Gracia: My Watford squad best in top flight
Watford manager Javi Gracia claimed he has the best squad in England after his side destroyed Huddersfield Town with goals of the highest quality.
Gracia’s side moved up to seventh after their second successive win with back-to-back clean sheets.
And there is a feeling that in players such as Roberto Pereyra and Gerard Deulofeu, who scored their first two goals, they have the quality to trouble the best teams in the league.
That class was shown in Pereyra’s strike after the former Juventus winger slalomed past five Town challenges before slotting home a truly memorable goal in the 10th minute.
Deulofeu only evaded two tackles when he scored the second nine minutes later, but having played for Barcelona, his pedigree is also of the highest level.
Gracia certainly believes his side are brimming with top-class talent. “I am proud of our achievement. I don’t think we will be the champions of England but we will make a great effort to get better,” he said.
“We have the best squad in the league, so let’s see. I am proud and the players and the fans are proud, but I prefer to think of the next game. It is better to be focused that way if you want to be successful.
“It wasn’t our best game. We need many things to improve. Our first two goals were fine, but I preferred the last one when Isaac Success scored his first goal of the season from something we had trained for.” Ironically, Huddersfield started better and created three chances to have taken the lead through Erik Durm, Aaron Mooy, and Alex Pritchard. But all that was forgotten when Pereyra’s goal put Watford ahead. From then on you sensed the writing was on the wall for the visitors, who also hit the bar through Chris Lowe.
With 10 minutes left, Success stabbed in Kiko Femenia’s volleyed cross from the right after Etienne Capoue chipped the ball over the defence following a free-kick. Huddersfield claimed Adrian Mariappa was offside in the build-up to that third goal but the defender was not interfering with play.
Huddersfield occupy the foot of the table with three points from 10 games, but David Wagner, their manager, is confident they can turn things around and avoid relegation.
“We didn’t defend well, but I’ve seen enough from recent games to know we will play much better than this,” he said. “We are bottom of the table but are only two points from where the sun shines, which is where we aim to be.”