Venue:Vicarage Road Kick Off: 3:00pm Coverage: BBC 3 counties Radio, Hornets Player, The Forum Shoutbox [video=youtube;hDu7t70Zh6c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDu7t70Zh6c[/video] On Saturday Watford welcome Sheffield Wednesday to Vicarage Road after two very respectable draws under their belt in the past 7 days. Both teams come into this game in poor form with the Hornets rock bottom of the form guide with 0 wins 3 draws and 3 loses in the past 6 games, our opponents have a slightly better record with 2 wins 4 loses. Wednesday are currently without a manager after the sacking of Dave Jones at the beginning of December so Stuart Gray will continue in place as caretaker unless someone is appointed before the weekend. This will be the 44th meeting in all competitions between both teams, Wednesday edging with 20 wins to the Orns 14 and there has been a total of 9 draws. Quick Low down on Sheffield WednesdayAt a general meeting held on, yes, Wednesday 4 September 1867, at the Adelphi Hotel, it was decided to form a football club from the membership of the Sheffield Wednesday Cricket Club with the object of keeping together during the winter season the members of this cricket club. “From the great unanimity which prevailed as to the desirability of forming the club, there is every reason to expect that it will take first rank.” That modest announcement in the Sheffield Independent began the story of one of the most respected and cherished football clubs in England, springing from the spiritual home of football itself. The Wednesday Football Club took part in their first ever game in December 1867, with a victory over the Mechanics Club at Norfolk Park, Dronfield. The next decade and a half saw a gradual evolution towards fully-fledged professional status, marked by the acquisition of a Scottish winger, James Lang, acknowledged as the country’s first ever-professional footballer. In those days Sheffield Wednesday played at the Myrtle Road Ground, Heeley, the Sheaf House Ground, Hunter’s Bar and Endcliffe. Since these grounds lacked any facilities high profile matches were played at Bramall Lane. In April 1887, The Wednesday became a professional football club. The next step was to procure a permanent home ground. A site alongside the railway tracks on Queens Road was leased from the Duke of Norfolk and given the title of Olive Grove. Over £5,000 was lavished on converting this swampland into a proper enclosure. When the lease for Olive Grove had expired on 29 September 1898, a new home had to found for the following season. Sheffield Wednesday, rather than keeping to the town area, made a long trek north to the suburb of Owlerton and took residence at what was then called the Owlerton Stadium. In 1914, this area of the city was taken into the parliamentary constituency of Hillsborough, and hence the ground was renamed. If you'd like to learn the full history of our opponents then click this link: http://thebeautifulhistory.wordpress.com/clubs/sheffield-wednesday/ Interesting factsThe ''Wednesday'' in their name came about because their players could only play on Wednesdays. The original players were working class men who could only get a Wednesday off from work to play the games. Wednesday are also the 5th oldest club in the Football League (1867). Former Goalkeeper Kevin Pressman holds the record for the fastest ever British league sending-off, just 13 seconds into a match with Wolves in 2000. They reached both FA Cup and League Cup finals in 1993, coincidentally losing 2-1 to Arsenal on each occasion All things WatfordTwo very respectable draws in a row will hopefully be the stepping stone and confidence boost Watford needed to start climbing up the league and getting them into a position to start challenge for promotion again where many feel we should be. Wins are needed and soon and the visit of 23rd placed Sheffield Wednesday could be the first of what we hope will be many more to follow. On Tuesday the Golden boys finally started scoring again and showing the beautiful counter attacking football we had became accustom to last season with Battocchio's goal the stand out of the three. A hoarding run from on loan Arsenal full back Bellerin leaving players for dead whilst the still having the composure to cross perfectly to an on rushing Cristian Battocchio who dodged his way in and out of tackles and still managed to find the bottom corner for what will go down as one of best counter attacks this year. There is one man in the Watford squad who was built for counter attacking football, Ikechi Anya, who was a constant menace in the Leeds half with his pace and trickery forcing defenders to step back leaving more space for Deeney to operate. The constant threat of Anya and Bellerin will cause major problems for a leaky Sheffield Wednesday side and Hornets fans will be hoping that Deeney's brace on Tuesday was not a one off and the striker will start to find his shooting boots again because without him scoring we have looked pretty useless in front of goal. Zola has stated that Almunia will be fit again for the weekend but Bond has came in and put in very accomplished displays so the Spanish stopper may not get his place back automatically, Josh