PATCH A FALLING SARR
Hornets desperate to protect star
WATFORD are so concerned about £35million jewel Ismaila Sarr being kicked, they have told him to stick to one or two-touch football.
Record-signing Sarr’s burst of form has helped to revive the Hornets’ automatic promotion bid with four straight wins. But head coach Xisco Munoz and team-mates are worried he could be kicked out of games, especially in the later stages by tiring full-backs, who have been given a chasing by the flying Senegal winger.
And they have advised Sarr to play two-touch football in the closing minutes before opposing defenders resort dangerous methods.
Sarr, 23, faces a rematch today with Bournemouth defender Lloyd Kelly, who escaped a red card for an industrial challenge in only the second minute of the sides’ 1-1 draw at Vicarage Road in October.
Hornets defender William Troost-Ekong said: “Ismaila is a huge player, who has been tremendous for us.
“The race for promotion could go all the way to the end, so you don’t want to lose key players who could make the difference.
“Everyone has their players who are quickest and, when it’s late in the game, we encourage him to play one or two-touch, if possible.
“Defenders, who have been trying to keep up with him all game, are fuming because he has been running at them all night. to
Some of them try to neutralise his threat, and simplify the game, by stopping him any way they can.
“There are different ways of protecting gifted players and, in some situations, it’s up to the bigger lads to stop it, but there are certain things we can’t control.”
Troost-Ekong admitted Watford may have to sacrifice some of their defensive solidarity to chase the nine or 10 wins likely to be needed for automatic promotion over the last 14 games.
They survived a whiteknuckle ride in a Lancashire monsoon at Blackburn to win 3-2 in midweek and he added: “That was my worst game for Watford.
“As a unit, there have been other games where our defence has made the difference, and maybe I was a bit naive to try and play football, which wasn’t on in those conditions.”
SOMETIMES the answer to a problem is staring you in the face – or in Jose Mourinho’s case, sitting in tracksuits behind him.
Tottenham fans were heartened in their last two games at West Ham and in the Europa League that the perennial substitutes Gareth Bale and Dele Alli were finally given a proper run and were showing their form of old.
Bale, particularly, seems to have found that swagger and cutting edge to his game that made him a world-beater for Real Madrid.
Against a stubborn Burnley defence tomorrow, Spurs will need a bit of invention and pace, so the Special One will surely play Bale from the start.
The Welsh wizard is a tempting 11/2 with Betfred to open the scoring for Spurs and 2/1 with Skybet to notch at any time against Sean Dyche’s side.