Quique Sanchez Flores to stay flexible with Watford's shape
Sunday 14 February 2016 14:46, UK
Quique Sanchez Flores says he will continue experimenting with Watford's shape as his team move to the brink of retaining their Premier League status.
Saturday's 2-1 victory at Crystal Palace, helped by Troy Deeney's double, hoisted the Hornets to eighth place on 36 points, and ultimately to within four points of the total widely recognised as required to ensure survival.
They host Leeds in the FA Cup fifth round this week, when Sanchez Flores is again expected to rotate his team, and after making four changes to his starting XI and adopting a new 4-3-3 formation, the Spaniard wants to carry on testing his team.
"It's two plus one [up front], it's the first time we used this shape," the Watford manager said.
"I'd like to work with more time in this system, because it's necessary to know the quality of moves, the pressure when you put the block behind the ball, it's very important.
"We had the necessary conduct with the system to move the players. It's good. In the first half we had the feeling we are a positive team, an offensive team.
"At the moment we keep the ball in the middle, and we can play with three strikers [Deeney, Odion Ighalo and Nordin Amrabat] practically, so we feel comfortable. This is a little bit different than the other systems, the 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 that we play.
"Saturday's win was very important for us, it means we are very close to the target, to keep Watford in the Premier League next year.
"I'm very happy with the performance of the players, with the way we got the result. It's very difficult to win here in this stadium with this coach [Alan Pardew]."
Pardew similarly experimented with his team, when he surprisingly recalled Connor Wickham after he completed his three-match ban, and sacrificed Chung-yong Lee to start the striker on the left wing.
Wickham had previously been Pardew's first-choice striker until the January arrival, on a free transfer, of Adebayor, but playing on the left he rarely looked comfortable and was replaced by Lee at half-time.
"It just didn't work for us," Pardew said. "We're trying to find a balance with Connor in the team, and we thought that might work, with that balance, but it didn't.
"Sometimes you've got to say 'It didn't work'. We need to have a little bit more work on our team to make sure the balance, getting that mixture right of being quite direct, positive - we're a big side.
"The only good news really, coming out of the defeat from me is that Yannick Bolasie looks like he's working well and should be involved next week [in the FA Cup at Tottenham], and so should Bakary Sako."
