27/01/12 - WFC vs Spurs (FAC4): Poll,Preview,Discussion,Reaction

After the tennis earlier, it would be rather ironic and a good story if a man named Murray did well tonight!

 

Cannot believe that Dyche has waited until now to actually blood a youngster or include on one the bench. Hope against hope that the young guns and Garner do well and prove Dyche wrong in ignoring them so far.

 

Great team selection and Deeney has come along miles

 

Glen Hoddle is tearing Loach apart on Sky 3

 

Extremely proud to be a WFC fan tonight.The lads gave their all and made the 3rd best team in the premiership look quite mediocre.On another day we would have won comfortably.Gutted to be beaten by yet another Loach mistake,this has surely got to be his last chance,I honestly think the fella has problems with his concentration as I believe he is a very good keeper.
Disappointed Whichelow didn't come on for Garner earlier,he didn't have a chance to get into the game.
But overall really proud of the lads.

 

I feel sick after watching that.

There is absolutely NO WAY we should have lost that. We created chance after chance, but some inspired goalkeeping, defending and wasteful finishing cost us big time.

There is absolutely no shame in losing like that and I hope Dyche is reminding the players of that.

 

Loach cost us the game, simple as. Awful goalkeeping yet again.

Excellent performance by the rest of the team, we were genuinely the better side. Not really bothered by the result even though we deserved to win, we did ourselves proud tonight.

Murray also showed why Dyche needs to give our talented youth a chance.

 

Sordell was the best player on the pitch tonight.

 

We were so unlucky tonight, Spurs very poor. Pity to be done like it was but that's the biggest difference between the leagues, the ability to put it away at the right time (and maybe some money as well!) Would like to more of Murray and Garner during the season. Hopefully Mariappa has also put a higher price on his head after tonight as Newcastle had people there.

Good atmosphere, though wasn't sold out so don't know what everyone was moaning about with the club's ticketing policies!

If we play just a few of our games during the season like we did tonight would be great and definitely stay up. All in all disappointed but very proud of the Golden Boys tonight.

 

My thoughts exactly. Hugely proud of our performance tonight. This is testament to exactly how well we can play if we set our minds to it. If we can play as well as that, you have to wonder how we are only 18th in the league. This performance should definitely be used as a benchmark for the rest of the season. So proud of the team tonight, but once again a Loach mistake has let the side down. I am all for 2nd chances, but he has had far more than his fair share. We need another keeper ASAP, our season will go down the drain if Loach continues. Also disappointed that no one closed down Van der Vaart before his goal. Do they not watch match of the day? I've seen many a time before what he is capable of from 25+ yards. Apart from the Loach error and not closing down, I have no other negative points to mention. Very, very impressed at not just the performance, but also the fitness of the team today. We didn't stop running for 90 minutes. Very well done to Dyche, Woan, the staff and the team today. Top drawer :sign15:

 

We deserved something from the game, a great performance, but the same old problem we had 25 shots, but still can't finish :rant:

OK Loach should have done better with their goal, but lets not turn it into another night of slating him, I'm sure he feels bad enough!!!

 

No poor performances tonight, but honourable mentions go to Eustace, Bauben and Deeney in particular for me. 3 superb individual performances.

 

PROUD TO BE A HORNET

The Murray selection came from nowhere but we'll have a very good player on our hands next season! Mariappa will definately be off now but at least that's bumped the price up. Marv and Garner seemed to link up well, would be very happy if we had that line up next game minus Mariappa probably and unfortunately Marv. He led the line brilliantly and made Kaboul look a right mug a few times. Crazy that he plays the kids against Spurs but not in the league, lets hope he sticks with them!

 

He was good, but frustrating at times.

Best player on the park tonight was Eustace.

 

Well I think that result will serve us quite well for the season. Money in the bank from the tv and a very promising performance to galvanise the players for the league. Even Van der Vaat has just said on the telly we should have won and played great.

From the start I felt Dyche made an excellent team selection. Really tailored the line up to the opposition which is something I can't really recall him doing before. Decent tempo to our play and clearly kept them on the back foot for 80 minutes until we started to tire. I'm under no illusions that Spurs were playing at anything more than second gear but you can only play what's in front of you as the saying goes. In a way the game reflected our form of the last few months - no real cutting edge up front but tighter at the back. Mariappa probably did his value no harm. Loach should have stopped a very ordinary shot, misjudged his dive and got no where near it. I'm not sure Garner is much cop but I know from shoutbox others disagree. Too many fouls by him, a naff dive and doesn't look as good as strikers we've had in recent seasons. Eustace my MOTM - simply imperious in the middle and just as it looked his career here might be winding down with Hogg taking his place he was back on the top of his game. 'Arry has just said he ran the game. Finally Sean Murray was an inspired choice by Dyche. Perfect game to get him involved in based on how Spurs play, he made some lovely passes and Cudicini's save basically turned a goal into a post strike. Don't be angry though if we don't see him again until/if we're safe in the league. He's one to nurture and we burn him out at our peril.

