We need to beat Utd, get a point at Sheff Utd and beat Aston Vanilla if we want to even stay in touch come the new year. Good god...
Unfortunately so. We've put ourselves in such a position, that every game we fail to win means the slim hopes of survival vanish further. As it stands, I think if Nige were to get us to stay up, I would put it up there with some of the greatest feats accomplished by a Hornet manager, certainly in my 30 odd year supporting history. Aidy and GT's promotions aside, it would be above anything else I can recall.
From this position we somehow got 23 points from the next 10 games (6 of them away) to escape relegation. That was the greatest achievement in my time supporting Watford because the team had been so poor up until that point. League Division Two table after close of play on 21 March 1991 Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts 1 Oldham Athletic 34 20 9 5 67 38 29 69 2 West Ham United 34 19 11 4 47 23 24 68 3 Sheffield Wednesday 33 16 14 3 60 34 26 62 4 Middlesbrough 35 16 8 11 54 35 19 56 5 Brighton and Hove Albion 34 16 6 12 52 54 -2 54 6 Millwall 35 14 11 10 51 38 13 53 7 Bristol City 35 16 5 14 53 50 3 53 8 Notts County 33 14 10 9 51 44 7 52 9 Barnsley 32 13 10 9 49 32 17 49 10 Wolverhampton Wanderers 35 11 15 9 50 46 4 48 11 Bristol Rovers 36 12 11 13 46 46 0 47 12 Charlton Athletic 35 11 12 12 45 46 -1 45 13 Newcastle United 33 11 12 10 34 36 -2 45 14 Ipswich Town 33 10 13 10 42 49 -7 43 15 Oxford United 35 9 15 11 55 60 -5 42 16 Port Vale 35 11 8 16 45 52 -7 41 17 Plymouth Argyle 35 9 14 12 42 52 -10 41 18 Swindon Town 35 9 13 13 46 49 -3 40 19 Blackburn Rovers 35 10 7 18 37 49 -12 37 20 Portsmouth 36 9 10 17 42 59 -17 37 21 Leicester City 35 10 6 19 46 69 -23 36 22 West Bromwich Albion 35 8 11 16 40 48 -8 35 23 Hull City 35 8 10 17 48 73 -25 34 24 Watford 35 5 13 17 30 50 -20 28
I think if Pearson keeps is up, with the squad we have, it's going to be a bigger achievement than what he did at Leicester the season before they won the title. Problem being, if we actually did stay up, would that mean Gino invests? Would he finally of seen the obvious flaws in an aging squad?
And we stayed up.. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991–92_Watford_F.C._season 1 defeat in the final 13 games. Remember beating Bristol City on the final day 5-2 when they had 3 men sent off. Only game with a 5 figure gate at the Vic. That is our only hope now!
Fun fact... I went to that game. I remember spotting my school dinner lady in the away end losing her **** as another of their players got sent off.
It's not a bad set of results actually, Southampton being the only team involved that won (it doesn't look like Newcastle will be down there any more, nor Burnley, who do well against teams around and below them) - the only combination that would have been significantly better is if the Villa vs Soton match had ended in a draw. Bournemouth must be in trouble if they can only get three shots on goal and none on target at home with 65% possession, you'd expect a better return from any team against anyone, except maybe Liverpool and Man City. How on earth did Chelsea lose to them? As well as Norwich and Villa, we need to be targeting Southampton, Muff and maybe Brighton.
Shows how much football has changed since then - only nine clubs from that lot play in the Championship now, yet only six others currently play in the top flight - out of the remaining nine, six play in League 2 or lower.
Was that the game where Gifton Noel-Williams held the ball by the corner flag time wasting at the end? One, maybe even two, players were sent off getting mad at him? Hilarious!
One thing we have been poor at is playing balls into the near post for forwards to anticipate, move onto and tuck into the net (a la Firmino for Liverpool in the club world cup semi-final). However, in the last couple of games I think there has been an improvement. Deeney nearly managed it early on against Liverpool when Sarr played him in. Is this the first sign of Pearson's coaching making a difference?
Thanks for putting me right wfc4ever, I can still see it now at the Vicarage Road End, Bristol players couldn't get round him so they tried to go through him. Poor Gifton, top clubs looking at him but a serious injury stopped a promising career in its tracks, a reminder how player's careers can be curtailed in an instant.
Agreed. Today’s results won’t worsen our chances of survival at all. When the bottom teams play each other someone will always pick up points
My guess is if we continue not to score we're unlikely to win many games Needs a couple of De Gea OGs tomorrow
On tomorrow's game, Man Utd must probably be the most frustrating team for us to play against after Burnley. Seven defeats in eight since our return to the PL doesn't tell the full story (and we competed well against them even during the seasons when we were out of our depth, both games in 1999/00 and the FA Cup semi in 2006/07) - apart from the first half in the 2015/16 home game, and the away game in 2016/17, we've played really well in all those games, yet have been undone by moments of magic from set-pieces or mistakes at critical moments. So wouldn't it be ironic if after just nine goals this season, we were to win Burnley-style in the dying seconds after being absolutely battered all game...
I haven't been on here for a while, so apologise if it's been pointed out already - but this time of year is when our season traditionally tails off. That'll be some feat this term.
I hadn't seen this when I posted my suggestion. Same place. Iirc lots of dumped, rusting vehicles and a not great beach, but a plethora of beautiful, harmless sharks frolicking in the shallows.
That's too early for Gifton, but I remember that masterclass in time wasting, too this day. It's always my point of reference whenever, we take a short corner to troy in the dying minutes. Nobody will ever do it as well as GNW (so good they named a railway after him).
Is Ashley Young playing today for Manure? He loves scoring against us at the Vic. Remember the disrespectful celebration he did a few seasons back. Great talent when he was with us - got a good deal from Villa too. Never thought he'd ever end up as a defender though.
91/92 was the following season when we finished 10th. We stayed up in 90/91 when beating Oxford away in the penultimate game. We played Bristol City at home last game in both seasons-in 90/91 we lost 3-2 but we were already safe
From the legends site back in the day with GNW- "Then came the game against Sunderland, who were leading the table. You scored a great goal in that game. Back then I was kind of fearless, I thought I could do anything (Laughs). So yeah, I scored the goal that put us in the lead in a really big game. That game really pushed us for the season, to get in the play-offs. And then the tackle happened… Did Butler ever apologise for that challenge? No, he never apologised. As a fan, when we beat Leeds in the play-offs in 2006, Paul Butler played for them and there was extra joy for beating him. Heh heh, thank you, I like that! No, he never said sorry, but it is what it is. To be fair we had words during the game. He told me he was going to break my leg and to be fair he done it!"
I don't hate many people but I will carry hatred for that man for the rest of my life. Paul Butler that is, not Blakey!
Always wonder what kind of career Gifton might've had if not for that tackle. So strong even when he broke into the team as a 16 year old, surprisingly good feet, decent finisher. One of my all time favourite players.
