Isn't it Bayo's job to score goals or Rajoivic's job to score goals, Martin's job to create chances, Aprilla's job to create chances.....does that mean because we didn't score a goal, they have failed in their jobs?
yes, hence we scored 0 last night but that's not been our problem recently. You're saying Hamer is single handedly saving our season, I'm saying he's not doing anything any other keeper in this league does. It feels like you made a prediction at the start of the season that we would would be in a relegation fight and you are desperate to be proved right despite us being more in the play off hunt rather than relegation issues
I disagree. A good team doesn't need to rely on its keeper quite so often. This is my point. We shouldn't need Hamer to make quite so many saves. For me, that is a sign we are struggling and having to rely on a keeper who I suspect has never shown this kind of form in his entire career. When you rely so heavily on one player to be on top form in every single match, that is a single point of failure. It's papering over the cracks, but I appreciate most fans don't look any deeper than results. I think most on here don't even watch the games.
The vast majority do though and the way you phrase the deeper than results quote is suggesting you know more than others on here. You say it's papering over the cracks but we are on a run of 3 defeats in 21 games! That cannot happen if you're papering over the cracks. We may well have a bad run of form but suspect the small squad will have a bearing on this, not the teams ability
You claim that the vast majority look beyond results......yet you go back to "a run of 3 defeats in 21 games" to back your point.......and the funniest thing is you can't see the irony.
There’s nothing more frustrating than watching a team with young players like Asprilla , Kone and Andrews, who all have PL potential, along with proven quality like Hoedt and Livermore, unable to come out on top against a side like that. Wednesday are bog average on a bog of a pitch and we should have won. They are a poor side who are now well drilled. They have one half decent player, the journeyman Barry Bannan. Their defence was clearly limited and waiting to be exploited, the goalkeeper is only 12 and was never tested, and their bustling centre forward has only scored 3 all season. Blimey. Too often I’ve been watching us play a team that is “there for the taking” this season, and we haven’t taken. If Dennis can quickly get back to the form we have seen before, then maybe he can rescue games like that, and bring the level up. I know everyone is tired and there’s a lot of games coming up, but so what? Get on the pitch and BELIEVE!
Actually I said that the vast majority go to games and that you quoting you look beyond results somehow makes you better than others. I quote the run of games because if you have a run of say one defeat in 5 games then you can say that there maybe some luck and if that's the case that run ends quite quickly. I mention 21 games which is nearly half a season, that cannot just be down to Hamer making a few saves, saves I would expect most keepers to make
Like I said. You cannot see the irony in what you say. But that’s fine, I suspect you’ll be quite perplexed if Hamer loses his good form and we go on a losing run.
I wasn't looking at the table when I wrote it. I just felt as if it was the kind of game we should be winning if we were to do anything over the rest of the season and which seemed to underline that our performances have flattened off with seemingly little chance of them being rejuvenated by January incomings. It was a comment born of annoyance really that we just seem to be petering out at a crucial moment. With just 1 spot up for grabs between seemingly 6 or so teams the odds are against us unless we can hit form and also be in with a shout of catching someone like West Brom in 5th, who are 4 points ahead with a game in hand. I'm not hopeful of those things happening and am accordingly resetting my expectations back to closer to what they were at the start of the season.
In fairness I don't think we will end up in the play offs but we are certainly still in with a chance
We don’t lose many or win too often . Must have the most draws in the league? Probably sums up where we are .
Hamer must have been worth ten points so far this season. The poor pitch really stopped our more skillful players doing their thing.
That's a fair comment. Looking at the table we are on the surface, still in with a chance of a playoff. But......I think our good run of results is a false representation as to where we really are as a side. I look at our run-in and it's a nightmare. I firmly predict a big downturn in results towards the end of the season.....and I'm still confident we'll finish no higher than 16th (maybe lower) at the end of the season.
We won’t make the playoffs because we have a threadbare squad, and are only a few injuries or fatigue away from being miles of play-off standard (people can suggest other teams are in the same position, but not many have a mountain of debt and are facing their first season with £0 in either parachute payments or PL TV revenue income next season, in nearly a decade) We have only really signed Dennis, but our problem is with clean sheets, and have lost other players, plus there are far too many other teams in and around us competing for just two spots, and we don’t have control over their form: But.. we may as well enjoy it, because next season will be grim by comparison.
I'm just managing my expectations until we start playing again like there's a chance, because there's not if we keep playing like that and drawing every week.
