Tag: Ighalo

Watford striker Odion Ighalo has said he may no longer be putting away the goals regularly because he is now better known in the EPL and so a closer attention on him and his strike partner Troy Deeney.

Ighalo, who will lead Watford’s attack in today’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley against Crystal Palace, has reasoned that being in the spotlight may have caused his goals to now be few and far between.

He has scored 16 goals in the EPL but his last goal in the league was in January.

“In the first half of the season teams knew me and Troy (Deeney, his strike partner and Watford’s captain), but they did not really pay us attention,” Ighalo said in an interview.

“I maybe took a lot of people in the Premier League unaware.

“Now they are paying us attention. With two strikers like me and Troy up-front teams are now playing three back against us. They have changed the way they play so obviously that’s going to lead to fewer opportunities for us.

“There are games now when defenders are just on me for the whole game and that wasn’t happening in the first half of the season because they didn’t know me that well.”

He added: “So it’s tougher. I took my chances before. Like I say, people maybe didn’t know me too much and I took the Premier League unaware. This second half of the season I have been a bit unlucky but there are also more defenders on me. I don’t maybe get the ball the way I did before and they are basing their strategies on stopping me. Defenders are closer to me and Troy, definitely.

“But that just gives me strength to work harder and make sure I find a way. It’s what happens in football, it’s the challenge. As long as the team does well I am happy, but I am also a striker and I want to score goals.”

NIGERIA striker Odion Ighalo saw his Premier League scoreless streak stretch to 10 matches as Watford defeated West Brom 1-0 at the Hawthorns. He has not scored a Premier League goal for the Hornets since January 23 in a 2-1 home win against Newcastle United.
Ben Watson put Watford ahead in the 28th minute when he connected with a cross from Adlene Guedioura inside the six-yard box and steered the ball onto the left post and behind the keeper’s back off it.
West Brom almost leveled soon after the Watford goal after a brilliant individual effort by James McClean who tricked his way past challenges into the box but dragged his shot narrowly wide of the right post.
Heurelho Gomes pulled off a great save to deny West Brom’s Benin Republic midfielder Stephane Sessegnon who made himself some space inside the box and unleashed a quick low drive to the bottom left corner. It was just a corner for the Baggies.
Saido Beharino missed a penalty for West Brom in the 68th minute just before Victor Anichebe was introduced for Salomon Rondon .
Anichebe delivered a long ball, but it lacked enough power to reach his teammates and was intercepted by one of the defenders.
Gomes saved another penalty from Berahino as Watford stole the points.

Watford manager, Quique Flores has said he will not mount pressure on his top scorers Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney for goals as he has instead tasked the midfielders to push for goals.

The Watford strikers have struggled lately having been firing earlier in the season with Ighalo’s last EPL goal coming on January 23 in a 2-1 win over Newcastle United.

Flores has insisted he wants more from other areas of the pitch as they fight to stay up in the Premier League after a slump in the new year.

The Watford boss said: “In this moment, we can’t put the pressure on Ighalo and Deeney. We need help from the second line. These players need to add goals. Our style is different. The responsibility of the players is to play from the back.

“We need to be competitive, the Premier League is very tough. We need the focus, ambition and passion. The players played really well in the first half of the Premier League. I thought we had achieved the level of excellence and we can recover because we did that.”

Flores is boosted by having a full squad of players available for today’s home clash with Everton.

Super Eagles and Watford FC striker Odion Ighalo was substituted after the first half in the league – the first time this season and not due to injury – following a sub par display in the Hornets’s 4-0 defeat to Arsenal on Saturday.

The Nigeria International fired blank and has only scored once in 10 games for Quique Flores’s men highlighting a dip in the forward’s form.

Ighalo described the game as a difficult outing for his side – though they had been responsible for knocking Arsenal out of the FA Cup.

At the moment, Watford seek three more points to; at least, confirm their safety in the EPL but not only is the coach growing frustrated, the 26-year-old former Granada striker is also finding the attention of double teaming, center backs hard to break from, so he told footballlive.ng.

Arsene Wenger has placed Watford striker, Odion Ighalo at the top of Arsenal’s summer shopping list, according to the Daily Mirror.

The report claims that Wenger wants to bolster his attacking options with a new striker, and Watford could be tempted to sell if a £20 million bid is submitted.

Chelsea and Atletico Madrid are also keeping tabs on the Nigerian forward, who has scored 14 goals in the Premier League this season.

• Allays injury scare

• Confirms discussion with Siasia

Watford striker, Odion Jude Ighalo has told SportingLife that he would resume training by Thursday after he must have rested his muscle strain injury for two or three days while allaying fears that he would be out for long.

Ighalo ended his goals drought on Sunday when he got Watford’s curtain raiser in their surprise 2-1 away win at the Emirates Stadium against Arsenal but was substituted eight minutes from full time for precautionary motive after muscle strain complaint.

The Super Eagles’ striker told SportingLife that he would be fine after  three days rest at most and that he would be fit for their weekend’s home league tie against Stoke City.

“I will be ready after two or three days’ rest. It was not a serious injury. I just had a slight muscle strain but I will be okay for the weekend tie and for the AFCON qualifier against Egypt next week,” Ighalo told SportingLife.

The former Granada of Spain forward also told SportingLife what was responsible for Watford road win against Arsenal in the FA Cup quarter-final tie on Sunday:” We knew we had nothing to lose and we came all out to prove a point. We stuck together and our hard work and believe in God paid off.”

Ighalo also confirmed that Super Eagles interim boss, Samson Siasia called him to congratulate him on his goal and his club’s qualification for the semi-final of the FA Cup adding that the coach also used the occasion to ask about the update on his minor injury too.

He also revealed that the AFCON qualifier against the Egyptians would be tough but that even though the duo of Mohammed Salah and Mohammed Elneny are some of the stars of the Pharaohs it won’t be to our advantage to concentrate solely on them at the detriment of  other players.

Ighalo has scored 16 goals in his debut campaign in England with 14 league goals and the remaining goals in the FA Cup where they have reached the semi-final stage for the first time in recent time.

Nigeria fans ought now to be on edge with Odion Ighalo going six games without a goal for his EPL side Watford as this is coming too close to crunch AFCON qualifiers against Egypt later this month.

The last goal Ighalo scored was on January 30 in the FA Cup against Nottingham Forest, while his last goal in the league was in a 2-1 home win over Newcastle United a week earlier.

Former international Jonathan Akpoborie has said the Eagles be built around Ighalo, just as Watford are, for Nigeria to beat Egypt.

And before this drought, Ighalo would most certainly have been the first name on the Eagles team sheet after he fired 14 goals in his debut season in the EPL.

But against Manchester United on Wednesday and Leicester yesterda, the Nigeria striker was a shadow of himself.

Good enough Nigeria caretaker coach Samson Siasia is a big admirer of the Watford striker after he recently expressed his willingness to pick him as one of the over-aged players for the Rio Olympics in the summer.

At Watford, Ighalo plays as the top striker with the selfless skipper Troy Deeney supporting him, just as Brown Ideye did for Emmanuel Emenike when Nigeria won a third AFCON title in South Africa three years ago.

The former Nigeria U20 skipper scored his first goal at full international level against Chad in Kaduna last June.

He then doubled his Eagles tally when he finished off a flowing attacking move in a friendly against Cameroon in Belgium last year.