Did anyone else actually thinkwe would do a decent job of our Premiership year? This is what is making it so hard for me to take. I actually thought we would do a Reading and now were propping up the table and 10 points away from survival with 13 odd games to go. It will take 4 wins to get out of this mess and that is if the rest of the strugglers lose every single game. Realistically we could pull back 3 points on Wigan by winning our game in hand against them. Then perhaps if that Spurs us on we could get another couple when Wigan + West Ham play in a week or so. And maybe, maybe we might get a result against West Ham on Saturday although I can't personally see it. If we stand any chance though, I feel the most important game of the season will be Sheffield away. If we pick up 3 or 4 wins ahead of that (v West Ham, Wigan, Charlton, Blackburn) then beat Sheffield up at their place we would be sitting on 30 points which still would not be enough. And I don't see us getting 6 points out of Everton, Spurs, Chelsea, Boro, Pompey, City, Reading or Newcastle. At most a win over either Boro or Pompey and maybe draws against City and Reading. That still would only leave us with about 35 points which isn't enough. But hell, it may be if we do beat all the struggling clubs, as we still have yet to play them a second time. There is still hope. But we need the players to give it their all. 05/06 18th Brum 34 points 04/05 18th Palace 33 points 03/04 18th Leicester 33 points
We needed to bring in more quality at the start of the season really to aid the squad and actually play some football to stand a decent chance of staying up. The performances were not bad up till November but really since then its been very hit and miss with players losing confidence and Aidy bringing in new blood probably no better than what we have at the moment. Maybe the board did not push the boat out enough with regard to transfers but we were never going to spend millions and nor should we quite frankly.
Hope left the building after the ridiculous penalty decision at Everton! Should have seen it coming from then! I thought we'd finish about 15th! We are down, make no mistake about that...but after we beat Blackburn at home it gave us hope before yesterday's game! Yesterday was the day our relegation was confirmed...if we had won it then i think we'd have had a decent chance!
i must admit that I thought it would be hard but that we would stay up in 16th or 15th, have I got any hope left? not sure - i guess until it is numerically impossible then I will still have hope, if we do go down - guess I will have to change my username!
"I thought we'd make a better job of it than this" Yes, so did I to be honest. Like Sheffield United who have won the odd game which we COULD have done I suppose with more luck earlier in the season.
we could of, if like bubb;e mentioned, that penalty wasnt given and our onw was. im not blaming that single decision, but if we had won that game, we could have gained confidence and momentum, beat west ham, maybe even man u, it would have carried on through the season and we could easily be ahead of reading
If we had King and a few less dodgy decisions (oh and some skill ) then i might have hope, but at this stage i just want to go down with some dignity!
After Everton, Bolton and Wigan away I thought we could. I liked the way we played high energy stuff, direct was fine by me, all we had to do was finish better. Only MK Ginder seem to bury things anymore. But the script seems to have been changed, the coach gone. Some players lost will or belief starting on the evidence of Sheff Utd and carried that into recent games too. The Carling Cup team of two years ago, that Aidy wrote off, gave it more of a go when they played Liverpool than we did. In fact that team then may have been stronger than this one is now. Abject surrender in tactics against Man U and Bolton. If they carry on like this we will go straight on down to Division 1 like Barnsley, Forest and MK Dons did before us.
i honestly thought we would do better, but at least we have only had a few bad performances (liverpool & bolton). i still have a bit of hope, but like u say we have 2 get results from the next 4 games. i suppose it wouldnt be so bad if marlon wasnt out.
Summed up very nicely! Although I don't think we'll slide into League One! The main reason these other clubs did was because they were run by a bunch of ****'s! Simpson and Aidy are shrewd operators! I'd like to see McAnuff or Jarvis bought in to replace Young!
I also agree with Whippendell Woods but I'd like to the team sorting itself out between now and the end of the season or we will go into freefall. I thought we stood a chance of hanging on this time, unlike in 2000.
To be honest I don't think he knows his best team or style of football to play! The direct game undoubtley worked when King and Henderson played together because they linked up well and were strong! I think he needs to add more pace down the wings and at the back for next season...we haven't shown enough pace around the pitch when players like Mackay, Mahon, Henderson and Smith are playing! Reading have pace throughout their side...down the middle and down the wings/upfront! Lita and Doyle upfront is lethal...we could have that with King and Kabba next season?
No fight I seem to be with the majority, I remember walking out of Wembley thinking this is as good as it gets, it is all downhill from here. I thought on leaving Cardiff that the club would invest, bring in some quality & finish about 12th to 15th, as the summer tiucked by and no new names of merit arrived I saw a repeat of 2000. I didn't expect that we would go down without a fight, that is the most dissapointing bit.
No fight...yep, sadly we haven't turned up too many times at home this season (Sheff utd, Liverpool and Bolton)...not good enough! We definatley needed at quality centre half and proven striker last summer! We panic signed Smith when for me he should have offered an extra £500k on top of his £750k for Carlos Edwards or McAnuff!
I agree. So called fans favoutite (my ass!) Smith was a poor signing, yes he gives his all, but pay just a little bit more and we could of got Mcauff, koumas or Edwards who are so much better.
