MATCH THREAD: " WATFORD v CARDIFF CITY " MATCH THREAD

WATFORD v CARDIFF CITY
Saturday 3rd February, 3pm
Sky Bet Championship
Vicarage Road 



Cardiff City XI: Alnwick; Ng, Goutas, McGuinness, Collins; Siopis, Wintle; Bowler, Colwill, Grant; Etete.

Subs: Turner, Romeo, Ramsey, Phillips, Turnbull, Diedhiou, Meite, Wilson-Esbrand, Tanner.


THE FIVE NEW PLAYERS:


Famara Diedhiou - Loan (Grenada)

Nathaniel Phillips - Loan (Liverpool)

Josh Wilson-Esbrand - Loan (Manchester City)


Ethan Horvath - Nottingham Forest ( Undisclosed)

David Turnbull - Celtic £1mill over 3 years / plus extras




Team News:

Ramsey travelling to Watford.



New Defender Nathaniel Phillips will go straight in to the match day squad


The Cardiff Squad is virtually injury free after the break:

Aaron Ramsey is now back in training and is expected to be back in the team.

Callum O’Dowda won’t be back playing till March.

Both Ramsey and O’Dowda have only made 6 appearances each in 32 League and Cup games.



Cardiff’s 2,000 away allocation is sold out, the 2nd time this season Cardiff have Sold their Away allocation out.

The Opposition's Manager

Valerian Ismael was appointed Watford manager last May.

He is best known for his time in charge of Barnsley, where he unexpectedly took them to the Championship play-offs.

He also had spells in charge of Besiktas and West Brom.

Opposition Dangerous Players

Mileta Rajovic has eight league goals this season.

Tom Dele-Bashiru has scored in two of his last three league games.

Head To Head  

We drew at home to Watford earlier in the season.

That was the only draw in the last five meetings, with each of us winning two of those games.

Team News - Predicted Line-Ups  

Watford: Hamer, Andrews, Porteous, Hoedt, Morris, Livermore, Dele-Bashiru, Kone, Asprilla, Chakvetadze, Rajovic

Cardiff City: Alnwick, Ng, McGuinness, Goutas, Collins, Wintle, Rinomhota, Colwill, Tanner, Grant, Meite 

Last Game

We didn't have a game last weekend due to being out of the FA Cup. We lost 3-1 to Plymouth Argyle the weekend before that in the league.

Watford drew against Southampton in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday. They also face Sheffield Wednesday away in the Championship on Wednesday. In their last league game the weekend before, they drew 1-1 at Bristol City.

Match Odds

Watford - 17/20
Cardiff City - 3/1
Draw - 13/5

Predictions

Post your predictions below 

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Cardiff’s 2,000 away allocation is sold out, the 2nd time this season Cardiff have Sold their Away allocation out.

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

6th Jan FA CUP 3rd Sheffield Wednesday 4 Cardiff City 0 Crowd 10,955 Away Support (411)

13/01/2024 Cardiff City 0 Leeds United 3 Crowd 25,991 Away Support 3,236


20/01/2024 Plymouth Argyle 3 Cardiff City 1 Crowd 16,471 Away Support 1,733




03/02/2024 15:00 Watford v Cardiff City Crowd Away Support ( )
10/02/2024 15:00 Preston North End (h)
13/02/2024 20:00 West Bromwich Albion (a)
17/02/2024 15:00 Norwich City (a)
92/02/2024 19:45 Blackburn v Cardiff City
24/02/2024 15:00 Stoke City (h)

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Team News:

The Cardiff Squad is virtually injury free after the break:

Aaron Ramsey is now back in training and is expected to be back in the team.

Callum O’Dowda won’t be back playing till March.

Both Ramsey and O’Dowda have only made 6 appearances each in 32 League and Cup games.

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Cardiff and Watford both mid table teams and this could go either way.

It’d be handy if we could get these reported signings in place early this week and get them ready for next his game

Watford head to Sheffield Wednesday for tomorrow’s night game with only two first-team players ruled out of the squad – whether that squad will be added to before the transfer window shuts on Thursday night is very much open to debate though.

With Tom Dele-Bashiru fit after being rested because of a slight hamstring issue on Sunday, only midfielder Edo Kayembe and defender Jeremy Ngakia are sidelined.

With those two seemingly just a couple of weeks away from being able to be considered for selection, the Hornets are on the cusp of a fully-fit squad.

