Manager Roy Hodgson has urged his players to build on last weekend’s ‘positive’ display at Anfield, as Watford continue their fierce battle for Premier League survival at home to fellow bottom-half side Leeds United on Saturday (April 9, 3pm KO).
Despite ultimately falling to a narrow 2-0 defeat to 2019/20 champions Liverpool on Merseyside the Hornets produced a solid performance for much of the 90 minutes, that showed a continuation of the good work that had yielded a 2-1 win at Southampton three weeks earlier.
A clash against Jesse Marsch’s revitalised Whites at The Vic promises myriad thrills and spills, with the Golden Boys looking to buck a trend of eight successive home defeats and at the same time prevent their opponents - who have taken seven points from their previous three games - further edging themselves towards safety.
While Hodgson has been impressed with his team’s upcoming opponents in the wake of Marsch’s appointment in late February, he is buoyed by the progress of his own players in training and out on the pitch.
And with Burnley’s victory over Everton on Wednesday leaving Watford just three points adrift of safety with eight games to play, the ex-England boss is confident a strong result against Leeds could kickstart a successful end to the season.
“Burnley’s win pushes us back a place in the table, but the gap between all of the teams down there isn’t enormous, and it’s a gap we can do something about,” said Hodgson, 74.
“We’re all in a fight together, and it’s up to us to win that fight. At the moment I’d be loathed to accept any real criticism of our team, because I think they’re working as hard as we can expect them to work, and they’re doing their level best in every game.
“Although we lost last weekend I’d like to see a lot more of the same [against Leeds], because I thought we pushed them hard and put in a wholehearted performance. Of course I’d like to see us be more successful in front of goal, but if our situation is to change it’ll be because our players continue to roll their sleeves up.
“You go into every game from point zero, and we know this weekend is another good opportunity for us. We’re playing a good Leeds side who are organised and have had some good results since the new Head Coach has come in.
“They’ll want to win, but so do we and we believe we have the capability to do so. We haven’t been able to dent our bad record at home in the games we’ve had here, but we’ll keep going. The good thing is that at this moment in time we have a strong squad to pick from.”
Hodgson indeed has no fresh injury concerns ahead of Saturday’s encounter, while youngster Kwadwo Baah’s recent return to full training has further enhanced his options within the first-team squad.
The clash does coincide with Ramadan - with the likes of Moussa Sissoko, Imrân Louza and Hassane Kamara among the millions of Muslims across the world currently fasting from dawn until dusk - and Hodgson praised the club for issuing such players with key support.
He said: “We basically have a fully-fit squad - the work that the doctor and the physios have done is quite incredible, and to have the list of available players we have at this stage of the season is a real boost.
“Ramadan affects us more than many clubs because four of our regular first-team players are Muslims, and they observe it very seriously. It’s a tall order for them to produce the physical output needed at this level while not eating and drinking, and I have to keep reminding myself that they are observing Ramadan while we’re training!
“We’ll keep supporting our players in the best way we can, and it was good to see our players issued with gift packs from Nujum Sports recently. I was pleased to hear that there’s a lot of support from the club for Muslim organisations as well, as it’s such an important period for so many people.”
Finally, Hodgson spared a moment to play down his own on-field ability, after a video of him assisting a João Pedro goal in training went viral on Twitter earlier in the week.
Though the clip was viewed over three million times within 24 hours and drew the attention of numerous sports stars including Leeds and England midfielder Kalvin Phillips, Hodgson joked that he wouldn’t be including himself in the starting XI this weekend.
He added: “I’ve heard about the video, but I’ve not seen it. I don’t join in training, and actually I very rarely kick the ball these days because I’m not as good as I once thought I was!
“There was certainly a lot of luck involved with that pass - it doesn’t happen very often!”
