To close out, a reflective but exasperated Nigel Pearson.
We were second-best for too long. The second half, we started brightly. You can’t concede gifts to the opponents. We need to show a cohesion. To concede at that time, we gave ourselves too much to do. It’s about us approaching games. The players aren’t happy themselves about performances. We faced opponents who were efficient. You can’t forget it, you draw a line on it. We have games in which in our own hands to assure our future in the Premier League.
Here’s Jacob Steinberg’s report from Vicarage Road
Danny Ings speaks.
It was a physical battle. We really fought well for the second balls . It was nice, I love cutting in from the left. It was little bit of a gift, aimed it to the far corner and it went in. It was important we came here and did something. Our centre-halves were unbelievable in the air. [Golden boot] To be honest, no, I just want to play each game and score goals for the team. My focus is just on trying to score some more.
Watford deep in trouble by the looks of this.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Watford | 32 | -20 | 28 |
| 17 | West Ham | 31 | -19 | 27 |
| 18 | AFC Bournemouth | 31 | -21 | 27 |
| 19 | Aston Villa | 32 | -24 | 27 |
| 20 | Norwich | 31 | -31 | 21 |
Full-time: Watford 1-3 Southampton
Watford are deep in trouble and lucky that everyone else around them is also playing like a drain. Southampton were excellent in all areas and two-goal Danny Ings was deadly. A superb free-kick from James Ward-Prowse capped it all off just when when Watford thought they had a foothold.
90+2 min: Watford mount some attacking and then there’s a nasty collision between Deeney and Ings. Both men get up, and Watford have a corner. That’s cleared by a Saints defence that’s excelled aside from Bednarek’s OG, and that was one of those where he couldn’t actually do anything else.
90 min: Five minutes added and only Southampton appear capable of adding to their total.
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89 min: Che Adams burst through, blazing past Dawson and looked on to score his first ever goal for Southampton, only for the ball to come off Foster’s leg and away. That’s followed up by Nathan Redmond rattling the post. Watford torn asunder.
86 min: That 9-0 loss to Leicester seems a long time ago for Southampton. Credit due to Saints for keeping the faith, and contrast that with Watford being on their third manager. The momentum Nigel Pearson built up on his arrival is lost on this evidence.
85 min: This has been smash and grab from Southampton. Each of their goals has been expertly executed. Their quality has been far too high for Watford.
83 min: There is another thunderstorm brewing and it’s called Nigel Pearson, defining the term ‘face like thunder’.
Goal! Watford 1-3 Southampton (Ward-Prowse, 82)
There is a thunderstorm brewing, and James Ward-Prowse has the chance to reopen the two-goal lead. In David Beckham style he whips it up, over and into the net. Watford’s comeback lasted less than 180 seconds.
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Goal! Watford 1-2 Southampton (Bednarek, OG 79)
Holebas’ cross from the wing came in and Welbeck was ready to score. Bednarek stepped across him only to direct the ball into his own net. Game on.
78 min: Another injury. Stuart Armstrong has been hurt. While he is attended to, a final Watford change. Femenia off, and young Argentinian Pussetto on.
76 min: Watford, flush with those changes, try to push on for victory but all that results in is another dangerous Southampton attack. Welbeck has to come all the way back to clear the danger. There was a melee in the Saints box where Walker-Peters looked to have committed an offence but VAR waves that away.
74 min: Saints change; off goes Shane Long, on comes Che Adams.
73 min: Triple change: Welbeck, Joao Pedro and Holebas on, Masina, Hughes and Pereyra off. They have a mountain to climb.
72 min: Nigel Pearson, perhaps aware the camera is on him, is trying his best to look calm but his blood must be boiling at the way his team have let him down. They have worked hard but been guilty of two disastrous mistakes.
71 min: Danny Ings is just a goal behind Jamie Vardy in the Premier League scoring charts. And he looks red hot at the moment. Two glimmers, two goals. And he’s got time for a hat-trick yet.
Goal! Watford 0-2 Southampton (Ings, 70)
Straight from the drinks and Ben Foster makes a terrible mistake, launching the ball straight at Danny Ings, who burrows towards goal and smashes. Another fine goal from him, more horrendous defending from Watford.
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67 min: Southampton have not been great in midfield or attack this half. They are relying too heavily on their defence. And they will be glad of the second-half water break.
65 min: Saints sub: off comes Smallbone who did well in the first 45 for Stuart Armstrong.
64 min: Sarr is wasteful this time. Howls of anguish from his teammates, including most loudly Troy Deeney.
62 min: More Watford pressure and two more corners. Saints are holding up well, back in numbers. Hasenhuttl is doing the organising from his technical area.
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61 min: Watford corner earned by the ever more prominent Pereyra. The ball comes to Hughes who volleys into a crowd of players. Deeney couldn’t find space for a shot. Then Doucoure has a shot. It flies off for a throw. Deeney is not amused once more.
