Think the most disappointing thing about the entire situation is just how much this season resembles the absolute piss-take basket case seasons of the other pure shambles teams who we've watched utterly implode and slip out of the exit hatch at the bottom of the league in the last few seasons. Plenty of teams get relegated; three every season, in fact. But most don't shame themselves at every single turn; each week finding a new way to step on a fresh and very public rake and display quite how inept and incompetent their decision-makers really are for all to see. Think Stoke 17/18 or Villa 15/16 for a couple of examples. You don't have to be a bumbling laughing stock to get relegated, but we are. We watched those clubs' seasons with a mix of bewilderment and smugness, knowing that our suave, sensible, business-focused owners would never allow us to sink so low. And yet, look now: what do you know? We're exactly the same. Not sure I've ever been so disillusioned by anything, and they haven't even announced the radical and innovative appointment of the third triumvirate, made up of Pardew, Hughton and Hughes, as the new coaching structure, yet. Watford FC, everybody.
Well here’s my thoughts on the game in bullet points because it took ages to get home and I’m tired. - Deeney looked like the rugby lad you ask to play for the 5 a side team when you’re short on players. - No idea what happened with the Vardy dive in the first half. Obviously it was checked by VAR but the crowd weren’t shown it again. - Blatant penalty, I sit behind that goal and Masina shoved his hand in Evans’ face - We were sloppy and tired but got the job done - You were compact and awkward until we scored - Watford have absolutely no goal threat - Deulofeu was embarrassing. The last kind of player you need when you’re in a relegation scrap. - Sarr looked a handful - Our right back would be your best attacker
Welbeck was another hilariously terrible signing. Again, I said this at the time and was shouted down by the clapping seals, as usual. Never been much of a goalscorer in far stronger teams than ours, and absolutely pointless, waste of wages regardless because he inevitably misses most of the season with injury.
The dribblers that flood our social media insist we desperately miss him when he's out and he's our saviour, though? We must simply ignore the reality that he is well past his prime, completely finished at this level and does absolutely nothing to affect games in an attacking sense... Deeney! Deeney! Deeney! Legend.
"We'll be taking loads from the game"...….shame that doesn't include any points though. https://www.watfordfc.com/teams/first-team/mullins-well-be-taking-loads-game
His only job was to get in the Ref’s face when he gave us a free kick. That’s literally all Deeney did.
I'm really not sure at this point that Deeney could affect games at the level below. An affliction not entirely quarantined within that one hulking meat vessel either.
PL defeats since Jan 4th: 18 Brighton 17 Watford 16 Bournemouth 15 Everton 14 Saints, Burnley, West Ham 13 Huddersfield, Fulham, Spurs 12 Newcastle, Palace 11 Cardiff 10 Norwich, Leicester 9 Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd 8 Villa 7 Wolves 6 5 4 Man City 3 Sheff Utd 2 1 0 Liverpool It’s been coming! And worryingly the man who oversaw most the defeats for the team at the top was the first name linked to be our new manager. Horrible times. Kudos to Wolves also that’s amazing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Even though we probably should have conceded a penalty with the VAR review, I was confident Pawson would make amends at some point. Another inept display by him. Dreadful referee. How many games have there been, where we're seemingly untroubled, only to be undone by a refereeing decision. It's a broken record. However, the biggest problem we have is that we carry no threat whatsoever. Even when we do create the odd chance we screw it up. Hughes' shot deflecting off Deeney was just typical of our luck right now. Nothing is going right, but only losers blame luck. Sure a lot has gone against us this season, but we have no ability to force a game. Anyone who loses to Watford this season, has to have had a really bad day at the office. We are just not good enough at this level. 21 games only 2 wins. It's an extreme run of poor form. Confidence is key. We've got absolutely nothing to lose now. We're down, so we may as well just go for it. Something which I was saying weeks ago when we had Flores. He was far too timid of every opponent. This season is a lost cause, but we should still be able to take a few scalps along the way, just to break up the monotony.
Unfortunately Deeney gets away with being completely and utterly useless because of past glories, regardless of how far removed from them we now are, and because that means our fans see him and everything he does through inch thick, rose tinted glasses. Of course he's not the only one, this group is absolutely rancid, but he's the one our fans let get away with it the most, and he's the one who's supposed to be our captain but actually does jack ****ing s**t.
Hey, we can laugh at ourselves and call our players embarrassing. You, cannot. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
not sure I’ve seen one post in the last year on this forum suggesting he is our saviour. If there is it is certainly in the massive minority
Not disputing your point Filbert - and I respect you as a poster on here - But some of your players went down extremely softly which was embarrassing, especially when breathed on by Kiko, I'd have been in the refs face if I was on the pitch. Have seen replays of the penalty to, and it isn't really a push in the face, Evans has made a meal of it, though we can question why Masinas hand was there in the first place. The Vardy one may have been given on another day, but he's hesitated for a split second before going down. Your right back looked good going forward, and Barnes looks like a great talent.
