You can always look to the Aidy season after relegation for a more recent example. We have form for coming down, beating all comers for a bit and then they suss out we're not that good and we're screwed.
I thought yesterday was largely positive. To me it showed the strength we have. We've seen that in defensive games, we're unlikely to concede a goal and have the quality to knick a goal, I think that'll only improve when the other players come back too. Yesterday a team opened up and came at us, we were able to stand firm and pick them off on the break, I thought we had the better chances than Blackburn. I've seen some comments saying it would have been different without Foster... Which is a null point, we do have Foster and he's going to be an asset in this league.
I thought Blackburn were better than the majority of Premier League teams we faced last year. On a completely different footballing planet to Burnley especially.
Iriney actually had something like the highest pass completion rate in Europe when he played for us. I don't remember much coming of those passes but an interesting tidbit nonetheless.
Blackburn were a good team, some bloody good players and definitely glad to walk away from that with three points. As per the rest of our games before this, we're going to need to player better. We are winning games through individual quality at the moment rather than any sort of cohesive team performance. The formation is narrowing all passing angles and we seriously struggle to keep the ball, I wish we'd play to our strengths a little more with a 4-3-3 as we won't keep winning forever with 33% possession or 1 shot on target (Blackburn and Derby). That being said, we are winning, without really getting out of second gear. Our individual quality at this level is immense and the likes of Foster, Capoue, Sarr and Pedro can be match winners regardless of how we're playing, which is no bad position. Suspect this season is going to be a four horse race between us, Norwich, Bournemouth and Brentford. Not sure how we match up at the moment, Saturday will be a hard game and very telling of where we are at.
If/when we get Gray back, we should at least be able to deploy more of a 3-4-3 and have him playing as something of a wide forward, which is closer to his actual position and would suit both Sarr and JP considering how much they constantly try and pull wide anyway (which is hardly surprising).
Had. Not for a good 2 years though now, during which time has been earning 4 times as much as young DQ.
There is obviously going to be a disconnect this season because of not being able to attend matches. Things feel hollow and almost surreal. During lockdown we all used Zoom and other media to stay in touch with our friends and it was ok but that same feeling of being remote and disconnected was felt then too because we couldn’t all just meet up and go for a drink together or whatever. It’s totally normal to feel some disconnect, but life right now is what it is and I’m still very happy we have sport to watch, albeit remotely. In much the same strange way that in our youth summer days always seemed sunny and endless, and winter days always cold and crisp and it snowed a lot when actually it didn’t, there’s always the temptation to look back at the good old days of WFC and feel that things aren’t so good of late. What I’d say is this. Taking off any rose tinted spectacles, how many times in the past did all of us go to bed at night thinking things were pretty well perfect? It might seem that way at times, but really? There were always wins we worried about were undeserved. Players in the team we felt were weak links. It’s just built into our psyche as Watford fans. How many times did any of us ever say ‘wow that was the perfect performance’ or ‘this is turning into the best season ever’? Even during our promotion campaigns or successful cup runs, we always had that ‘good win but...’ thoughts. Time blurs the memory and makes us all remember the past as ‘the good old days’ when every player turned in a stellar performance and every manager made the best substitutions and tactical decisions and we never ever worried about the fear of failure, but in reality what’s happening right now is no different from how it always was. And what’s happening right now is a club emerging from relegation and an uncertain summer to lay down an early marker to the rest of the division that we mean business and that we intend to be one of the front runners for promotion. And whether it’s ugly or boring or risky or even undeserved at times, we are banking the wins so far. And yes it’s crap we can’t be there to watch, but it is as it is, and so far what it is not the worst thing in the world, certainly compared to April and May when we didn’t even have it to watch online. And what’s more, for better or for worse lol, we still all have each other to discuss it with!
I saw him play for Granada vs R Madrid and though he was the stand out player. I was really excited about him coming to the Vic. His relaxed play just didn't work in the champ though....constantly robbed and occasionally costing us goals (away to Barnsley I seem to recall ?).
