Watford boss explains why Dennis was deployed as a center forward vs Manchester United

Published: November 22, 2021

Watford manager Claudio Ranieri has explained his thinking behind playing Emmanuel Dennis as a center forward during his side's 4-1 win over Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday.

The Hornets humiliated the Red devils with Dennis very influential for the home team, scoring once and setting up two of the goals.

The Nigeria international has played mostly as a left winger since his move to Watford in the summer but was deployed in the number nine role against Manchester United.

Dennis swapped positions with Joshua King, with the Norwegian playing on the left side of a three-man attack, though the pair sometimes exchanged positions during the course of the game.

"King played a lot of matches on the left at Bournemouth and I wanted to put the defensive line under pressure because Dennis is very fast and it worked very well, but all of the team worked very well," Ranieri was quoted as saying by The Athletic.

Only Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah (7), Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba (7) and Liverpool fullback
Trent Alexander-Arnold (6) have registered more assists than Dennis in the Premier League this season.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : watfordfc.com

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