Is it our turn to go down?

Why do I get this image when I look for Bugle Horn?

Warning, borderline NSFW

Spoiler: Bugle Horn

 

Bugle horn not bugle Porn.

 

Up the Stag Lane Swillett Massive...

 

Is he blowing or sucking?

 

Going back to the topic still No despite yesterday's result.

 

It must be impossible for us to go down from here. The uptick in form required by many other teams combined by catastrophic form for us make it statistically so improbable to be negligible. Was probably that way as soon as we won the first 4.

 

We are Watford. If there is a way to make the end of season a bit nervy, we'll find it.

 

I wonder whether it would all be a bit more exciting if we were relegated back to the Champ.
Imagine how boring it would have been being a Stoke fan over the last 10 years. No real relegation battles. Telling yourself that you might win a cup but never doing so and only coming close once. Realistically having nothing to aim for other than 40 points each season and then a decent start meaning boredom until the following season. Just think how much more exciting it will be this season for them. Will they make the play-offs, will they get sucked into a relegation battle ?
We are the new Stoke. We kid oursleves that we might get into Europe (and how much fun do you think Burnley got from that this season?), or win a cup by magically avoiding all or beating some of the top 6, but in reality we all know that this season is effectively over already with just the final position between 10th and 15th to play for.

 

I'm still liking it and I would rather we be in the Prem than the Championship, especially as it seems to get under the skin of the Bedfordshire mutants.
Staying up at the end of the season brings the same reward as promotion from the Championship, even if a bit less exciting.

 

Of course and there is always the risk of a 38 point deduction due us not meeting media expectations and upsetting the status quo

 

I would advise you to try and enjoy each game for its own sake and not look ahead to our final points tally and what it will mean for next season. Focus particularly on the high quality football you are witnessing.

 

We're now only 12 points away from the relegation zone

 

Which means the gap is 1.5 times the number of points garnered thus far by the bottom 3 in 13 games. Very parlous.

 

Presumably if we were to go down after a few years of finishing mid-table in the Championship you'll be hankering after a return to Division 3? The Championship is sh1te - full of tragic clubs living on past glories desperately scrabbling to get to the promised land. The Premier League is superb. Enjoy it.

 

I yearn for the return of the Bazza and salad boys days!

 

I don't know what parlous means. Are we going down or not?

 

No team has ever been relegated after playing just 13 games, but considering the vendetta that football holds against against Watford, relegation is only a matter of time

 

I suspect we'll lose the next 3. If that's happens and we add that to our recent run, it would mean only 8 points from 13 games, which is pretty poor by anyone's standards and is clear relegation form, results wise.

However, as always, it has to be taken into context. A lot of those games were difficult. The block of 4 matches from Liverpool to Everton is the hardest of the season. Only the Newcastle match was a mess up. A point at Southampton and Fulham is acceptable. A win at Wolves was excellent and an impressive win against Huddersfield. Bournemouth was sabotaged by Moss, and we have to write-off matches where he is involved I'm afraid, but it is what it is.

In those 13 games were Arsenal, Spurs, United, City and Liverpool. We manage to pick up 3 points (not yet played City so you never know). So the rest were Everton away & Leicester away probably the hardest two away fixtures outside of the top 6.

So it's not as bad as it appears at first glance.

Now I do accept, if we do go on the lose 4 in a row, there will be some pressure on the team when we get to play Cardiff. I expect us to win this and win it well, however, if we looked nervy and fail to win, then I will start to worry a bit. But there's a lot of football to play before we get to that point.

Win 3 more games before the new year, then we'll be absolutely fine this season.

Where we do have to improve though is upfront. We have a lot of "strikers" but none of them can finish basic chances, and this is a real problem.

We've relied on some wonderful goals, which are way above the norm this season, and that source of goal was always likely to dry up.

Hopefully this can be resolved in the January window.

 

Leicester and Man City are must win games.

 

Can I ask in what way Bournemouth was sabotaged by the referee?

By many peoples argument, if we’d got the penalty on Saturday, we likely would have taken something from the game.

Against Bournemouth we were already 1-0 down and had a penalty rightly given against us (the resulting scoring of said penalty had nothing to do with Kabasele being sent off or not). Your argument as to why Kabasele shouldn’t have been sent off has been made many times and I agree you have some stats to back it up.