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59 min: Nigel Pearson yet to make a sub. His option are sat in the Vicarage Road stand at the moment, none of them warming up. His first XI are pushing on but with not much quality.
56 min: Watford really pushing on, with Will Hughes to the fore. Southampton are sticking to their task, and Walker-Peters intervenes to concede a corner that Pereyra makes a mess of.
53 min: Troy Deeney is not amused. Bednar and Vestergaard have dished it out to him and he’s found it hard to dish much back.
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52 min: Southampton find a bid of attacking impetus. Hasenhuttl is doing more talking already this half, perhaps recognising the signs of Watford’s improvement.
50 min: Danny Welbeck warms up as Sarr is attended to but the Senegalese forward will be ok to continue, though with something of a limp.
Updated
48 min: Correction, that was a goal kick rather than corner. But Watford push on again before Sarr collapses under a heavy tackle from Bertrand. Saints play on and Ings aims at the back stick but Long fails to get there.
46 min: Watford start with purpose as if their manager might have said something at half-time. Pereyra takes a free-kick from the right. It comes out to Sarr who his shot blocked. Pereyra and Femenia have crosses blocked. Troy Deeney forces a corner.
We are back and Nigel Pearson was one of the last to the dugout.
JR in Illinois reports in: “The quieter Nigel Pearson is the scarier he seems to be, and right now he’s looking scary AF. He’s going to want to fight someone at halftime. And he will win that fight. Newcastle should buy Smallbone and put him in midfield with the Longstaff brothers to give them some balance.”
Half-time: Watford 0-1 Southampton
Poor from Watford, and very good from Saints. Watford have been unable to put anything together as Southampton have smothered them. Danny Ings supplied the sole moment of class for the goal.
45+3 min: A few heads shaking from Watford players. They should be further behind on the balance of play though their defenders, aside from the goal, have done their job well enough.
45+2 min: Masina defends a cross well but has to concede a corner to do so. Saints again fail to make much of the dead ball.
45 min: Four minutes added on to a half of plenty of stoppages.
44 min: Troy Deeney is breathing heavily with fatigue and exasperation. It’s muggy out there. And Southampton have done a number on Watford.
43 min: Shane Long and Craig Cathcart clash, and there’s a rude word spoken. Long did not like his treatment by the Northern Irishman.
42 min: Sarr continues to be the danger man but decides to try and get a penalty from the referee rather than beating Ryan Bertrand to the byline. Watford’s thinking in attacking situations has not been too good.
Updated
40 min: Smallbone, who has been impressive, plays an elegant ball to the left as Saints turn the screw on Watford, who have been poor and look to be hanging on until half-time.
39 min: Troy Deeney is down after Vestergaard smashed into the back of him. He gets back up to help defend a free-kick, taken of course by Ward-Prowse but Ben Foster claims well.
37 min: Ward-Prowse the latest in the wars, having been banged in the face. Romeu had to go off and come back on again with his bloody nose.
36 min: Watford have looked like a team missing something, namely perhaps the three wallies who attended a party against the regulations. They are also without Gerard Deulofeu of course.
34 min: This has been a feature of pandemic football, a lot of injuries and Oriol Romeu is the latest, having taken a bang to the head off Sarr. Looks like he took a nasty bang to the nose.
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32 min: Long is back up but down soon enough as he gets clattered by Dawson, who is then booked for what was cynical foul even if he tried to make it look clumsy. Ward-Prowse’s free-kick is inventive but no danger for Foster.
30 min: Shane Long is down, with hands over his eyes. And there’s not much movement until he tries to haul himself up. He does so in some pain. He’s not one to cod, and it seems has been inadvertently hurt by teammate Smallbone. There’s a gag in there somewhere but let’s proceed instead with the news that the physio says Long should be OK to continue.
27 min: The lads are replenished and they have received their terse team talks from their managers. Nigel Pearson simmered rather than exploded.
24 min: There’s a water break on and James Ward-Prowse will spend it thinking about the golden chance he just wasted.
22 min: Point of order from Rod Wooden: “No John, Kenny McLean of Norwich looks more like Jimmy Nail. Kenny is better looking though.”
I saw Jimmy Nail saunter past Guardian HQ in a nice Crombie jacket a year ago or so. Think he had been in the posh theatre downstairs. He’s in good nick for someone of 66.
21 min: Deeney and Doucoure get in a tangle when the striker had the better chance of getting a shot in on goal.
20 min: Saints seem happy to hit their two very quick forwards as soon as possible and it’s Smallbone always looking to play the pass, in the style of David Batty at Blackburn all thosee years ago.
19 min: Smallbone might get an assist for that goal but it was all Ings’ own work.
17 min: Watford paid for sitting off Ings. It’s time to listen to the game without crowd noise to hear how Nigel Pearson accepts that blow. The mic has suspiciously been removed from his vicinity.
