The ref is not at liberty to ‘use VAR’! I thought everybody had finally understood this. VAR judges incidents and tells the ref if a decision needs overturning or, in theory, looking at again on the pitch side monitor.
Had the chances to win that but lacked conviction at the vital moment. Sarr was very good . We could have had a penalty it seems but knowing us would have probably missed!! Defence was pretty solid - Kabasele particularly. Onto the next game - nice easy one at Anfield. As for Zaha - well no one else seems to get so wound up playing us!
In all honesty, as it was at the end with no effect on the outcome and with palace playing Brighton, Newcastle and west ham in the next few weeks, were better off with him not missing games.
It's a real shame that Mullins wasn't given the chance earlier instead of bringing back QSF. If only we'd have played like this earlier in the season. Also heard Mullins on 5Live after the game - really clear explanation of how we played and why (so different to Gracia and QSF). There was a commitment and passion out there today that has been so lacking in recent weeks ... really can't quite understand what the Brighton voyeur has to be so smug about ...
Once again it’s clear that we have no strikers, i.e. no-one with the instinct to to score, or try to score goals. The only player with a modicum of this quality is Gray who, sadly, is our worst footballer. However the general spirit and intent was very encouraging today and Sarr is lightning fast and increasing in confidence. Palace were utter pants.
In fairness some of his media performances at Lestah were a bit daft and 'overly confrontational'. Dealing with the media is part of the job. Take a look at Klopp. Does Klopp get asked different questions? So I hope Pearson's mellowed a bit on that front.
BBC sport match report shows the Deeney Cahill headlock but absolutely not mention of it being a penalty. Absolutely stonewall!
This is either a spoof or a fundamental misunderstanding of the non-existent law of averages. In any one match our bad run is likely to continue. Following precedent. Of course our bad run will end at some point as everything does. That will not be an 'I told you so' law-of-averages moment.
Said it too many times on the shoutbox, so apologies to all who are reading it again, but it’s criminal we have underutilized Sarr to this point. I understand he didn’t exactly set the world on fire in his early appearances, but you’d have to say on the evidence of today, the fault has to lay with the club and those who were supposed to get the best out of him, rather than the player. Playing in his natural position, he was a continuous threat and grew in confidence as the game went on. You could feel the crowd lifted a little more each time he attacked his man and blitzed past. Our attacking play has to be based on getting him the ball and then sending men into the box.
It seems blindingly obvious on today's evidence but maybe he simply wasn't ready to make this sort of impact until now?
Quite a lot of Watford fans on 606 tonight. Mixed views on Pearson's appointment. Swear Nath just called and Sutton a *****
Loving the fact that So many were saying Sarr was a complete waste of money and now they are saying he is our best player. I am enjoying watching the lad, and hopefully he will stay if we go down. I can’t see the Pozzo’s letting him go unless they get all their money back. It doesn’t make any sense why QSF was so reluctant to play him, and is probably one of the reasons he hadn’t to go.
What a sad little twerp you are. What is the point of you coming on here giving us your unwelcome two-pennyworth concerning a game you weren't involved in?
It is really strange, but then there were people on here who wrote him off after only making brief appearances as sub. Masina is another who so many had written off. He was regularly booed, and that is unforgivable considering he is young lad in a foreign country, and new to the prem.
Much much better performance I felt that we were the better team and there couldn't have been any arguments if we had won the game. Kiko played very well up against Zaha Massina was also good. Sarr was impressive and his pace caused problems for the Palace back line.
This is why he will never move to a big club, all the talent in the world but far too emotional on the pitch. He was completely rattled by actions on and off the pitch.
