Perhaps more what I should have said is, I can see why he’s given it and it is probably an easy one to give for that fact he’d sent Hendrick off so early and they were 2 down. I don’t think he should have booked Prodl no as it obviously wasn’t deliberate but maybe he thought it was denying a goal scoring opportunity? Also, you can’t really take Gomes being behind him in to account because you don’t really know what may have happened from there. You see these types given a lot when a player tries to cross and it strikes an arm or a player has their arms by the side and leans in to the shot, I just think it’s one of those in full speed is very tough and one that’s hard to complain too much either way and it’s always going to be a bit of a grey area with this sort of thing.
Dreadful game. Far too much aimless punting forward by both sides, and when we weren't being aimless we were playing aerial balls up to Deeney, who was in the only place on the pitch where we were outnumbered. Things changed in the second half, when we added Florrie-style slow sideways and backward passing to the mix, and while we should have seen able to wear out the opposition by quick and accurate passing (not necessarily forwards) we failed and they finished the stronger. So I reckon that far from two glorious victories to wipe out the memory of Millwall, it's been one glorious victory and one so-so just scraped home. A one-goal win after 35 minutes against 10 men might be OK, a one-goal minute after 80 minutes against 10 men isn't. That said, Cleverley and Niang are huge assets and may well transform our season, but I was underwhelmed by Zarate - too much turning inside and then playing the ball back to Holebas. Reminded me too often of Jurado (though not quite as pointless, I'd accept). So as somebody has said before here, motivation doesn't seem to be one of Mazza's strengths. Hopefully they'll self-motivate against the Mancs.
Perhaps he thought if he scored more than 10 goals in half a Premier League season he'd definitely attract interest from someone bigger and didn't want to be tied to a Watford deal maybe? I guess the agreement gives us first refusal but if others come in for him he may not want to stay with us.
If it's true then I think that's definitely the case. Obviously he has no loyalty to Watford and had probably never heard of us. Bit of a tricky one because we want him to do well but not too well!
In the last three matches we've scored 5 in the first half and conceded none. In the second half we've scored 1 and let in 4. That is the exact polar opposite of our season over matches 1-21. Check out the stats. behind our rather poor negative goal difference. It's almost entirely down to our first half defecit. Pretty even in the second half. And those stats. were even more polarised three games ago. That suggests that we haven't been coming straight out of the blocks and firing on all cylinders from minute one. We've played poorly in the first half and been playing catchup in the second half and most of the time unable to catch up. The last three matches have been entirely different. So you would think that Walter (having seen us turn around our first half performances recently) would be saying "great show lads, keep it up, business as usual second half eh?". But that's not what's happened. Maybe that's inevitable to a degree in a 'game of two halves'. Maybe, physchologically, it's inevitable that players start to get nervy and start to adopt a 'let's hold onto what we've got' mentality. Maybe our players are relatively knackered second half having put in a big shift in the first. Scoring the first goal is desparately important when the average goals per game is less than three. At some point I'll try and get around to posting all these stats. up properly. But in the meantime we've now started to score the first goal regularly and we're seeing the results. In points!
If he wanted to play in the PL and no one else was in for him don't you think he'd just go with it? I do ... I also reckon Gino will decide if he's worth it long before he bangs in ten anyway and if he does want him it'll be signed and sealed well before the next window.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/feb/06/football-transfer-rumours-mbaye-niang-to-seal-a-permanent-move-to-watford http://www.football-italia.net/97999/watford-have-decided-niang
Are you really quoting a transfer rumours page as a source? ... the deal as far as I know is that if he scores 10 we have to buy.
Forgive me for attempting to add to the thread with abit of relevant rumor fun. We also have the choice to buy him, you know.
Not really. I think he just asked for clarification. He wasn't throwing the toys out of the pram. We've all seen bookings handed out for that. But as others have said, it's discretional and not mandatory to give a yellow in those circumstances. So, on this occasion, when a yellow would have resulted in a red, Michael Oliver used his discretion sensibly in our favour.
Oh sorry jw, I confused you with someone who commented earlier and yes of course we have the choice. My biggest point is if Gino wants he'll have a post dated signature long before others can get a bid in.
Oh come on! stop defending him. Asked who for clarification, the press? ... I'm certain the ref could have and probably did explain it in his debrief. Dyche is a serial whinger after every narrow defeat, surely everyone knows that?
Gomes was already getting wound up because so much was coming his way. There was a collective cry of "don't do it" from the Rookery when he looked like having a rush of blood. He got back but wouldn't have been in position if Burnley had got it in quickly. I really don't know why it was so 'squeaky bum' at the end. As Walter has said, we should have been closing it out or better with ease. If Barnes had given the chance (that Cathcart gifted him at the death) a bit of air to the far post we'd have dropped two points there.
"I was underwhelmed by Zarate - too much turning inside and then playing the ball back to Holebas. Reminded me too often of Jurado (though not quite as pointless, I'd accept)." Just to explain the English language, Jimbob - "too much" doesn't mean he did it all the time, and "too often" isn't a synonym for invariably. Yes, he did look not too bad, though a bit lightweight, in the first half, but after the interval his Jurado impression really came to the fore. But as I also said, keeping possession and making Burnley run around was the right thing to do, and that could explain his negative second-half showing. Which is why I said I was "underwhelmed" rather than some stronger negative.