That's exactly it, this is almost a carbon repeat of 2000, except it's slightly worse in so far as there haven't been the famous wins at Liverpool and home vs Chelsea. All we've done is drawn games.
It doesn't really matter who we did or didn't sign, what we are looking for on the pitch is work-rate, committment, pressure on the ball, anticipation, fight and determination and quite apart from the lack of quality, it is the absence of those aspects that so disappoints at matches like Bolton, Liverpool, Sheff Utd.
Last seasons team lost 3-0 at home to Bolton! I sat there and thought if we go up we're in trouble if Bolton can take us apart that easily. Maybe there's more improvement than a lot of you are giving credit for?
I don't think any of us would mind if we went down showing a bit of fight and determination, afterall, whatever happened last season we're still small unfashionable watford. For me personally, the hardest thing to take has been seeing us just seemingly roll over and die, make excuses or shoot ourselves in the foot, yeah we can go on all day about how we've not had much luck, but it doesn't take luck for Jay to keep his hands of strikers in the box (numerous times), Smith to put the ball in the net from 4 yards (Tottenham at home) or Hendo to do the same (again, numerous times). I hate driving 8 hours there and back every saturday to watch people like Francis stroll about the pitch without a care in world. We all believed we'd stay up, most football fans begin the season with blind optimism, I didn't even really mind that we hadn't strengthened considerably because I trusted Aidy to make the right decision, granted he's still learning and has done a fantastic job regardless of what happens this season, but the least we should expect from players obviously playing a level above themselves is a bit of pride and fight.
we just havent performed this season. Losing Marlon was a real kick in the teeth. Could have brought in better players like edwards.
Admin has made the only valid point on this thread. whippendalewoods - Rays team v liverpool only had to play 2 games in a semi final, where were they in the league that season and dropping fast? how you can say they are better than the team now, i cannot see that. We are in the wrong division - we will pish the fizzy pop next season. Aidy has got Feb - Aug to get the players/squad prepared.
'we will pish the fizzy pop division next season' No chance! The reason being Aidy doesn't know his best team, he is unsure how we should play (he's too wrapped up in what the media think...we should be mixing our football up like last season using the wings)...he has overloaded the squad with average fizzy pop players and foreign pub players...unless he cuts the fat off in the summer and sticks to how we played last season we won't be doing anything special at all!
Bubbly - surely you can see the abundantly clear class difference between the two leagues. Our squad is still very much that of last seasons but has been added to. How many players have left of significance? Ash and Springy.
I think we've gone backwards in our approach...we're not as positive as we used to be...we don't have as much pace as we use to, we don't know our best team...you say we've lost Spring and Young as if it's a minor thing mate? Spring 10 goals, Young 15 goals...we still need to replace these lads! We played much better when we had a small compact squad...a close unit with great team spirit...it seems to have diminished, hence the lack of effort! We won't come back if we don't get the right people in! I have my doubts for next season but there is along way to go between no and August as you say!
The fans get dispirited much quicker than the players. Young has scored 3 goals in 20 games for us and has scored 1 goal in 2 games for Villa. Work out the reason why Ash has only scored three goals for us this season. We played much better did we - Millwall, Brighton, Plymouth home last season were appaling and people were saying how can we go up we are shyte. We went up. But we are not as good as the other teams in this division, its that simple. Going back down a good pre season, players starting from a level footing rather than coming into a sinking ship will have a better frame of mind and confidence. This step back will utlimatley be the making of WFC. Staying up although benefecial to the bank balance, would we stand any chance next season either, when all the other established premiership clubs will be able to afford the quality players we would need. Fans panic far to quickly. The next thing that will happen is like at Slumberland last season and the fans will start questioning whether the manager is the right person for the job. The fans have a bigger influence when turning negative than they realise. If our fans turn agianst Aidy, the long term future of the club will be very very bleak indeed and the turn around in the clubs fortune would be greatly threatened.
Just because we voice our criticisms and misgivings about some of Aidy's decisions (which i think he would be the first to say we have a right to do) it doesn't mean anyone wants him out. He is here for the long haul and when criticising we have to remember that. His record in the transfer market has been mixed and the latest signings seem to further prove that. There is a feeling that we've lost direction tactically but the most frustrating thing is seeing professional footballers who nothing all week other than kick a ball and train lose the ability to control a ball and just kick the fecker to another yellow shirt.
Agreed, you have to remember Aidy is completely new to this, and yes he may make a few mistakes, but who knows if there are some diamonds in the dirt?
I think the test is the F.A Cup game against Ipswich. If we can win that, then it shows we have developed more than we thought. The Premiership is a tougher league than I gave it credit for before this season. You need to have both skill and fitness, look how many big names have failed because they don't have the fitness or determination. We usually have the fitness and determination but not the skill. Next season (IF we are in the Championship) will not be a walk in the park either, as i'm sure we are all aware. Look at the 'big' teams that just expected promotion, Southampton and Leeds add to that other recently promoted teams Wolves, Norwich, and Palace. But we do have a better squad than we had a year ago (all our new players are Championship quality). Most of this season we have battled everything and will do so next season. We will have a Premiership hang-over, but I still doubt we'd do worse than mid-table and if we did i'd be very concerned at the sudden collapse of the club.
