Watford Fc 1-0 Nottingham Forest - 06/03/2021

No such thing as a bad win anymore. Every 3 points is massive. Even more so when we are as depleted as we were today.

We were poor 2nd half and the subs were a little baffling in terms of their timings and the intention, but we saw it out.

We were lucky that they were offside for their tidy finish after Troost's aberration and Bachman got away with an obvious handball.

Gray missed a sitter, an absolute sitter, but to be fair to him, his overall performance was far from his worst for us.

A midfield of strikers and wingers will only get us so far. We need Chabs back and Cleverley ASAP. We won't ride our luck with a makeshift midfield for more than a couple of games.

We're still well in the hunt for autos, which is all we could have hoped for 2 months ago.

Hungbo gave a good cameo. Like the cut of his jib.

 

Really?

 

Why was their keeper angry at the end? Was it the goal where Gray collided with him, meaning he had to try and save without using his hands?

 

Quite agree about the league. There have been so many games where the opposition have not looked remotely threatening for the vast majority of the time. It’s such a shame we didn’t play like we are now in the first half of the season.

 

Have to say I didn't realise the Bachmann incident at the end was outside the box, I thought it was inside (or at the very least marginal). Anyone know when Gosling is back? I liked Zinckernagel today, was bright and worked hard, is an option going forward in that #10 role, but as much as JP worked dutifully in midfield, we need him up front. Sanchez has already become a bit of a meme, and I highly doubt he'll be ready to start any time soon, but if he can come up with cameos off the bench like that, he could be a useful signing

 

To be fair to the bloke, he had only played a few minutes against a team that is now second in the Prem when you judged him as being only lower tier quality. How can you say he has now "upped his game" when he had barely started?

I just think it is possible to say he messed up a pass, or looked nervous, or hit a poor shot, but it is almost certain that young players getting a few minutes in senior games will check out social media, and I don't think that seeing themselves being written off after the biggest moment in their life so far, is helpful to them. You may have noticed, it is a bugbear of mine.

I thought I saw enough in Hungbo to want to see more before I made a judgement. Maybe think of differing opinions as just that, not "calling out",

 

They forgot the main stat:
87 ‘I’m a Man Utd player you know’ hair flicks

 

Enjoyed that.

Strong first half. Second half if anything I though we looked too comfortable and ended up a bit meh.

Just LOL at Sky, Twitter etc who thought Gray had turned a corner and suddenly become decent. Pedro is streets better and has a really impressive all round game.

 

I spotted that. How is a footballer that aware of his hair during the hurly-burly of a Championship game?

 

A bit like the rest of his team, then.

 

Yes, I can't see what else it could have been. Maybe he has a case, in which case we owe Moss a half of shandy.

 

Thought it was a competent performance, where we never needed to get out of third gear. Most of the time we looked totally in control , but do seem to have gone back to that making chances but not converting them way.

forest were all right but only really looked threatening for about 20mins in the 2nd half when we seemed to turn off and playing out from the back started to look incredibly dangerous

I wish we would score more goals and put teams to the sword (it’s going to be frustrating if we lose out out on auto by goal difference), but we are playing a lot of games and doing what we need to which is winning

Swansea are starting to piss my off though

 

Likewise!
When they play Bournemouth they may as well go straight to penalties,save a lot of bother!

 

What gets me is the way players squeal, cry and shout when they are not (at least hardly) tackled. I think I am noticing it more watching at home rather than perched a mile away up in the Rookery. Forest were nothing like as bad as Muff but Knockaert got Pedro booked for not a lot. He was just rolling on the ground and he was barely touched. It is pathetic how refs fall for it. And of coursethe more refs fall for it the more players do it, grrr!

 

Everyman and his dog, Spot, saying 'Job done, we move on' or the equivalent. I can't really disagree.
A frustrating second half, in which I couldn't see why we didn't put them to the sword, rather than attempt to cruise to a one goal win. Forest didn't park the bus, to my surprise, but then they didn't look anything special; just a lower-half, uninspiring Championship team.
But since then I have looked at their Championship record: In each of their last 12 games they have conceded either 1 or zero goals.
The very epitome, then, of a Chris Hughton team: Neat, tidy, uninspired in attack, very well organized in defence, won't get relegated, won't excite too many people.
So: Job done, we move on.

 

I saw that. Clutch of ankle, scream, bit of a roll, stays down, Pedro booked, jumps up and runs off, oh its that **** knockeart of course.

 

I was concerned about this one before the match. With our lack of midfield options coming up against a Hughton side With the likes of Murray , Garner and Knockaart I thought a late 1-0 defeat could be on the cards, so I’m delighted with the result.

Not an amazing performance , but given the changes , credit to Xisco and the team for grinding it out . Forest seemed to pose literally zero threat for the first sixty minutes abd we were weirdly comfortable.

We missed Cleverly’s pressing and energy but we also passed it around very nicely at times with that bit of extra composure in the ball.

Although he’s still finding his feet and adjusting to the pace I like Zincy . He’s clearly got an eye for that killer pass which is something we are lacking .

Sanchez looks like a safe pair of hands so far as well , which could add to our options.

Back in the automatics and with a full weeks rest and players back next week we should be well up for Cardiff . We could really do with another win to start consolidating our position .

 

Agree, this is becoming a bit of a habit tbh - we seem to stop probing and start passing it around slowly in deep positions when they give it all in the last 15 minutes. Then we start looking a bit nervy and the oppo just press harder.
I guess it's the norm if you play well for most of a game but are only one goal ahead.? No real complaints today we were missing key players but still gave a decent performance...