Interesting *** bit from after match interview - Dyche showed the players a clip of Olympic ice skaters at half time who fell over during their performance but still went on the win the gold medal. How times have changed!

 

I bow down to you Watford, we just dominated a Spurs team looking to win the premiership! 100% effort from the lot of them tonight, GREAT atmosphere, we outsung Spurs fans by a country mile tonight, best for a long time i must say. Murray was excellent gave it his all, he deserves a starting place next game, Eustace was great..ALL OF THEM WERE AMAZING THATS ALLI CAN SAY. Its just so thrustrating if one of those chances had gone in the place would have gone wild, i just dont know how we didnt score, if Graham was still here I recon we wouldve had at least 2 tonight, never the less the country just saw how good we can be when we want be. P.S. I also thought Buaben was very good except one of his shots, all I can say is I didnt expect to see that performance tonight. :sign15::sign15::sign15::sign15::sign15::sign15::sign15:

 

unfortunately, cudicini was the best player tonight...

 

Thing is his marker fell over in the centre circle - certainly not the only player to do that during the game - and he then had acres to run into as we had players up field from the attack we'd just lost out on. If a centre back came sprinting out to close him down in all likelihood a player of his class uses his close ball skills to skin them and has a free run on goal. He did shoot early as well. But it was a standard shot, certainly nothing 'goal of the month' worthy and a goalkeeper worth his salt tips that round the post and we get ready to defend a corner.

 

What about Danny Rose?

LOL jk. How many times did he give the ball away?

 

Yeah fair play he did fall over actually, you're right there.

 

Hahaha THIS IS EVERYTHING I WANT TO SAY!

How the hell did we lose?! I'm shocked! Completely and utter robbed. Outplayed them in every way possible apart from the bloody scoreline!

This should be the team week in week out. Garner was superb, murray more so - hats off to him!!

Deeney was, again, fantastic. First touch is silky, moves the ball around well, strong, good passer JUST PUT THE BALL IN THE BACK OF THE NET

ARRRRRGHHHHHHH

 

Play like that in the league and we'll dish out a few spankings, methinks.

 

Very good performance tonight and so unlucky not to get even a draw.

How the hell Van Der Vaart got Man Of The Match on ESPN god only knows.

John Eustace was immense.

To be fair, 'Arry' was full of praise for us after the game.

Very proud of the boys tonight.

 

Att: 15,384WATFORD
TOTTENHAM
[h=3]Possession[/h]

• Watford 45%
• Tottenham 55%

[h=3]Attempts on target[/h]

• Watford 12
• Tottenham 4

[h=3]Attempts off target[/h]

• Watford 13
• Tottenham 2

[h=3]Corners[/h]

• Watford 4
• Tottenham 1

[h=3]Fouls[/h]

• Watford 11
• Tottenham 4

 

Shows our dominance, however, the key stat:

Watford 0 Tottingham 1

 

Public vote on their website. The commentator thought it was odd, the summariser said Sordell or Eustace were the deserving candidates and when given the bottle of bubbly by Cudicini in the tunnel Van der Vaart laughed and said he could keep it!

 

First of all. That was a fantastic performance against one of the best teams in the country. Spurs didn't show up, but that takes nothing away from the lads. Credit has to go to Dyche for his bold team selection. It's been obvious to most that we are lacking in pace and guile big time since Kightly left. It would have been easy to stick with the same today and just try not to get beaten too badly, so as I say, credit to Dyche for taking a chance.

Individually and as a team, we were excellent today. Murray was really impressive, this needs to be the stepping stone to further inclusions this season. He still looks a little lightweight for a regular starting spot, but he needs to be on the bench at least. Technically he was excellent, his vision was good also. Most impressive was his confidence though, always wanted the ball and looked composed on it. Too early to get carried away, but if we use him right, by the end of next year he could be a permanent fixture in this side.

Garner also impressed me, considering he's been out of the fray for so long. His link up play was good, looked to get on the ball and linked up fairly well with Sordell. More importantly, he's mobile and has the speed to drop deep and keep up once he's knocked the ball off.