Without fans, as I mentioned earlier, it doesn't seem as important, but we all know this is just a temporary thing. I believe it's a huge advantage for Watford this season, to have no fans at away games. What it does is basically takes away that hostile/intimidating or motivating atmosphere. What you're left with is a stripped down version. Basically it boils down to our player's quality verses their player's quality. We have probably the best squad in the league, and when there is no crowd advantage, that becomes very important. In theory, it should work out better for the teams with the better quality squads. This season we are a big fish, at this moment in time, in this particular division. I believe no fans will be an advantage for the better sides, and those that rely on grunt and grind, feeding off home support, will probably fare badly. If we go up, I hope fans will be allowed back then, as we really need the fans in the Premier League, as it's motivating in our home games. We have the luxury of a squad that is arguably better than the rest, with no away fans to contend with. It should be a perfect storm and one we have to take full advantage of.
But won't the football authorities and referees be actively blocking our attempt at promotion because they hate Watford?
It's only lucky if you think having a good 'keeper who is doing his job is lucky. But yes, we were opened up lots of times. I have to say I think Blackburn deserve praise for that as much as Watford's defence were to blame.
Well, as in life, you can help your luck along. Anyway, I thought we were unlucky against Reading: We had a good goal disallowed and conceded a deflected shot. Against Derby we had a penalty denied after their centre-half saved Chalobah's shot like a goalkeeper.
I wish we hadn't made the playoffs. Might have got shot of Aidy in the summer instead as it was clearly not working.
I don't get all this praise for Blackburn. They matched us, but that isn't saying much - even though this was the best Watford game this season. We're getting results but I'm not enjoying the football. Maybe I will when we've got a better midfield and a centre forward.
There were several factors for the collapse during the Aidy champo season: 1) Complacency: after winning 4 or 5 in a row 1 media article actually said we were too good for the champo. I remember the home blackpool game when we were top of the league and our fans were acting like they were at a tennis match, we were totally outsung by the tangerine army. We started to assume we would go up. Big mistake. 2) We sold Marlon half way through the season when he'd already acored 11 league goals. Really really stupid!! 3) Aidy allegedly told Mahon that it looked like we were going up so he should start looking for another club for the following season. He didnt take it too well and ended up leaving on loan to QPR half way through the season. He was a leader, a big presence in the dressing room and the promotion winning captain just 18 months earlier. Disastrous man management. 4)From memory the end of Adam Johnson's loan had a very negative impact. 5)Nathan Ellington was an insanely overpriced disaster. 6)Aidy built a great promotion team using his contacts to the max to bring in Marlon Doris Fozzy and Malky and also realised the potential of Young. 30 months later Doris was the only one of the fantastic 5 still starting for the club. Young and King made Aidy look like a much better manager than he really was.
Early days. It just goes to show how weak the Championship is. The game against Bournemouth will be a good indication of how we may do in this Division.. They will not be a wasteful as Blackburn in front of goal. Survival is the first objective, mid table a bonus, promotion a miracle. Enjoy the game.
I'm not saying you're wrong, but it seems they were last night at least going by their fans' comments on their forum.
I thought our defence looked very shaky yesterday compared to our previous matches but I mostly think it’s down to our midfield not supporting them as much. Our midfield is still lacking the creativity our forwards really desire but its only a matter of time before they start to click - especially with Capoue back in the frame. Both Sarr and Pedro looked very good together, especially with Sema bombing up and down the wing. If our midfield can improve on the link between themselves and Sarr&Pedro, we have a very strong team
I'd agree with all of that except point 2. King wanted to leave as soon as he came back from injury at the end of the previous season because it was obvious we were going down and he wanted to stay in the PL. Ivic will tell you not to keep players who don't want to be there but Boothroyd wanted to keep King and get rid of Henderson, who said he wanted to stay and could score the goals for us. In the end they both stayed but without the likes of Young and Spring and later King the team was a grotesque version of the one that was promoted two years earlier. When things turned against them they had neither the wit nor character to arrest the slide. I remember feeling sorry for Tommy Smith having to take part in the non-football that team played.
