Troost-Ekong: “We Have Lots Of Competition”

By: Kevin Affleck

William Troost-Ekong has saluted the communication skills of Head Coach Vladimir Ivić when it comes to managing the squad, particularly his defensive resources.

The Nigeria captain sat on the bench for the game at Reading, played 70 minutes at Derby, was back on the bench against Blackburn Rovers before completing a full 90 minutes against Bournemouth. It's a clear sign of how Ivić plans to use the depth of his squad, particularly during a period where 17 games take place in the space of 70 days, and how he's not afraid to rest and rotate, like he showed with James Garner at Derby and João Pedro on Saturday.

“The coach has made it clear what he expects from us,” said the defender on Hive Live Extra. “That's the biggest thing. He also talks to the players. People see him as a serious person, but he speaks to the players and he keeps everyone in the loop about what he's doing. If you've played well and yet are rotated, he gives you the heads up and that helps so there are no surprises. We have lots of competition and everyone is fighting to do well when they get the chance.”

Troost-Ekong took his chance with both hands against Bournemouth. He was rock solid at the heart of a back three, his stand-out moments being an excellently-timed challenge on Dominic Solanke in the first half and then a muscular one on Josh King in the second.

“I managed to hang on,” he said. “I felt my hamstring a bit. I'm still adjusting to the speed of the game as my last game with my [former] club was the third of August. I'm still working on my match fitness so I'm happy to get 90 minutes in my legs. The Championship is a different type of football. It's more direct and you don't have so much time with the ball. It's good quality, from what I've seen, and I'm looking forward to the next game.”

The Hornets go into the next game, at Wycombe, having averaged two points a match in the first seven. They looked like they were going to make it five wins from seven games, but Chris Mepham struck deep into injury time to rescue a point for Bournemouth that was probably deserved.

“We are a little bit disappointed to only get a point, but if you'd have said before the game we'd get a point, we'd have probably taken it,” he said. “Of course it's disappointing when you concede so late in the game and it felt a bit like a loss, but if you look back at the game, without a biased view, they had the ball a lot so a draw was probably a fair result.

“We should have perhaps tried to defend a bit higher, especially in the second half, but it's quite difficult as we didn't have the right pressure on the ball. They tried to play behind us quite a lot, so they pinned us back a bit with the ball in behind. They moved the ball well and as soon as we tried to get up the pitch, they tried to get behind us. They had quick players, so we had to cover the space.”

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