Watford v Millwall 15:00 Saturday, 1st November 2014 Vicarage Road, Watford The Hornets' next game will be at home to Millwall, who are currently in 15th in the Championship table, with 17 points from 14 games - a game described by Millwall manager Ian Holloway as "a bit of a local derby". Millwall's previous game was a 1-0 victory at The Den over Russell Slade's Cardiff City. This was Millwall's first win since 30th August 2014. Team News - TBC Heurelho Gomes was injured during the warm-up before the Middlesbrough game and will be assessed prior to the Millwall game. Almen Abdi is absent due to a shoulder injury. Gabrieles Angella and Tamas are also missing. Midfielder Lewis McGugan should be back in contention after a back injury. Further team news will be added closer to the time. Troy Deeney could make his first start after his hamstring injury. Millwall team news is to be confirmed, but striker Mathias Ranegie (on loan from Watford, of course) is unable to play against his parent club. Last Meeting - Millwall 2-2 Watford - 12th April 2014 The last meeting between the two clubs resulted in a 2-2 draw at The Den, with goals from Lewis McGugan and Almen Abdi being cancelled out by Steve Morrison and Martyn Woolford respectively, the latter coming five minutes into injury time at the end of the game. Previous Meetings Millwall returned to the Championship via the League One Playoffs in 2010. Perhaps one of Watford's most memorable results was a 6-1 victory at The Den that same year. Here are the head-to-head results between the two teams since then: 18th September 2010 - Millwall 1-6 Watford 5th March 2011 - Watford 1-0 Millwall 27th September 2011 - Watford 2-1 Millwall 31st January 2012 - Millwall 0-2 Watford 6th November 2012 - Watford 0-0 Millwall 16th April 2013 - Millwall 1-0 Watford 26th December 2013 - Watford 4-0 Millwall 12th April 2014 - Millwall 2-2 Watford Holloway Hoodoo? For the superstitious fans among us, it is an interesting statistic that The Hornets have not won any of their last seven games against Ian Holloway-managed sides: 22nd August 2010 - Watford 2-2 Blackpool 23rd January 2011 - Blackpool 3-2 Watford 17th December 2011 - Blackpool 0-0 Watford 6th April 2012 - Watford 0-2 Blackpool 8th February 2013 - Watford 2-2 Crystal Palace 27th May 2013 - Crystal Palace 1-0 Watford 12th April 2014 - Millwall 2-2 Watford Poppy Display on the Day As a lot of people on here will already know, there will be a crowd display (above) at this game, and a lot of plans are in place for this. Volunteers are needed to place coloured foils on each seat for the display. If you are able to volunteer your time, and can be at The Vic from 9:00am on the day, please follow this link and submit your contact details (which will not be shared with anyone). All help will be greatly appreciated! More to come...
Thanks for doing my match preview thread lol. Tbf this is a good match thread and I've got quite a load of work on atm so you've helped me quite a bit. Hollowhead really is the definition of stupid if he wants to say this is "a bit of a local derby". Unfortunately as much as he's stupid, he's a very good tactician and he'll know exactly how to set his team up against us and he'll tell his players to go hard against ours. The key difference this time is that we have the Joka here, who is good at changing things. I'll go with a score draw
They'll target our full backs again and double up on parades and pudil. Holloway did that when we played 3-5-2 as well, exploiting the gaps in the full back position. I'm worried about this game.
It's irrelevant what plans Millwall have for our full backs, they will hardly see the ball. 3-0 Watford.
Very winnable game in my opinion, I expect Millwall’s season to consist of them mostly looking nervously at the championship table trying to calculate how many more points they may need to ensure safety. They are an extremely workman like side without much talent, expect to see a team who look (9 times out of 10) to play a long ball and bypass their average midfield. I don’t see them having much possession at the Vic and if we do score early I think it will become clear to everyone watching the game that they are a one dimensional side without a plan b. This is the kind of side that we could really embarrass if we are firing on all cylinders. I therefore predict an optimistic 5-1 Watford victory. I can see the whole team being up for this one, the poppy display in the Rookery should set the scene and hopefully we can create the kind of atmosphere we had against Huddersfield! Paredes may need a rest as he looked tired against Middlesborough, Id give Doyley a go...hes been solid in every game he has played and Millwall aren’t a pacey side.....Another completely unrelated reason I want him to play is that I love being able to shout “shoot” every time he touches the ball in the opposition half. Bassong is an absolute unit and you can tell he is a real personality already, Id be worried about Millwall and their long balls if it wasn’t for him. If Angella is fit then we will see (in my opinion) one of the strongest full back partnerships in the championship. If Ekstand plays I’m still confident, he’s had a much stronger start of the season compared to 2013/14 season, and isn’t afraid of a physical battle for 90minutes. Hoping Abdi recovers from his shoulder injury by saturday, if not I think we should be playing Munari, Tozser and Mcgugan (who scored in both games against Millwall last season) Im excited to see Vydra, Deeney and Fessi start together and I honestly don’t think they could be more suited to exploit Millwall’s biggest weakness in my opinion and that is their defence. Who can our front three exploit? Alan Dunne – Defender - Basically Millwall’s version of Lloyd Doyley as he has been with them for 14 years. A poor man’s version though, he is slower, less talented and holds the record for most sending offs in Millwall’s history. At 32 years of age hes nearing the end of his career, I can honestly see a sending off/ penalty given away and hopefully he will consider retirement after Fessi Vydra and Deeney are finished with him. Danny Sh1ttu – not sure if he will play as he only really played against Cardiff because Dunne did what he does best (got himself suspended). He did however score a goal and have a solid game so I’m praying he gets picked over Beevers as he’s their slowest player by a mile and essentially I think he will drown against our front three. He got sent off last season and gave away a penalty, same again please Danny! Their away form isn’t anything to be feared; they have lost 3 of last 5 away games and only scored 3 goals in those 5 games. Its tight at the top of the championship with very little to choose between the team in 1st and the team in 10th....there is however a huge difference in quality between us and any of the teams in the lower half of the division. Millwall are one of those teams and I hope that at around 5.30pm November 1st, Holloway will be moaning to anyone who will listen about the team who dominated his team for 90minutes only having 1 or 2 English players on the pitch. Come on you Horns!!!
