Norwich 3 – 0 Watford Match Report and Player Ratings

Norwich get their first 3 points of the season on the board after dominating a game that was mainly dictated by the early red card seen by Joel Ekstrand.

Ekstrand was sent off for Watford after just two minutes for an apparent elbow on Nathan Redmond leaving him sprawled on the ground with a bloody nose. Watford showed very little resolve as ex-Spurs ‘keeper, Gomes, was twice chipped from the edge of the box by both Grabban and Johnson. Alexander Tettey finished off the three-goal rout with a 25 yard shot into the bottom corner of Gomes’ net.

Norwich FormationWATFORD FORM

Norwich City

Ruddy – Wasn’t required very often, but when called upon done exactly what was needed of him. 7.0
 Whittaker – Vast improvement on his performance last week against Wolves. 6.5
 Martin – Commanded the defence well and stepped out to get attacks flowing quickly. 7.0
 Turner – Dominant in the air, a few important blocks in the final third. 7.0
 Garrido – Solid down the left hand side behind Hoolahan. 6.0
 Redmond – One of Norwich’s key players of the day, most attacks started with him down the right wing. 8.0
 Johnson – Dictated play in the centre of midfield, scoring the opening goal of the game. 9.5
 Tettey – Solid in front of Martin and Turner, scored the final goal. 8.0
 Hoolahan – Solid performance by the Irishman, some key passes drifting in from the left-hand side. 7.0
 Grabban – Secured his first league goal for Norwich, worked well playing in this interchanging formation. 8.0
 Lafferty – Strong performance from the big Irishman, showed proof that his all-round game will be a huge asset to Norwich this season. 8.5

Substitutions

 O’Neil – Looked solid on his first team debut. 6.0
 E. Bennett – Looked lively in his 20 minute cameo. 6.0
 Fer – After being touted with a move to QPR this looked like a final appearance for the Dutch international. 6.0

Watford

 Gomes – Chipped twice from the edge of his area, very poor positioning. 3.0
 Tamas – Defended well despite being a man down, one of Watford’s better players. 6.0
 Ekstrand – Silly sending off, hard to judge his performance on just two minutes. N/A
 Angella – Another bright spark on a gloomy day for Watford, looks lively running at Garrido. 6.0
 Paredes – Average performance on a day that Watford were pinned mainly in their own half. 5.0
 Abdi – Ineffective in the midfield against Johnson and Tettey. 4.0
 Toszer – Poor performance from the Hungarian midfielder, struggled to take hold of the game. 4.5
 Pudil – An average performance, dictated the play far better than his midfield partners, however. 6.5
 McGugan – Only played 45 minutes, and apart from his early free-kick, was ineffective. 4.0
 Vydra – Almost unseen in the first half, caused slight problems for the Norwich defence in the second half. 5.5
 Deeney – Poor performance for a striker who has been held in such high regard from Premier League clubs. 4.0

Substitutions

 Dyer – Came on at half time for McGugan, caused a few problems for the Norwich defence. 6.0
 Andrews – A 20 minute cameo that went almost unnoticed, minimal impact on the game. 5.0
 Forestieri – Epitomised Watford’s total performance with his 94th minute free-kick that was blasted into row Z. 5.0

Man of the Match

Bradley Johnson – An excellent performance from the big Centre Midfielder, dictated the play and scored a fantastic goal just shy of half-time. 9.5

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