Crystal Palace 1-2 Watford FC - 12/01/2019

Okeydokey!
In which case,in the words of Mr Creosote; "Better get a bucket!"

 

Did the said gangway runner have a grey ponytail ?

 

Sounds like it could be Ian Anderson or Francis Rossi?

 

Anne Widdecome is more likely to go down than Watford this year.

 

And an Oasis style hat?

 

Curly hair with grey streaks

 

Not an image I care to dwell on...

 

There's a lot to be said for relegation then!

 

Why ever not....

 

MOTD2 vote for goal of the month is live now. GD's goal is there so go vote!

 

Watford are like a bag of Revels. From the Daily Hail.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...9/Watford-like-bag-Revels-never-know-get.html

 

'In the first half, they trailed 1-0, having not tested Crystal Palace with a single shot on target'. I guess hitting the post twice is off target?

 

Indeed, posts and bar do not count as on-target. An amusing idiosyncrasy.

 

A shot that hits the woodwork can't be on target. Only a shot that is goalbound counts as on target.

The goal is the hole created by the post and bar.

 

Tinder's new advertising slogan right there.

 

I enjoy when media organisations acknowledge our existence.

However what a nothing article with next to no content or substance at all.

TL;DR: we’re in 7th and sometimes good, sometimes not so.

 

What confectionery are we really?

Bournemouth are cherry sours, they're very popular but I don't like them and they leave a sour taste every time.

Everton are those jelly snakes (or the obvious)

Wimbledon are pic n mix, went extinct when Woolworths closed but have made a comeback of sorts.

Palace are revels, i don't mind them really but one of them makes me sick.

 

Straight from the Merson school of quotes.

Watford's resemblance to a bag of Revels. Paul Merson pre-match preamble before any Watford match.

Bookmakers tipped Watford for a relegation battle but they are now seventh. What they need now is consistency Paul Merson pre-season prediction.

What makes me laugh, is that we sit 7th after 22 games, which is no fluke, but yet they say we lack consistency. We are 7th on points, not just on GD, so to me we look pretty consistent.

The vast majority of defeats have come against top 6 sides. We've lost 5 games to the top 6, and only 3 to the rest of the league. Two of those were poor defeats at home to Bournemouth and away at Newcastle, admittedly, but the Leicester defeat is par for the course really. Only 3 defeats away all season. That in itself is remarkable, although I do expect that will change radically as 5 of our remaining 8 away games are against top 6 clubs.

The pundits tend to use those two bad defeats as an example why we're a bag of Revels. Certainly Merson does. He mentions it all the time. This is just another example of backhanded compliments or negative reporting.

Why not say how remarkable Watford's season has been? A team tipped for relegation is defying all odds by sitting 7th. Scoring wonderful goals on a regular basis in doing so. Nope, that will never happen. We are 7th, yet are labelled an inconsistent bag of Revels.

 

Surprising fact of the day #1 (from The Independent):

Wilfried Zaha was one of those guilty of failing to take his opportunities and has now gone 13 games without scoring or assisting, according to the official measures anyway.

“That can’t be true,” said Hodgson. “He got us a penalty last week (against Wolves).

 

Bang on the money as always. Good performance from Mapps, and thank god Javi didn’t take Nath’s advice and stick Britos against Zaha...

 

In Iran there are still no ladies' loos at football grounds.

It's for your own good, girls

 

Yes, but then you have goals that manifest themselves from an off-target shot having bounced off the bar or post and into the goal.

 

I don't have a problem with what Doucoure said. This is the exact quote "I think I am going to leave Watford. The club know my ambitions and want to help me get to the next level."

Of course the press get hold of it and spin it to read "I'm going to leave Watford". It sounds a lot worse than what was really said.

Doucoure is a humble and respectful player, but has ambitions. He wants to play for a Champions League club, and there's nothing wrong with that ambition. It's clear a CL club has not approached him, so for now it's a non-story.

He DOESN'T want to leave Watford, but does want CL football. To me that's the difference. He wants to play at the highest level possible, and that's absolutely fine. His ambitions are football related and not driven by greed.

He signed a long term deal with the club, so that hands Watford the initiative. There has to be a lot of trust between player, agent and club for that to happen. We could have been in the position Arsenal have found themselves, by losing top players for nothing.

Watford are too smart to allow that to happen, but in order for players to sign long term deals, the club do have to help the player to get to the next level. It works both ways.

These comments should be read as an honest opinion based on ambition, and not that he's dying to leave the club.

 

Yes, I found his interview normal and respectful. No problem at all, most of our players have ambition to get to a higher level, maybe will be with us one day!

 

There are currently 11 clubs in the P.L. which were there when we were promoted, 9 of them are in the top 10 positions with us! maybe as far as the Merson's of this world we won't be thought of as an established club until we are in the top half of clubs for longevity in which case with three " more recently " promoted clubs than us likely to go down this season will take a few years!

Unlikely one of the top six will be going down soon, therefore we will need two of Everton, Southampton, Leicester, West Ham or Palace to go down for us to be in the top 10 (consecutive seasons wise)

 

I don't see Southampton or Palace as a top 10 challenger.

Everton have the wealth and ambition, but lack intelligence and that is what will hold them back. Leicester are a very smart club with backing, but as we all know what tragically occurred to their owner, may have a long term effect on the club. West Ham should be up there, but they have basket case owners.

As far as I can see, the door is wide open for a club that is run by extremely smart owners to enter through. Watford have an unbelievable opportunity to finish 7th this season and it should be taken, while the others are napping.

 

He's right and very insightful though. If you look at our results we win some, lose some, and draw some. Very inconsistent. What we need to try to do is win them all. We will then be very consistent and go shooting up the table. Until then our progress will be stunted by all this inconsistency. Gracia needs to address this or we need to get in a tried and tested manager like Pardew who brings consistency to every team he manages.

 

Well done to the referee Paul Tierney. So nice not to notice a ref all game.

 

As Gatusso would say..

Sometimes good, sometimes sh*t.

 

The crush at half time was caused by Palace stewards who (a) blocked the stairway in their attempts to eject (I presume) a Watford fan and (b) once a bottleneck had developed by fans returning from their half time pi55/pint who were unable to get down the stairs, compounded the situation by demanding to see tickets. A disgraceful f*** up that should be seriously investigated.

 

Well, he would know, having scored 13 goals in 6 matches during the 1958 World Cup.

 

Based on Man U v Spurs, De Gea has him beat!

 

Sorry, did you take my post re Merson's insight as serious ?

 

Yep and they are called shots on target .....