McEachran is fit again after missing out with flu and there are still the long term absentee's of Doyley, Hoban, Belkalem. Angella looks set to take his place back in the team after Zola announcing he is fit for the game so it could be a Nosworthy/Angella partnership in the center of defence with Ekstrand missing out because of suspension and could we see the influential Swiss midfielder Almen Abdi back? Zola saying in the Observer he is very close to playing in the famous Yellow shirt again! My preferred line up Bond Faraoni Nosworthy Angella Pudil Thorne Bellerin Battocchio McGugan Anya Deeney Question Time1. Are you happy with how Wednesday are doing after 19 games? Oscar- No, we should be doing so much better than we are, we have a strong team and they all get along. We have shown glimpses in every game, of being a top 10 team. Jones may have been the problem due to him not getting enough confidence in the team. @Reece_SWFC- Nope don't think they've ever played as bad since I've been going 2. Who should we watch out for? Oscar- Connor Wickam. Hes recently joined on loan from Sunderland and has made an impact straight away. Strong, clever, skillfull and can win a game in an instant, just look at what he did against Leicster! @Reece_SWFC- Wickham + Jermaine Johnson and maybe big Reda Johnson if he's on 3. What/who are the weaknesses to Wednesday? Oscar -They are a team who play with alot of confidence, and as most teams get complacent against them, they dont play for anything. Get a couple of early goals and you should be good. 4. What are your expections for the rest of the season? Do you think you will stay up? Oscar - I think, and I hope, that if we get the right man for the job, we should have just enough time to turn it around, although we really cant leave it to late. With many loan signings I fear that are team may gel with the loanees and then if they have to go back, we may have to start again. 5. Who would you like as the new manager? Oscar- Ian Holloway. As many fans would say. He would definetly get something clicked in our team and hopefully boost us up. He brought palace up at the expence of Watford. He has a good track record with most clubs. The only problem is that Milan Mandaric sacked him while he was at Leicster, and he has vowed that he wont work for him again. Hopefully they can put their differences aside and try again. @Reece_SWFC- Ian Holloway but cheap option Gray as manager and lee Bullen as assistant 6. Score prediction? Oscar - With hopefully a good backing from our fans, and a team desperate for a win. I hope we should just clinch this due to your bad form lately, that more that could be said for us. But we haven proven we can beat anyone. Im going for a 1-2 win. @Reece_SWFC- 2-1 Wednesday 7. Watford are currently 12th, according to many are under achieving, do you think they can go up? Oscar- Yes, they have the right man, the right players and the right everything really, very unlucky not to go up last year. Hopefully you have just hit a rough patch and once thats fixed up, you should get going again! @Reece_SWFC- Yes through play offs 8. Which Watford player do you fear most causing you problem? Oscar- Troy Deeney. Hes a player full of quality and potential to win a game for a team. After scoring one of the most dramatic goals in football history last season, hes well known and suprised me how no big teams came in for him. Hes your top scorer this season and surely should be looking to extend that? @Reece_SWFC- All 8. Where do you think you can exploit Watford? Who/What are our weaknesses? Oscar -Due to your attack being your strong point, your defence may not have had enough attention. Last season when we played you away, our pace from our wide men caused alot of threat, I hope that continues. As you are on a dip of form lately, its a good chance for you to make it up. Although we will do anything for the points lately. I'd like to thank both Reece and Oscar for taking the time to answer the questions for us. Sheffield Wednesday's former Orns Martin Taylor 2010–2012 Apps: 90 Goals: 10 My PredictionI really think this game will result in 3 points for the Orns - although I said that versus Yeovil and look how that turned out! I finally think we have turned a corner albeit a small corner with the 2 previous draws against hard opposition, Deeney is finally back scoring and we looked a lot more solid against Burnley than previous games. Anya really helped our attacking force last week and I doubt a leaky Sheffield Wednesday defence will be able to cope with Anya and Bellerin running at them all game. I can see plenty of goals in this match so I'm going for a 3-1 victory! League Table and Upcoming Fixtures 10 Brighton 19 6 28 11 Huddersfield 19 2 26 12 Watford 19 3 25 13 Blackburn 19 0 24 14 Wigan 18 -1 22 21 Charlton 19 -7 18 22 Yeovil 19 -10 16 23 Sheff Wed 18 -9 14 24 Barnsley 19 -19 14 SAT 21 DEC 2013 - CHAMPIONSHIP Ipswich Vs Watford 15:00 THU 26 DEC 2013 - CHAMPIONSHIP Watford Vs Millwall 13:00 SUN 29 DEC 2013 - CHAMPIONSHIP Watford Vs QPR 15:00 Official Website & Forums http://www.swfc.co.uk/ http://www.owlstalk.co.uk/forums/index.php/forum/31-sheffield-wednesday/ http://boards.footymad.net/forum.php?tno=464 COME ON YOU GOLDEN BOYS!
