INCREDIBLE IMPOSSIBLE
Watford boss Flores was blown away by the talents of Silva and Aguero when he was their manager.. now he has to plot a way to STOP the pair
QUIQUE FLORES discovered “incredible” David Silva and won the Europa League with “impossible” Sergio Aguero.
But today the Watford boss faces the task of stopping the deadly duo who have led Manchester City’s immaculate start to the new season.
Spain star Silva was in the Valencia youth side when Flores invited him to train with the first team in 2006.
Immediately impressed by what he saw, the coach promoted the playmaker to a central role in the club before his £26million sale to the Etihad club in 2010.
The Hornets chief recalled: “Silva was about 20 and I said to myself, ‘My God – he is incredible’.
“He never lost the ball, his control was great – whether the ball was in the air, on his chest or on the ground.
“He was amazing. I was impressed with him from the beginning.
“Silva is very important in the last third behind the strikers. He’s clever and he’s able to create space where it’s impossible to see any.”
Flores, now 50, left Valencia after twice qualifying for the Champions League, spent a year at Benfica and joined Atletico Madrid in 2009.
And in his first season at the Vicente Calderon, he led a team including Aguero, David De Gea, Diego Forlan and Jose Antonio Reyes to victory in the Europa League Final over Roy Hodgson’s Fulham. Flores added: “When I am asked who are the best players I have trained in my life, for me it’s Silva and Aguero.
“They were the best – and I have trained some amazing players.
“I knew Aguero before I joined Atletico as at Valencia we played against him four times.
“The first time we played against Aguero we won 1-0, but when we got back to the dressing room our defender Raul Albiol said, ‘Coach, it’s impossible to stop Aguero. It’s impossible to get the ball off him. When I try he turns and goes. It is impossible’.
“I had Aguero and Silva with me as a coach and now I have them against me. I have respect for them because they made the biggest impression on me as a coach.
“They will be difficult to control – they have a lot more experience now than when I coached them. It will be good to see them again and to speak with them because we lived alongside each other with our experiences at Valencia and Atletico Madrid.”
While star-filled City sit top of the table after scoring eight goals in their first three games, Watford’s start has been less convincing as Flores wrestles with an unwieldy squad containing more quantity than quality.
They have not scored in their two home Premier League games and also failed to find the net in their Capital One Cup humbling at Championship club Preston in midweek.
You can get 16-1 on a Watford win, although the better bet is either Silva or Aguero finding the net against Flores’ side.
And the Hornets tactician admitted it could be too late to stop them if they already have the ball. He said: “Aguero and Silva have a good relationship on the pitch – it is very difficult to stop them in the final third.
“For us it is very important to know what happens before the ball gets to them. So we’ll try to disconnect those players. We know it will be difficult, but it’s not impossible.”