Preview: Cardiff v Watford
Aug 12, 2005
Author: S Rudnick

Live on Sky Sports

Fortunately or unfortunately I have been in sunny Spain over the last two weeks and have therefore been unable to attend neither of our opening two matches. I have therefore avoided the knee-jerk reactions that are common after witnessing your team’s first two games of the season. I think my indifferent and current impartial viewpoint will bode well as over the past couple of seasons the beginning of the season has indicated to us very little. For instance, if you take last season you could in fact say next summer will see a reversal in our fortunes compared to August and September. Danny Webber had a dramatic fall from grace after a splendid purple patch and our playoff aspirations were reversed into a dramatic relegation dogfight. So what can be said is the beginning of the season tells us very little about how the season will pan out and which players will make the grade or not. With such a young squad it is imperative that the supporters are more tolerant and more patient than ever. If we believe in the management staff and the players, we should then give them the appropriate time to settle. This means no knee-jerk opinions based on two games and no calls for the guillotine if a substitution doesn’t work out or if a bad run of form ensues. The next couple of months could well be tough, but let’s not panic, let’s stick through it thick and thin and be strong, passionate supporters.

So tonight a good performance, a clean sheet and no injuries are vital. It’s clear the defence has yet to gel properly over the first two games and this could well be put down to nervousness and just simply a lack of time. Ben Foster seems to have had a tough start, but the more he trains and more he plays his confidence will grow. Once the mistake has been made its unlikely to happen again. Clark Carlisle hasn’t either had much time to settle in and maybe we could see an improvement in the defence and keeper after this 3 day break.

Lloyd Doyley looks unlikely to play due to a hip injury. However Gavin Mahon looks set to start, which will give the team a huge boost. Our last two performances at Ninian Park have seen Cardiff put 3 past us and we put 3 past them. Their team is stronger than ever, but hopefully that will allow our players to raise their game level. Jason Koumas poses as a very credible threat and the fact that he will be on the bench will be a relief to many Watford fans. A few ex-hornets will be facing us today, which means that Neal Ardley's odds on scoring are dramatically shortened. I wish Jermaine, Coxy and Ards all the best at Cardiff. Darlington and Cox hardly pose a threat to our team; in fact many of our midfield may be confident about taking on a team they know fairly well (they same could be side vice-versa).

We have a fairly good record of playing in front of the live Sky cameras. We outplayed Liverpool at Anfield and thrashed Millwall and Coventry at Vicarage Road. Let’s hope our inexperienced and young team indicates to us that they may well be starting to gel, and a prosperous season could well be on the horizon. However for now it’s too early to tell so let’s sit back and let the players go about their business the best way they can.