Watford 2–1 Norwich City: Hornets finally strike a tune against Canaries
Ridiculous though it sounds, Watford games have become a 90-minute trial for the players, management, and ownership.
Lose, as was the case — pitifully — at Blackpool last weekend, and everything has to be raised to the ground and rebuilt. Public hangings will be called for. But a victory like Saturday night’s 2–1 success over Norwich City helps quell the angst and a stay of execution will be afforded.
Neither view is wrong. There are deep-rooted issues that have to be extracted if the Hornets are to thrive. Victory over a high-flying Canaries side only papers over the cracks. But we can enjoy a win like this while it lasts, too.
It’s been a while since there was such a good atmosphere at Vicarage Road but the relentless nature of the Championship means that could all change by the time them up the M1 visit next Sunday.
Here are five thoughts from the victory over Norwich on Saturday evening…
Games against Norwich City have tended to be significant in recent Watford history
Last season’s spineless collapse at home under the lights spelled the end of Claudio Ranieri’s short-lived and ill-advised reign. The win at Carrow Road in the autumn of the same season saw Ben Foster, Craig Cathcart and Tom Cleverley restored to the side for a 3–1 win that gave Xisco Muñoz a much-needed shot in the arm.
The season prior, Dan Gosling’s goal secured a 1–0 win that proved vital en-route to the Covid-19 promotion. As far back as 2019–20, Danny Welbeck’s stunning overhead kick — his only contribution of note in yellow — secured a 2–1 win and breathed new life into the survival bid under Nigel Pearson.
It isn’t too much of a leap to imagine this win, under the lights at a buoyant Vicarage Road, will have similarly significant ramifications for Slaven Bilić.
The Croatian spoke before the game about not having a full week to work with his new side. If this was the result of that, he can feel vindicated — but he won’t get many more. The Hornets have seven games before the World Cup break begins after the November 12 fixture against Pearson’s Bristol City.
Defeat here — against a fellow relegated side and promotion hopeful — would have been a potentially devastating blow to Bilić’s reign. He lives to fight another week.
Bilić’s tactical masterstroke pays off
It was tempting to presume in the early stages that Ismaïla Sarr and Ken Sema had simply become displaced and would soon switch back to their natural sides. We’ve seen Sema play on the right and, frankly, once you’ve seen it you don’t need to see it again. He’s only not the most left-footed player at the club anymore because Edo Kayembe exists.
But this worked and it worked well. My Watford Buzz colleague Jordan Wiemer talked in one of his excellent recent videos about getting Sarr to drive inside at the opposing defence and he did that with aplomb against Norwich.
The Senegalese has a tendency to decide early on if it’s going to be his day or not. At Stoke he threatened to go into his shell after a few early calls went against him, only to burst into life after scoring the opener. But against Norwich he was on it from the word go, driving at their backline and creating havoc.
It was Sarr who won the penalty after being felled by Liam Gibbs and it was he who made the opener, standing up Max Aarons before stepping inside and crossing for Imrân Louza to provide a sumptuous first-time finish.
Sarr was it at again to make the second, darting into the box, getting to the byline and crossing low, the ball to eventually find its way to Keinan Davis to tuck home.
Comical, almost criminal, misuse of Sarr has come to characterise his time at Vicarage Road. Perhaps Bilić has discovered a different way of getting more from the club’s record signing?
Sema, meanwhile, is never going to win any plaudits for his beauty or grace as a footballer. But in a team so temperamental and highly strung, the fact he knuckles down and gives his all every week — even in an uncomfortable position — is something supporters appreciate. We’re Watford fans after all. Players like John Barnes and Luther Blissett don’t come along very often. For every one of those there’s a hundred Ken Semas or John Eustaces; players who make up for any technical deficiency with heart, desire, and commitment.
Where would a team of Ken Semas be this season, one wonders…
Watford will be the Louza if Imrân picks up ban
As Watford fans, it never rains: it pours. Hot off the abomination at Blackpool was the news Louza is facing a six-game ban for spitting in the Swansea City shambles.
The Morrocan maestro has been a breath of fresh air since returning — the cliché ‘like a new signing’ springs to mind. He missed the penalty against Norwich but more than atoned with a stunning, placed, first-time volley beyond Angus Gunn and into the far corner to open the scoring.
Even without that goal — making it two in as many games, plus an assist at Stoke — he was the stand-out from a Hornets’ perspective. His ability — and willingness — to pick up possession in any area or situation makes him almost unique in this side. The other player who demonstrates the same amount of bravery and confidence is Yáser Asprilla.
Between them, Louza and Asprilla ran rings around the Canaries, popping the ball around with the urgency that has been lacking all season long. Watford have dangerous forward players. Moving the ball quickly gets them into dangerous areas, stretches the play, and puts opposing defences on the back foot, running towards their own goal.
There was no little tenacity on display from the pair of them, too.
We need to see more of it.
The redemption trail begins for Troost-Ekong
Watford fans and centre-backs do not make happy bedfellows. The only defender at the club more maligned than William Troost-Ekong is Christian Kabasele, who was left out for this one after ‘suffering an injury in the build-up to Blackpool’s second goal’. We’ll never know the truth of it but anyone watching the footage will have a hard time believing the Belgian hurt himself while letting CJ Hamilton meander past him at walking pace.
Victory over Norwich did not hinge on Kabasele’s absence. But Watford were a darn sight more solid at the back with Craig Cathcart returning to partner Troost-Ekong.
Such has been the campaign of bile against him, any credit built up from the promotion season of 2019–20 has been entirely forgotten — or overlooked. Perfect he is not. But he is a perfectly serviceable Championship defender, in my view.
And yet here, it was his work in possession that stood out. He completed 28 of 29 passes, giving him a 97% success rate, per WhoScored. These were not simple tippy-tappy, side-to-side passes either. There were some really nice, progressive, fizzed, forward balls in there too. The sight of Daniel Bachmann giving Troost-Ekong the ball inside his own box from a goal kick might previously have been considered kamikaze. But he handled the situation well and progressed the ball without surrendering possession.
Full-time jubilation
It feels like a long time since there was such a visible and audible outpouring of joy at Vicarage Road. It has been the furthest thing from a fortress in the last year — lest we forget that record-breaking 12-game winless run at home.
Yet the reality is the early wins over Sheffield United and Burnley were met with something similar as we basked in the summer glow of that infamous cultural reset. Already it has been a long season.
But this felt different. I can’t remember the last time so many fans hung around at full time and even sang after the final whistle. The fact at least two players dropped to the ground at full-time was an indication of the immense effort that went into securing a precious and potentially season-defining three points.
The Championship is all-too-familiar territory for Watford fans, though. If you think for one second you’ve cracked it, it will sock you one right in the mouth when you least expect it. But if you can get that precious commodity of momentum, you’re laughing.
The trial re-commences at Millwall on Wednesday.