But we are not in a relegation battle because 4 times from 9 we waltz away with the game, 2 from 9 we battle away for a point or lucky win and 3 in 9 we **** up. This was one of the 3 in 9.
Hamer was poor today. Should have saved the first. Easily beaten for the 4th too. Time for Bachmann to return. But the keeper situation is a big concern. No serious team should have Hamer as first choice and starting with Rajovic up front. That’s a nonsense.
The "always" being always except for just 3 days ago: https://wfcforums.com/index.php?thr...rd-23-december-2023.60632/page-6#post-3299265 Flip-flop. But I'm pleased HB1's gone back to that claim already, as his wild predictions basically never come to pass.
Rajovic is simply awful, completely on Val today. A tap-in last week didn’t warrant a start for Rajovic, Bayo is also not great but he’s far better suited to this as he at least has the simple ability of being able to pass the football. Asprilla was terrific, seems to be working harder now too. Seems Val may not totally fancy Andrews? Kone was awful today. Sierralta was terrible today, two goals completely his fault, no idea why he hesitated to close the space. Just far too many players not on it today, it happens. Bristol City were fantastic with the press first-half and our lot looked unprepared for that and panicked. On to Friday night.
IMO, we have a bottom 6 squad but are elevated because of what VI has done. His work with the team has been admirable and is our x-factor. But if we slip back into our old ways, we’re quite capable of stinking out the place many more times this season.
Just catching up on this and it looks bad, but is it 5-0 at a freezing Craven Cottage, with Carlton Palmer playing on Boxing Day bad?
What happened in the family stand? I didn't go today as was up north at the in laws. A mate went who said "Dad and his son tried to push through and not show tickets. Security over reacted and shoved them"
Not that bad … coldest I think I have ever been at the football, standing on the Craven Cottage terrace must of been about -8 degrees with the windchill off the Thames !!!
I miss the penalty shootouts we got with the schools. They were far more fun to watch. Which side will win? Who has the competent takers? Will you get a gaff, well taken pen or a competent keeper?
Yes, it was something like that but the security pushed these guys by the neck into a crowd of kids and parents and generally roughed them up. It was ridiculous and well over the top. I saw one dad with his very young son take him away from the situation and other kids were scared. I’ve never seen anything like it. The security were creating chaos. You couldn’t get past the turnstiles as there was a queue inside with stewards checking every ticket, even though you’ve just gone through the electronic gate. You get checked and patted down before going in. Then have to pass security and they properly check the ticket. The entire system is a joke and these guys think they’re the police. Wouldn’t let my son pass even though he showed his ticket. He had to prove he was a student with his ID card. B’stards.
He also said that one said "keep moving" to him, but he had to point out "you're blocking my way" as the bloke telling him was right in front of him.
I thought he was absolutely useless as he usually is when he starts. He wasn't alone today by any stretch, but he gets fan treatment that is the polar opposite to Raijovic. Ball goes near Raiovic and no matter the outcome people are ready to jump on his back. Ball goes near Asprilla for him to do nothing with it or give it a way and people are shouting about what a generational talent he is. He is undoubtedly talented, but he is also too ineffective, weak and one footed for a player of his talent. One thing you know Raiovic can do is get on the end of a decent cross, yet Asprilla seems allergic to trying to swing a ball in. Defensively he was all over the shop today as well. At one point in the first half Andrews sold Asprilla short with a dreadful pass. The next most obvious thing to do was for him to fill in for Andrews, but instead he ran inside leaving their guy on the left acres of room to receive a pass. That right hand side was shocking today.
He was the only one looking capable of making something happen today, was running at his man plenty. Yes, some bad decisions and naivety from when he overplays or tries to be too inventive but he did put in some decent crosses. Has a wonderful first touch and got the assist today for the goal with a tidy pass. MOTM from Watford side.
Poor all over. Not a single good performance today. Kayembe and Kone looked like they were on another planet. Andrews and Asprilla absolutely stunk. Defensively all over the shop. The only positive is we get a break from seeing the utterly hopeless Jamal Lewis for a while. Bristol City were decent, very well organised and attacked our weak full backs from minute one. If they thought Andrews was worth attacking then the start of the second half was like Christmas Day all over again for them when TDB came on the pitch - he's dreadful in midfield but mind bogglingly bad at right back. We are a mid table team - nothing more, nothing less. Walloping teams like we did at PNE will happen occasionally, getting walloped like we did today will happen occasionally.
