Watford head coach Javi Gracia has said that the side are ‘ready to attack’ Everton when we host them this weekend at Vicarage Road.
Having had a break with last weekend being dominated by FA Cup fixtures, both sides head into this weekend’s tie fresh and raring to go, and speaking to the Official Site as he met with the media to preview the game, Gracia explained that he wanted to see Watford return to the sort of attacking game we showed when we took a four one victory over Chelsea earlier in the season.
‘We try to go on the same way as we did against Chelsea. We got the result with the support of our fans. The next two games we need them as after we have some difficult matches away. It is important the supporters help the team in the next game. I think with the backing of our support we will be able to achieve our objectives.’
Gracia went on to say that he was going to try and not grumble about our current injury situation and he certainly wasn’t going to moan about the typically English weather as he has of course worked in Russia and it’s far chillier there.
He also wasn’t going to speak about potential relegation and a scrap at the bottom, he wanted to remain glass half full and look up the table.
‘I don’t like to speak about relegation. I don’t like this word. I only focus on the next match – to speak about other things is not good. It is not good for anybody. I only speak about the next match. I don’t know how many points we might need but I know one thing – we need three points against Everton. We really need these three points. This is the best way to play these 11 matches that are left. We try to get to 33 points first. To look so far ahead is not the best way to play our matches. The next three points are very important for us.’
The last fortnight has seen him integrate some of our walking wounded back into the group as injury worries ease a touch but the focus remains on returning to winning ways.
‘We lost the last game against West Ham but I think it wasn’t a bad game. After the match, I was analysing the stats and you can see we had more possession and more shots on target. I can’t be happy with the result but there are a few positives. We will try to improve our last performance and we are confident can do that versus Everton.’
As for Everton more specifically, he added.
‘We are ready to defend Everton. I know they have many good players but we will not just defend. We are ready to attack, to counter-attack. We know they score goals but it is not only about defence. We have prepared for the next match in the best way. We’ve had time and now we have more options to choose players and this is a good moment for us. We will play against a big club as Everton and try and get the points.’