However, you can’t apply one rule for the Liverpool game and then not apply it for the Bournemouth game. We would have been right up against it with 11 men anyway as we were poor for the main part even with a full quota of players. We would likely have lost anyway.

 

I disagree with your assessment of the situation against Bournemouth. We had to play the match from 30 minutes onwards with 10 men. It was a central defender, so an integral position. IMO this is the reason why the game was completely lost after 30 minutes. He destroyed any chance of a Watford comeback, and did so unfairly. Even by his own measures, Moss has never sent a player off before or since for a second yellow card after giving a penalty. It was a bizarre decision, that only applied to us for a reason only know to Jon Moss.

I agree, we were up against it, but even though we were losing 0-2 we were playing really well before being reduced to 10 men. I firmly believe we would have got back into the match had we been allowed to play 11 v 11. We will never know that of course, but what was certain, the red card gave Bournemouth the match conclusively.

I don't understand your comment about one rule for Liverpool and another for Bournemouth.

 

In regards to my last comment, you’ve said it elsewhere it was likely we would have gone on to get at least a point from Liverpool has the penalty been awarded. So as much as I respect it’s your opinion, it would have to be considered an uphill struggle to comeback from 2-0 down against Bournemouth. You have to apply the same logic to those situations.

 

I never said we would hold on to a point. I said I thought we'd win. Also, it's all to do with your own personal reading of the game and your own perception. You cannot say you apply the same logic for everything. That's just a nonsense, as every game is different.

Had we started the match poorly against Bournemouth, showing no energy and looking basically crap, then at 0-2 down I would have expected Watford to go on to lose. But that was not the case. We started brightly. The first Bournemouth goal was totally against the run of play and I was unconcerned at the time. Yes, the second goal made it more difficult, but had we continued to approach the game as we did, it was my belief we would have scored the next goal, then it becomes a totally different match. Moss' intervention denied Watford a way back into the match. That's why I said he sabotaged it.

Against Liverpool, it was very even. No team had the upper hand. Had we been given penalty and scored it, going 1-0 up against Liverpool, with half an hour to play, I believe the excited atmosphere that would have been created would have inspired Watford to hold on to a famous victory.

I think it's fair to say, Jon Moss had a major negative influence and was the reason for the size of Watford's two heavy home defeats.

Btw, it looks like the FA have taken pitty on us. They've appointed Scott and Tierney for our next two games. Both are decent officials. At least we'll be able to play these matches without the likelihood of another stitch up.
https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/s...for-leicester-city-and-manchester-city-games/

 

Bloody hell - I come on this thread looking for a 5 minute disagreement and what do I get - the full-blown half hour argument. Put it to bed please......

 

Well, you're Cert of it

 

It's a debate. Nothing wrong with a frank exchange of opinion. There has only been two posts from each person. People on this forum are far too sensitive at times.

 

Watching Dipsh1te vs WBA on Friday was horrendous...not just boring but of exceeding poor quality. For all the "oooh, look how exciting it is at the top", the Championship tends to produce a high % of such matches. Not exciting at all & little quality.

 

Exactly. No one is being abusive so what’s the issue? You can feel free to join in, just read, or ignore at your leisure.

 

I agree with most of your points made, but Bournemouth wasn't the referee's fault, it was defence, and especially Kabasele's that game.

 

I agree, Kabasele cost us a penalty with a needless challenge, however, Moss should not have sent him off as well. This had a direct impact on the rest of the match. Once he sent him off, the match was over as a contest. This is why I blame Moss for creating a situation that killed the match instantly.

It's easy to be influence by the size of the defeat and forget what preceded it. The same applies to Liverpool. You look at the result and it's easy to say Watford were not up to it because they lost 0-3. But for an hour they were up to it, and were one decision away from taking the lead. Small details always direct how a game will go. We are all too often on the wrong side of these small details.

 

I think that's the 1 game where Gracia's gameplan was trumped by the other manager from the start...King & Wilson were too fast & mobile for us to stop them wreaking havoc in the old "inside forward" pockets inbetween the CB & FB & between the defensive & midfield lines.

 

Watford are now 80-1 to go down. I suggest you lump on now, because we'll be around evens after cardiff spank us 4-0.

 

What isn’t being considered is that had Moss not sent Kabasele off for that indiscretion, how likely was it that Kabasele would have got himself into another situation later in the game and would likely at that point have been on a final warning? He’d had a clumsy few incidents in previous games so there’s a chance he’d have ended up getting a justified second yellow further down the line.