Confirmed Watford line-up to face Tottenham: A big decision by Gracia
Watford face Tottenham Hotspur in the third round of the Carabao Cup in the Milton Keynes Stadium tonight. With Wembley not available to host Spurs’ home game for today, the MK Milton Keynes arena will be used to stage this game.
The Hornets defeated Reading 2-0 away from home to progress to the third round. They will face a Tottenham team who regained some form by beating Brighton on Saturday. These two teams have already faced each other in the league, with Javi Gracia’s men getting the better of Spurs at the Vicarage Road.
The Spaniard made wholesale changes in the previous round and managed to sneak out a comfortable win over their Championship opponents. But tonight will be a kettle of fish against an established Premier League opposition.
The Tactics
Watford have to play on the counter, showing some respect to Tottenham. They need to make sure that they create goalscoring chances when they gain possession.
Gracia likes to play route one football, especially away from home. This ploy will be key in a game against Tottenham, who like to keep possession and press high. Hence, to negate the high press, it would be wise if the defenders play long balls towards their strikers.
The task of the midfielders and the supporting strikers would be to stay around the first phase of the attack and anticipate knock-downs and flick-ons. While defending against a quality side, the Hornets must make sure they don’t fall too deep and surrender possession very easily. The focus should be to deny space but at the same time, not forget to stay a bit higher and play football.
Here’s how Watford are set to line up tonight:
🔢 | #watfordfc make one change from the starting XI which defeated Reading in the last round.
Cathcart comes in for Prödl in defence.#TOTWAT
Matchday Live ⤵️https://t.co/7MDMXnQGoI pic.twitter.com/eQFt6yMgCP
— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) September 26, 2018