For me, Eustace was MOM. His performance was outstanding, especially up against Parker. His composure and reading of the game, coupled with determination, led to a brilliant game for the skipper. Closely behind Eustace was Deeney. I thought Troy was very good on the right. He should have scored after Murray hit the post, but he was a constant outlet down the right and linked up brilliantly with Hodson on a number of occasions, before putting in dangerous crosses. Bauben did a good job out there tonight also. I can see why people have sometimes been critical of him for floating in and out of the game, though I think that is just his game. He picks up great positions around the box and down the middle, it's up to our lads to find him because he's technically sound and picks a pass well.

Onto our the transfer targets. Both Maps and Sordell did no harm for their asking prices tonight. Maps was composed and read the game well, hardly put a foot wrong and dealt with the laboured Adebayor very well. Sordell led the line well, worked hard and showed a few glimpses of his undoubted class. The turn to leave Kaboul for dead was top class. Sometimes he takes too long on the ball, but that is also down to the rest of our team being a few yards behind him when he breaks clear.

I still can't believe we didn't score and force at least a replay, but honestly, this game tonight was about more than that. We need to use this performance as the springboard for the rest of our season. Dyche needs to keep the quicker players in our side and we need to play the faster paced, hard working football that we had on display today - it reminded me in many ways of the football we played under Malky during our fantastic run last season, direct, quick and dangerous, built on attacking movement and wing play. Displays like tonight would beat just about every team in our division. It's up to the players and Dyche to make sure we kick on from this. If we go to Millwall and go back to the slow, laborious football we've played most of this year, we'll be in real trouble of getting relegated. We can be proud of tonight, but it's done now and it's back to business on Tuesday. The hard work really starts now.

 

Very positive performance tonight if we can perform like this in the league then we will be fine, have to hand it to Sean tonight he did make the right changes in my opinion. Was impressed by Garner tonight thought that was the best he had played for the little he ha played for us, always impressed with Murray looks like he is going to be a very promising player in the future. If there is one negative from today it is that I think we rushed our shots a little probably gave Spurs to much respect there.

Bring on Millwall and Barnsley

 

Superb from the players and the fans

Hodson was my standout player, yet another faultless performance

Mariappa, Sordell, NyNoz, Buaben, Eusty, Murray all fantastic

 

Gutted to be out of the cup after such a wonderful display. Just let down at both ends of the pitch. Loach has got to be saving those shots, and Watford are so poor at finishing it makes you want to scream. How did Deeney miss the goal from the shot off the post, I'll never know. Spurs just did not turn up tonight, and it's got to go down as a missed opportunity as we should have won, but we dont have enough quality or cutting edge. If we had the forward players from last season tonight, we would have won by a mile. That's the difference really, Spurs probably played their worst match of the season, and Watford their best, but it was still not enough. An enjoyable game though and could have been one of those special nights, but it wasn't to be. On to Millwall now.

 

http://www.tottenhamhotspurs.tv/mat...ttenham-hotspur-official-match-thread-20.html

Makes me feel a little better

 

I dont think anyone has mentioned the fans today

Well done everyone, was a great atmosphere

 

Perfect summary, mate. Spot on.

The performance was very pleasing, and it was great to see us get the ball down and play it into Sordell's feet around the box. When we do this we look far more dangerous than hoofing it to him and not getting anyone near him to pick up the second ball. That in itself has been the biggest problem in most our games this season, hence our lack of creativity and goalscoring. We created 25 chances tonight against one of the best teams in not only England but Europe, because we offered good service to Sordell, mainly through controlling the midfield (Eustace) and the movement from Murray, Bauben and Garner in particular was too much for the likes of Modric, Parker and Livermore to cope with. The only negative was that we missed probably 5 sitters in front of goal, which isn't good enough at any level.

We do need a predator to either partner Sordell or replace him if he's off. In many ways though tonight proved we don't have to sign lots of players as we clearly have the ability in the squad with Garner, Murray and Doyley coming in tonight and in my mind they should be starting Tuesday night. Not to mention Whichelow FINALLY came in for the first time this season :dismay: and did ok when he was on, but didn't have much time to make an impression. He's another that's capable of going past a player either outwide or centrally and creating/scoring goals.

We've been looking for that balance of pace, creativity, vision and graft all season, and I think he's found it tonight. It'll be very interesting to see how he goes about the second half of the season now. Will he continue to give Youth a chance like tonight, or will he revert back to sh*t like Forsyth and Yeates?!