Watford FC 1-0 Leeds United - FA Cup Fifth Round

He was hilariously bad today. Reminded me of oulares infamous sub performance the other month.

Imagine if the Chinese really did bid £40m for him.

 

look forward to this comment developing...

I actually thought Armband was pretty decent today - it was clear from the first minute that QSF's tactic was to use him like a spaniel on speed to play ultra-high pressure and chase everything in anticipation of bringing Ighalo on in the 2nd half...

 

Apart from Southampton and Swansea away, I actually think Iggy has remained pretty good this year, but the stats don't lie: one goal in seven Premier League games (and that arguably being offside). He's getting more and more heavily marked out of the game, and if a team as limited as Leeds can nullify his threat, I don't like to think of his impact (or lack of) in upcoming games against the likes of Leicester, Arsenal, West Ham and Man U. He needs to adapt to this and find another dimension, as penalties or not, at this rate Deeney could quite easily catch up if not surpass him in the goalscoring charts.

 

Tbf - what service is he getting. Name one ball from Jurado or Abdi that has led to a goal - that is their job but most assists are from Deeney.

Jurado is good and so is Abdi but they are not threading balls through like they should

 

That's because he's not a striker hes a winger. As he even says himself. No idea why he's being played out of position when he's the club record signing. So strange

 

Yes, because it's incredibly idealistic. Sure, I'd like us to play beautiful, aesthetic football where we control every inch, but that's naive and we'll get relegated trying to achieve it. I guess the question is, what are our ambitions?

Leicester don't have to win multiple trophies to legitimise how effective their plan has been. They've discovered a tactical vulnerability in our league, and exploited the hell out of it. So what if it's a flash in the pan? They are top of the Premier League and it's almost March. We'd all take that right now.

The best managers do what works. Good management in the age of money over everything means being adaptable and dynamic. So basically what QSF has done to get us 36 points. No one cares how sexy you play if you win, because it's a short term game where yesterday is already forgotten.

 

I think this could be due to the change in formation where QSF plays one behind the striker recently as opposed to three earlier in the season so Amrabat is being played as a second striker.

I thought he showed potential today without playing that well, he has the attributes and the work rate to do well for us, he needs time to adapt but I prefer him to some of the other signings we have made.

 

Considering Leeds still think they're some massive club, they have some incredibly tinpot chants. They spent a good ten minutes singing a song about Jermaine Beckford's goal against United. It seems their proudest achievement is knocking United out the cup. Tinpot.

 

R

Yes how satisfying would that be, after what happened last time it would be extremely un-sporting of them not to let us win!

 

You started off complaining about how QSF has us playing, and now you're defending it. I'm confused.

QSF played a patient possession game today which is what is needed against a parked bus. There was no room in behind Leeds today when 0-0 because 11 men were very deep. We had to be patient and work openings. He called it right.

In other games when there is room in behind we have gone longer, with success. Again generally QSF has been right.

I'm not quite sure what we are now arguing. Except whether Lesta are a flash in the pan or CL champions elect. I reckon a flash in the pan and other managers will work them out. Nothing worth emulating imo.

 

Let's makes this clear - Leeds were garbage, and we'd create 15 shots on goal against them every time just based on player quality. But in the first half, they were sitting back doing nothing, and we were just "probing" for holes that weren't there. If you want to pass your way through a double wall of players, you need quick one and two touch football, where everyone is on the same wavelength.

The problem we have, as a team who doesn't, and can't pass the ball with that kind of quality, is that principle ultimately overrides efficiency. We end up going sideways or backwards because the pass isn't crisp enough, because the movement isn't there or because our players need more time on the ball.

It's torturous to watch. And this is the problem England have had for years and years. We can't operate well in close quarters further up the pitch, so we spend entire group stages passing around the defence. It bothers me to see us masquerading as something we're not.

Quality control and passing comes from kids that play futsal. And besides, the Premier League is about money. Teams will do whatever necessary to stay up. Having a grand vision about style is useless unless you have unlimited oil money to play with.

 

Nothing wrong with the disallowed goal. Just seen it on MotD and it was a ridiculous decision not to allow it to stand.

Deeney was fouled in the box, luckily Wootton shinned in the lose ball or else that would have been an injustice. Capoue was fouled clearly in the box as well as a handball blocking a cross.