Nonetheless, Imran Louza has left on loan and Rhys Healey has moved to Huddersfield. Emmanuel Dennis has returned to the club, but with the head coach pointing to a ‘one in, one out’ approach to January a couple of weeks ago, currently Watford appear to be a player lighter than they were at the start of the month.

“Anything can happen but I am very pleased with our squad,” said Valerien Ismael.

New Defender Nathaniel Phillips will go straight in to the match day squad

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Updated:

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

New Defender Nathaniel Phillips will go straight in to the match day squad

I hope he starts

Watford playing away at Sheffield Wednesday tonight.

Watford playing away at Sheffield Wednesday tonight.

Sheffield Wednesday's winless run extended to three matches as they recorded a 0-0 draw at home to Watford in the Championship.

Surely advantage us?. They played last night limited time to rest .we should be fresh and up at them?.

Ramsey travelling to Watford.

City to nick it 2-1

Erol Bulut:

“This is the first year for me here in English football. It’s a limited budget to make five or six players. It’s not easy. So no one can say why we didn’t take certain players.”


“If I showed you my list of strikers… but in the last few days if you hear you’ve only got a budget of £10 you can’t do it. That only happened in the last three days! “

“So we have to look at other options, the best for Cardiff City to bring good players in.”

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Erol Bulut on Ramsey: ‘We were expecting him back earlier, of course, but with injuries you never know. He is healthy and will be with the team in Watford. To train alone, fitness, running, it’s not easy. He trained really hard all month and you can see in his face how happy he is.’

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Going to be interesting to how many of these new players start v Watford .

Robinson likely out for Watford game -

In the chaos of transfer deadline day, we might have missed the news that Callum Robinson is not yet fit enough to take part in the game against Watford this weekend.

The Bluebirds were buoyed by the news that Aaron Ramsey was back fit again for the trip to Vicarage Road tomorrow, however fellow playmaker Robinson, who turns 29 today, is not.

Robinson has not been in a matchday squad since January 6, with Bulut citing illness. Asked about Robinson yesterday, the Bluebirds manager said: "He is back, but today he had individual training.

"In the next few days he will be with us. On Saturday? I don't know, because he was a long time away from us and has had individual training. He will be back with us when he is ready to be with us."

THE FIVE NEW PLAYERS:


Famara Diedhiou - Loan (Grenada)

Nathaniel Phillips - Loan (Liverpool)

Josh Wilson-Esbrand - Loan (Manchester City)


Ethan Horvath - Nottingham Forest ( Undisclosed)

David Turnbull - Celtic £1mill over 3 years / plus extras

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Watford: Transfer ins and outs - January 2024


In
Jorge Cabezas (end of loan, New York Red Bulls)
Kwadwo Baah (end of loan, Burton Albion)
Emmanuel Dennis (loan, Nottingham Forest)
Giorgi Chakvetadze (undisclosed, Gent)

Out
Imran Louza (loan, Lorient)
Rhys Healey (undisclosed, Huddersfield Town)
Jorge Cabezas Hurtado (loan, Watford)

Watford total spent to date: £0m
Watford total received to date: £0m

Four new #Bluebirds on the subs bench too, as well as the returning @aaronramsey!

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

I don’t get it half of Watfirds best team is in the bench ? Is their manager mad at their performance and trying to teach them a lesson ? They have three or four kids and two old(ish) players starting . I have not been following Watford’s team recently ….but something does not seem right . Anyway ….hopefully this works great for us .

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

I don’t get it half of Watfirds best team is in the bench ? Is their manager mad at their performance and trying to teach them a lesson ? They have three or four kids and two old(ish) players starting . I have not been following Watford’s team recently ….but something does not seem right . Anyway ….hopefully this works great for us .

Said on the team news thread, maybe he just thinks we're that bad.

1-3 to The Blooobirds

Bluebirds

Started with fast pace by both sides

I don’t get it half of Watfirds best team is in the bench ? Is their manager mad at their performance and trying to teach them a lesson ? They have three or four kids and two old(ish) players starting . I have not been following Watford’s team recently ….but something does not seem right . Anyway ….hopefully this works great for us .

Said on the team news thread, maybe he just thinks we're that bad.

Watford hit back on the breakway. Martins chops on from the right and releases a left-footed shot, but it's blocked by City defenders on their own 18-yard line.

Ball flat so change of ball

First clean sheet for Watford v Wednesday last week in 15 games