THE LITTLE AND LARGE SHOW!
Deulofeu and Deeney hit five to destroy Cardiff
THE best outside the top six? That is how Neil Warnock rated Watford before this fixture and he will not have taken a great deal of comfort in how smart they made him look.
This was a mauling, a brutal dissection of Cardiff that leaves them right back in the dirt. They have the perspective of recent tragedies to know there are far more serious problems than heavy defeats, but this will sting after the uplifting nature of recent performances.
That it went so wrong on the night was down to Watford’s strikers. Gerard Deulofeu and Troy Deeney. What a delightful act of little and large. The skinny lad got three and made the fourth, the big boy bundled through a crowd to make Deulofeu’s first and then scored the fourth and fifth himself.
A stunning combination on the night and a force to be reckoned with. Watford have now lost only once in their past 11 games in all competitions.
For Cardiff, it was defeat after back to back victories. And a degree of it was self-inflicted.
Warnock had rolled the dice somewhat with his selection, taking out Aron Gunnarsson, Bobby Reid and Lee Peltier from the side that beat Southampton and bringing in Josh Murphy, Leandro Bacuna and Sean Morrison.
Most notable among the influx was Morrison, returning a fortnight ahead of schedule after bursting his appendix last month. His inclusion separated the centre-half pairing of Sol Bamba and Bruno Ecuele Manga. With Manga pushed out to right back, the back line looked a weak imitation of that in recent performances.
Watford’s opener was a case in point, or more precisely the manner in which Deeney was able to bounce through three lukewarm challenges in succession on the edge of Cardiff’s area. A big man, yes, but it was poor defending that allowed him to clatter across the 18yard box before laying off to Deulofeu, who rolled to the bottom right of Neil Etheridge. From there, Deeney had a decent chance of his own from 20 yards, which in turn drew a good save from Etheridge, but for all that, and a few neat moves, Cardiff perhaps should have been level at the break.
In one opportunity, shortly before Deulofeu got his goal, Callum Paterson dropped a lovely lob over the Watford defence and Oumar Niasse was clean through, only to be smothered by Ben Foster.
Their next best move, on 42 minutes, should have been a penalty, when Daryl Janmaat clearly took out Josh Murphy. Simon Hooper waved it off and Warnock was seething. ReplaReplays validated the CardCardiff manager. WWatford’s second ggoal did nothing tto calm him down. IIt started with a poor free- kick from Joe Bennett tthat triggered a surging run thrthrough the middle on tthe counter from DeuloDeulofeu. Manga had a chance tto challenge near halfway but was horribly flatfooted as the forward sped by, rounded Etheridge and finished.
His hat-trick goal was helped to an extent by Harry Arter’s carelessness in giving away possession to Etienne Capoue in midfield, but the goal, scored via a little dink over Etheridge, was just delightful.
He might have had a fourth, but a heavy touch as he closed in on goal necessitated a pass instead of a shot, and that pass became the assist for Deeney.
Bamba bundled one back on 82 minutes but then Deeney got his second to wrap up the kicking.