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Watford 1-3 West Ham United | Talking Points

West Ham finally picked up their first win of the season at Vicarage Road in a concerning performance for Watford.

The Hornets are now winless in their opening three games, conceding seven and only scoring the one. If you include their awful form from the end of last season, the pressure is on Javi Gracia having not addressed the clubs defensive fragility in the summer.

The game could not have started any worse for Watford; a penalty conceded after just 90 seconds when Abdoulaye Doucoùre tripped Manuel Lanzini in the box. Mark Noble, making his first appearance of the season, began an impressive performance by slotting into the bottom corner.

It was an end to end start to the game though, with the tempo ever-increasing, and Watford equalised through Andre Gray. The striker provided a composed finish after some brilliant work from Gerrard Deulfoeu and Will Hughes.

At that point, the game should have swung in Watford’s favour though. A spell of around 25 minutes either side of half time allowed the Hornets to create plenty of chances to win the game by a clear margin. Will Hughes will be nominated as an early contender for miss of the season, failing to touch in a brilliant Andre Gray cross.

With momentum building inside Vicarage Road, the Hornets seemed to sting themselves; some great work by Filipe Anderson setting up Sebastien Haller for his first Hammers goal sending the away end into ecstasy, amid many groans from the home supporters.

That goal killed the buzz around the stadium as the belief that a first win would come left most Watford fans. Despite some great work by Ben Foster, Haller was able to acrobatically score his second and West Ham’s third of the afternoon, causing most Watford fans to head to the exits.

West Ham were much improved from the sides that took on Man City and Brighton. Some more defensive insurance to soak up a spell of Watford pressure will give plenty of West Ham fans more excitement going into the rest of the season. This could be their year to challenge for a European spot.

Going forward, Haller showed why the owners splashed upwards of 30 million on the striker, with his two goals terrorising the Watford defence and ultimately killing the game.

It’s a big few weeks for both teams coming up, as Watford look to put their season back on track and West Ham try to build further momentum.

Concern for Watford fans

Not only have Watford failed to take chances this season, but their defence has been immensely poor as well. Summer signing Craig Dawson hasn’t hit the heights that have been expected of him, while the likes of Jose Holebas and Kiko Femenia haven’t covered themselves in glory either.

With Troy Deeney facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines, the Hornets need to fix up sooner rather than later, or they could be a surprise candidate for relegation.

Sebastian Haller, the real deal?
Despite a poor start from the new record signing, he showed against Watford why he will be so valuable to the team going forward.

Forget his two goals, his hold up play brought the best out of key players such as Lanzini and Anderson, giving West Ham a platform for creativity.

The striker’s all-round gameplay looks to be the thing that will help West Ham challenge for Europe and fire a sleeping giant back to where they should be.

Gracia under pressure

Everyone knows the Watford owners, the Pozzo family, are not afraid to pull the trigger. It seems underperforming manager Javi Gracia could be the next victim of their ideology’s. It may seem harsh sacking a manager after three games, but that is taking into account their woeful form at the end of last season, with no clean sheet in over 20 games.

Regardless of whether he stays or goes, something has to change at Watford, or nobody will be singing “please don’t take my Javi away.”

Issa Diop – the man to solve West Ham’s defensive issues

Throughout the last few years, West Ham have experimented and trialled with different backlines. However, Issa Diop seems to be the man that will drive West Ham forward.

The centre half made a few crucial interventions yesterday, most notably from Gerard Deulfoeu. With form like this, not only will he fire West Ham up the table, but he could also see himself challenging for a future position in the French National team.

A crucial run for both teams

Both Watford and West Ham now have to hit form, not only for themselves but for their fans too. If West Ham are going to challenge for Europe, they will need to find the consistency that they haven’t sustained in previous years. While Watford will have to pick up some wins to keep Gracia in a job and keep the Hornets away from a relegation battle.

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