When I think back to the soft penalties he's given against us against Leicester in the playoff semi final, in the last minute, and the extremely soft a penalty this season at Bournemouth, I just don't understand this guy at all.

The only thing you can say is he's given about 5 big controversial decisions in the 3 games he's officiated and all have gone against Watford. It's very strange. Luckily none of them has cost us a game, but I absolutely dread it when I know he's officiating one of our games.

 

I'd argue we got nowhere with our passing game. Our best attacks in that first half came from direct balls over the top.

And I'm not surprised, because we don't have a passing game. Why? Because we almost never do it. Teams that suck at possession football go backwards and sideways endlessly, which is what we did.

Leeds were gash, their supposed parked bus was the worst parking I've seen. We had no reason to strategise for them. If we had played more direct from the start, they would have melted.

It wasn't a strategy, it was Flores exercising his desire to be a passing team. That's my theory anyway.

So the moral of the story with Leicester is: Don't try and exploit weaknesses because your tactics may eventually be found out. Even if it puts you in title contention.

Is this right?

 

For the disallowed goal, all I can see is Deeney accidentally running into the defender who was never going to get to the ball, poor decision. He seemed to give everything to Leeds, I reckon we had less than 10 free kicks (I haven't seen the official stat).

 

Got nowhere? 1 perfectly good disallowed goal, 2 decent penalty shouts, 2 or 3 good close range headers.

With better finishing and any other ref we might have won by 3 or 4 goals. Would you still be moaning then?


Re the moral bit, no, you're being deliberately obtuse.

 

How? Oliver clearly indicated an advantage simultaneous to the own goal being scored. He then spoke to Deeney too to explain it. It would have been a penalty if the og hadn't have happened.

As for the rest...Capoue's goal should have stood but later on he didn't help himself with how he went to ground in the box when clipped. As the commentator said it was in instalment and it just looks staged. And no idea what you mean by the handball incident ??? It certainly wasn't shown on MOTD just now.

 

I didn't realise you were in earshot of the referee when he spoke to Deeney. He may have been saying "stop whinging, you've just scored haven't you". How do you know what he said to him?

I'm just going on all the previous evidence, that it would have been highly unlikely that he'd have given a penalty, given what's gone on before with this guy. I certainly would not be flying the flag giving him the benefit of the doubt here.

I didn't see Capoue go down in instalments as you say. In real time it looked like a certain penalty and on the TV replays it also looked like one. It certainly looked more like a penalty than the two he's given against us in the past.

The handball was the cross, when an arm blocked the ball. Similar to the penalty incident darlings Bournemouth got given today.

 

I'm no mind reader but his arms being outstretched to indicate he had played an advantage as per the approved way of indicating one somewhat gave it away. I didn't need to be in earshot...

I've still no idea what handball incident you're referring to I'm afraid. Certainly there was nothing like the McCarthy handball by a Leeds player in the box at any point today. Do you mean the blurry one shown on MOTD where Jonathan Pearce speculated the Leeds player's arm was raised? The one where there was no decent angle, that no Watford player appealed for and it seemed the commentator reacted to crowd noise? The same home crowd who 30 seconds later appealed for another handball when the ball clearly and definitely hit the Leeds player on his chest?

 

Commentators on the feed I was watching both thought it was a penalty for the foul on Capoue .
Capoue made a meal of it as us the case with every penalty these days . Doesn't change the fact that he was clearly fouled from behind . Having watched the replay several times , it was a penalty all day long .

The hand ball would have been a bit harsh but I've seen them given, as it hit his hand in a non natural position but the doubt comes from the speed of the ball.


With a proper referee that game was 3 nil and everybody on here would be purring at the performance .

Moving on, QSF needs to find a way to get Ake and Holebas on the pitch together . Both too good to drop . He's so fond of playing players out of position why not play Ake at RB.

 

Leeds manager Steve Evans:*"I think the performance was good. It was the cruellest way ever to go out of the FA Cup - it was a terrible goal to concede. We dominated the quality of the play until half-time. If you came here in the first half, you'd have thought Leeds United were the Premier League team.

"Scott Wootton's in tears, he's apologised to every member of staff and he'll not sleep for days.

"The time wasting [by Watford] was like something you'd see abroad, you don't want to see that in English football."

On what planet is this guy!!!

