I'll repeat, average compared to what? The rest of the league? To us? to Premiership teams? Average doesn't mean anything on its own. You're entitled to think whatever you want. We must have been watching a different game.
I wasn't there last night but watched it in a pub in London. Some thoughts in no particular order: 7 pts difference in 18 games is not insurmountable. It's a lot harder to score 7 goals in 34 minutes. I think this kind of experience and the sense of injustice could work in our favour regarding team spirit, togetherness etc. We will need that as we approach the end of the season. Slav has already brought solidarity. Bournemouth are ok but Matt Richie's hair is egregious Skysports reporting has been disappointingly biased about this match. I expect it from the BBC (who reported well about how the ref decided the game) but Sky have not done justice to what was an appalling decision. I was there when Rob Styles set the bar for atrocious reffing - this came close. Ighalo is immense. Worked some magic from deep positions. Deserves the acclaim he's getting. Deserves his great song. If Anya could pass or shoot better he'd be a good player. (Sometimes he is.) I love Captain Troy. The Watford fans sounded great and I was proud of them. For Joka to say what he said...erm...says something. Eddie Howe is only slightly less smarmy than MacLaren. Not sure I like him that much. They're both good at their jobs though, I accept that. Let's not forget the 2nd half against Blackpool. There'll be more magic moments this season. loved Almunia but I think Gomes is better. I think he catches more and punches less than Manuel. Getting Guediora back would be a big boost. Getting Abdi back to fitness and playing well would be an even bigger boost. And then there's Forestieri. Last night's scandalous loss is history. We'll suffer poor decisions again but we'll do well in the long run if we stick with Slav and he sticks with us. I actually think we have enough versatility and character to win the play offs this year. But I don't want that. I'd prefer to win the title. Still quite achievable. When we go up, we'll stay up. Youuuuuu 'oorrrrrrrrns
Couple of observations from looking at the programme. - before Probert's interventions Bournemouth had taken 6 points from matches against top 6 teams, to Watford's five points. - There were pictures from 3 league matches, two of which showed the referee brandishing a red card, and not to Bournemouth players. - Some nice pen pictures from Troy on the team, and I thought a better than average section on the away team
Quite a few people on here have mentioned that they watched the game back again this morning. Any reason why you would want to.
Liverpool and England's John Barnes; a man who would rather be seen dead than associated with Watford.
Can't bring myself to watch it. Thinking of the good stuff last night: the Singing & Passion was top drawer !. My voice has gone but complimentary texts from Cherries fans not helping !.
To be fair, it's probably greatly helped by the fact we've had two red card within the first 3 minutes of games. Both of which were highly contentious.
Remembered thinking that it would be a bad thing for Angella to be on a yellow card for 89.5 minutes, then the ref pulled out a red! There's been a lot of "Bournmouth are average" talk. They're not, and neither were Burnley. However, on last nights performance, they were made to huff and puff a bit before we naturally tired, and I'm convinced 11v11 we'd have given them a lesson. I think and hope that with a few things that have been said in recent weeks, plus the hard done by feeling the lads we'll have, we can knit together and create the team ethos that is needed to haul ourselves up into the top two.
He has checked himself into the Stuart Attwell Academy to address his performance shortcomings is what i hear All this nonsense about Bournemouth being average or not matters little - they are top - end of! - Yes they looked nothing like a team capable of achieving anything in the PL and at times looked poor - but they are 7 points clear of us and 9 clear of 7th - so they must be doing something right
Is it possible his mistake that led to the dismissal played on his mind for the rest of the match? He is only human after all.
Possibly, but he has not been at his best for a few games now. Let's hope he gets back to his best very quickly and does not get caught in possession again as he did last night.
Jon Marks mentioned during the Blackpool game that he had been ill and was a doubt for that game. So maybe he's still not feeling himself? We are low on midfield options at the moment as we all know and it might be a case of him having to play when ideally he'd be rested?
This is definitely something we have foregone in our new model. Finding the likes of Mike Williamson and Will Buckley at a great price and selling on for a good profit is not something we're going to be good at any more. Our current talisman and captain is the last good example.
That's the thing about Pudil though. Whatever he does wrong can and will always be blamed on the defender on his inside, or where a covering defender could be. You can say the same about Ellington. If he played next to Ronaldo, we wouldn't have had to shoot so often and been so relied on for goals.
Tozser gets found out too easily, especially against the better teams. He has the potential to be our new boo boy. I've got to say, pudil's form is truly shocking. Never have I seen a player become so bad in such a short period. He's been good for us but I sadly think the lad is now past it. Time to sell him on. I wish Anya could cross a football!!
The same John Barnes who failed at Celtic and inspired what is probably the Sun's best sports headline of all time? The man who was one half of the duo dubbed "Dumb and Dumber" by his players when managing Tranmere? That's an interesting choice to say the least.
take away a positive: A little over a year ago we conceded 3 goals to the worst side in the division with 11 men, at home; last night we conceded 2, on the road, to the league leaders with 10 men... that's progress....
oh, and whilst i'm on it, and the subject of comedy refereeing: I'm sure that somebody took a swing at Ighalo in the melee following Angela's tackle. Could have been a shove, but looked like an attempted push and, what about the massive 2 handed shove on McAnya...that was blatant and ridiculous...
Whilst I don't agree with a fair bit of mcnamee19's post, the above statement I believe has a ring of truth. Out of the other teams in the top six we have only beaten Brentford, and that was a close run thing. The two teams immediately below us - we've lost to. Prior to kick off last night, I would have been happy with a point. I know every game is important but this now makes the next two even more so. Blackburn are 9th, and Brentford 5th. These two are now season defining games. Yes, that decision last night was massively harsh, and no team is expected to get anything playing for 89 minutes with 10 men, but again the defence looked shaky. We will not go up unless that defensive unit is added to and strengthened. We make too many defensive errors and also give the ball away too cheaply in midfield (this is a comment on the season as a whole not last night). Also I find the criticism of Bournemouth's financing and transfer policy a little strange, when we are blatantly given players via Granada and Udinese. People in glass houses and all that.....................The only difference is they pay for theirs with a Russian blokes money.
Interesting point about the defence but I only think we need another defender as we are little short there at the moment. We concede a few more than some because we are an attacking side hence we have one of the best goal differences. Prefer that to how Sheff Wed appear to play.
so we made the league leaders look bang average even with 10 men away from home! Pretty confident we will be playing them in the play offs and guilefully we can get some decent officials this time!
This is the best shot I could find of the Arter tackle, which should have been a red card also. Lots of publicity over Pudil's dreadful tackle, but hardly anything mentioned about this one. If Munari had his foot planted, then it could have easily been a broken leg. This happened in the 36 minute, and would have made the match 10 v 10.
Better cancel the Goldsands protest then. Either that or surround the forum members and demand they stop giving their opinions.