This time the 'corner' we are supposed to be turning will not be just another s*dd**g U bend. 3-1 win at last Thx for write up Harris
Ekstrand is suspended for this game . Should spend time doing proper research rather than cutting and pasting from the internet
If mine are so bad then why didn't you put your name down to do any previews? Too busy on paint drawing pictures my 6 year old cousin could match? Since I'd obviously not like to upset you with my poor previews anymore you can have my remaining games and the next one up is Millwall next Thursday.
Oh I'm getting all the hate today, yes some of my work is copy and paste but I do take the time out to look for the relevant infomation and to ask fans question time part and I apologies I made the mistake on Ekstrand but I forgot he had 5 yellows. Another one slagging me off who doesn't have the balls to write one themselves. Just as a side note the only part I copy and pasted was the Sheffield Wednesday history but I know very little on them so it's best I use the internet's information so everything is correct.
Tbh Sheffield Wednesday deserve to loose just for having fans that actually want that dribbling halfwit Holloway as manager. This is going to be another tough game.
As always, this match will not be an easy one. Sheff Wed have got some good players and I don't see them staying in the bottom two for long. They've not won away all season, and bizarrely I hate playing teams with records like that, as we tend to be the team that suffers. Watford are a bit of a soft touch at the Vic and teams know how to deal with us, so although I'm confident in Watford away, I just do not see a home win in this one. I'm not sure which formation Zola will use, but I'll go with 4-4-1-1 Predicted team:- ..................Almunia Bellerin - Nosworthy - Hall - Anya McEachran - Thorne - Murray - Battocchio .................Forestieri .................Deeney Score prediction:- 1-3
Nice write up Harris and I presume or hope the critics are doing so tounge in cheek!? Although I believe Zola has time to turn this round and isn't under the pressue some feel he should be unde I do think this is an important game. We've had a couple of decent reults away from home but we really need to sort out the home form and no offence to Sheff Wed, but we should be winning games like this. I hope we stick with the new formation as it allows the wingers to really push on with the back up of the full backs. Bellerin and Anya give us the pace we've been missing and providing the midfield can support Deeney this is a formation that can work at home as well as away. It's a shame for the likes of FF and Fabbrini who are both very talented players but the 3-5-2 has not been working so something needed to change and they don't fit in to a 4-5-1. The only possible solution to include one of them would be to go 4-4-1-1 with FF just behind Deeney but I think it's a bit early to try and experiment. All this will be utterly irrelevant if GZ reverts back to 3-5-2 but I'm sure he will have learned from the last two games. Bond or Almunia Faraoni Nos Angella (if fit. Hall or Casetti otherwise) Pudil Anya Thorne Battochio Murray Bellerin Deeney
After a very poor October and even worse November, a good start to December, if we win on Saturday we are back on track, bring on Ipswich, Millwall and then Finishing the year off we a home win over money bags QPR at a packed Vic. If we lose Saturday, dont even want to think about it!!!
Another fantastic preview, good job Harris! As for the game, well, let’s say I’m trying very hard to stay positive!
Bond Faraoni Cassetti Nos Pudil Battocchio Thorne McGugan Anya Deeney Forestieri/Murray 3-0 thank you very much.
I don't we'll let in 3, maybe 1 or 2 though. If we can scrape a 1-1 draw or a 1-0 loss I'll be content.
Doing a write-up for the Forest match will be easy. You just have to mention European Cup and Brian Clough a lot. Job done.
I wasn't going to mention either of those but harp on about how little they've done in 20+ years, link the preview to a Forest forum and await the abuse!
I don't read Moog's posts and I'm not sure if I'm glad they are there or not. Good job. :zola: I reckon it will be a month of draws for us 1-1 Acuna
:bass: <-- he disapproves, so you've done a good write up this week. Anyone else loving these new 'facies'? (See what I did there? :naughty
Very surprised there's been a lineup prediction without Bellerin in the team. Excellent against Leeds.
I think it will be Bond Faraoni Angella/ Hall Nyron Pudil McEachran Thorne McGugan Bellerin Deeney Anya
They haven't kept a clean sheet all season so if we cannot score in this home game but I am not sure when we will!?
I dont know why people are so worried about writing previews. All you have to write is 'club X. Not as massive as Leicester'. Because thats all we really want to know to be honest.
