The Watford Courier
Squad10 Nov 2031
The knee: Yanis Musuayi out for 16 days
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Watford lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match4 Nov 2031
Watford through in the cup
A 2‑0 win over Derby County, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market10 Nov 2031
Nilson Angulo hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Watford can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Tom Pearce breaks a bone — 42 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market10 Nov 2031
Leon Routh is on his way
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Watford is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings10 Nov 2031
Simon Barnes, 17, steals the show — 7.85
Marked 7.85 at 17, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings10 Nov 2031
Altti Hellemaa goes up and wins it — 7.79
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.79 for the rest of it.
Boardroom10 Nov 2031
Leon Routh has agreed to leave Watford for nothing
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Words exchanged at Watford
Ibrahim Osman and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
In brief
- The terraces Watford supporters have found a favourite in Robin Brobbey
- The dugout The manager makes an example of Samson Tovide
- Player ratings Nobody could get near Harry Phillips