Doucoure’s stunning strike is music to the ears of buzzing Hornets supporters
SOME bright spark in Watford’s support has fitted Abdoulaye Doucoure’s name to the tune from Earth, Wind and Fire’s 1978 hit September.
‘On and on… Abdoulaye Doucoure,’ it goes. ‘He never gives the ball away.’
It’s a catchy one and, having been sung with gusto for many minutes by Watford’s travelling fans here, will be stuck in quite a few heads this morning.
Well, it turns out that not only does the Frenchman rarely give the ball away, he also strikes it pretty cleanly too.
His lovely right-footed half-volley on 38 minutes set Watford on their way to a comfortable victory at goal-shy Southampton, lifting the Hornets to fourth and continuing Marco Silva’s positive start.
An equally attractive goal by defender Daryl Janmaat in the second half made sure of the points.
Not that Southampton remotely threatened to win them. They have now failed to score in nine of their past 12 Premier League matches and only mustered a shot on target in the 92nd minute.
Mauricio Pellegrino’s Saints team are as ineffective going forward as Claude Puel’s toward the end of his tenure.
Manolo Gabbiadini spent a miserable 69 minutes isolated up front, Nathan Redmond was subdued and James Ward-Prowse was taken off at half-time.
There was no Virgil van Dijk here, with Pellegrino saying the want-away defender lacked match fitness. His presence at
the back may have saved a goal, but it matters less when Southampton can’t score one.
Pellegrino said: ‘They were always one second earlier than us and they scored two soft goals that we have to avoid in the future.
‘I felt low energy in some players after the international break but it’s part of football and we have to push on.’
Doucoure’s strike rescued a non-event of a first half, a clean strike from just outside the box after Jack Stephens only half-cleared a Jose Holebas long throw.
The impressive young Brazilian Richarlison almost added a second, forcing Fraser Forster into a sharp save, but there was nothing the England keeper could do about Janmaat’s goal.
The defender had only been on the field a few moments when he took Tom Cleverley’s pass and fired low into the bottom corner from 25 yards.
Silva said: ‘We deserved the three points. We had control of the match and we showed a lot of good moments with the ball.’