Watford Fc 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday - 02/04/2021

Gray did a brilliant job there to mop up a potentially very nervous last 5.

Massive win. Poor performance. But won. All that matters.

 

So Norwich drop two points and we gain ground on them.

6 points ahead of us now, and we have a game to play against them. Win that and the gap is 3.

The chase is on.

 

An excellent three points.

We won’t win many of our remaining games if we don’t play better than that considering the opposition we face, but that’s for another day.

 

Our worst performance since the Xisconaissaince starting at Bristol, particularly in the second half, but we are back after the break - as they are all saying, the result is the most important thing and we held them at bay enough, which is a sign of professionalism.

Hughes and Chalobah the adults in the room again/as ever, and the ball from Masina was spectacular. Shame Sarr faded so much and Sema had no impact, but there are reasons that help explain both. Hopefully it will be something of a rolling recharge for Boro.

 

It we beat Nawich we are within touching distance of top spot. We weren’t good today, but it’s all about the results now

 

Only thing that matters is results now. Scoreboard pressure now on Brentford and Swansea.

 

Final whistle was the most enjoyable element of that game. Hopefully they have got the bad game out of their system. Pedro’s injury a concern.

 

Hopefully we can put that disappointing performance behind us and just enjoy the 3 points.

I thought both Hughes and Chalobah looked sluggish today despite having the two weeks off. May be they needed today to shake of the cobwebs.

Birmingham fan tonight and the Udders tomorrow.

And tonight we are closer to first place than we are to third!

That's got to make us all happy horns tonight!

 

Performances very much pale in importance with results, but in fairness, we should have Sema back for most of those games, don't want to knock Success too much because he was pretty influential, but there was a total lack of end product from him today and JP didn't have his best game out on the wing

 

Well that was awful BUT who gives a sh*t? All about the points and we've now won 10 of our last 11 which is an incredible run.

We have to be better on Monday away at Boro as that's a tough game but we can't play much worse! Hopefully Xisco gives them a rocket and we see a high tempo performance hopefully with Cleverley back in the side pressing high up the pitch. Great to see Sarr play 90 minutes albeit not a great performance.

Hopefully JP isn't badly injured but would be amazed to see him play on Monday.

Gray and Success need to step up now.

Foot note, Norwich drop another 2 points for the second game in a row. Only a 6 point gap now and we have to go to Norwich still! The title is on!

 

Our amazing run continues. 44 points now under Xisco, and 6 straight wins for the first time in ten years.

This is what promotion runs are often like. Not always pretty or good for the stress levels, but as long as the W keeps appearing by each match, who cares. We won’t remember fortunate wins like today should we all be celebrating in a few weeks time, and getting ready to hopefully be able to watch our boys again at Anfield and Old Trafford and the likes.

Win well or win ugly, the points are the same. And we are racking them up, while others below us feel the pressure and start to falter.

Today was a potential banana skin, as we all worried the 13 day break might stop our momentum.

Results wise, it didn’t.

Job done. Sit back and watch our rivals

Then on to Monday.

Chances are we will probably have a slip or two before the final day, but we are building ourselves a good insurance policy now with the gap growing.

Happy Easter everybody

 

We won’t catch Norwich but their dropped points today means they are more likely to still need something against us for promotion. Rather they were safely up before our game.

 

Pedro just needs to be kept as CF for all the last games (injuries aside). We play better with him there and although he isn’t prolific he’s certainly more likely to score than Troy, Andre & Isaac A.K.A. The Barn Door Brigade.

 

I thought Hughes was excellent tbf! Chalobah good too, although there were a few wayward shots from him which took the pressure off them

 

We definitely looked rusty and a bit disjointed, which is not surprising but a tad worrying - the momentum, cohesiveness and ruthlessess we had going in to the break was definitely lacking.

Not so many stand-out performances. Sarr's ability made the difference for the winner. T-E did well in preventing a goal in the second half.

I thought Success actually did pretty well when he was on (with the exception of his finishing).

The subs didn't help us. Gosling was absolutely dreadful when he came on, he looked the slowest player on the pitch.

We could really do with Cleverley being back to give us a better option in midfield.

An important win and the table looking good. Let's hope that performance was just shaking off the cobwebs and other teams will have similar lethargy issues in getting started again.

 

**** the northern knuckle draggers. Come on brum and udders

 

Not the prettiest, or the best we've played this season but 3 points is 3 points and its points over performances at this stage of the season all day for me.

Just 6 points off Norwich with us still to play them. Might be a blessing in disguise having good reason to be looking to catch them, rather than being anxious looking over our shoulder at the chasing pack.

All the pressure on Swansea and Brentford now.

Middlesbrough beaten handily by B'mouth today. If we go there on Monday and win it'll start looking very promising.

 

It's not easy playing a team fighting for survival at this stage of the season. Fantastic to pick up the 3 points without our best attacking line up. Another huge match against a wounded Boro on Monday, hopefully we've got enough left in the tank for that one.

 

Got to say i think bannan was best player on the pitch by a country mile. But lost. So, hah, **** him

 

But can he organise the piss-up?

 

Sometimes you just have to win ugly, considering the momentum we had before the break was stopped it's not a massive surprise. Hopefully Brum and/or Huddersfield can do us a favour tonight/tomorrow.

 

Were we? Bachman never made a save

 

Only because Rhodes missed the goal completely when he'd normally stick them in.

 

Sporting a bit of a Bobby Charlton haircut too which you dont see much these days.

 

Ee-i-ee-i-ee-i-o
up the football league we go

 

Both sides looked impotent. We had the luck with the og and Rhodes’ miss.

 

Who cares?

 

The odd thing is (this is not a comment in anyway related to our own performances) to me Rotherham, Birmingham and now Wednesday looked nothing like teams fighting relegation. They were disappointingly relaxed (if you supported them) and nowhere near as frantic/desperate as I’d expected them to be.

 

Nice to be able to watch barnsley v reading and not care - apart from hoping reading lose, obvs

 

Overplayed in the half, didn't really play at all in the second half. Saw the game out very well though.

Thought Success did well but obviously can't finish his Bailey's. Pedro needs a goal, couple of decent shots when he worked the space for himself. Chalobah, Hughes, Troost-Ekong and Masina all played well.