Watford vs AFC Bournemouth - Watford boss expects Eddie Howe to brush off England link
Posted Friday, September 30, 2016 by PA
Watford manager Walter Mazzarri does not expect Bournemouth opposite number Eddie Howe to be distracted this weekend by rumours linking him with the England job.
The Hornets take on Howe's side at Vicarage Road on Saturday, and the home side will be eyeing an improvement following their 2-0 defeat at Burnley on Monday night.
Talk over the England vacancy has seen Cherries boss Howe being one of several managers linked to the job after Sam Allardyce's brief tenure came to an end on Tuesday.
"I don't think he will be distracted," the Watford boss said.
"They (Bournemouth) play nice football and you can tell he is a young manager by the way he tells his team to play. I think he is a very good manager but I don't think he will be distracted just because the media say he is a possible England manager.
"If it was me as a manager, I would not be distracted especially if they asked me to be the next England manager. In fact, I would work harder with all the cameras on me."
After pepping up their season with back-to-back wins over West Ham and Manchester United, Watford suffered their third loss of the Premier League campaign at Turf Moor where captain Troy Deeney felt his side were "bullied".
The 28-year-old striker has been vocal off the pitch this season, previously stating that West Ham playmaker Dimitri Payet's 'Rabona' cross for a goal assist against the Hornets was an attempt to "mug off" Watford. Fired-up Watford came from 2-0 behind to claim a 4-2 victory on that occasion.
Mazzarri complimented the honesty showed by his skipper.
"When somebody goes to a presser (press conference) or interview he has to say what he has seen throughout the game," Mazzarri said.
"He (Deeney) probably heard my words during the first and second half against Burnley. He said the truth. He is like me, he is a loyal person and he speaks the truth.
"My principle and what I teach my players is not to bring any excuses or alibis. If my players say what we said in the dressing room, it is something that the fans are happy to hear.
"With Chelsea, even though we lost and we said that we played a great game, maybe we should have had a better destiny with that game. With Burnley, we knew we didn't play well."
Defenders Craig Cathcart and Miguel Britos are both struggling with groin injuries and are rated as doubtful for the visit of Bournemouth.
Speaking about the England link, Howe said: "I don't enjoy it (the link to the job). For me the reason I wanted to be a football manager was to coach, to build a team, try to win games, have that competition against other teams and inspire players to reach levels they never knew they could hit.
"All of this side of it gets in the way. My main focus is always the football.
"When you are in the Premier League the games come so quickly, I haven't given the England job a thought.
"I'm not letting it get to me at all. I am watching Watford this week in any spare moment I get, I am focusing on our training.
"This was an unwelcome thing, it was not something I wanted to see at all.
"I want England to do well, I want to see consistency in what they want to do and I thought it was sad for football to see the events develop this week.
"It surprised me in the summer (that he was linked).
"Considering I was one year into the Premier League that surprised me, but now I am accustomed to it."
Winger Marc Pugh will be out for up to three weeks after he suffered a hamstring injury at the start of September.
Cherries manager Eddie Howe has received better news on Josh King's hamstring problem and hopes he will be in contention against Watford on Saturday.
Adam Smith has suffered no ill-effects from a bloody nose he sustained in the 1-0 win against Everton and Ryan Fraser (knock) is available.
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