27/11/2017

Team News | Manchester United

Marco Silva will give Miguel Britos until tomorrow's final training session to prove his fitness for the visit of Manchester United.

Britos limped off in the 52nd minute of Saturday's thumping 3-0 win at Newcastle after failing to shake off the knock he picked up to his left leg following a heavy first-half challenge from Jonjo Shelvey. 

“The situation with Britos we will keep open,” said the Head Coach. “He is still in doubt. We'll see. I'm not sure if he's able to play. We have one more session tomorrow, one more session to prepare for the match and then we will take the decision.”

If Britos fails to make it then Sebastian Prödl is standing by and ready to make his first start since August 26. He slotted in seamlessly to the heart of the defence on Saturday and the Hornets have not conceded a league goal when the giant Austrian has been on the field this season. 

“He's improving his physical condition,” said Silva. “It's been two months without competition, two months without training with the team. It's hard. He's improving and played almost 45 minutes [against Newcastle]. That's good for him.”

Silva will also be boosted by the return of captain Troy Deeney, who is available again after serving a three-match ban, adding to the team's attacking options.  

“He comes back after the ban and is available if I take the decision for him to stay in the squad,” said Silva. “If I decide for him to stay in the squad, he's one more player to help us.”

Silva reported there was no real update to provide on long-term absentees Craig Cathcart, Nathaniel Chalobah and Younès Kaboul but did add that: “Maybe Success looks like the next few weeks. The others we have big doubts about.”

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27/11/2017

Silva | “Our Way, Our Philosophy”

Marco Silva says he will only recalibrate his expectations for this ground-breaking Watford side once they reach the perceived sanctuary of 40 points and, as difficult as it is, he is urging everybody to keep their feet on the floor amid this trailblazing start to the season.

The Hornets moved up to eighth and to within one win of Tottenham Hotspur in fifth place after racking up their biggest ever Premier League away win and their largest top-flight win on the road since Graham Taylor's Golden Boys put five past Chelsea in 1986. 

This is now the club's best ever start to a Premier League season. They have scored as many away goals as they did in the whole of last season and already boast one more win on their travels than they did in the whole of 2016/17. Only Manchester City and Chelsea have better away records. The Hornets were even first on Match of the Day on Saturday night. 

The consistency of the performances suggests this is much more than a flash in the pan or simply a purple patch. It has the feel of a sustained shot at a top-10 finish, if not higher.

The Golden Boys are in good spirits ahead of United's visit

“Our aim and goal is still to remain a Premier League club,” said Silva to the press this afternoon. “This is our goal since the first moment. We haven't won anything until now. It's only 13 games. The moment we achieve 40 points I can talk about other things.” 

It's not that Silva lacks ambition – he's as ambitious as they come – it's just that he does not want the focus diverted away from his game-by-game maxim and anybody getting ahead of themselves. He does not want his team to think they have cracked it by piling up 21 points after 13 games.  

“I am happy with how we work to compete and compete really hard,” he said. “We try to win every match, this is our way. We took important points but we need to keep focus and keep our feet on the floor.”  

“We don't change anything until now. We play always with the same confidence; we play to score and to win the match, home or away. This is our way, our philosophy. We have very good numbers so far and even when we didn't achieve the best results [against Chelsea and Everton], we performed well. It's really good numbers for us. I am happy with what we are doing. We need to keep going and work really hard. If we do that, we can achieve good results.” 

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