Southampton V Watford at St. Mary's Stadium : Match Preview

Southampton V Watford - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.Steven Caulker swaps Southampton for Liverpool with Ronald Koeman's blessingSouthampton manager Ronald Koeman was not going to stand in the way of out-of-favour Steven Caulker joining Liverpool on loan for the rest of the season.The 24-year-old centre-back moved to St Mary's on loan from QPR over the summer, but only played eight matches in all competitions for the club.Caulker's last appearance for Saints came in the Capital One Cup quarter-finals last month against Liverpool - a club the defender has now joined until the end of the season."We spoke about his situation yesterday evening," Koeman said. "Steven came in in the summer before we signed Virgil van Dijk because we had long-term injuries and he was a back-up."He didn't play a lot and normally we have more defenders for that position. I am not to stop his opportunity to play for Liverpool."Caulker's departure is likely to have little effect on Southampton on Wednesday, when they look to get back to winning ways against Watford.Saints have lost eight of their previous 10 matches in all competitions, but Koeman is confident they turn their fortunes around."We have had some injuries in key players but that's about the tough winter time, you have to play a lot," he said."The players don't get a lot of freshness because they play so much and out of that you have to make more changes on the team and sometimes that's difficult, when you have no confidence and you have got six or seven defeats (like) we have had it makes it more difficult."It's not that we are playing badly we are still playing good but not good enough."He added: "The confidence dropped a little but about the last few results, it's an important week, Watford at home and West Brom at home."You like to win and you know the Premier League is a tough competition and sometimes difficult to explain, more chances than our opponents, more possession than our opponents and finally we lose the game and that is sometimes difficult.""I have total confidence in the players that we will turn around but we have to realise that they (Watford and West Brom) are very important to the rest of the season."Saints welcome a strong Watford side to St Mary's on Wednesday and Koeman is well aware a tough match awaits."It's a team playing out of very good organisation and they have the spirit and the confidence in every match that they can win," the Dutchman said."They have two in front full of confidence, one is working very hard for (Odion) Ighalo so that he can be the man scoring goals and that is difficult."Quique Sanchez Flores could also be a busy man in the transfer window after admitting Andros Townsend is exactly the type of player Watford need.Flores has been linked with a January swoop for out-of-favour Tottenham winger Townsend and his former White Hart Lane team-mate Emmanuel Adebayor, who is currently a free agent.The Hornets boss would not confirm or deny concrete moves for either player, but admits he may struggle to persuade Adebayor to be a third-choice striker behind his regular and in-form front two, Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo."I can understand why a lot of clubs in England want to sign Adebayor," said Flores. "He's 31, he has quality, he has experience, he has goals. So I understand that he can choose where he wants to play in the Premier League."It's not easy to come here to cover Deeney and Ighalo. They have a high performance every time and they are part of the soul of this team. It's difficult to challenge these players, so we need to be sensitive."We need to explain to the players on what condition they're coming to this team. I don't want any players coming here to cover strikers that think they are going to play easily, because it's not the real situation."We play with two strikers but it's difficult to take them out of the team, including in the match."Watford reportedly had a B#10million bid for England international Townsend turned down earlier this month, and Sanchez clearly remains keen on the 24-year-old."He has the characteristics that we are looking for," added the Spaniard."We have players in the side who can play intelligent football but we need skill, we need velocity. We need to make a balance with these players and he has the characteristics."I don't like to talk about names but these are the kind of characteristics we are looking for."Watford head to Southampton on Wednesday night in search of a first win in four Premier League matches.Koeman's Saints have hit a miserable run of form with just one win in their last 10 outings, but Sanchez feels Southampton may have over-achieved last term, when they finished seventh."Maybe Southampton last year were better than the squad they have," he said."They were fighting against Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City, amazing teams. Sometimes one team is doing amazing performances under the level that they have."Results are important for the confidence of the players. They didn't start well so they have problems with confidence, but they have an amazing team, a good manager, so the match will be tough for us."

Source: PAR