesturing loads of times to get the ball back to Billy C! He went 4 5 1 not the players, get real it was his negative ideas!
buckler wrote:Actually if you were watching Dyche at all he seemed as frustrated as everyone else that we had dropped back. He kept shouting and gesturing to the players to get further forward - so I think he has realised that Watford's best defence is attack but now all the players have got into the habit of dropping back.
Still don't get why Dyche got us sitting back at 2-0! Even there bunch of hillbillies were leaving the ground and feared the worst!
stevyweavy
says...
4:56pm Mon 6 Feb 12
smeg wrote:Thank you - I can now cancel the hastily arranged eye test for myself.
buckler wrote:What a load of tut. 4-5-1 does not mean you have to drop back and Dyche clearly was telling them to push up. There is different opinion and there is bu11sh1t. Don't make stuff up if you want to be taken seriously.stevyweavy wrote:Actually I saw Dyche gesturing loads of times to get the ball back to Billy C! He went 4 5 1 not the players, get real it was his negative ideas!buckler wrote: Still don't get why Dyche got us sitting back at 2-0! Even there bunch of hillbillies were leaving the ground and feared the worst!Actually if you were watching Dyche at all he seemed as frustrated as everyone else that we had dropped back. He kept shouting and gesturing to the players to get further forward - so I think he has realised that Watford's best defence is attack but now all the players have got into the habit of dropping back.
buckler
says...
5:11pm Mon 6 Feb 12
rousman 2
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6:48pm Mon 6 Feb 12
nigelcallaghansleftboot
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10:51pm Mon 6 Feb 12
buckler wrote:Just because you use the word 'fact' doesn't mean it is.
Fact, Dyches **** went and he decided to defend the 2-0. We went negative and they scored because of it! Glad we won whatever some Smegheads think but why make hard work of it against a pile of crap!
I thought this was a forum for Watford fans to talk and exchange views about our one love, WFC - why call people smegheads just because they don't agree with you?
corbindallas
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10:05am Tue 7 Feb 12
click2find
Bush Hornet says...
1:23pm Mon 6 Feb 12