The club could also do with employing an established accuracy coach as soon as possible. This is the root stem of most of the issues we face currently. We have created enough chances in most games, it's quite clear it's the players who have weakened mentally, dined out too long on the FA cup run & then it all came crushing down heavily on the big day, like a jilted bride at the alter with all confidence evaporated as a result. The club have realised this & responded in kind by appointing an English disciplinarian. They only ever once employed an Englishman before in Roy Hodgeson at Udinese about 20+ odd years ago. It's got to the point even with an open goal, with no goalkeeper, you know the ball will still go over the bar or stray wide. Get Luther in now & shake these overpaid jokers up a bit.
Our back four were excellent today. Particularly Kiko and Masina. Kiko had to take Zaha out a couple of times though as did Capoue. So why, given that we fielded a back four that picked itself due to injuries, was Javi unable to get a tune out of a four early in the season and Quique felt the need to play a five when the inexperienced Mullins seemed to be able to get a tune out of a four straight away? Zaha does divide opinion doesn't he? Well not on here of course but specifically between the Rookery and Holmesdale End. He's an excellent footballer who often gets 'taken out' which is no doubt frustrating for him but he still lacks self-discipline and can dish it out himself. What was the point of him going and complaining to Hodgson exactly. What's he going to do about it? Anyway, who here would say that we wouldn't welcome him at our club? Him on one wing and Sarr on the other? Tasty! Sarr is of course excellent and now starting to blossom. I wouldn't particularly criticise his decision making but he does tend to hit a cross too long. The late Gray miss was so frustrating. That was not an easy ball at all from Sarr who had to thread it through a number of defenders at exactly the right angle and pace and laid it on a sixpence for Gray who then fluffed his lines. I'm afraid that happens far too often and having the capability to be 'in the right place at the right time' isn't enough on its own. Sometimes he gets it right (Burnley away and the winner against Lestah at home last season and Narrch away this time) but his first touch is generally far too wayward for a PL front man.
Wouldn't pay too much attention to our fan base, some of our fans were still creaming themselves over Silva even when he was about to get the chop.
All been said already. Masina and Kiko outstanding. Sarr a breath of fresh air. Watford the better side, but we just look incapable of scoring. Doucoure was poor and correctly subbed, though too late. Gray is the worst footballer in the history of the universe. Deeney pressed well, but he looked slow and ponderous on the ball and won nothing in the air. Deulefeou and Pereyra are the type of player we just don't need in our predicament. Total luxuries who both have no end product. In fact, I think Deulefeou was worse than Gray with his puffy shooting today. If the season was starting now, this would be a decent enough performance and outcome. Now, however, it's far, far, far too little, far, far, far too late. We are doomed and what today showed, was that even with a committed, united performance and the backing of the home fans, we just can't score. We are utterly toothless. It's totally written on the wall that our investment in the squad has been appalling and we have a strike force fit for League 2. Deeney and Gray both have people defending them, but neither of them can do the bloody job they are assigned. Score goals. They are am embarrassment.
Those with short memories may not realise this, but today Sarr was even better than Bill Punton used to be And who would have thought Kiko was having such a bad season? Massina seems to be growing into a Prem player too.
Two back to back wins would make the table look different. Burnley & Southampton would’ve been perfect instead we stuck with rotten QSF and now we have Liverpool & United which is probably zero points. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I’d be more inclined to agree with you, if his early performances had come from his actual position, rather than being shoehorned into QSF’s formation as a floating striker.
Arguably our best 90 minute performance of the season today, unfortunately same old limitations mean its probably just one step closer to relegation in the grand scheme of things Fair play to Sarr, he was superb today. Looked every inch our record signing On a less positive note - Please, please, please can we stop bringing Gray on, he is a complete Donkey and i'd rather see Success or an u23 forward given a chance instead
If we'd have beaten Burnley and Southampton we'd have more points, we'd still have QSF in charge, and the small contingent who liked breaking into the QSF song at every opportunity would be happy. We'll know in a few weeks whether losing those 2 games was a blessing in disguise (apologies to the English Lit people for the use of a tired old cliche) ... if it happens, at least we'll go down without a whimper ...
