The Watford Courier
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Geovany Quenda runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 58. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Giorgi Chakvetadze
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Watford lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Both of them Edoardo Bove's — 8.21
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.21, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Jack Hinshelwood is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Watford
Geovany Quenda was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Watford training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jack Hinshelwood is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Watford
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Match21 Aug 2027
Watford get the job done against Birmingham
A 2‑1 win over Birmingham, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces23 Aug 2027
Watford supporters have found a favourite in Jorge Cabezas Hurtado
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jorge Cabezas Hurtado has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
In brief
- Market One of our own: Andrew Hill joins the Watford first team
- Market Watford promote James Robinson from within
- Market Watford promote Jacob Scott from within