Following today’s clash between Stoke City and Watford, here are the instant reactions from both managers.
Stoke City hosted Watford at the Bet365 Stadium for an 8pm kick off on Wednesday January 31, with both sides playing out a scoreless draw.
The point moves Stoke out of the bottom three in the table and they kept back to back clean sheets for the first time since March last year, but Watford will take their strong defensive showing as a positive from the game and they also dominated possession.
Teams:
Stoke:
Butland, Bauer, Shawcross, Zouma, Pieters, Fletcher, Adam (Crouch 60), Shaqiri, Allen, Choupo-Moting, Diouf (Berahino 85).
Substitutes:
Johnson, Cameron, Stafylidis, Sobhi, Grant.
Watford:
Karnezis, Mariappa, Prodl, Kabasele, Holebas, Doucoure, Capoue, Cleverley (Pereyra 72), Deulofeu (Carrillo 88), Deeney, Richarlison (Gray 68).
Substitutes:
Janmaat, Zeegelaar, Bachmann, Stewart.
Speaking to the BBC’s cameras a short time after match day referee Jonathan Moss blew the final whistle, Stoke City manager Paul Lambert explained.
‘I thought they were better than us first half. And I thought we were better second half. But four points and two clean sheets is a good start for me and the team because it keeps the momentum. It’s a game we might have lost a few weeks ago, but it probably wasn’t a spectacle like the first game was (Huddersfield). It’s Watford’s prerogative how they want to play. They are a hard team to play against because of the physical aspect to their game and they go pretty direct to their front lads, but the onus is on us to make the running.’
Watford head coach Javi Gracia in his comparative interview focused in on Barcelona loanee Gerard Deulofeu.
‘Gerard played well and made a big effort to create and add balance to our team. I am happy with his work and I hope he will improve as the level of the team does.’