Having watched the hilights again the assumption that kabasele should have been sent off, seems over the top to me, i've watched the 3 angles repeatedly and still not 100% sure why the player goes down (other than the reasonable assumption which is that he wanted to get Kabs sent off). there's the lightest of touches on the back, and possibly their legs clash, but its not an attempted tackle. That combined with another defender coming back in teh centre, and he's not quite runnign towards goal and I think yellow is fair enough. You could still debate whether it's actually a foul. And I would say much the same about the penalty, where he made the absolute most of barely anything.
I see Blackburn have received a lot of praise for their performance last night. While that's totally in order, not much has been said about their "dark arts". They set out looking for fouls throughout the game and the referee bought it hook, line and sinker. Every tackle or coming together saw a Blackburn player go down and freekick awarded. It was their game plan which they traded on relentlessly. They won a penalty and almost managed a red card for feigning fouls, for the slightest of touches from our players. It's something Watford have to quickly get smart to, as teams with inferior quality will look for ways to disrupt us and as we've seen, the officials are totally unaware of what is really going on.
He earns more because he has done it at the top level, even if he doesn't do quite as often anymore where as Quina hasn't. Unfortunately Quina still looks as though he is struggling
Another 3 points in the bag. You’ll take it at this stage. Joao Pedro looks to be growing in confidence when it comes to his finishing. Really nice job putting away his chance last night. His build up play is improving, and showing some signs of developing a partnership with Sarr. Obviously we’d get more out of Sarr if he was playing out wide, but he’s so far above this level, even out of position he’s terrifying for opposition defenders to face. I think once he gets a goal, they’ll start flowing a little more freely. Chalobah needs to be better. Garner looks a talent. Good all round player with a touch of class. Any chance we get to make that permanent would seem a no-brainer at this early stage. Sema will be a massive asset at this level, and is playing with a level of confidence we didn’t see in his previous spell. Kabasele and Cathcart can’t play together too often. It’ll cost us eventually. Wilmot will continue to go through growing pains, but he’s worth persevering with. Been criticized by some for his distribution, but he’s taking more chances with the ball than others. First goal came from a long-pass of his. Capoue effortlessly became the best player on the field from the moment he walked out there. If he’s motivated properly, he’ll run games week in, week out. Don’t believe this formation suits us, but we’re making it work for the time being. Ivic has his hands tied behind his back a little, but he’s got us going in the right direction.
The penalty was bought by Holtby. I'm sure if we zoom in there's contact, but even though he was goal side and had a chance to shoot it was clear he was only ever intending to flop to the floor.
“If we didn’t have foster in goal...” “Could have been 4/5 on another night...” “If only they took their chances...” We did. They didn’t. We won. They lost.
Agree it wasn't a foul by Kabasele, or at least not much of one. Armstrong was looking for any contact and for some reason Kaba obliged, with a hand on the back. Once the ref has been conned it has to be a red card though. Remove Kabasele from the situation and Armstrong is through 1-on-1, a definite DOGSO. Wilmot is around 10 yards behind him, but crucially about 20 yards to the side. There's no way he gets close enough to challenge Armstrong before he gets a clear sight of goal.
Except in his determination to get contact by running acros Kabs, he was running towards the touchline rather than the goal. Look at the camera angle from behind the goal.
Yellow card was the right decision. Never a clear goal scoring opportunity in my opinion. Going away from the goal slightly, makes a massive difference. Plus the lack of pace on the pass and then getting it onto his stronger foot means Wilmot would have had enough time to come across. Ref got that one right. Was only one of the few that he did get right.
