That's 8 goals this season now for Troy, so he's looking odds on to get into double figures again. That would mean three seasons of double figures in the Prem, out of four seasons. For all the criticism he can receive at times (very much including from me, and oft-enough justifiable) that is quite impressive for a player of his background and story. His drive as captain is hard to deny, and it's why he continues to have a role at the club. Similarly, Deulofeu is one goal or assist away from matching his best ever top flight 'points' season, and in the season he's matching those points came in the form of nine assists and just two goals. This year, he has six goals and four assists. Both a far more balanced tally, and one that looks almost certain to be broken. Perhaps he really is starting to fulfil his potential and grow into something of the player he was supposed to be. Will be fun to track over the last quarter of the season.
Jon Moss is awful. Troy Deeney was imperious, against three big rough centre backs. GD unlucky, needed the ref on side today but he had to come off as he was never going to win the battle when no fouls were being given. Capoue excellent, Doccoure okay.. Harvey Barnes is pretty decent. I'd still like to see a 4-4-2 with GD & Pereyra wide and Troy & Gray up front in games against weaker opposition, we'd be weaker defensively but it'd be a great watch I reckon! Marvellous season we're having, can't quite believe it. Leicester now out the Europa League race IMO. Comes down to the three W's, Wolves, Watford & West Ham.
Am I right in thinking that if Wolves win the FA Cup and finish 7th, the Europa League spot goes to 8th placed..?
Three goals and 1 assist was in one game, against Cardiff. Which came at the right time for him as Gray may have been threatening his starting spot after his winner against Everton. I'd like to see more goals from him in that position before I am convinced he is a natural front man. I prefer him on the wing.
When was the last time we won at home with an injury time goal - Leicester in play off semi ? Great feeling and well taken by Gray - instinctive finish . Team played well
Deeney brilliant today. Gray scores goals and would easily get 15+ if he played every game. Pereyra for his talent is poor.
Pretty average performance but great to nick a last minute winner. Super finish from Gray. I thought Mariappa played very well. Deeney MOTM.
Personally thought Gray for Deulofeu was a poor sub but how wrong was I! We're not going to win big like Cardiff again but grinding out points is what we're doing best this season. Let's move onwards and hope we can play for a point against City. It's going to be tough but if we play our cards right it's not an impossible idea. West Ham and Bournemouth were very unlucky against 'em so perhaps with a bit of luck (like we had today), we could go into it positively. Just as long as we don't use the same gameplan as the one against Liverpool
So do I, but ideally that wing role would include aspects of him doing what he has been doing recently: switching about in a semi-free role, both widening the play and giving us width and also bringing production in terms of goals and assists, as top wingers do. Here's hoping.
You won’t hear me argue that Cathcart didn’t help him out. And I don’t blame him singularly for the goal. But it’s his obvious deficiency /weakness that had been exploited and it’s just frustrating when it’s obvious and can be called well in advance of kick-off. Anyway, I don’t want to focus on the negatives, but rather the positives. Such a vital 3 points given the March fixtures to come. Kudos to EVERYONE involved for that.
I agree with this. No problem with how we started but Deloufeu should have been pushed wide and Pereyra taken off. Gracia’s loyalty to Pereyra in recent games is baffling.
Del boy is also only 4 top flight Watford goals away from equalling his combined top flight total for Everton, AC Milan, Sevilla and Barcelona. Maybe 5th time lucky for him, finally finding the right club to grow with. Hope he appreciates what we've done for him!
I've come to the conclusion you just don't like Mariappa . I actually prefer the current central defenders, its no coincidence that since Mariappa came in for Kabasele, and despite his technical deficiencies, we have ground out results that in the past we wouldn't have done. Kabasele has been a ball watcher and a fouler in the box this season.
Loved the just cant get enough DJ trolling of Rodgers. To coin another Celtic song: this is how it feels to be watford, beating 2 snakes in row =)
Need to bin off Bobby P, he has not looked the same since he was linked with Chelsea. Superb win thought taking off Duelofeu for Gray slowed the game down too much but proved his worth. There was an absolutely delicious ball from Capoue to Deeney in the first half on the volley. I love the bloke.
Sorry, but what are you talking about? Pereyra no worse than Hughes? We all know Hughes is not being played in his best position but he was superb today, particularly in the first half. Pereyra rarely got into the game and when he did his reaction wasn’t quick enough, i.e. to get a shot or a pass away. I was also really irritated by him carrying his child onto the pitch before the match. Concentrate on the job in hand, man!
Absolute respect to Cathcart. Skip to 1.02. Completely ignores integrity's handshake. https://twitter.com/i/status/1102207755073585157
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But don’t mistake mine as a dislike of the player. There are facets to his game which are good and I hugely respect a player who has made the absolute best of limited ability at this level. That sounds like a back-handed compliment but it isn’t meant as much. I like the fact he has eek’ed out every last ounce of himself in recent weeks. I far prefer that to someone of obvious talent who just doesn’t turn up. But that doesn’t change my belief that over the course of a season, I think the weaknesses in his game have cost us defensively more than any other. I’m not going to give him bonus points for being loyal and committed if I don’t think he’s up to what we need to progress. And when I think when we are beginning to settle on a regular starting XI, he is the obvious weak link. It is nothing personal towards the player whatsoever.