Goal! Watford 0-1 Southampton (Ings, 16)
Ings gets his 20th the of the season. He made it all himself with a typical run, head down and only lifted once he has drilled it past Foster. Great goal from one of the players of the season.
Updated
15 min: Shane Long finds himself in space, and has the time to take the ball down. The shot, though, is straight at Ben Foster.
14 min: Watford getting into this now. Though pushing on does leave them open to the speed of Southampton’s attacks.
12 min: A Watford attack and it’s no surprise to see Sarr being the danger. Pereyra plays a beautiful ball through and Sarr escapes to the byline. His pass into the centre finds no takers.
10 min: Southampton do not exactly rush a goal kick but it’s still them on the offensive. Smallbone again involved as Capoue is downed. The youngster looks game.
8 min: Nigel Pearson staging an alpha male masterclass in arm crossing and gurning as his team continue to be on the back foot. Southampton have been at it.
7 min: With cap on, Ralph Hasenhuttl has the look of Jimmy Nail.
6 min: Walker-Peters tries to get Danny Ings off down the channels as Southampton begin to step forward and high, pushing Watford back as they do.
4 min: Southampton not exactly playing at full pelt. In fact, they start the game passing it around the back. Some early involvement for Smallbone but Watford win a free-kick.
2 min: Can this game start with a bit more vigour than many of the lockdown matches? It’s started tepidly in truth.
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1 min: Touchline sartorial watch. Nigel Pearson has his arms crossed over a gilet while Ralf Hasenhuttl is in a cap, meaning it is difficult to recognise him without his flyaway mane.
Away we go: the whistle goes and the players take a knee before the game begins.
OK, the teams are out and the fake crowd is in raptures.
Here’s our story on Gray et al.
Nigel Pearson is not giving much away: “I think we have already confirmed we have taken players out of the squad for health and safety reasons....We need to get a response after Thursday’s game. If we are anywhere near our best we have a chance of picking up points. Against Leicteer we were very good, against Burnley not so good. We are going to need everybody. Selections are always about picking the right side for any given day.
Troy Deeney continues to be such an impressive advocate for the BLM cause.
And a second Premier League start for Will Smallbone, the 20-year-old midfielder, for Southampton. He came on as a late sub against Norwich in Saints’ last outing.
Ben Fisher had this to say about him when he played against Aston Villa in February.
Arguably the biggest boon from Southampton’s win over Aston Villa was the performance of Will Smallbone on his league debut. The midfielder, who turned 20 on Friday, was assured, unfazed and quietly knitted things together for a dominant Southampton side, delicately shifting possession and almost opening the scoring when he hit a post....Smallbone, who joined Southampton as an eight-year-old, was the academy graduate on the lips of supporters at the final whistle. “I knew before this season that he would play a few Premier League games, that was clear,” said his manager, Ralph Hasenhüttl. “It’s good for him and for every young player at the club. If they are good enough we won’t be scared to let them play. This must be our way for the future.”
What does that all mean? Andre Gray has been alleged to have hosted a party that a couple of his teammates attended. And that would explain why they have been left out. Let’s see what Nigel Pearson has to say about all that.
Watford: Foster, Femenia, Dawson, Cathcart, Masina, Hughes, Capoue, Sarr, Doucoure, Pereyra, Deeney.
Subs: Gomes, Mariappa, Cleverley, Welbeck, Joao Pedro, Holebas, Kabasele, Pussetto, Penaranda.
Southampton: McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Vestergaard, Bertrand, Smallbone, Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Redmond, Long, Ings.
Subs: Adams, Armstrong, Obafemi, Gunn, Vokins, Danso, Valery,
Tella, Jankewitz.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland)
Team news, rather pointed team news
🚨 TEAM NEWS 🚨
— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) June 28, 2020
Andre Gray, Nathaniel Chalobah and Domingos Quina have all been omitted from the squad by Nigel Pearson to ensure the health & safety of all players, staff and officials at today’s game.#WATSOU pic.twitter.com/OfDqbM9yeN
🚨 TEAM NEWS 🚨
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) June 28, 2020
How #SaintsFC will line-up against #WatfordFC: pic.twitter.com/lfqjoPKWwb
Preamble
Watford are just a point above the relegation zone, a point gained from Leicester on their return to action. They are perhaps lucky that most of those teams at the bottom have done little to save themselves since the Premier League returned in hermetically sealed form. The likes of Norwich, Aston Villa, Bournemouth and West Ham would seem to have nothing like the momentum Graham Potter has brought from Brighton. With Chelsea to come next week, and Manchester City also to play in their remaining fixtures - plus Arsenal, who Southampton managed to lose to last week. In truth, Saints have little to play for - they are ten points clear of the bottom three - and Ralph Hasenhüttl likes to have time with his players so they may not be a top speed. So, this counts as a must-win game for Watford, and Nigel Pearson, who hasn’t had hair this long since he was captaining Sheffield Wednesday, must fancy this one as three points on the board.
Kick-off 4.30pm UK time. And it’s live.
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