TROY STORY ENDING IN A GRIM STYLE

IF there is one player at Watford who tells it like it really is, that man is Troy Deeney. The Hornets captain (above) gave his team-mates both barrels last week following a miserably limp 2-0 defeat on Humberside to a 10-man Hull side which summed up their Premier League inconsistency. “One team had a set of balls and ran and kicked, and did all the horrible stuff,” Deeney told Match of the Day viewers. “The other team just wanted to play a game like it was FIFA.” He had already fronted up to Watford’s loyal band of travelling fans after the game at the KC Stadium, going over to shake hands and listen to their frustrations. Deeney, then, will hardly have feared a negative reaction in the visiting dressing room afterwards. In fact, he went in again with a dig last night in his programme notes, warning his team-mates that they are playing for their futures. Even boss Walter Mazzarri is now attempting to dispel the widely-held belief that Watford traded down, rather than up, by bringing him in to replace the perfectly capable Quique Flores last July. What a game then to try and lay the ghost to rest of their 6-1 demolition at Anfield earlier this season – one of the worst defeats of Mazzarri’s career. What a shame that their limitations were exposed yet again as a Liverpool side there for the taking completed the double. Mazzarri (left) appears a coach incapable of inspiring the players as several of his predecessors have. Some at Vicarage Road remain unimpressed with his lack of English after almost a year in the job – in stark contrast to the likes of his fellow Italian Antonio Conte at Chelsea. The Watford players may be safe in the knowledge that they will be playing Premier League football next season. The end-of-term report on Mazzarri might suggest it is touch and go for the man from Tuscany.