Disagree. He asked the ref and then the press asked him what he'd asked the ref. I haven't noticed him being a serial offender at all. Always seems fairly measured to me. If you want to know what a serial whinger looks like then take a look at one J.Mourinho ...
Dyche was in the 4th officials ear all bl**dy game. He spent more time shouting at him than he did watching the game. He was an embarrassment.
On the three big decisions: On 1. Hendrick had to go but it wasn't the most reckless/ malicious over-the-top tackle ever. As far as I'm aware, Hendrick hasn't got a reputation for that sort of stuff and he seemed genuinely concerned for Holebas' wellbeing. Maybe Holebas was a bit 'theatrical'. Who knows. The Greeks did invent the theatre though. I doubt if that swayed Oliver. Hendrick was going anyway. I really rate him as a player b.t.w. On 2 & 3. There has to be intent. That can be advance intent too which is what 'arms in unnatural positions' and 'trying to make themselves look big' is all about. If you do that you can't then claim if the ball hits your arm then there was no intent. The intent has been shown in advance to try and gain an advantage. Neither Prodl's or Troy's arms were away from their bodies. Neither showed obvious intent to me. Prodl in particular was trying to hide his arm out of the way. So we should have won 3-0. Troy's 'handball' was nothing like as obvious as Vokes' against Lestah in mid-week which was right up there with Tierry Henry's 'goal' against Ireland. But in a crowded six-yard box maybe the ref. just didn't see it.
Did you see Ian Woan? He never gave it a rest throughout the whole game. Ian Moan I'd say ...............
Agree with this but I think if the handballs had been Burnley players against us I would have been aggrieved if they had not been penalised by the ref. Definite sending off though. Fortunately none of the contentious decisions against us affected the result.
It looks worse the more I see it, shocking tackle. Holebas can be a bit of a drama queen as we know but generally when he gets kicked he doesn't make a meal of it. I reckon it just freaking hurt. Hendrick is their best outfield player by some distance IMO, he did us a huge favour.
I don't think so. He himself said in an interview with the club that he came to Watford to settle down and stay long term, which sounds perfectly agreeable to me.
I've made a point of following Oliver's career since the Leicester Play Off semi final and it's clear to me, he likes to shake things up in matches. He likes the big decision and also likes to give late penalties to change the momentum of a game. He's very good at it and everyone in the game seems to love him because he makes big calls, regardless of are they correct or not. It's another match officiated by Michael Oliver and people are talking about things he's done in a match....yet again. I never notice referees unless they give a dodgy decision. I didn't realise it was Oliver until after the game.....but when we get a bad call, it's nearly always him....certainly in recent years. We seem to get him a lot too. So far, he's disallowed 2 Watford goals, given 5 penalties against us, given 1 for us and disallowed no opposition goals. Plus I remember a cast iron penalty not given at Swansea last season for us. The more we have him, the more the list will grow and the imbalance will become greater. The only club that seem to hate him more is United. Go on their forum and he and Mike Dean are voted the worst two referees. Bascially Oliver screws over United virtually every time, according to them anyway.
Wasn't a sending off , only 1 boot was studs up and not malicious and wasn't a penalty , Prodl was clearly moving his hand out of the balls path and could not have done anymore to not put hand in the ball. Deeney s disallowed goal looked a correct decision though . Also Holebas didn't deserve a yellow . He's perfectly within his right to kick that ball as Barton was unsighted and came in with a very low head
I'm not sure why it's even up for debate, any tackle where a player slides in with at least one leg in the air is a red card, and that's exactly what he did. It's not like he even slid in front of him and tripped him up which is not normally dangerous at all, but he slid straight into him with a leg raised, a dangerous tackle and a red card every time.
This - there was a whole 30 mins when he wasn't centre of attention. He had to do something about that.
Adrian Durham had a quite amusing rant at Dyche this evening labelling him an absolute disgrace for asking why a young lad wasn't sent off for celebrating his first premier league goal. I have to agree with him. Although he was even more angry about Garry Monk's behaviour and supposed show of morals yesterday which was cringeworthy at best.
Durham's an ego-centric load-mouth who's all style and no substance. He comes from Dogsthorpe and writes for the Mail. Says it all really ...
Dyche has gone down in my estimation. What did he hope to achieve going to see the ref after the game?
Nah, he knows his football. If you look past his radio persona, which is wind people up and bring in listeners (which he does), he is a good broadcaster. Whether you agree with that or not, he is bang on with his view on Dyche and Garry Monk.
Originally it was said that the purchase had to be part of the deal on his insistence, but then, last minute, one publication said he had, after arriving at London Colney, insisted it become a loan for the rest of the season only. I don't think anyone else picked up on it, so it could be bull. He signed for us within a few hours of the article, but who can say what came of it, or what of it was complete and utter poop.
