Gianfranco Zola reflects on 'very important' Watford win at Vicarage Road and praises 'magnificent' Lloyd Doyley

10:50am Monday 22nd October 2012 in Sport By Anthony Matthews, Group Sports Editor

Gianfranco Zola described Saturday’s win over Peterborough United as a “very important moment” and believes the home form will continue on an upward curve as his team improves.

The Hornets had picked up three points at Vicarage Road on only the one previous occasion – the 2-0 victory over Birmingham City on August 25 – and they looked set to make it just two points from their next four home outings until Matej Vydra converted the late penalty.

“I think today is a very important moment, a very important thing because it has been a tight game,” said Zola afterwards. “A lot comes because they [Peterborough] are a good team, a lot comes because we haven’t had great results at home and that makes you edgy. I believe that once the team gets going it will be better and better.”

The win was achieved with just a second clean sheet in the league this season.

The Watford head coach was pleased with his side defensively, and particularly praised the contribution of Lloyd Doyley, who returned to the starting XI after a five-game absence to play on the right of the back three.

Zola said: “I thought the three central defenders were excellent – Tommie Hoban and Fitz (Hall) and I must say Lloyd was excellent, Doyley was magnificent. There was a lot of great work from them but the whole team played well to be honest.”

The absence of Neuton with a foot injury had led Zola to consider a change in formation in the build-up to Saturday’s contest. Ultimately, he continued with 3-5-2 but did make one tactical switch in the second half by moving Fernando Forestieri back to play in a deeper role.

“I wanted to try to win the game and for a second I thought about it [a change of formation],” he explained. “I just made one change. I took off one midfielder (Almen Abdi) and put Forestieri in behind the strikers because they were playing with a sitting midfielder. It worked, it didn’t work, I don’t know. That’s one of those things. You try to change the game. It can be good, it can be bad but fortunately for us today it was good.”

Comments(16)

Holly68 says...
11:05am Mon 22 Oct 12

3-4-1-2

Forestieri in central role behind Vydra and Deeney please

Abdi, Calobah, Battochio and Pudil midfield

Nosworthy, Ekstrand and Hall defence

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Holly68 says...
11:22am Mon 22 Oct 12

Who is going to Cardiff ?

I will be there

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dal8oy says...
11:24am Mon 22 Oct 12

Forestieri behind a front 2 of Vydra and Geijo........

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MKgloryHorn says...
11:31am Mon 22 Oct 12

Was I seeing things or did we not play 4 at the back on Saturday?? LD was a right back and Pudil was playing left back, although he always bombs forwards I'd still say it was a back four.

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Holly68 says...
11:33am Mon 22 Oct 12

MKgloryHorn wrote:
Was I seeing things or did we not play 4 at the back on Saturday?? LD was a right back and Pudil was playing left back, although he always bombs forwards I'd still say it was a back four.
It was 3-5-2

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MKgloryHorn says...
11:40am Mon 22 Oct 12

I'm not convinced. Zola said after the game both teams played the same formation and 'Boro had a back four...

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dal8oy says...
12:38pm Mon 22 Oct 12

MKgloryHorn wrote:
I'm not convinced. Zola said after the game both teams played the same formation and 'Boro had a back four...
I think you will find boro played with a back 10 in the 1st half

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MKgloryHorn says...
12:41pm Mon 22 Oct 12

Yeah I agree on that in the 2nd half, they tried to catch us on the counter, which probably worked once or twice, not sure about their reputation for playing great football, think we passed them off the park to be honest.

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AngelHornet says...
1:04pm Mon 22 Oct 12

I wouldn't say Pudil bombed forward, but he was definitely on the left of a 5 man midfield

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JoeWFC_12 says...
1:10pm Mon 22 Oct 12

I like your preferred team selection Holly68, with two games next week and with everyone getting over their "muscle inbalances"..a good problem Zola has is everyone at his disposal. Looking again at the table this morning, we are only 6pts off top spot. Bit by bit everything is coming together nicely...we have some tough fixtures coming up next few weeks! If we manage to get ourselves some decent points starting with Cardiff tomorrow then well it will only back my theory up some more that we will be up there this year! What's happening at Watford is exciting..there be more highs and lows no doubt...keep the faith everyone! I will be up in Blackburn on Saturday, which will also be my 25th birthday! 3 points and a messy night out, is what I am hoping for! Keep the faith horns!

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CARDIFFHORN says...
1:37pm Mon 22 Oct 12

I'll be there, next three games will show how we are progressing.

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Holly68 says...
1:38pm Mon 22 Oct 12

CARDIFFHORN wrote:
I'll be there, next three games will show how we are progressing.
Home game for you :-)

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buckler says...
2:41pm Mon 22 Oct 12

Holly68 wrote:
Who is going to Cardiff ?

I will be there
Looking good for me too.

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Play-Off Pete says...
4:13pm Mon 22 Oct 12

Had to laugh at the walesonline website posting

Craig Bellamy 'should be available' for Cardiff City's trip to Watford

I hope he arrives safely at Vicarage Road just before the kick-off.
The match is at Cardiff!
Lol!

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Casterbridge says...
5:10pm Mon 22 Oct 12

Play-Off Pete wrote:
Had to laugh at the walesonline website posting

Craig Bellamy 'should be available' for Cardiff City's trip to Watford

I hope he arrives safely at Vicarage Road just before the kick-off.
The match is at Cardiff!
Lol!
Great post, but it can happen to anyone. Matt Rowson ended his BSad report on the Middleborough game "See you all at Peterborough"!

Glad to say someone put him wise, as he has posted another insightful report of Saturday's game.

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Travelling Hornet says...
5:34pm Mon 22 Oct 12

I'll be there!

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