Eustace a doubt for Brum clash (From Watford Observer)

Watford captain John Eustace a doubt for match against Birmingham City

12:00pm Friday 24th August 2012 in Sport By Frank Smith, Deputy Group Sports Editor

Picture: Action Images

Gianfranco Zola believes tomorrow (Saturday) night’s televised game against Birmingham City gives the club a chance to show the wider public their new passing style.

Zola took over the Hornets in the summer and has been working on trying to implement a more possession-based philosophy on his team.

The side have struggled at times but there have been glimpses of what the players are capable of and Zola is hoping they can impress live on Sky Sports on Saturday night, kick-off 5.20pm.

He said: "It gives us the opportunity to show the work that we have been doing for quite a while. So hopefully it is going to spark the players even more. But I don’t think we need that because of the result in the last game (1-0 defeat) so we want to come back even stronger.

"Birmingham are a good side. They are wounded at the moment so it is going to be a difficult game for us but I’m sure it will be difficult for them as well.

"So we will see what we can do."

The Hornets have one major doubt going into the contest, with captain John Eustace struggling with the back injury which kept him out of Tuesday night’s defeat to Ipswich Town.

Zola explained: "It is something that kept him out last season.

"He has been very professional because he has been playing even though he has been struggling with his back.

"But because it was getting worse, together we decided he was going to have treatment to stop the problem because it was limiting his performances.

"He had treatment and he had to have a couple of days off after that so I believe he will be reporting back tomorrow (Friday), so we will see how it goes."

Watford will again be without Fitz Hall, Stephen McGinn, Alex Geijo and Prince Buaben due to injury.

Buaben was left out of the last two Hornets squads due to an injury suffered in training and Geijo is still attempting to find full fitness following his loan move.

Zola said: "Alex will be at least two more weeks I believe.

"In those situations it depends a lot on how the player progresses but I don’t think he will be ready for a couple of weeks."

On Buaben, he added: "We are assessing him to try and understand the actual injury but he might be out for a few weeks."

McGinn has not played a competitive game for Watford in 17 months due to a knee ligament injury.

He returned to training at the end of last season and felt he was ready to play in the final first team matches after featuring for the Reserves on a few occasions.

However, the former coaching team and the new regime wanted to take extra care when it came to McGinn's recovery.

The Scot had additional tests a couple of weeks ago and when asked how they went, Zola replied: "I think we are getting there with Steve. Hopefully he will be training with me shortly. So it is good news.

"With Steve we are just making sure he doesn’t have any setbacks because that is the worst thing that can happen when you have been out for a long time. But we are getting there and it shouldn’t be too long.

"He is still working with the physios. He is doing more and more but before he comes in and works with us, we want to make sure he is 100 per cent fit."