Morning roundup: Watford stun Saints, Ahmedhodzic approach, Monday 17th August
News summary
Watford 2-1 Southampton. The defeat at Vicarage Road ended a 21-match unbeaten run in the Championship.
Saints gifted both Watford goals. When Jack Stephens hooked a clearance infield on 12 minutes, Iker Bravo collected it and drove into the box to score the first.
The second was worse. Amin Nabizada picked off a square pass from Ryan Manning, ran half the length of the pitch and, with nobody closing him down, beat Daniel Peretz with a low shot across goal.
Cyle Larin toe-poked one back on 56 minutes, with Cameron Bragg putting him in with a lovely reverse pass of genuine quality. Saints had the better of the closing half hour. No equaliser came.
Divin Mubama got 20 minutes on debut. Taylor Harwood-Bellis wasted a golden opportunity to grab a point when he scuffed a shot from close range.
A crowd of 19,542 included 2,288 in a sold-out away end. Saints had won 11 of the previous meetings with Watford, against two Hornets wins.
Bottom of the table, then. The four-point deduction leaves the club seven points off top spot.
Reaction
The Spygate heckling came all afternoon, from the stands and from the pitch.
When Harwood-Bellis screwed his stoppage-time chance wide, a group of Watford players made sure he heard about it.
Eckert put the defeat down to the mistakes. "Two errors in possession cost us against a very good transition team," he said. "We gave the ball away two times too many."
He also described the squad as "as close as they have ever been". Talks between the club and the FA continue behind the scenes.
Kevin Phillips was less forgiving on punditry duty. The pressure is back on already, he said, and Eckert "didn't pick the right team".
Saints Marching handed out ratings after the game, with Larin the bright spot and that ragged half hour before the break the problem.
Transfer news
Southampton have moved from contact to a formal approach for Anel Ahmedhodzic. Feyenoord are said to be willing to sell for about £5m, even with the Bosnia and Herzegovina international under contract until 2029.
Sheffield United are the complication. Ahmedhodzic is open to a return to Bramall Lane, so an agreement with Feyenoord would not settle this on its own.
Nothing else moved. The Benfica interest in Harwood-Bellis sits where it did after Saturday's rejected bid.
Saints Marching opinion
Twenty-one league games without defeat ended by two sloppy passes rather than anything Watford created.
A squad issue lies beneath this result. The case for a new defender never depended on Harwood-Bellis leaving, and Sunday's performance made that abundantly clear.
Stoke at St Mary's on Saturday. Win that, and a bad afternoon in Hertfordshire can be quickly forgotten