Apparently Millwall won on the weekend because their pressing was so good. We've struggled in the Pozzo era when teams press well, so it'll be interesting to see how Slavisa sets us up to cope with that.
Lose 1-0. Penalty conceded by the returning Cassetti. Phillips to convert. We don't turn up. Tough afternoon for the Hornets.
This is exactly the sort of game we used to throw away due to complacency. Joka needs to fire the boys up for this - take the 3 points and start to break way from the pack at the top of the table.
We beat a 10 man Millwall 4-0 after (i think) ****tu got sent off. In the Pozzo era, we've W1, L1, D2. The loss in Apr 2013 was wildly heralded as the game that could have got us up automatically and was almost certainly lost due to complacency.
I cannot think of a better result than a win here. If Jokanovic wants promotion then a win will certainly help. Personally, I think 3 points should be what we are aiming for, as if we achieve less than this, it will require losing points against a team which we could have beaten. Holloway's teams are always going to give us a game of football, as all Championship teams will, so we have to be ready. IMHO we should look to get past their defence and stop their attack, with the aim of outscoring them!! Otherwise, if we are not on our toes, there is very much the possibility that we may draw or even lose. I think the result could be 3-1 to Watford
Will be nice if we can give them a good thumping, Holloway has gotten the better of us far too much for my liking in recent years. Be it winning at Wembley, coming from behind to nick a draw or simply beating us. So a nice 5-0 or something along those lines would be very pleasing.
Packed house, commemorative atmosphere, revenge on the Holloway 'that carnt be roight' factor, quality all over the pitch, a manager with tactical nouse, an average Millwall team.... as long as the players feel up for it - and Troy will be a big factor for this - I see a tonking 4-1 COYH
Out of all games this season, this is one of the ones where I really see us rolling over the opposition. Millwall are average. We're very good. We're at home. There really seems to be a feeling that we're on the cusp of something very good, with our injured players coming back and the unbeaten run continuing. I'm going bold and predicting a 5-0 win which sees us top. I will however emotionally prepare for a soul destroying 1-0 defeat.
They'll play deep and defensive all game, hoping to catch us on the counter or with a set piece. They have no real pace so expect long balls down the channels with them looking to win free kicks and corners. The longer they can keep within one goal the more they will think that they have a chance of nicking something. Don't expect anything less than an afternoon of boring defensive football.
We really ought to win this game comfortably but football doesn't always work that way. That said, I'm going for an optimistic 4 - 1 to them....................................just joking, 4 - 1 to the mighty Hornets.
From the dressing room: "We've had a tough run of games and Millwall will be no exception as they will be looking to get a result and there is always a bit of an atmosphere in these London Derbies. If we can keep our calm and play our football we can see ourselves getting a result here and that's what we're looking to do, in order to build on our unbeaten run."
The last time we went 9 games unbeaten in the league was 2007-08, Aidy's season back in the Championship after relegation, when we actually went 10 unbeaten before the infamous West Brom match at the Vic. We've failed to beat Holloway in the last 7 matches we've played any of his sides..1 with Millwall, 2 with Palace and 4 with Blackpool. Our last win against him in the league was in 2008, when we beat his (soon to be relegated) Leicester City side 1-0 at the Vic.
Yeah, Paredes looks knackered....Doyley played against Sheffield Wednesday and had a great game despite the fact that we were spending large portions of the game attacking.
Could Deeney start given his physical presence against somebody like ****tu? I wouldn't be surprise if we see sort of rotation going by the manager's comments after the Boro game to the WO.
Anybody who reveals that sort of confidential information outside the dressing-room ought to be out on his ear.
