Lincoln City head coach Tom Shaw wants us to take the game to Watford tomorrow night, despite warning that the Hornets remain dangerous opponents.
The Imps head to Vicarage Road looking to respond to defeat against Birmingham City, with another away game at QPR to follow on Saturday.
With Watford struggling towards the bottom of the Championship, Tom was asked in this afternoon’s press conference whether we can capitalise on the hosts’ difficult spell in the same way we did against Burnley.
“We’re hoping to, but this is a team full of talent,” he said.
“If you look at the CVs and the journey some of their players have gone, it’s amazing that they’re at Watford and playing the Championship. Some very, very talented players. So we feel it’s a very dangerous opponent.
“We’ve got a strategy that we’ve taken away from home in recent times that we believe in and think can be really effective. We don’t want to go and sit and soak it up too much tomorrow. We want to be as front foot as we possibly can.”
Tom wants us to carry a threat at Vicarage Road, building on the approach we have taken in recent away games. He is also mindful of the quality Watford possess and the hard work we will need to put in to come away with a result.
“But we’re super aware of what they’ve got at their disposal. They’ve got individuals that can hurt you really quickly. They’ve got some very good physicality, some good technique around the goal. So they’re down the bottom end of the league. It’s not the season that Watford will be wanting, but we see these as a really dangerous opponent.
“We’re going to have to be at our best, and at our best we have an away performance where it’s going to take a lot of grit, a lot of hard yards. We’re going to have to dig in and show moments of quality. So we’re excited by the challenge and QPR to follow on Saturday.
“But we’ve got a lot of work to do between now and kick-off to make sure we’re perfect and ready. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”
That front-foot approach also extends to the opening moments, with Tom keen for us to create the first chance and chase the first goal. Asked about Watford’s difficulties in holding on to leads, he stressed that our focus will remain on imposing ourselves and using our physicality.
“We make a big thing racing after the first chance really, racing after the first goal. It’s part of our identity. We want to be front footed. You’ve seen some of the kick-off routines that we roll out. We want to get around their goal as soon as possible. It’s always going to be the strategy.
“But we think if we can get on top of these and show our stuff and our physicality gets on top of them, put ourselves in a really good place in the game, we’ve got an opportunity for a really positive result. So we’ll be focusing on us as we always do and how we can hurt them.”
Tomorrow’s trip opens a run of two away games, with QPR next up at the weekend. For Tom, the challenge is to combine that willingness to attack with the grit and work rate needed to get a result on the road.
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