Emmanuel Dennis was full of praise for his Watford teammates after their dominant win against Manchester United at Vicarge Road on Saturday.
Dennis scored once and also provided two assists as the Hornets outclassed United at home.
The Nigeria international has now scored four goals and recorded five assists in 11 league appearances this season.
The versatile forward played in the centre of attack with Josh King on the left flank, a change from the games so far this season.
“I can play anywhere in the front three, it’s okay to me and I did the job,” a jubilant Dennis.told the club’s official website.
“I’m very happy, we deserved to win. Winning was the only thing in our heads, we kept going and got a very important three points.
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“We kept going, I missed the chance before the penalty, I could have scored but we kept going and I got a goal!”
Two late goals calmed the nerves of Watford supporters in the second half, and Dennis was pleased to see João Pedro score his first Premier League goal.
He also talked through the build-up to Watford’s fourth goal of the game, and his fourth strike of the season.
“I’m really happy for him,” said the forward. “He was emotional, which is normal, this is the Premier League. I’m happy I could give him the assist.
“I was running and I thought Cucho [Hernández] was going to chest it to me but he took it for himself. The defender was on Cucho so I took the ball, I knew he was going to stay with Cucho, and then the good finish.
“It [the win] was really important with the big games coming up, we’re really happy.”
8 Comments
Having watched the lacklustre outing against CV again, 2 things are directly responsible for the equalizer we conceded:
Terrible defending of set pieces and awful goalkeeping.
1) We are poor at defending set pieces. Before the corner kick was taken, all 10 of our outfield players were inside our 18 yard box. However, the marking was abysmal.
Atrocious positioning. Lackadaisical, lethargic, half-hearted.
Additionally, Iwobi stood guarding the left side of our goal. WHY WAS THERE NOBODY GUARDING THE RIGHT SIDE?
If we had a player there, he could have come to Okoye’s aid and helped to prevent the CV equalizer.
It seems to be a bad pattern with this team. They defend one side of the goal, and leave the other side open. Makes no sense to me. Perhaps there some strange tactical reason for this? I would love to know.
2) Okoye was at sea at that moment when the corner kick was taken.
He first looked like he wanted to come out for the ball, then he hesitated, panicked, then elected to move backwards. The ball came directly at him, and he knelt down with his 2 hands and right leg behind the ball. That was a good move. It was a good goalkeeping stance. HE WAS WELL POSITIONED TO MAKE THE SAVE. It should have been a routine save.
But somehow, incredibly, Okoye contrived to fall backwards, and collapsed in a heap into his own net, on his backside, legs pointed upwards in comical fashion, ball resting in the net.
He fell backwards almost as if he was pushed by unseen forces. Home people at work? Hehehehehe!
Going forward, we need to be better at defending set pieces. Teams like England have made set piece situations their bread and butter. If we had met England, they would have had a field day. We have to do a better job of marking opponents.
We also need to have a man guarding both sides of the goal, whenever we are defending a corner kick.
Finally, Okoye needs to do better if he wants to be our number one goalie. He does so well at his club. He has the ability to do well for Nigeria, but he is just too error prone at this time.
Even the Akpeyesque one would have saved that ball he comically conceded against CV. It’s inexcusable. Okoye needs to step his game up for Nigeria. He also needs competition. That Adeleye boy in Israel, Tobias Lawal (if he’s still an option), Seb Osigwe. Guys like these should be looked at and possibly invited to slug it out with Okoye.
Winning matches is hard enough. We can’t afford to make it harder with sloppiness and silly gaffes.
Any team can concede goals but it is how well you respond to the goal conceded that makes you a team ready to win titles……SE’s football has been flat and ineffective to say the least……No playmaker,the forward transition is very poor,centre backs are slow and scared to pass out the ball,wing backs cannot overlap and creat something,wingers cannot cross a decent cross, cohesion is totally absent,set pieces are wasted,……in all these it’s only the return of Ighalo that was so important to Rhor……Haba!
Nice points @pompei. In the end, it obviously all boils down to how effective the coaching/management of resources has been.
While Rohr largely did well in his first 3 years or so, African foes have since stepped up their games while we seem to be stuck, frozen at the limits of the coach’s capacity. Too laid back, lethargic and self contented at the current level of SE performance.
You wonder how Aribo, Osimhen, Ejuke are held in awe by their club’s coaches and fans,but are hardly able to replicate that form in SE colors. How are about the ignored promising Dennis,Awoniyi, Adeleye and others strutting their stuff every week in prestigious leagues?
He might have been fantastic in his early and in terms of management, but I don’t sympathise with Rohr in his ongoing ordeal. He should step aside, fully conscious he’s no longer wanted by his employers and majority of the fans (possibly the players too). He shouldn’t hold the country to ransom or allowed to handle the next camping or competitive match, so he does not deliberately sabotage our hopes – with the relationship clearly strained.
You made a very valid point in your last statement….. Rhor might want to throw a spanner in the wheel of SE’s progress knowing fully well that his days incharge are numbered.
The fact remains that whether Okoye had already signed for Watford or not… He is not exactly what we want yet… I will like for him to be No2. And be learning his craft well… There cannot be over 20first choice keepers of clubs in NPFL and no one is better than Okoye or good enough to be involved with super Eagles… get the best goalkeeper in the league and get the Israel guy and let them try Okoye for size during camping. This way we can come up with the best to man our pipes… There are raw talents in our league in all departments looking for opportunity of exposure and trust but business men in NFF and our coaching crew won’t invite those…
@Pompei… The other day just because Watford had signed Okoye, the jury went agog causing everyone here who ever criticized the young man, it doesn’t cost 2cents to know he is still shaky, jittery, and confused in key moments… Super Eagles deserve someone who can really command that goal area with authority and conviction. There are days when it is your goalkeeper that will bail you out. Lastly I apologized for one of my posts in last week lumping you as one of @Dr.Drey’s many other aliases… You are not one of his handle but honestly… dude morphs into many aliases here like @Greenturf,@Ola,@Lanre,@Ben and @Ayphillydegreat… he just needs to stop being a morphing masquerade… Lol. One love brother… I am happy most of you have begin to see that Super Eagles invitations were really based before now on cash for squad place… Can we rely compare Moses Simon to Emmanuel Dennis? Yet I say this even though Simon is my tribal man but I won’t see clean baller and choose another clumsy fellow… Rohr was actually on his way to destroying the soul of that team because most of the players within Super Eagles rank and those he always shun who are not his favorites know the man was dishonest with the truth of merit as his yardstick for player invitation and matchday selevtion.
I don’t think those NPFL goalkeepers can compete with okoye toe to toe……our Local goalkeepers are talented but they lack basic goalkeeping skills that are inculcated in all goalkeepers abroad……I suggest our foreign based goalkeepers……We have them many abroad……Alampasu Uzoho The guy in Switzerland, that Tottenham goalkeeper,Even Okonkwo of Arsenal can be groomed, Ejaria of Arsenal too can be groomed.
Wise suggestions @Akp
Grooming is necessary. I remember Cameroon had to groom both goal keepers Ondoa and Onana, before they became standouts in their clubsides.
With all fairness, Uzoho and Okoye were actually being groomed by Rohr .
But the question is; who is grooming them?
How good is the ‘groomer’?
Alloy Agu has been in charge of the goalkeeping section for how long and yet there hasn’t been any improvement. So how come he still has a job?
The truth is; there need to be total overhauling of Rohr and his backroom staff. They have basically stalled.
I wish we could get rid of Amaju’s Led FA board as well . Every decay starts from their ineptitude.
Watford were desperate to sack Ole Solkjear.