But Man City players will still work hard on the physical side of things. They're at the top of their game and physically they're some of the fittest around. It just shows that for whatever reason our lot haven't been as fit as they should be.
Yup it's up to coaches to get them to do it. Shame it's taken this long to get a coach that works on making sure the team are up to the levels required for the PL.
I agree. But your original post alludes to a lack of effort. While that may be true based on some performances last season, I don’t think the squad as a whole would lack professional standards en masse. It’s more likely that previous managers have focussed training in other, less productive facets of the game not suited to our squad and their abilities. So most players putting the effort in but into misguided areas. Gracia seems to be rectifying that.
Would have thought that four years on the trot in the PL would have made that comment seem rather futile. I appreciate what you are getting at, but if nothing else, it seems that Watford's teams over the last three seasons have proven themselves fit enough for comfortable survival on every occasion. I think you may be barking up the wrong tree on this issue.
So then fellow 'Orns, following several conversations today, we only beat Spurs because: a) Spurs played badly b) we cheated c) we bullied them d) we are dirty barstewards e) the ref was cr@p f) (and this is my favourite) we played two up front, "and you just don't do that in the Premier League" Best day at work for ages
Ha, amazing how many people change their opinions 180 degrees after they get married. You obviously picked a good un Burnsy. Welcome back.
Very disappointed to hear that our sloping pitch seems to have been entirely omitted from the blame this time.
Hey Burnsy, sounds like you've gone through a roller coaster of emotions over the last couple of months, my thoughts are with you and your bereavement , but also my excitement for your new married life. Good to have you back!
Donovan was from St Albans/Hetford so may have been a hornet or even a scummer. In all liklehood he would have been tripping his t1ts of most of the time so may have never made it to a game due to staring intently at the courdroy pattern on his trousers for 8 hours non stop.
Well we've certainly spoilt two-time nepotistic Spudder Jamie Redknapp's weekend. "Troy Deeney was a complete nuisance!" stormed Jamie, stamping his little foot so hard his tiara went wonky. “The Watford captain is strong as an ox, incredibly physical and wants to batter defenders" he complains, condemning him with faint praise. Jamie knows this because he saw the highlights and saw Troy skittle over one of their millionaire superstars. It's not fair and Jamie is disappointed! So for someone of Jamie's limited cliche-ridden intellect, there's only one conclusion. Deeney is a simple battering ram. No skill, no ability, no footballing nous, just the brutish bulldozer 'battering' all before him. How this man regularly gets employment as a 'pundit' is beyond me. What a stunning lack of insight. What a lack of anything meaningful or even vaguely accurate or interesting to say. The many grammar fetishists on here may be interested to know that in 2010, Jamie was awarded the Plain English Campaign's Foot in Mouth Award (at least he won something in his career). This was mainly for his imaginative use of the word 'literally'. For example:- "he literally chopped him in half in that challenge" "Alonso and Sissoko have been picked to literally sit in front of the back four" "Drogba litterally destroyed Senderos today" "he had to cut back inside onto his left, because he literally hasn't got a right foot" and my own personal favourite:- "in his youth, Michael Owen was literally a greyhound"
First half was very concerned, mainly due to the space Davies and Trippier (especially with his assist history against us) were always allowed. Considering the only shot on target was a pass to Vorm from Deeney, it seems my concerns weren’t overly necessary. Second half started much the same, but as soon as Deeney floored Sanchez, there was only one winner. We’ve become a 2nd half team, accepting pressure in the first half before stepping it up in the second and as soon as that happens it seems inevitable. Yes we may have scored from 2 set pieces but I can’t be alone in thinking that we’d have at the very least equalised from open play. From the 50th minute it was as good a performance as a team as I’ve seen from a Watford team for a long time. Consistent pressure, solid and organised defence, midfield destroying the oppositions, strikers wrecking havoc, it was utterly fantastic to watch. Special mention to Gracia, brilliant tactical coach/manager whatever the lingo is these days, but he’s got us looking very good this year. Yes we’ve had 3/4 games at home where he’s specialises for us so far, but there’s a togetherness and team spirit seen in the team that makes me think (hope) that we’ll at the very least break top 10 this season. For what it’s worth I reckon we’ll beat United, depending on how we do against Fulham will determine our season.
To be fair Michael Owen did will to move on from his greyhound days to being a human being, its quite rare and should be celebrated more
All thoughts must now consider Mrs Burnsy's view, would appear she rates Gracia. Never mind could always tidy the shed (No.34 on the chores list).
That would be the same Michael Owen who said that the ball hit a player in the facial area of the head when commentating. An area most people would simply call a face.
A couple of years ago, Sky were always bigging up their boxset series. The convention was that, before the hour of mindless post match drivel from Savage, Rio or whichever lack wits were on the roster that day, the anchorman would say ‘And I expect Jamie will be racing home to watch our brand new series of Lost’. Jamie would smile, wanly. Amongst the alpha males in the studio, there was a clear sense that the weakling has been flushed out.
I may be thinking of the wrong Donovan - the only one I know of is a Glaswegian. I'm sure he is a Hornet though - wrote Mellow Yellow for us.
