Ben Lee tactical analysis of Watford win
Dart arts and Watford tetchiness. Norwich City were the best side in a 1-0 Championship win with impressive displays from promising young talents. Ben Lee breaks down the Vicarage Road triumph.
Ben is a City season ticket holder and author of the NCFC Analysis social media account, who unpicks games with an analytical report highlighting tactical strengths and weaknesses.
This is what Ben made of an eventful game at the Hornets.
Watford versus Norwich: Positional adjustments
Score: 0 – 1
Possession (%): 42 – 58
Passes: 386 – 529
Shots: 9 – 16
xG: 0.71 – 2.57
Norwich’s structural switch.
Fisher the number ten.
A key pressing variation.
Watford down to ten men.
Base formation
Following an impressive win against Swansea City, Johannes Hoff Thorup made just one change to his eleven, with Sorenson replacing Hernandez, while Tom Cleverley made four changes to his Watford side, as Andrews, Abankwah, Louza, and Sissoko came into the host’s 4-2-3-1.
During Norwich’s goalkeeper restarts, the visitors set up in their usual 4-3-3, and Watford moved into a 4-1-4-1 high press with Dele-Bashiru (24) advancing to occupy McLean (23).
As Gunn (1) received the first pass from his left, Bayo (19) pressed from the front, the left-winger occupied Sorenson (19), the attacking-midfielder stayed tight to Marcondes (11), and the right-winger was ready to press Mahovo (47) out wide.
This tilted pressing structure left Fisher (35) free on Norwich’s right, but Watford’s left-back advanced and was ready to press if City played out to that side.
