Watford Fc 2-1 Derby County - 19/02/2021

I can see why the Derby goal was ruled out .

Harsh but goalies get protected a lot .

Apart from the Stoke keeper when Pedro pushed him into the net!

Nice to get some decisions after last season .

 

Someone mentioned before how he was 6th choice when signed, how Ironic it is that when Sierralta joined and played in the league cup we were all wondering why the hell he had been signed and was it just another paper shifting exercise by the Pozzos and now we are complaining he was rested and deciding who should be his 2nd Lieutenant! Credit where credits due he has done very well!

 

It’s also nice to get some penalties this season, some seem to come quite easily thanks to clever foot work from the likes of Pedro and Sarr!

 

it was definitely off side enough to be given by VAR if it was in place so with you, however the first goal should have stood so you win some you lose some

 

I really enjoyed the game last night. I feel like supporting this side full on. It was much more like actually being there as well - wallowing in it first half playing well, doubts creeping in second half, baying and whistling for the ref to blow up at the end, corner after corner and then utter relief. Just missed out on the celebrations at the Rookery End with "We did it!"

I agree with the comments about Sierralta. Unless he is injured why didn't he play or at least come on?

Sarr and Femenia together is a fantastic combination. The midfield three looks a good mix - just worry that Cleverely is going to get injured the way he crunches in, still can't have it both ways can we, he's totally committed, not holding back, love it!

 

Pretty fair assessments on here, which is good to see. I think WFC probably deserved the win on the overall pattern of play, but it might have been different had we gone in only 2-1 down at HT - a massive boost to the team and 45 minutes to chase an equaliser, instead of the feeling that it was a long way back. In truth, Waghorn and Roberts were passengers at best and I'd have subbed them at HT. It was good to see our corners at last causing problems - we've been so ineffective for too long in that respect. We still need to be more creative and decisive from open play, but in truth your defence was pretty solid until the last 20 minutes. The front six have the necessary skills and class to get you very close to the autos this season - along with Norwich, probably the most technically challenging opponents we've faced this season. You had the rub of the green tonight, but in fairness you had the most creative attack so you gave yourselves the best chance of getting the lucky breaks. Good luck for the run in and make sure you beat our relegation rivals please.

 

hard to know who is taking the puss these days and who is genuine , but just in case

Bachmann is fine , performances have been generally very good , Big Ken could do with not trying to take on every defender on the pitch and just cross it in but has had moments of class in the last few games and has had the intelligence to be in the right place to score

zinc and troost you might be right about

 

A good summary, cheers. We’ve not been able to take decent corner or free kick for about five years, so we’re all incredibly jealous of your deliveries. I think if we could take corners like you we’d be pretty formidable!

Agree re Waghorn, I thought his first half performance was some sort of joke, it must have been incredibly frustrating.

Good luck for the rest of the season, there is no danger if you being relegated, well very likely be playing each other again for a few more seasons.

 

In terms of the first paragraph, I agree we seemed to try and sort of control and 'take the sting out of the game', but it was so misguided in the way it was done - if you're trying to play billy big bollox and basically be Manchester City, retaining possession to give our players rest during play and dictating the tempo, you can't take off the only two players capable of, and majority-responsible for, keeping the ball. Whatever you think of the substutions on the whole, those two things together were out of step/contradictory, and we got through that final period through riding our luck more than anything else.

I will also note that had we taken one or two of our very obvious opportunities already it wouldn't have been as tense, in fairness, but then we didn't, and it was obviously known that we hadn't in the moment of making those subs/tactical decisions.

In terms of the second, I get what you mean about 'six-pointers', but realistically if we are desperately clinging on to having any chance of being in with a shout of automatics, every three points is equally important, or at least at a sort of baseline 100% importance. You could say those 'six-pointers' are like 200% importance (sketchy, I know...), because they're potentially achieving two things at the same time, but we won't even have the chance/opportunity to do that if we haven't continued to take those three points on offer from teams we're not in direct competition with such as Derby.

 

Is Roberts the lad that was at Man City that they had high hopes for? He was terrible. I might be wrong but Waghorn normally plays well against us so pleased he was rubbish as well. You're best player was the right back, set up your goal, took those corners everybody talks about and we had no attacking joy down his side. Your set pieces were as good as I've ever seen but didn't really create anything in open play which I guess is why you're struggling this season. Rooney seems to have a good team around him and it appears as though he's got you moving in the right direction. We will beat the bottom lot if you beat the top lot. Deal?

 

Yeah, I guess when all is said and done we’re either going to need to beat more of the Derby type teams than our rivals, then make sure we don’t lose against our rivals when we play them, or we’re still going to have to win against the Derby type teams and then more than likely have to beat our rivals when we play them.

 

Hughes last night became the first Watford player to score against a former club since....

 

McGugan?

 

Much more recent

 

Gray against Burnley?

 

Yes, that's the guy - former Fulham wonderkid who hasn't yet lived up to his potential. To be fair to him, it was his first start for us and I think he was trying too hard to make things happen rather than simply pass and move. His airy-fairy challenge on Cleverly that contributed to your second goal hasn't endeared him to our Twitter Nazis, so he'll have a job to convince them of his worth now. Waghorn, apart from his deadball kicks, has been off the pace all season. Whether the fact that his contract runs out in the summer has any bearing on that, I don't know, but we need to see a big improvement else we may as well play an enthusiastic teenager, of which we have an abundance. Nathan Byrne has been a great signing and is a good example of how you can still improve a team even when you're forced to sell a prized young asset like Jayden Bogle.

