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Your support makes all the difference.Quique Sanchez Flores, the outgoing Watford manager, paid tribute to the “unbelievable” Vicarage Road fans – but told his successor that all the ingredients are there to replicate if not improve on the club’s best season for 29 years.
The highly-respected Spaniard leaves the Watford hotseat despite guiding the club to 13th position – the club’s highest league standing since 1986-87 – and taking the Hornets to a FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. A mutual agreement had been reached with the controlling Pozzo family to activate a break clause in his two-year contract. A bizarre decision for many outside of the club given that, despite just four Premier League wins in 2016, Watford rarely flirted with relegation this season.
Watford will now begin the search for their eighth different manager since the Pozzos took over in June 2012. The favourite replacement is currently the former Inter Milan and Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri.
Flores, who received tremendous support from the fans at the end, was close to tears as walked in Watford’s lap of appreciation. In his press conference, he said he was feeling “highly emotional”. He hopes to manage straightaway – with Valencia and AEK Athens the frontrunners for his signature. But a family holiday is next on the agenda.
Flores said: “The challenge for Watford now is to keep going, growing, keep going, let the team grow up. That’s the most important thing.
“The first year is the most difficult year because including at the moment we tried to make the squad, to build the squad during the pre-season was difficult because the players they want security, they want to go to a team who is consistent. Watford is new and now Watford is not completely new. Watford now is established in a good position in the Premier League.
“So I hope for next year a lot of players are coming, more players, more quality with the base of this year. I think the normal thing for Watford next year is trying to improve the performance in the Premier League.”
After seeing his side cement their Premier League status during last week’s 3-0 victory over Everton, the Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce felt emboldened to make nine changes to his starting XI. He handed senior debuts to Tom Robson, Rees Greenwood and George Honeyman.
For the travelling fans, this was a reason to party and celebrate their Premier League survival, especially as it came at the hands of Newcastle United. They were celebrating even loudly by half-time after Jack Rodwell had put them into the lead with a tap-in, scoring his first Premier League goal of this season after Jeremain Lens’s excellent assist.
Watford responded positively in the early exchanges of the second half, hitting back within minutes of the restart. Sebastian Prodl scored with a header from Adlene Guedioura’ corner but Sunderland had justifiable complaints because the midfielder pushed John O’Shea to make the connection.
Sunderland, though, regained their lead on 51 minutes when Lens expertly turned on a sixpence, shifting the ball to his left foot, before guiding the finish beyond Gomes
Watford, though, avoided the defeat on their home patch with a 61st-minute equaliser from a familiar source. When O’Shea was rightly penalised for dangerous play – his high boot nearly kicked Jose Manuel Juardo in the face – the Hornets captain Deeney dispatched the penalty with aplomb or his 15th goal of 2015-16.
Allardyce was particularly aggrieved that Sunderland had two goals wrongly chalked off for offside. TV replays showed that both Duncan Watmore (in the first half) and Dame N’Doye (in the second) were onside when they connected to respective deliveries.
Nonetheless, 12 points accrued from the past six matches ensures that Sunderland can start planning for a 10th successive season in the top-flight.
“It has been a really good end to what has been a difficult season,” said Allardyce. “If we can start next season where we had left off, we will regain our confidence and can try to have a better season than this one. To think we have had 12 points in six games, and only finished four from bottom, well that is a pretty miraculous total. Next season, let's get 12 points in the first six games, not the last.”
Watford (4-2-3-1): Gomes, Cathcart (Paredes 45), Prodl, Britos, Ake, Guedioura, Watson, Abdi (Suárez 66), Deeney, Jurado (Amrabat 80), Ighalo
Substitutes not used: Nyom, Pantilimon, Berghuis, Anya
Sunderland (4-3-3): Pickford, Yedlin (Jones 76), Kone, O’Shea, Robson, Lens, Larsson (M'Vila 62), Rodwell, Watmore, N'Doye, Greenwood (Honeyman 52)
Substitutes not used: Brown, Defoe, Khazri, Mannone
Goals: Prodl (48), Deeney (61 pen); Rodwell (39), Lens (51)
Referee: K Friend
Attendance: 21,012
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