His first touch is always impeccable. Anything after that is questionable. He is reluctant to cross and got schooled when he took the full back on several times today. He is better from the bench without doubt.
After the run we have been on, booing them off at half time was pretty low. The hardest working and most likeable Watford team in years, they have put enough in the bank recently to have a dud performance let go.
First game since Leeds at home last April and what a day to decide to go. Haven't seen much on the TV so was excited to see effectively a new team, and one that has been doing well. Maybe Andrews was having a bad game but definitely not convinced by him. Offered little going forwards and very poor defensively, Lewis being marginally better defensively. Not a great game at all but at least they looked like they give a crap which is hard to say when they have shipped 4.
Basically we're not as good as we thought we were a week ago but better than we were back in September.? We do have a very thin squad tho and with the number of games played in recent weeks I think a bit of tiredness can creep in. We don't have many real athletes in the current squad either so today didn't surprise me much. I see us as an average team, showing signs of encouragement, but with very brittle confidence. Also we are totally reliant on our defence being on song (ish) as we are 5 out of ten defensively, 7 out of ten in midfield and 7 out of ten banging the ball in the net. When teams set out to press our defence hard our defence decide to try and pay cool and knock it about and they simply can't handle it. Hoedt only has to have an off day and that defence crumbles.... Playing out from the back against a good, fit pressing team will always find us out, Val has to find a way to convert our options to at times just be "hard to break down" , and that's the challenge...
On an annoying day, this utterly stupid ‘competition’ was by far the most annoying thing. You could put Ronaldo, Beckham and Messi up and while they’d get close, none are going to get it on the spot. At least give a consolation prize to who gets nearest or put out a metre diameter mat to aim at, if Mr Q actually want to risk their cash. But better still, scrap it. Completely embarrassing and tinpot.
I don’t agree. Fans are entitled to voice their opinion if they find a performance unacceptable. Each game should be judged on its own merits, regardless of what’s gone on before. Sometimes it’s good to let the players know a performance is not good enough, and today, any booing was totally acceptable as it was by far the worst home performance of the season. All the talk of progression and “we’re not that team that played at Sunderland” has gone out of the window. The signs of progression are just an illusion.
Took the family to the inlaws for the day so had to relay on sky sports/BBC/texts for updates. Sounds like it was a poor day at the office. Which is about right for us given the run we've been on, thats seen us climb to 2pts off the playoffs and culminating in those two wins against Blackburn and Preston that we should follow it up with a poor performance and a walloping. Disappointed but cant say I'm overly upset at the result given that this team is a work in progress. However there has been a couple of trends in our performances recently that we have been getting away with but didnt today. Namely we have been starting games slowly and seem to need 15 minutes or so to get into the game and while we might not have the strongest defense in the league, we do seem to be giving away alot of decent chances all of a sudden - Blackburn could have been out of sight before our comeback and even Preston probably should have scored a couple more.
Yes we are suddenly really rubbish again and not made any improvements at all in recent weeks. People complain about the Pozzos being very reactive to a game or two but so are some fans .. Not that I heard any particularly loud booing or discontent - just general disappointment on the result and performance.
The PA sounded like he was rather fed up of it all too . Mind you that might be because he whipped the crowd up pre game then obviously it all fell flat.
I agree to an extent. I think VI has galvanised a sh1t squad and made them better than their parts, but it’s fragile and can break at any moment, like today. So this is why I think improvements are an illusion as it’s not a permanent status of growth. They’ve ridden their luck a lot recently and today the wheels came off. Had we really improved beyond where we were at Sunderland, today would never have happened.
First time seeing Rajovic live for almost a whole game. What an unusual player. Valuable as a goal poacher but so unbelievably slow on the ground. Definitely one we need to play to his strengths as we did not today.
I don't agree. Today can literally happen to any team. Even the likes of Liverpool have lost by 3 goals How we react on Friday is the key and an indication of whether recent improvements have been illusionary or not.
Yes exactly, and it all boils down to an owner who is stifling a football club because of his own incompetence. From a team chasing Europe and getting into an FA Cup final, to a team that loses 4-1 at home to a mid-table Championship side. The continual fall is rapid and shows no sign of stopping, imo of course.
The result can happen to anyone…….just like our flattering 5-1 win at Preston, but it’s the performance that I found alarming. It was so, so bad. That level of performance shouldn’t happen to an improving side who have supposedly turned the corner.
I know you don't really want that to happen but sometimes the stuff you post doesn't totally portray that with 100% conviction.
