Flores aiming to ‘silence’ St James’ Park

Quique Sanchez Flores: Not concerned by lack of goals

Quique Sanchez Flores: Not concerned by lack of goals

Quique Sanchez Flores is aiming to “silence” St James’ Park when he takes his Watford side to face Newcastle on Saturday.

The Hornets picked up their first league win of the season with a 1-0 victory over Swansea last weekend and travel to the north east looking to build momentum against Steve McClaren’s struggling outfit.

Newcastle sit at the foot of the Barclays Premier League having lost at West Ham on Monday night but their fans will once again look to provide plenty of backing to get them off the mark – with

Flores looking to make sure their partisan following is kept quiet.

“We respect Newcastle because I know they are a very historical team in the Premier League,” he said.

“They have McClaren whom I have respect for, a big coach in the Premier League. They have a a good leader, they signed a lot of new players also they are playing at a stadium with 55,000 fans.

“Of course we want to have a good atmosphere with high pressure but it is very interesting for us because when I imagine these kinds of matches I always think about creating silence in the stands.

“Our target is to create the silence. When you get to play and win in this kind of stadium it is amazing for the players and for their confidence, so it is very important to try to use this kind of atmosphere.”

Odion Ighalo celebrated a new contract at Vicarage Road by scoring the only goal of the game to beat in-form Swansea with Watford holding on despite having Valon Behrami sent off just after the hour-mark.

That goal was Watford’s first since the opening weekend of the season as captain Troy Deeney still waits to break his Premier League duck.

A talisman in recent years for the Hornets, Deeney also penned a new deal at the club before the start of the campaign and Flores has backed the Englishman to come good.

“The level of the opposition is different,” Flores explained.

“He has scored a lot of goals but now the level of the defenders of the teams of everything is different so we need a little bit more from the players, they know they need to give a little bit more because the same is not enough.

“The Championship is one thing, the Premier League is different in terms of the play and intensity and quality so in this case I am really happy with the full squad but we know if we want to score 20 it’s very difficult, and we have to improve the level of the players.

“But we are on the way and for sure when the season is finished Deeney and Ighalo and other players they are going to get their objectives.

“For us Deeney is a big reference in the dressing room and on the pitch and the situation is the same as last year.”