Alex Neil enjoying Stoke’s home form after Watford win

Posted Sunday, August 20, 2023 by PA

Alex Neil expressed his delight at Stoke’s home comforts as they defeated Watford 1-0.

New hero Andre Vidigal starred again as he notched his fourth goal in as many games since a summer move from Maritimo.

The Portuguese winger – who turned 25 in midweek – fired in a second-half winner with an emphatic strike on the volley.

And, in the process, The Potters secured successive league victories at home for the first time since April 2022, while they also beat West Brom in the cup.

“We’ve now won three games on the bounce at home and I think that’s vitally important to get our fans onside and backing us,” Neil said.

“You can see that connection starting to happen because the fans can see that the players left everything on the pitch so I’m really pleased.

“Watford are a really good side and they’ll be at the top end of the division for me so we knew it was going to be tough.

“In the main, we contained them really well, defensively we were sound and we got a goal that changed the dynamic of the game.

“You could see today that we were good in both boxes in terms of that final strike to get a goal and when we needed Travers at the other end.”

Neil also praised the in-form Vidigal, who continues to impress on English soil.

“The biggest thing about Andre is that he’s equally comfortable playing off the left, off the right or as a centre forward.

“He’s always going to get chances, he’s always looked a threat and he actually could’ve had more with the chances he’s had.

“He’s got that unbelievable knack of landing in the right position and getting strikes away and he just wants to score.

“He said to me at half-time, ‘Don’t worry, I’m going to score!’ and then he did so fair play to him.”

Meanwhile, Watford’s unbeaten league start under new boss Valerien Ismael comes to an end.

Substitute Yaser Asprilla spurned two glorious opportunities to open the scoring and then level late on, but the Colombia international failed to convert.

“Our performance in the first half was not good enough and we didn’t stick to our gameplan,” Ismael admitted.

“We created chances but it wasn’t enough and we weren’t present in the basics.

“If you are not having a good day, at least make sure you get the basics right and we didn’t do that.

“That’s what I said at half-time and in the second half we came out much better, but we conceded a goal in our best period of the game.

“We created a lot of chances after that so at least we saw our identity, but it’s a journey in this division.

“The players need to learn that the Championship is ruthless and every game you’ve got to be on it and if you think it is going to be easy you will be punished like today.

“We will learn from the game and make sure from the beginning we are ready to compete, especially in away games.

“You can lose games, I don’t mind, but at least I want to see the identity and the mentality in the players, and I missed it in the first half.

“What we deserve is the criticism that we didn’t perform for 90 minutes.”