Watford boss fears TV snub

Watford boss Adrian Boothroyd fears broadcasters will boycott his team if they continue to play poorly in front of the cameras.

The Hornets’ match at Manchester City tomorrow night is live on satellite television, and Boothroyd knows his team must improve on their last performance, when they were defeated 1-0 at home by Sheffield United.

The game against the Blades was also a TV match, and Boothroyd’s team are desperate for a result at Eastlands as they are five points adrift of safety in the Barclays Premiership.

“I would be surprised if Sky want to come to Vicarage Road again,” said Boothroyd.

“The Sheffield United game was an awful one to watch, and it must have been awful for the spectators.

“But I have to watch these games again.

“I have to look at the details of all the matches in order to extract things from them.”

Boothroyd hopes to welcome back forwards Hameur Bouazza and Ashley Young, who missed the Sheffield United game with an ankle injury and a ‘flu bug respectively.

But the Vicarage Road chief is still without a number of key players.

Goalkeeper Ben Foster is sidelined for a further month with a knee injury, striker Marlon King is to miss the remainder of the campaign with a torn cartilage, defender Clarke Carlisle (thigh) is another long-term casualty and full-back Chris Powell is suspended following his red card against Sheffield United.

Boothroyd’s men have won only one of their first 14 matches in the Premiership and have yet to win away from home, making it the worst sequence of the 35-year-old’s managerial career since he took over at Watford in March 2005.

Boothroyd continued: “I do not get low. I get angry, but not low.

“These are games of football. They count, and they are important, but you have to be able to let go.

“If you can’t do that, the emotion stops you thinking straight, and when you are in our position, you need to be able to think straight.

“Moping around does not help anyone, and I tend to bounce back quite quickly, because I think it is important.

“The great think about this bad run is that it is testing me, and it is testing the players.

“Testing times should make us better, and that is what I am holding onto.”

To make matters more difficult for Watford, they face a Manchester City side yet to taste defeat in front of their own supporters this season.

Boothroyd watched Stuart Pearce’s team win 3-1 at Aston Villa last week, and he accepts that this might not be the best time to play them.

Boothroyd acknowledged: “This will be a very difficult game, because it looks as though City are coming into form at the wrong time for us.

“They have a nice blend of experience, of power and pace, and there is some creativity in there as well.

“In Micah Richards, they have a player who is young, powerful, quick, and with an awful lot of potential.

“And Stuart Pearce is someone I admire. Not only was he a great player, but he made sure he did his coaching badges to improve himself.”