As much as I don’t expect Mullins to come out and be negative given his role, using words like ‘proud’ and saying the players ‘put so much into the game’ and ‘there was an energy about us’ is just point blank lying to fans on a Donald Trump scale. We started off okay and the best I can say is that we looked decent but also like we could be in trouble whenever Leicester went through the gears - and they didn’t have to go through them. Half time came and we did our usual regression and Leicester sauntered through the second period in second game and still looked far superior. Mullins is kidding himself. Flores had to go. But tonight was more confirmation for me that the players are the biggest issue, not who is coaching them. We have moulded ourselves squad-wise and coaching wise into a horrible position - we have players who need the riot act reading to them but we know they have dodgy characters where they won’t take it on board. Employing a Sam Allardyce won’t keep us up for that reason. Mullins is a decent guy clearly but let’s be real - he should not be managing a PL club at this stage, or even a Championship one. He’s still learning his craft and doesn’t have the ability to deal with what we are at the moment. I think we should have gone for Lee Johnson immediately or Thomas Frank at Brentford. But we have waited too long now for someone who is employed. I really think the last chance we have is getting Quique Setien in through the door ASAP and hope he can inspire our more talented players to pull their fingers out with some good football. The defence is so bad that pragmatic football will not work, keeping it tight won’t work. 5 at the back won’t work. The last throw of the dice is to attack our way out of this situation. Outscore the opposition. We look blunt attacking wise. But we know we have players who can be better in that respect. We don’t have defenders who can defend better. Let’s improve where we can and then see where we are come January and see what investment it’s worth taking defensively. I genuinely believe Setien and the brand of football we are told he believes in would be our only way out of this very bleak situation.
Just back with a cup of tea. Much better performance than at Southampton. In terms of contribution to the team Deulofeu was the our worse player. That takes something considering how poor Femenia was. Doucoure a shadow of his best, but works all match. I thought Sarr looked very promising, Deeney worked hard and tracked back well. The centrebacks were ok. But not a patch on their number 4. However when it takes to the 94 minute to have a shot on target, you can see why we are going down.
Agree with all but penalty filbert. I thought the Vardy incident was more one than the actual one Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yeah they did. Every single teams’ players go down easily. It’s just rare in the Premier League these days to see a player only get involved in that side of the game and offer nothing else. That was my point. It was a bit a throwback to the days of the hard man enforcer who can’t actually play much football.
Mullins speaks well, and the post-match review is a message to the players as well as the fans. We could all see it was a bland performance where Leicester only needed to score to win. It was one of those straight forward "professional" wins for them. But it was not a disaster, where we were destroyed 8-0. It was his first game and he's probably relieved we didn't get a real spanking. Who knows had the referee not given that pathetically soft penalty, maybe we could have grown in confidence. I didn't really feel too much danger from them until they were handed a lifeline from Pawson. Again, it was another game, in a long line of them, where the fine margins have gone against us. I don't feel very encouraged by the performance though. The only plus was we didn't fall apart, which I suppose is an improvement, but it's ridiculous to consider different levels of crap as one being better than another. Crap is crap. The performance offered zero hope. Only one shot on target in the 94 minute. Feeble is too kind a word to use, but that was the level of our performance.
Also, the Vardy one is not a penalty. His first touch sent the ball miles. Mariappa’s touch on Vardy doesn’t have any bearing on the outcome of the move and Vardy also fell over with a delay. Right call. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sorry mate, you're wrong there. Our Troy doesn't just get in peoples faces - He also enjoys a press conference and talking about cojones. Bournemouth comes to mind with getting in the refs face, they've been notorious for it in the last couple of seasons.
Why would they come here though? They're both steadily improving their reputations, are under contract and have a decent chance at promotion. Why would they take a job that's odds on to see you relegated, have a squad broken up and little input into it being rebuilt, all with famously trigger happy owners. They'd be mad to take it. We might have a Premier League badge on our sleeve at the moment but that's about all there is to recommend us as a club above Brentford or Bristol City, and soon we won't even have that.
Yeah, and a manager can’t ever really say what they think at the end of the game - if they told the absolute truth they would get crucified by the fans and media
Mate, you’re a virgin who spends his days on an opposition forum. I’m a sore loser. I don’t want to read a Leicester fan telling me it was a clear penalty when Evans was barely touched, on a Watford FC forum. Now **** off. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Derby's record lowest point tally yet to be missed by us. We still need to find 4 points from somewhere.
