I'd have taken another point at 8 pm, but that was amazing and thoroughly deserved. Everyone earned their money tonight. I despise that lot with a passion, there aren't enough swear words in the English language which could adequately convey my contempt for them - that was VERY sweet.
Chelsea were so poor that whilst I would have taken a point against them, in complete honesty I would have been disappointed. Well done to the players on a fantastic team effort. We never would have put a shift in like that under Long John Silva.
You might need to bombard our own support while you're at it cause some of them were thinking the same thing.
My favorite stats from the BBC website: Three players have now received red cards for fouls on Richarlison this season - Davinson Sanchez, Jonathan Hogg and Bakayoko - more than any other player in the division. All three of Deeney's Premier League goals this season have been penalties against 'big six' sides (Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea). Gracia is the first Watford manager to win his first home Premier League game in charge of the club. Pereyra is the fourth player to both score and assist a Premier League goal from the bench this season, after Morata against Burnley, Anthony Martial for Manchester United against West Ham and Andre Ayew of Swansea against Huddersfield.
Have been one of Deeney’s biggest critics over recent months, but he was way beyond good tonight, my MOTM.
What we saw was a well drilled and coached team. We had a game plan, everyone knew what to do and that's down to Mr Gracia, that's what we were sold. Only difference between here and Malaga is he has offensive weapons he can use. Very good to see that he didn't sit back at 2-1, he just let them express themselves. A very promising start to his tenure.
At first I thought Deulofeu was telling Troy to run into space but actually I think he was saying hold off making the run until he was closer to goal. Not much to add. COYH.
Tonight was only the second time we’ve scored 4 since our return to the PL. The first time was at West Ham last season, a result that gave Mazzarri his first win as our Head Coach. So Gracia repeats that feat to get his first victory too. It was the first time Chelsea have conceded 4 in the league under Conte. Up to their goal tonight Chelsea had had only 5 touches in our penalty area, which is quite amazing considering our defensive woes this season. That’s 18 goals now in our last three meetings with Chelsea. Pereyra’s scored now two goals this season, both against Chelsea. It was the second season running we’ve beaten the current champions of England. Since our promotion we’ve now done Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Man United. Just Spurs and City to crack now out of the top six! Troy’s goals this season in the league (all pens) have come against Chelsea, Man U and Arsenal. Not bad! And finally Gracia becomes the first Watford Head Coach to win his first match in charge at the Vic since... Billy McKinlay!! He’s already lasted longer too!
Carra and Rooney both agreed it was a certain penalty. The speed at which Deulofeu and Courtois collided meant little contact was needed for it to be a foul. The real story here is how we fully deserved to win the game, with or without red cards and penalty decisions, but there will always be those who jump on the Watford hate bandwagon. I think it’s just a fact of life now.
Fantastic result, didn’t expect that! The confidence was back in the team and they were passing the ball well right from the off. They were well organised and when they didn’t have the ball they quickly got back into position so that Chelsea had to play through them, they couldn’t and we just picked the ball up in midfield. Luckily we had a very good new player in the centre alongside Doucoure, I think he was wearing shirt 29. At 1-1 I thought that was it. A couple of players showed signs of tiredness and one looked like he had (cramp just before the equaliser). There was a bit of arguing after their goal and I thought, oh god that’s the dream over but the boys dig deep and shut those Chelsea fans right up! Best performance for ages, possibly all season at th Vic. Great atmosphere, easily the best for a couple of years. This thread is total proof that nobody on this forum knows anything about football and we should all stick to quoting The Hitchikers Guide, out-punning one another and arguing about politics. Goodnight all! Edit: I’d like transcript of tonight’s shixbox please.
A few points. Janmaat redeemed himself big time, he hesitated and let Hazard get the ball. He took some responsibility, and instantly righted his wrong. Something we haven't seen much of this season. Rich getting their lad sent off was the result of the ridiculous pressing we deployed in the first half. We tired 2nd half, but it's so refreshing to see the players back to how they were a few months back. The biggest miracle of tonight though was Capoue. I don't know what Gracia has done, but he's just completed two games for us where he's been useful for the whole 90 minutes. I never thought I'd see the day
That is a phenomenal stat and is all down to Gracia. The shape of the team was fantastic when we didn't have the ball, we were constantly shepherding them down blind alleys. Their tactic was clear, get Hazard up against Prodl so that he could turn him inside out. The problem they had was that they could never get it into his feet as Capoue, Doucoure and others were always positioned in the way. You could tell it was tactical as when Capoue won a 50-50 in the first half, the ball broke to a Chelsea player and Capoue sprinted back ten yards to get back in position - he didn't sprint to pick anyone in particular up, he stopped in a pocket of space, but he did it to block the passing lane through to Hazard.
If you want some entertainment I suggest reading fro page 35 onwards. http://www.theshedend.com/topic/31569-watford-vs-chelsea-pl-mon-feb-5th-2018-2000-uk/?page=35
Fantastic result Watford, only the third time we have scored 4 in the PL after West Ham away last season (as Malts has said) and home to Portsmouth in GT's premier league season 99/00 when Gavin Mahon (who was at the game tonight) scrored a screamer!
Can't see what all the fuss is about really. Two fingers in the air so what. This trial by video malarkey is getting ridiculous. Why didn't Troy just say it was a perfectly regular goal celebration? Who would have known it wasn't?
I did not expect a win tonight. What I hoped for was a performance that demonstrated that the new head coach was able to make a difference and get more from this group of players than Silva had in his last few months. Honestly I think we saw a better drilled team. Yes Chelsea played 65 minutes with only ten men. But they passed the ball so well in the second half that you would not realise it. Happy to see that having conceded we went higher up the pitch looking to find a winner. All in all if we can keep up that level of play we will get the four wins we need. Having thought we had found a coach to step it up in Silva, I hope that Gracia can build on this, and build a team over the next few seasons that is a truly competitive force.
Saviour tonight and screen shot these pages; in 6 months we'll collectively be calling for Grazia's head once he's lost the dressing room!
No.. not from there. I was quoting a Scottish fella i used to work with who said it all the time and the earlier conversation on here about how to pronounce "Javi" which at one point got turned into Gravy.
Havent been back long, but what a fantastic result. Wasnt expecting much from the game - even more so when i saw the lineup. Every player put in a shift and the win was fully deserved. Under the previous manager we would have lost that when Chelsea equalised but the response tonight, just brilliant. In fact you can already see the difference Gracia is making.
That 4-2 win was during Boothroyd's season, in GT's 99/00 PL season we only scored 3 in a match once and that was the 3-2 win over Southampton.
Awesome. I've been a bit negative recently and consequently feel like a bit of a c.nt at the moment. Well, if this is what feeling like a bit of a c.nt feels like then I could get used to it ...