 

At this point of the season it’s just about getting wins. Achieving one with virtually no central midfield is something that should bring joy to us all.

Very glad we have a week off now. Things looking good.

 

I think it had to be this. From his perspective, he was fouled and it led directly to the goal. I think he's completely wrong, you had 3 players with equal right to the ball. Most keepers (and some refs and fans) seem to think that keepers should be in a protective bubble and as soon as they say "mine" or "keeper" everyone should clear off.

 

Zinc reminds me a bit of when we occasionally played Berghuis, you could see he might have some physical limitations for the league he was in but both were always trying to be creative and do something with the ball. Personally I really like to see that in a player but can understand why coaches prefer a bit of reliability and ball retention over extravagance and risk taking.

 

Players exploiting absolutely piss poor refs - none of them seem to have any clue. Oooh 1-0 up with 2 mins to go, must have got cramp. Ooh 1-0 up with 2 mins to go, go down with possible head injury. Ooh, 1-1 with 1 min to go, go down in the box and win a pen. Refs have zero common sense ******** or spine

 

I actually thought that Pedro made no real contact with him.? Maybe Pedro creates a huge draft that was enough to blow poor knockeart over....

 

All good guys... except Pedro was booked for a foul on Garner.

 

This has probably already been said but there were two many pages to read to find out, but, my word is Pedro a star.

This kid can literally play anywhere. Can’t believe I've seen some of our fans on twitter knocking his performance today. The kid was class. Held the ball well, played some great passes. His touch as always was immense. If you knew nothing about Watford, you would never had guessed he’s not a CM. That’s how good he is. There’s nothing the kid can’t do. Play him in goal and you know he turns into prime Van der Sar.

If we sold Richarlison for £50mil, then Pedro is going to be worth north of £70mil. Absolute baller. He will be playing for one of the biggest teams in the world, within the next 5 years.

Seriously needs to be winning the young player of the season award for the championship. Not a single other player his age comes close to him in this league.

 

will go to bamford

 

yes watching him is a joy , his tricks don’t always come off, but it’s great watching him control the ball with various different part of his body and then stroll past people

I think he is actually pretty good in midfield, with the line up today it was like having 4 attackers on the pitch (well 3 and Gray )

 

spot on

 

Oops, you're right, must've been Zinky then who copped it for the Knockeart theatrics?

 

Pedro played excellently. He was in unfamiliar territory but played as if this was his natural position. I was hugely impressed with him. Sure he got caught out a couple of times, and may have got a second yellow for a silly trip in the second half, but overall, he was terrific. Keeping the ball moving quickly, especially in the first half. I've also got to give Zickernagel huge credit too. He's not a midfielder, but is coming to terms with the position he's being played in. Again, his first touch, quick passing, seeing the angles, really helped to cut through Forest in the first half. It was a joy to see a free flowing display.

Hughton did sort Forest out in the second half, and we got stifled a little, but Munoz made an intelligent tactical switch taking off Gray for Sanchez. Sanchez looked decent today and helped solidify the midfield, when Forest were getting on top.

I'm still not convinced by Munoz, but you cannot deny he's had an impact. Winning 6 of the last 7 is brilliant by anyone's standards. An overall record of 15 games, 10 wins, 2 draws and 3 defeats is excellent. 9 clean sheets as well, scoring 23. That's an average of 2.1 points per game. If he continues with that ratio we could well be promoted!!

I still think we need to improve if we are to finish in the top two. Our record over playoff chasing sides has to be better or else we're not going to do it, but today was a feather in Munoz's cap. He got the best out of a midfield that should have been overrun and made good tactical substitutions. Credit where it's due.

 

What came out of the game today, apart from the 3 points was that we are losing our predictability that was so obvious, and which enabled the opposition to snuff us out.

Sema, Sarr, Pedro, Zink, Gray were all over the place, switching left right and centre, and all so mobile and fast.

For me, it is one of the reasons that we have been able to hang on to results more than in the past. Our unpredictability and pace means that teams can't throw the kitchen sink at us. We still need to improve, but it bodes well for when we take on the better teams as I think they will be "blunted" to an extent by the need to sit back more., providing we keep the same sort of philosophy!

 

Was hard to keep up with everyone being played out of position lol, what formation were we playing before Sanchez came on, and who was playing where?

Edit: scrap that lol, that was the first change, but it did get confusing who was playing where at times lol

 

The good news from today is that our record against the top 6 has improved as a result of Barnsley overtaking Muff

 

I think we’re very much in the “who cares how we play as long as we win” stage of the season. Excellent win considering the lack of central midfielders.
I’m sorry but Bachman is going to cost us at some point. In the second half there was a cross that was no more than 3 yards out and he didn’t move. Not done much wrong but time for Foster especially as Cardiff will chuck ball in the box.
Sanchez I thought looked pretty decent and an ideal sub to bring on in situations like today. Could be an astute signing.
Zinc and Pedro were excellent despite playing in unfamiliar positions.
Hungbo looks good and seems to have a very good delivery.
Murray and Garner showed why they are no longer here
Knobart just proved what he is. Fell over a lot and then just stood and watched as Masina ran past him to score. He is the definition of a one trick pony
Xisco. I think deserves more credit than he’s getting. We are winning, players are playing as a team, everybody looks happy
One negative. I know our corners have not been great but today, except the one pulled back for Pedro, they were all terrible