Watford’s Ighalo will not leave in January, says Flores

Adam Bogdan feels he was fouled for Watford’s first goal in Liverpool’s 3-0 mauling at Vicarage Road – but still accepts full responsibility for gift-wrapping Nathan Ake’s strike.

It was an terrible start and there was worse to come for Klopp in the 15th minute as Ighalo doubled Watford’s lead thanks to more pitiful play from the Liverpool rearguard.

Watford captain Troy Deeney has told talkSPORT Liverpool were “bullied” and “didn’t fancy the fight” as the hungry Hornets claimed their fourth consecutive Premier League win on Sunday.

Watford FC coach, Quique Sanchez Flores has insisted that his side’s top scorer, Odion Ighalo, will not be leaving the Vicarage Road during the January transfer window.

“Four wins back-to-back is massive and starts our so-called tough run that everyone’s talking about”, a jubilant Deeney added on Sky Sports.

“There’s no problem, you just have to react to the maximum and that’s what we have to work on”.

“But for today I decide first for Christian then for Divock, then for Christian”.

With the Premier League looking as topsy-turvy as I’ve ever remembered it, I suppose this result makes a whole lot of sense, but that’s far from the whole story and would rob the Hornets of the credit that they so richly deserve.

“So okay maybe it was not the best decision, I don’t know – we will never find out”.

Klopp admitted that his team faced a hard task at Watford who have conceded any goal in their last five home games. We lost our mind after the first goal.

That one did not reflect well on centre-half Martin Skrtel, who seemed to have forced Ighalo wide from Deeney’s pass but allowed him to score from a wide angle. It’s also their joint-highest tally in a Premier League campaign.

Alberto Moreno hit the side-netting while Heurelho Gomes saved from Origi, Jordan Henderson and Emre Can but Watford remained risky on the counter-attack.

Ighalo was denied wonderfully by Adam Bogdan on that occasion, but he made amends in the latter stages of the game when he latched onto Valon Behrami’s cross with a well-placed header.

Ighalo said he was happy to keep scoring – he has 12 in 17 league games – but said the team performance was crucial.

Despite dominating for long periods, Swansea failed to put away injury-depleted opponents who have failed to win in seven games since beating Chelsea at the end of October to go third in the table.