Player Ratings: Watford v Nottingham Forest

1. Manuel Almunia (capt) – 8

Pulled off several important second-half saves to deny Greg Halford and Jamie Mackie. Saved by his pots on a couple of occasions but had earned that luck.

12. Lloyd Doyley – 6

Contrived to mess up for Andy Reid`s goal by allowing Jamie Mackie to assist, though he wasn`t helped by Marco Cassett`s cross-field pass. Slipped up significantly once in the second-half too, but also did a lot of good work inbetween.

4. Gabriele Angella – 6

Certainly not as his imposing best, the big Italian was sloppy on the ball and only thanks to those long leads & the extra inches he has on most players did he get away with it as often as he did.

27. Marco Cassetti – 5

Very poor from the veteran Italian, who has begun the season slowly on the whole. At fault for the Reid goal when he played the ball across the face of his own goal – lesson one of defending as a child. It`s not that he`s struggling physically due to age, he`s just making poor decisions.

Essaid Belkalem, Tommie Hoban & Joel Ekstrand cannot be fit again soon enough.

21. Ikechi Anya – 8

Man-of-the-Match for me, impressive throughout and a constant menace up against Forest skipper Chris Cohen down the right. Unlucky not to score on a couple of occasions and as usual, never abandoned his defensive duties.

10. Lewis McGugan – 7

A wonderfully-taken free-kick and a tidy game in midfield. Gianfranco Zola said he looked tired before being taken off and he was withdrawn shortly after. Still building up match fitness after slow pre-season.

23. Iriney – 5

Sat deep in front of the back three, the Brazilian contributed little going forward, distributed the ball slowly and it was after Zola shuffled the pack to go 3-4-3 without him, Watford looked at their best.

22. Almen Abdi – 6
Not his best game, certainly not his worst either, but we`ve come to expect so much from the Swiss midfielder that it`s impossible to always be right on point. Got through a lot of work in midfield without looking flustered but didn`t pull the strings as he can.

18. Daniel Pudil – 7

One of the Czech wing-back`s better games. Got up and down the left – that`s a given – but put some dangerous crosses in and but for better finishing or worse goalkeeping, would surely have claimed an assist.

9. Troy Deeney – 4

Ineffective. As the out-and-out centre-forward in the side he is heavily reliant on good service, but there was very little if any today and as a result he suffered. Deeney is not undroppable and when it so evidently wasn`t going to be his day, throwing on Javier Acuna might not have been a bad idea.

20. Diego Fabbrini – 7.5

Frustratingly brilliant. The Italian is skillfull and one heck of a player, there`s no doubting that, but he has flaws too. He runs into blind alleys too often, doesn`t get his head up often enough and with his slim build, he is going to take a few wallops this season.

Much like Fernando Forestieri before him, the Italian international will have to learn how to cope with the physical nature of the division, especially when up against a side like Forest. Still looked most likely – along with Anya – to make something happen.

Substitutes:

16. Sean Murray – 6.5

Came on from Iriney and looked like the Murray of old. Deployed in the centre of Zola`s 3-4-3, it`s good to see that the wing-back experiment is over. Got on the ball, wanted the ball, carried the ball and moved the ball well.

11. Fernando Forestieri – N/A

With roughly 12 minutes to make an impact, the diminutive Argentine did his usual mischievous scampering but up against strong, resolute Forest back four, had limited impact.

19. Davide Faraoni – N/A

More of a hug-the-touchline kind of winger than Anya, who will come inside and carry the ball with comfort, Faraoni had limited time to make any sort of notable impact.