Deeney deepens the gloom for Garde as Villa hit a new low
JUST when Remi Garde thought it couldn’t get any worse, boyhood Birmingham fan Troy Deeney emerged as the match winner to plunge Aston Villa even deeper into relegation trouble.
Only three other teams in Premier League history — QPR, Sunderland and Swindon — have taken only five points from their opening 14 games. They all went down, which is the threat looming even larger over Villa after their 13th league game without a win, a new club record.
And just to rub salt into the wounds, it was the man with the Birmingham City tattoo on his calf who scored the decisive goal in the 85th minute.
Deeney, who once failed a trial at Villa, was booked for his overexuberant celebrations but the Watford skipper could still not resist taunting the home fans at the final whistle.
‘I can’t explain how good that was,’ said the Watford captain. ‘Their fans gave me stick all the way through, which lets me know I’m doing something right.
‘It’s football, we get caught up in the emotion and I don’t think I offended anyone. You should have heard what the crowd were saying to me. But I’m thick skinned and can take it — I’m more interested in taking three points.’
No wonder Garde stood forlornly at the final whistle, hands stuffed in his pockets, staring into the distance. The new Villa boss has just one point from his first three games in charge at the end of a week in which he dumped gifted midfielder Jack Grealish in the Under-21s for going out nightclubbing after the defeat by Everton.
Garde highlighted Villa’s woeful defending and it was certainly the case for Watford’s opening goal in the 17th minute.
They had several chances to clear the danger after Brad Guzan saved from Odion Ighalo before Ben Watson’s shot was deflected into the path of Ighalo, who seized his second opportunity by touching the ball past Guzan.
Villa went close on numerous occasions in a frantic first half before captain Micah Richards headed them level four minutes before the interval, rising unmarked to meet Jordan Veretout’s free-kick after Watson had taken down Alan Hutton.
Richards’s wild celebrations were mirrored by those in the stands as the Villa fans sensed their first league win since the opening day.
Watford then suffered another blow when goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes was carried off with a neck injury after crashing into his teammate Craig Cathcart the second half, bringing a rather jittery Giedrius Arlauskis off the bench for his Premier League debut.
But it was the visitors who regained the lead in painful circumstances for Hutton, who tried to prevent Ighalo from latching on to Deeney’s through ball but succeeded only in prodding it into his own net.
Hutton was partly at fault for Watford’s third, too, when he conceded possession just outside his own area. The ball was played to Ighalo whose shot cannoned off Richards before looping into the air. There was Deeney, leaping above a static Villa defence, to head past Guzan.
Jordan Ayew curled in an excellent second goal for Villa after turning on the edge of the box in the 89th minute, but they could not avoid an 11th defeat in 13 league games despite 10 minutes of added time for Gomes’ injury.
Garde said: ‘If we carry on this way it will be over, but I still believe that the way we played today I can’t say that we are dead. It’s a painful result.’