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As normal, you go down the pedantic route trying to pull apart every incident to make out it didn't really happen. I'd buy yourself a new TV if it was blurry for you, as it was quite clear the ball struck an arm.

In another game we could have been given a penalty for those two incidents and I'm sure they would have been considered very good decisions by the referee had he done so. You have to go back and compare the two penalties he has given against us in the past as a measure of what he considers to be a valid penalty.

I'm sure you can make a case that Knockaert was viciously attacked by Cassetti in the playoff final also, but that's not really my point. Michael Oliver has history of being extremely harsh with decisions against Watford and no matter how hard you deny it, I think many would have the same opinion.

 

This reminded me the first years of T.Henry in Ars - he also was winger and was awful striker. In the beginning.
Only to become a great goal scorer.

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Just got in and decided to watch the highlights:
1 - Christ knows why Capoue's goal was offisde
2 - Jonathan Pearce thinks Miguel Britos is from Northern Ireland (listen to the first effort on motd)
3 - Leeds did nothing and are dreadful

 

Leaving aside the utterly deluded nonsense of the rest of that quote, without meaning to sound mean about a guy who was genuinely upset about a horrendous mistake that theoretically cost his side a replay, where was the bad luck that the MotD commentators were harping on about?

There was nothing unlucky about that own goal, it was a moment of madness and stupidity, I mean what he was he trying to do? Yes it was a brilliant cross from Watson, but he still had abundant time and space to clear under not all that much pressure. Probably would have put his side in less danger if some evil mythical being had turned him into stone. Even Abdi was laughing at it.

 

Capoue was clipped and it should have been a penalty, but Deeney leant into a defender before Capoue scored so idk what the "perfectly good goal" commonly referred to in this thread relates to. Deeney also pulled back a defender when through one on one. Oliver didn't have bad game IMO.

Also Watford played well, you'd have expected Leeds to throw something at us, but it never came, all Evans huffing about making it a proper cup tie never happened because we stopped them getting a sniff. We could have had 4.

Capoue should just pass.

Ighalo would have scored if Capoue passed. I think he's doing OK.

Bring on the QF.

 

Having been too focused on the penalty claim to realise we had scored initially, I can confirm Oliver was playing advantage, can you cut out the ****ing whinging now?

 

Bizarre decision to disallow Capoue's goal: yes, minor contact on defender by Deeney, but accidental and defender was never playing the ball; utterly pedantic and not in the spirit of what the game is supposed to be about. Penalty was nailed on, having watched MOTD. At the game I thought Capoue had left his leg behind to instigate contact, but it was a legitimate foul for sure and should have been given, irrespective of how he went to ground. He was also keen to book Parades for a minor tug on the edge of his own box after about ten minutes had elapsed but not the Leeds player who hauled down one of ours breaking away inside their half.
Then there's the theatrical, self regarding way he pointed to the spot fractionally outside the box, as if to say "tough sh1t, no pen here either"
Utterly stank the place out, as usual.

 

Can understand someone buying one for a child for a big match if they're an occasional fan. But why would ANYONE want one for us against Leeds in a 5th round FAC match?!

 

We won a poorly-officiated cup tie without really having to move out of second gear. We looked what we are, a decent mid table Premier League team, and Leeds looked the bottom half Championship team.

Not a match that will live long in the memory but we are safely through. No dreaded replay. No injuries. No red cards. Two players making full home league debuts and more minutes for Amrabat. I wouldn't imagine the exertions of yesterday will have left any player too tired to face Bournemouth.

So, all in all, professional job done. I suspect things will get much harder in the Quarter Final.

 

We time wasted like a team from abroad...

...according to Steve Evans.

Now i hate time wasting, even when we do it. I understand the point of it but it still irks me. However i cant say i noticed it yesterday bar Adobe Amrabaat walking to the ref to shake his hand before going off. Did we time waste yesterday and i missed it? Or has it started to become the norm in the prem so much so that i am now oblivious to it?

 

A couple of times Pantilimon was slow retrieving the ball for a goal kick, but as they rarely came down our end it didn't happen much to have made a significant difference.

 

I only got to watch the last half hour, which is when one would've thought time-wasting was at its peak, but we were going for a second goal whilst Leeds were simply content to try and hold 1-0 until the sixth minute of stoppage time, when they actually mustered a shot, albeit offside.

 

Does anyone know how to make a gif from the BBC website?

edit: don't worry