vs Well it's here. That top of the table clash we have all been waiting for since we hammered Preston NE and everyone got a bit excited about the prospect of promotion. Oh wait hold on, what am I saying? Ha, sorry this is Watford against Norwich not Bournemouth against Norwich. Not that we deserve to be sat in the automatic promotion places at all, our football bar a few games has been beyond awful and produced some of the most static, stale and defensive displays since the second coming of QSF, and even he had a bit more attacking ambition on our travels. Anyway, this isn't about our current state of play, there are numerous other threads to debate that. so shut up Skyla and get on with it. THE JAMMY DODGERS (or the Canaries) Norwich, as many expected have never really been outside of the top two bar when Reading tore the early weeks up and turned the table on it's head. They have a good settled squad of average to decent players who work hard and can get a result out of a certain draw or come back and win from a nailed defeat. They do not play the prettiest football in the Championship, but it's effective. You do not have to play sexy football to win this division - just put a run of results together and break away from the chasing pack. Norwich are bankrolled by their celebrity chef Delia Smith - who's cookbooks I own and she does serve up some delights. Her love of football has been seen in her stance of coming out onto the pitch in a Norwich Scarf and screaming the words "Let's Be 'Avin Ya" to a noisy Carrow Road. N0rwich have a few decent players in their ranks too - the one to note is Temmu Pukki - a somewhat unknown quality but has since become on of their own sons. He has not been scoring red hot so far this season overall, but he can find the net when you least expect it. Tim Krul, their ever present and reliable goal keeper has been around a few clubs in his time - a decent stopper and one that has been given the gloves as Mr. Reliable to help them stave off a constant hornet attack (yeah right). So why do I call them Jammy Dodgers? They have been pretty good at getting results at the last minute of games, and unlike other teams are pretty good at holding onto a slender lead. Despite being the first club to lose to then rock bottom and whipping boys Derby County, Norwich have strung together a decent set of consistent results, which has seen them climb to the loft heights of top spot, nine points clear of their next opponents. Speaking of which... THE SPINELESS PLAYER POWER PULLERS (or the Hornets) I am not going to go on and on about our own side. We all know to well about what has happened as of late. With the departure of Mr. Happy Vlad Ivic, the managerial seat is once again vacant - with a no doubt temp put in charge to oversee this fixture. For all the good a manager does, it may as well be Maureen from the Canteen or James the 65 year old head Grounds Keeper. Doesn't really matter, the players run the show and they know it. From the start of the season, we have put in some very shaky performances, especially on our travels. Some put it down to Ivic and his defensive style "go for a 1-0 win" strategy of getting in front and holding on, others have put it down to players just being lazy, unmotivated and just do not want to be here. Mix that in with an ever changing lineup and formation, the mystery of whether or not Hughes is still a Watford Player, why we signed OAP Glenn Murray and a shed load of other issues on the field and off it, well that is Watford FC this season. WHO WILL PLAY? WHAT FORMATION? Impossible to say. We do know the usual suspects will be drafted in however. Deeney will no doubt keep his place in the side, be it as a sub or a starter. Andre' Gray will continue to be utterly abject at any football skill and Perica will continue to warm the bench despite probably being one of our best forwards in general play and keeping up with it. Ben "Mr. GO PRO" Foster will keep the gloves, even if his performance at Huddersfield was questionable, Masina did alright, but our powder puff midfield is still by far the weakest we have seen in many a year. If sulking Sarr will perk up and play to his strengths, King Ken gets back to his best and we actually see Hughes at some point, we may be able to put out a half decent side. Problem is, the formation dictates who is picked - so whatever that is your guess is as good as mine. I've jabbered on enough, so I'll close with my own personal prediction. We will lose, but not heavily. Even if we have a new manager in, it's going to be impossible to install any stance of new tactics in less than a week. Whoever plays will be half full with Xmas Turkey anyway, so Deeney will of added a few stone. I cannot see anything other than a Norwich win, as our slide into where we belong in this division continues to be brought to reality. So, there we go - Merry Xmas and all that, and do not let the thought of this game ruin what will be a very different Xmas for us all this year.
We'll probably win - again our home form is pretty solid save for one game. And the players will put in a performance under the new manager. Then get fed up of him in about 4 months.
Buendia and Cantwell will have a field day in midfield against our non existent one. The defence will be under pressure again and our strikers will get little to feed on. The only hope is Norwich love to press forward and may give the likes of Sarr and Sema room to roam. Precious little time for a new coach to work any magic. I just hope some of these numpties realize they are very fortunate at the moment and put a shift in. Just that. Some effort would not go amiss from some.
Capoue will actually play some football proving once and for all he's an absolute melt. Deeney will start. Play crap and slow everything down again. It will be Ivics fault. We will lose and the newly formed CODGERs will begin the Pozzo Out chants from their wet beds.
Oh, Skyla! Krul has been out injured for ages so isn't ever-present now. McGovern has proved a decent deputy though. Why didn't you mention Aarons, Buendia and Cantwell as their stars, alongside Pukki? They might be bankrolled by Delia, but she and her hubby were the poorest owners in the Prem last season, worth less than half what Gino has.
A free hit against one of the big swinging ****s of the championship. Troy, Gray, Perica and Murray must all start.
Is Skyla that Amy on Hornet Hive who won the quiz? If so, fair play. That Family Fortunes guy who didn't know that Battocchio scored the Zola season GOTS was a disgrace.
3-0 loss. Delia, Stephen Fry and Alan Partridge will laugh at us, and even making jokes about Norfolk inbreeding won't be enough to cheer us all up. Sad times indeed.
They hate him at West Ham. You can see why. They think we follow Troy Deeney rather than Watford FC. Hopelessly out of their depth.
I think this would be much more appropriate for a new intro music especially after our first half display yesterday.
We have the element of surprise. Norwich won't know what to expect from us. Neither will our own team.
Im in Norfolk over Christmas if anybody wants me to go boo some of the players. I would be quite happy to hold a STFU Deeney sign up too when our coach arrives.
I wrote the same thing before the Huddersfield game, half an hour into the game we'd conceded the two worst goals imaginable. Let's hope your luck is better...
We had no chance with Ivic. Now we have hope. And with Billy McXisco at the helm, we’re going to win this.
Do we really have to play them so soon ? Is there no "novice, inexperienced manager in quarantine" exemption we can use ? A chance for Munoz to show us our new attacking intent ? A "Must not be completely anihilated game". Watford 2 (Deeney pens 5, 15) Norwich 8 (various)
how the **** are all of our players coming down with COVID , I thought they were being tested regularly and should be isolating as per normal COVID rules