Losing Kristian Bielek to a long term injury was a massive blow. He was quite simply the lynch-pin of our revival under Rooney and a top quality PL player in the making. But the loan signings we made in January have probably made us a stronger team all-round, certainly one with more options.

I think the thing that will probably see us through is the general solidity (usually) in defence that Rooney and co have built, together with the sheer force of will that is CKR, the best free transfer we've had since Chris Martin.

I'm sure we'll do our best to complete the double on Norwich and Swansea, but in truth the next three fixtures against Huddersfield, Forest and Coventry will probably have a greater impact on our season but won't help you much!

 

Andre Gray?

 

Not sure if it’s been mentioned already but Derby’s set pieces were excellent and to have an ex goalkeeper in Shay Given in charge of this is a stroke of genius. He knows exactly what works from corners having been at the forefront of thousands over his career. I’d love for Watford to adopt an approach like this with a specialist of some sort (Reids) to manage it.
It’s crazy that clubs overlook this so much, it’s a free ball into the box and with the right approach a team could increase their scoring record by 10,20... who knows.

 

I wonder how much of that is down to inexperience - Bachmann will be 27 in the summer and has only played 63 games which really isn't much for his age. Dahlberg has only just turned 22 and has played in 53!

I don't understand why he was rested for this game, our next opponents are Blackburn and Derby offer much more up front in terms of a physical/aerial battle (than Blackburn) that would've suited Sierralta. Would've made more sense to rest him against Blackburn imo

 

....the '84 cup final (no, i won't forget it!)

 

None of us can.

 

[wakes up screaming at night] HE HAD BOTH HANDS ON THE BALL!

 

I've disliked Andy "I may not have headed the ball, but it wasn't a foul" Gray ever since.
No co-incidence his initials are AG...

 

I think it was Welbeck v Arsenal in the final match of last season

 

Worth remembering too that immediately before the corner for the disallowed goal, Bachmann flapped at a corner coming in and punched it over his own bar. He moaned about being fouled but definitely wasn’t. And that was probably what made the ref hyper sensitive to anything going on around the keeper at the next corner. Another day the first incident doesn’t happen, the ref happens to be concentrating on something else and Derby get their goal.

 

Funnily enough blocking is an absolute key part of success when attacking set-pieces (and something we don't do enough of)



This is a classic example from the last World Cup, Youngs only job is to block Stones marker allowing him a free run - it's right in front of the referee and passed the VAR check despite it being an obvious foul, but they're very rarely called as such. In non VAR leagues you can get away with some absolutely brutal blocks.

 

I didn't see the reverse fixture (apparently a drab affair only lit by a wonder goal from Pedro, very typical of most of our away performances up to Preston) but you must have been a pretty poor side to lose to us with the way we were playing back then. It's very likely that with the side you had last night we'd have lost, maybe Huddersfield style or more. Must be part of the reason why we played much better but ended up winning by the same narrow margin - even when we play as we should we still struggle to be incisive in the final third or kill teams off, Bristol City apart.

 

I presume our media thought what an excellent training ground move eh?



The Derby away game only had about 3 shots on target - bit like Tuesday at Preston.

I remember Rooney missed a couple of good chances to equalise late on.

 

Yeah but what do you know about corners?

 

Cocu was another Paul Clement - trying to play passive, risk-free passing football without enough players to make it effective. Back then, we had no threat upfront whatsoever, because players were coached to retain possession at all costs, with the result that we were creating barely one chance per game. It didn't help that by that stage Rooney was completely shot as a player and missed the only good chance we created in the earlier fixture, as wcfc4ever pointed out. We still have a bit of a hangover of that coaching philosophy, but Rooney is gradually instilling more confidence in the players. If he can get our Polish winger, Joswiak, playing well again, and Tom Lawrence back on the pitch and playing well, we'll be allot more of a threat to good defences.

You're very fortunate to have creative players like Sarr, Pedro and our own beloved Will Hughes available - they're a class above, and a rarity, in this division.

 

I refuse to judge Zinckernagel until he has started in a few games. Coming on for 10-15 minutes as a sub is difficult. Can’t see him ousting Sarr on the right at the moment, but maybe on the left in place of Sema?

 

Totally agree. I think thats more to do with Masinas lack of attacking prowess than Ken who has been superb this season.

 

Rico Henry Hamstring gone completely. Pulled up and fell to floor mid run. Today is looking good.

 

Pathetic post, we have won three in a row but still sniping away. Maybe 3 games in 6 games had something to do with the tinkering as you call it.

 

Yes. We've got to see him play for a length of time before we judge him. So far the indications are he is finding it hard to get to grips with the Championship. But he and Sema are different types of player:
People talk about Sema's pace, but he is neither particularly quick nor slow. He is a solid unit, especially for someone playing on the wing, and skilful on the ball; and he uses that to hold off full-backs as he takes them on. This often manifests itself by him getting to the bye-line deep into enemy territory and then pulling the ball back for the 'strikers'. He's very effective at this level. He didn't show yesterday because he was up against Derby's best player, (some people claiming he was 'off the pace', but I'm not convinced).
Zinckernagel, on the other hand, from the little we've seen of him, is quicker and more lightweight and (possibly) more two-footed. And, from his record in Norway, probably a better finisher.
It might be interesting to see one of them switched for the other as one of the substitutions to give the tiring full-back something different to deal with.