Watford will face Gillingham, at Vicarage Road as the second round of the English Football League Cup kicks off this week. The match will take place on August 23 at 7.45pm KO.
The earlier stages of cup competitions, such as the EFL Cup, are often used by Premier League clubs to rotate players, in order to rest those who have been playing in the league and give opportunities to those who are not. Despite this Craig Cathcart has suggested that the Hornets are fully focused on progressing into the next round and will not be taking their League One opponents lightly, no matter who starts.
The game may see the debut of new signing Younes Kaboul, who joined on a three year deal from Sunderland, as well as an appearance from record signing Isaac Success who is recovering from injury.
We want to progress
Defender Cathcart has insisted that his team want to get the job done and advance into the next round of the EFL Cup. He commented that the Hornets will “take the Gillingham game very seriously” as they want to “get out first win on the board”.
Cathcart also suggested that whoever starts will be “ready to play and fully-focused on the game” but it is up to the manager whether “he’s going to give some lads playing time”.
He added that, “we go into the game 100 per cent focused to try to get through.”
The Irishman also added that the players will want to impress their new manager Walter Mazzarri and will take the opportunity “to show [him] what we’re about”.
He concluded by suggesting that Watford want to go on another “good cup run”, after reaching the semi-finals of the FA Cup last season. Cathcart commented that, “it’s always unbelievable to go and play at Wembley and that would be nice to do again”.