Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
IVIC: WE’RE NOT SARR OFF
Record-buy Ismaila & Brazil kid Pedro will fire up Hornets
Championship: 7.45pm VLADIMIR IVIC says Watford are ready to release the handbrake and prove they are not dull and void as promotion favourites.
Five league games involving the Hornets have so far produced only four goals – the lowest in the Championship – and Blackburn Rovers, the division’s leading scorers with 11, are next up at Vicarage Road tonight.
To date, Watford have dealt exclusively in binary with scores of 1-0, 0-0, 1-0, 0-1 and 1-0.
But they managed to hang on to record-signing Ismaila Sarr in the transfer window, and Ivic expects his partnership with 19-year-old b o y - f ro m- Bra z i l Jo ao Pedro to prosper.
Th e Horn ets h ead c o ach (below) said: “We have scored only three goals, but my target is to play attacking football and we work on that philosophy. hy.
“Although we need to find more solutions in n our attacking play, we have many players in the team who are only
19 or 20, and we must be patient with them.
“It is a big risk to ask sk so many young players to t take on the responsibility, but sometimes you need to take the risk, give them a chance to show their quality, and show they merit a place in the first team.
“From the beginning, we had a lot of problems. A lot of players who could have changed clubs stayed out of the team.
“A lot of people spoke about us being favourites to be promoted – yes, that is our target, and we are all responsible for achieving this.” Pedro scored a stunning winner at Derby on Friday night and Iv ic sai d: “Ever y day I see his talent and his quality – not just me, but other people at the club.
“He has started five games in the Championship and scored two goals so far.
“We hope for many more, but the important thing for him is to w ork d ay by d ay, ke e p improving and, if he does that, the goals will come.”