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Quique Sanchez Flores: Watford manager is no pushover, says Troy Deeney

Spaniard has Watford in the FA Cup sem-final

Monday 14 March 2016 23:39 GMT

Watford manager Quique Sanchez Flores celebrates the win over Crystal Palace (Getty)

As the criticism, from within and without, mounted upon Arsene Wenger the manager who defeated him at the Emirates on Sunday enjoyed only praise.

Troy Deeney, Watford’s long-serving striker, led the plaudits for Quique Sanchez Flores.

In the wake of Watford’s dispatch of the FA Cup holders Flores could little more than the repeat a sense that everything was ‘amazing’ but Deeney was more effusive.

“He treats everybody with respect, but he demands from you and he is not a pushover,” he said of the 51-year-old Spaniard. “He is a nice guy, but we have had managers in the past who were nice guys and when it wan crunch-time they didn’t make the decisions.

“He brought Adlene [Guedioura] in today and he got his goal and it looks like a master-stroke. He dropped me a few weeks ago. I got back into the side and scored two – there is no-one safe from being dropped.”

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Arsenal 1 Watford 2 player ratings

Arsenal: Ospina 6 out of 10

Watford had two real chances on goal and Ospina could do absolutely nothing about them. Bar picking the ball out of the net he had nothing to do.

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Chambers 4 out of 10

His final ball remains atrocious and this performance showed Chambers has the decision making of a centre-back, lacking the drive and incision of Bellerin.

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Mertesacker 7 out of 10

Exquisitely composed despite the threat of Ighalo’s pace, he read the game quite superbly to cut out Watford’s counters and showed outstanding timing in the tackle.

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Gabriel 5 out of 10

The consensus may be that he was lucky to be on the pitch after his tackle on Deeney but it didn’t slow his forceful play. However he was far too tight to Ighalo for him to swivel and score the opener.

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Gibbs 5 out of 10

Made impressive progress up and down the left flank, combining well with Alexis Sanchez and making Guediora look very ordinary defensively.

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Elneny 5 out of 10

Found himself in goalscoring positions surprisingly often but did not show the incisive finishing that was a trademark of his at Basel. He did, however, bring neat, tidy passing to Arsenal’s midfield.

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Coquelin 7 out of 10

Another Arsenal player to embrace the physical battles of the game he dived into tackles with glee but, unlike against Spurs, got the important ones spot on.

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Campbell 7 out of 10

Yet again Arsenal’s best attacker was subbed off early to suit Wenger’s plans. Yes Ozil and Sanchez are more naturally talented but Campbell was perfoming well throughout his 68 minutes.

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Ozil 4 out of 10

Three minutes of brilliance just before half-time was the sum of Ozil’s contributions. Whether it’s tiredness or not the playmaker has been nowhere near his early season form for some time now. He needs a break.

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Sanchez 4 out of 10

Another game where he kept trying but nothing whatsoever went right. He kept shooting and crossing, trying to play himself out of the slump, but nothing was coming.

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Giroud 5 out of 10

The illusion of a couple of goals against Hull was revealed to be exactly that today. He had a few chances, but rarely put himself about to create more and spurned those opportunities created for him.

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Watford: Pantilimon 6 out of 10

For all Arsenal’s possession the reserve keeper had very little to do, a fortuitous deflection off his hand from Giroud’s effort his only major contribution.

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Nyom 7 out of 10

Dealt superbly with a struggling Sanchez, hitting him with power time and time again and never allowing him to settle on the ball.

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Prodl 7 out of 10

Was lucky to avoid giving away a penalty for a clumsy tackle on Ozil but dealt far more effectively with Giroud, manhandling his opponent robustly but fairly.

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Cathcart 7 out of 10

When Arsenal’s pressure looked like paying off Cathcart came to the rescue, diving in superbly to intercept a pass for Giroud a few feet away from goal just minutes after Watford took the lead.

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Ake 7 out of 10

A horrible day for the Chelsea loanee, though it wasn’t really his fault that team-mates kept leaving two Arsenal players up against him. Improved notably in the second half, keeping Sanchez locked up.

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Behrami 7 out of 10

Tracked Arsenal’s midfield runners very effectively, invariably putting himself between Elneny and the ball when his opponent seemed set to shoot.

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Watson 7 out of 10

Five tackles and a string of interceptions were the output from an excellent display by the FA Cup winner with Wigan, whose influence only grew as Watford protected their lead.

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Capoue 7 out of 10

Time and again unleashed the pace of Ighalo with some stunning passes from deep to launch the counter. He could only look on in frustration as Watford failed to take them.

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Guedioura 6 out of 10

A quiet game that seemed to be little more than him being bypassed by Gibbs until a tonking strike seemingly secured a semi-final spot for Watford. His only real input, but what a spectacular way to make your mark.

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Ighalo 6 out of 10

A real source of frustration for Sanchez Flores in the first half, when his passing killed several great opportunities. When a real chance fell to him though he swivelled and finished in style.

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Deeney 8 out of 10

Dreadful in the first half, where he offered no support to Ake down the left, he was revitalized in the second as an out-and-out striker, adding two assists in a game-changing display.

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Quique spent a dozen years in at right-back with Valencia, Real Madrid and Real Zaragoza, before turning to coaching. Watford was his eighth job in 11 years, his peripatetic career taking him to Portugal and the United Arab Emirates as well as his native Spain. Having won the Europa League with Atletico Madrid in 2010 (beating Fulham) his career seemed in decline before he joined Watford in the summer.

A matchday squad’s worth of players arrived with him and most anticipated a season of struggle for the newly-promoted side. However, Watford began brightly and have rarely faltered.

They have long been safe from the drop even if Deeney insisted: “We are not safe until we see three other teams with an ‘R’ next to them.”

He added: “At the start of the season we people wrote Watford off, but [Flores] has done a great job. Credit to Leicester, but if it wasn’t for them I suppose everyone would be saying what a great first season he has had.”

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