Decent point given all of the circumstances. Showed some mettle. I never trusted umpires when I had them,bar one or two. Seems the same is true for referees. COYH!
Well in the circumstances a good point Sounds like a harsh red card. Still went for it despite being down to 10 men and nice to show some defensive solidity under pressure.
Bayo was stupid to throw an arm. But I sympathise with how many fouls he didn't have called as well. Credit to the team for keeping their composure and seeing out the game when Stoke had 12 men on the pitch against our 10. There is only one other game I can think of this Season where the referee was that poor but I think this was worse as the other missed big calls for both teams. This one missed them all against us time and time again. A shame as we looked like the team more likely to score up until Asprilla and Chakvetadze was subbed. Rajovic's hold up play was by far and away the best we've seen him do and boy was it needed. Finally, why were all the player slipping?
An all time shocker from that referee tonight, like he was determined to see Stoke win. Pathetic. Mind you, we weren’t great.
Only one place to start and that's one of the worst refereeing performances you will ever see. The foul on Bayo was so, so obvious. Still don't think he even elbowed the guy, more gave him a bit of a barge and he went down like he'd been shot. The ref created the whole situation by making a stupid gesture to Bayo that there was no foul even though it was clear as day that the defender knew Bayo was going to get around him so pulled him to the floor.
A game which overall we'll be annoyed not to have won, and in the end have to be satisfied with a point. But a combination of a lack of quality in the final third and an absolute clown of a ref put pay to our chances of 3 points. We had plenty of opportunities to go more than 1-0 up, but poor passes and touches while in acres of space, mostly from Chakvetadze or Martins, meant we failed to capitalise. Even with 10 men though we still could have won it had we been a bit more composed at key moments. The ref had already been conned once by McNally in booking Kone, then seemed to get conned by him for the red. Is it one we can successfully appeal? Otherwise we'll be missing Bayo for a few games, which will really hurt us now, especially when Healey has seemingly chosen a great time to get injured again and we're also without Ken as an attacking option. Beyond that, the TDB at RB experiment had already overstayed its welcome, and it cost us again today with their equaliser. He looked much better when shifted back in to his natural CM position, and unless we can potentially bring in some reinforcements at CM I'd rather we used TDB there while Kayembe is away ahead of Chak. Stoke have not been great either of the times we've played them and it's annoying to have only gotten 1 point from them. Still, at least we showed some grit and determination defensively today. It'll be a threadbare and tired squad travelling to Plymouth unless we already have an Udinese loan or two on a plane over.
We were the better team with 10 men. Yeah we lacked a bit of quality at times but we showed spirit and passion and i will take that all day compared to last season. I watched it on hive, so not sure if the sound was biased, but was impressed with the home support in the 2nd half.
Wtf was that ref haha, can't remember seeing officiating that bad at the Vic in a long time. Not a bad point all things considered, a shame we don't have a proper striker as we'd have won (again).
Referee ran that game. Swear to god he had a Stoke City shirt on under his top. Pathetic. Learn the game before you enforce the rules you clown. Harsh red card for Bayo but he did kick out then gave a bit of afters even if it was soft. Hopefully we can appeal that one. Game itself was pretty much a stalemate, although nice to see Livermore score and Hamer did his best Bonham impression to almost score another comical OG. Thought he also pulled off some good stops throughout and when we did get a chance to win the game, Raj fails to connect but the cross did have a fair bit of pace. At least we didn't lose two on the bounce, and the point keeps us ticking along to 50pts, Still pretty much a midtable affair despite Stoke City's lowly position. On the plus side, Norwich lost which is always good to see. Plymouth will be a tough ask with no Bayo and the possibility of Healy still being out. Looks like a couple of U23's might make the bench then. Tough run of fixtures for a side that are obviously tired and in need of a little break, but we didn't play well enough to win tonight but certainly were better than Tuesday even if the side was patched up. Shame their goal came down the right hand side, TDB is not a RB and I wish VI would stop persisting with him. Get a least a point at Plymouth then we can rest a few for the FA Cup game. Whoever we manage to get in next month will almost certainly be key to where we finish, but on this season's evidence, 12th(ish) probably isn't far off.
Apart from the clueless ref, just turned on to the Sky Sports final scores to see that complete a**e, Liam Rosenior, milking the applause from the 'Ull faithful with his sub-standard Klopp impersonation. That fraud manages to irritate me whatever he does.
I've never paid him much attention. What do you dislike about him? I'm beginning to turn into my Mother, disliking almost all of humanity. I can easily add him to my list!
Aggravating affair. We showed a lot of determination when down to 10 men. This is a professional business and no room for referees to have such poor judgement. He ruined any chance of making this a fair and objective contest. I feel that the reception he received at half time influenced his 2nd half. If Bayo is not successful in an appeal (unlikely to go against a ref) then we are stuck with Raj as our only no9 for a while (hope Healey is back soon). As for the game, Hamer had a couple of ropey moments, but some top class saves again. TDB is not a good defender. Not convinced about Moris, but he worked hard. Midfield was OK, but Kone quieter in recent games. Shack was ok at times but final ball let him down. Cracker of a shot from him. Martins did not do enough for me. I would have left Asprilla on. I don’t think we needed Raj, as we had big CBs for corners and free kicks. Bayo was ok up to the red. Crowd noise impressed me towards the end and was happy to take the point, given the circumstances. I firmly believe that the ref should be assessed for his performance and made to sit through the video with experts asking uncomfortable questions before he resumes his career for a probationary period in the National League South for the remainder of the season.
Stoke are a poor side. We should have won that. Of course, with 10 men, we end up praising Watford for getting a point in spirited fashion.
Training is vastly overrated. Players will be glad of a rest and to play again on Monday, assuming we're not chartering a bus to Devon!
Is Adeyamo likely to be fit anytime soon? Stuck with Raj for the next 270 minutes and his incredible miss doesn't fill me with hope. I'm hoping the fa cup counts as one for the 3 suspended?
Actually thought ref was good for first half hour then he lost the plot. Its becoming very difficult to be one of a few defending refs when you get ones like that. Linesman were poor too got bullied into him making the decisions instead of them giving them.
I don't think it does count. Although I could be wrong. Also, what is it with Watford getting bent refs? Watford 2 Reading 2 "ghost goal" Watford 1 Newcastle 1 "aussie ref" Watford 1 Stoke 1 "clown"
Short "highlights" https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/13039286/watford-1-1-stoke-city-championship-highlights
As an ex-Sky pundit (for now at least) he is constantly invited on to meet up with his Sky mates who laud him as a tactical genius as the 'Championship Pep' whereas he just talks in tactical riddles to try and live up to that billing. It's like a version of football's Inbetweeners! Does that help?!
Yes. Now you come to mention it I have seen him flouncing around the Sky studio and suchlike. It's all very cosy at Sky. Very much jobs for the boys.
Sometimes ref’s make a bad decision and you can forgive it as a mistake. He genuinely gave them every single decision, it was laughable. There was a moment after the red where TDB was hauled down and a foul wasn’t even given & then Morris won a 50:50 30 seconds later and was booked for it.
Also, not to mention Georgi being booked for handball and then 2 mins later the Stoke player stopping a promising attack with his arm not even given as a foul.
Will keep it short ,played OK for 52 minutes then down to 10 men we still looked like the only team wanted to win ,Stoke wanted to play rugby rather than football and the referee was,absolutely shocking