This is actually wonderful. I doubt Pereyra ever even met GT, yet in this video he embodies his legacy and represents everything that he wanted this club to be. Easily just as valuable as anything he ever does for us on the pitch.
I think a couple of valid points made by tottingham fans haven’t really gotten the attention that they clearly deserved. For instance, one commented that after dragging England to extra time in the World Cup semi-final their players are tired. True to form though, the trophy dodging cocks couldn’t bring themselves to actually win the bloody thing! Or, how about the shadow across the Vicarage Road pitch? I’m can’t claim to know much about this football lark as I only follow Watford, but didn’t Watford play on that same pitch?
Aretha Franklin was from Bushey and went to the Girls' grammar school. It is thought "Say a little prayer for you" was written for the late great GT on the eve of the famous League Cup tie at Old Trafford.
Watched the highlights on MOTD 2. We were first on! They mention Capouey being lucky to be allowed to play after his assault on Crystal Palace’s Wilfy. Apart from that we had a good showing and looked in complete control in the second half. They showed their keeper kick the ball out for the corner and Ian Wright was complementary. Jermaine Janus cried abit about Spurns but managed to mentioned how well drilled we were defensively. Great shot of Elton celebrating. Other comments noticed: previously they were worried for Watford as we’ve only scored worldies and they stated that we need to work opportunities by getting into good positions. This week Souness says that we are great at scoring from headers and set pieces, almost as if that’s all we’ve done this season.
My son did exactly that for a couple of years, swayed to the Evil side "Tottenham" , but at least he didn't choose Man U We lived in Cornwall at the time so most of his school mates supported a so called "Big Team" as there are no professional teams in Cornwall, hence he was influenced by his school mates. Thankfully he came back to the fold after a couple of years when he realised the error of his ways, and currently he is busy indoctrinating his son, our 1 year old grandson, in the "Yellows Creed" Hopefully our son wont have to work too hard on the indoctrinisation of our grandson if we can continue to play like we are at present, establish ourselves firmly in the top half of the PL, perhaps win a cup or two and maybe even qualify for europe once in a while and why not as: - "The Future is Bright The Future is Yellow"
Following on from this......it's clear we are one of the most unpopular clubs in the Premier League as far as the media and pundits are concerned. I think it boils down to snobbery. They don't think a club like Watford should be there. This is why so many say we will be relegated. It's not because they don't think we're good enough, it's more to do with what they would like to happen. Most would like the Premier League made up of big city clubs, like Leeds, Forest, Sunderland etc. There's no room for the likes of Watford. I watched The Debate last night, and it was painful watching Merson. When the presenter asked him to talk about Watford it was clear he had to say something nice because of our start. He just froze and couldn't say anything, it was agony for him, so she quickly passed the same question over to Bellamy, so Merson could compose himself. When they went back to Merson all he could say was he now didn't think Watford would go down, which incidentally is his fourth U-turn in a row after just a small amount of games into a season. He also went on to say, if we finished in the top half then Gracia deserves the manager of the season award. He was so angry Watford beat Spurs. The way he said, "you just can't beat United then lose to Watford". It's not so much what he said, but the way he said it. He also underlined that statement by saying "you just cannot lose to Watford if you're 1-0 up." Again, it was all about Spurs' failings rather than Watford's ability in turning the result around." Bellamy was trying to make excuses for Watford's run saying, they've only played one away game, and playing Burnley when we did was good timing. That's maybe true, but it's just taking credit away from what we've achieved. If we are this crap team that should be the first to be relegated, then surely what we're doing now should be given immense credit. But no, it's treated like one of Ripley's Curious Creatures. They showed Watford's home form since the arrival of Gracia. We've picked up more points at home than any side in the Premier League in that time. Yes, more than Man City and Liverpool. It's an incredible run, but what was their response to that? No comment and just a shrug of the shoulders and they wanted to focus on how bad the away from is. Souness is another. How many great goals have we scored this season? I think the quality of our goals in August was top drawer. Ok, we scored from two set-pieces on Sunday, but that prompted him to say Watford are as dangerous as Cardiff, which is clearly meant as a veiled put down. They don't seem to mentioned goals from set-pieces when Liverpool score them. Didn't Arsenal score a header from a corner at the weekend, oh yes, but they are top six. I wish they would employ pundits without baggage. There are a few. Danny Murphy is one of the best. He's always honest be fair, intelligent and considered in his comments. He's got no axe to grind on any club and it shows. There are not enough pundits like this. When Sky show Watford matches, they should bring in a pundit with a strong Watford association, just to give it some balance. Too many have a default negative setting when it comes to talking about Watford. It's always sacked managers, before that it was "loanford". We've won 4 on the trot, sitting third in the league, and they hate it. Personally, if I was in the media, and saw this small club, continually punching above their weight and now doing something extraordinary, it would be interesting to me. I'd want to delve into why this is happening. What's behind the scenes. How can a club of this size be doing so well. I certainly would be giving them a lot of credit for mixing it with the big boys and doing rather well. So many sneer and if they do give praise. it's through gritted teeth.