That's not a medlar. My parents have a medlar tree in their garden, grown from a seed. It doesn't bear fruit though in Croxley Green.
No, 5th place gain automatic entry. The winners of the fa cup get the next Europa league spot. If that team has already qualified for the champions league the place goes to the team that finishes 6th. The league cup winners get the final spot but if they have qualified for the CL it goes to the next highest league spot who haven't qualified for Europe.. So if Wolves win the fa cup, the team that finishes 6th will take the final spot for Europa league. I'm not sure what happens if Chelsea of arsenal winning the Europe league though!
I found myself turning into Peter Lorre in 'The Maltese Falcon',uttering "you fat fool' at regular intervals at Moss. I fail to see how a professional ref can be two stone overweight. Dismal from start to finish and surely a foul on Deeney before Steptoe equalised? Sweet as a nut or indeed a Revel, to win that and a great finish for the much maligned AG. I thought it was between TD and Will for out MOTM and I'm pleased we didn't suffer for taking GD off instead of RP,who again looked impotent. I thought their Pereira (?),number 14,looked very sprightly. Can the SEJ cut down on their crisp consumption please or at least bin the packets! I did think Brenda would be the victor today. Hubris 1 Brenda 0.
Wow, well, that was a great way to finish off the game! Overall, I think we deserved it. We were playing a good game and apart from the sucker punch for the goal, we seemed to be very comfortable with what Leicester were throwing at us, if not quite getting it right in the final ball ourselves. We started the game on the front foot and forced some good saves from Schmeichel, who was by far the busier of the two keepers today, in my recollection. There were some very good performances today from Capoue, Doucoure, Deeney, Hughes and Janmaat, after what could have easily been a demoralising spanking by Luckypool. I thought the way we played first half was very smart. We sat back in tight ranks when Leicester tried to make stuff happen, pressed them and forced their attacks to end in errors or, at best for them, hopeful shots from distance. I felt Moss was the catalyst for turning the fortunes. If I didn't already know he was a terrible referee, I would have assumed he was deliberately biased, but to give him credit, I think he's just a terrible and unfit official. I haven't had the benefit of any replays, but I felt first half hour, he was pretty even handed, but then there were about 5 50/50 calls in a row, all awarded Leicester's way. Second half it just got worse. Deeney was fouled, repeatedly and with complete impunity by their defenders. Delofeou was fouled and left sprawled on the turf without a free kick awarded. Every contact against their players resulted in free kicks. It was impossible for us to build attacks when our play was so often interrupted by unpunished fouling, whilst Leicester were given increasingly threatening opportunities on which to build. It doesn't always take a penalty award, a red card or a disallowed goal for a ref to influence a game. Tipping the marginal decisions one way, repeatedly can be a big advantage for a team and so today, Leicester, through no real improvement in play, began to take more of a hold as Moss became their 12th man. Even once we stung them in the deep end of stoppage time, Moss decided to allow play to continue, and continue, and continue, beyond the allotted extra time, to try and help Leicester force a winner. Overall, whilst there were flaws in our play and perhaps there are things we could've done differently, I felt we were worthy of our last gasp winner and we needed it. As said previously, despite the shortcomings of our forwards, Deeney, Gray and Deolefeou are all on more than respectable totals for goals now. One has to give credit to Deeney - today he was battered, fouled and booked (seemed unreasonable to me, but those with replays say he went in late on Schmeichel), but he battled on and was a key reason for the win. Gray took his chance beautifully. As I saw the opportunity unfold, my heart was in my mouth, but Gray looked like a true, natural scorer as he controlled, moved and tucked it away. Scenes. Deolefeou didn't have the most effective game, but until he was subbed, he worked hard on the non-glamour stuff - closing down, chasing and harrying. Which was a contrast to Pereyra - utterly anonymous, yet again. It's one thing that he isn't making things happen in the opposnent's box, but he doesn't offer anything defensively either. He needs benching for a spell and he's a luxury that we certainly cannot afford vs City. This was a win we greatly needed and I greatly enjoyed.
After 20 minutes, I realized that Bobby P had barely touched the ball, which was quite astonishing considering the start we made to the game. Whether it’s down to tactical instructions, or lack of confidence, almost every pass or touch he made was backwards. Earlier this year, he was taking the game to the opposition, driving forward with and without the ball, always looking to make things happen. Contrast this with Geri, who’s playing with confidence at the minute, but he never hides, even when he’s playing crap he’ll always look to get on the ball and be positive. Frustratingly, I think Bob is a far superior footballer in terms of technique and vision, but for whatever reason, he’s offering absolutely nothing at the minute. As for the game, we were happy to let Leicester stroke the ball around on the halfway line, confident that eventually they’d play themselves into trouble, or run out of ideas and give the ball away. Decent enough performance without ever really hitting the heights we’re capable of for any real stretches. No shock that we exploited their likely unfamiliarity with a new defensive system for set pieces. Leicester frequently looked like a side coming to terms with a totally new game plan. Deeney was good, and deserved more from the ref. Doucoure and Capoue both excellent, the former using his body very well on occasions to work a little space for himself to get away from trouble and move with the ball. Needed a solid performance after the Liverpool game, and the 3 points before a tough couple games will be valuable.