I’m sure next season will be much the same thing, we’re only x points off the playoffs like we’re guaranteed to win them. This season has the putrid stench of the second Aidy playoff run where we limped into them, only to be exposed and embarrassed by a better team and better players and a less than helpful referee.
1. More games to suffer is a bad thing. 2. VAR upsets the drooling hordes so is good thing. 3. Drawing 0-0 to teams like sheff wed is more depressing than losing 5-0 to man city. 4. I saw no evidence last night of a team that cared anymore than that last bunch. It's just a job for them so why should they care? 5. I'll give you that.
I suspect this is the outcome of a bad pre-season. Perhaps even the legacy of a previously bad preseason which is still having a lingering effect.
Maybe just a group of lads being a bit rowdy. Perhaps one of them kicks a bin and another slaps a lamp post. Maybe they could be described as such?
I agree that this isn't one of the best Watford teams ever, but we're all spoilt by having so much exposure to the Prem on TV. I remember looking forwatd to seeing Greaves, Best, Law and Dalglish playing live, but now I'm delighted if the opposition's stars aren't playing. I don't always remember if I've seen certsin players in the flesh or whether they're just so familiar from TV. But a lot of people still get pleasure from lower league matches, despite their team's technical shortcomings.
If I want to watch lower league football, I'll go the park. It's actually quite amusing. But with Watford, it's not like we've been a lower league club climbing up the table to the heady heights of the second division (I use that term as you're an old timer like me by the looks of it). We were a club chasing Europe, vying to finish 7th and getting to a cup final....only 4.5 years ago. It's the systematic destruction of our club year after year that I have an issue with. It's sad to see the cloggers we have now trying to play football. None of them have much idea. To a man they do not have composure under pressure......and in the Championship if you panic when you're pressed, you're not going to get too far. This is the side we have now. The only chink of light is the work Val has done with them, getting them fit and fighting. Without that......we'd have been relegation candidates for sure.
We've missed some sitters in our time, but my god, that one took the cake and ate it twice over. He had time to look up and just guide it into the far corner or just smash it to the left. Bayo being on the deck means the keeper; needs to run past him anyway. Martins your a decent player in this team, but that was almost unforgivable.
We are a smallish club on the outskirts of London who have Arsenal,spurs ,west ham,and Chelsea within a 20 mile radius We are never going to sustain a premier League club for any length of time. Our owners aren't rich and they have performed miracles with the club. They have redeveloped the stadium inside and out given us 6 seasons in the premier League,an FA cup final,2 FA cup semi finals,a play off final and 2 promotions We are probably in our natural position at the moment
I think having a threadbare squad isn't helping us. I don't know about other teams but I was surprised Bannan came off last night, maybe he's a singular example of a player who is vital for someone else needing looking after? I think its telling our full-backs Andrews & Lewis look most shattered right now. Andrews in his first full season (it's a huge step up in intensity and pace from academy football) and Lewis playing his first regular football after over a season out injured. It's a demanding position, not helped with both Ngakia getting crocked and Sema being out too With TDB filling in at right back now also reported as having strained a hamstring before the So'ton game, it's putting pressure elsewhere in the team. Lewis has also missed games with a hamstring strain (QPR away) which makes me think TDB may be fatigued Chak is now playing regularly after a settling in period so his stamina if not his fitness won't be 100% for 2 games a week. Kone too looks like he's struggling with the schedule which isn't so surprising, he won't have played at this level or as often before. Then there's Livermore who needs to be managed to some extent I'd imagine Rajovic is having to be monitored carefully as well, for the same reason as Kone, and we've brought in Dennis who definitely needs managing We've started Pollock 2 games running so there's a chance he'll pick up slight strains somewhere after not playing anywhere for so long too There was also news of several players being ill away at QPR (Porteous & Kone dropped to the bench because of it) so if there was a viral infection around the squad that too will have taken its toll on the worst affected. I'm pretty sure Asprilla was one of those suffering and he hasn't looked at his best as of late - it may be a factor?
The owners were good, and we rightly lavished praise on them. I was one of Pozzo’s biggest fans back in 2019. But we are failing as a fanbase if we do not call out the obvious decline and I believe we’ve got further to fall rather than bottoming out. They have recklessly damaged the club with their vanity signings and bad judgement calls. All that money has been squandered and now we have massive debts which is strangling the club.
