Watford FC On MOTD/MOTD2 - BBC1/2

You'd have a point if the men doing the punditry were any good.

Most weeks a 2 month year old chimp eating it's own **** would be as interesting and insightful as the gibbering nonsense they spout on MOTD.

 

I find myself scratching my head at the offside rule again. Max Meyer was miles offside when the ball was played for the 2nd goal but because it goes to Townsend he is then free to have a header from 6 yards, a position he was only in because he was offside in the first place. Like the Rashford goal against us at Old Trafford last season. Stupid rule imo.

 

Kelly Smith has done it. Sky Sports get her on quite often to do midweek Soccer Saturday when the regulars don’t do it. Nothing to do with the fact she is female, as I agree that alex Scott is good. But Kelly Smith is awful at it.

 

She did call us Millwall !
Also there was much comment about how QPR should have scored at the end and would have then been likely to go on and beat us in ET. No mention in the post match analysis that we should have been 2-0 by that stage if the (referree/linesman - delete as applicable) had done their job correctly.

 

I agree. The offside is far too complicated now. It needs to be simplified back to how it used to be. If any player is offside when the ball is played forward then it has to be offside.

You could in theory have a player standing near the goal keeper at all times and he knows he would never be offside if the ball is not directly played to him. He can get into position nice and early ready to receive the ball during another phase of play and as long as he's not offside when the ball eventually goes to him, he can score, even though he may have been offside several times during the build up.

Ok, this is the same for both sides and all teams can do this if they so wish, but I do think the offside rule is far too complicated and needs to be changed back. Everyone knew where they stood with it then.

 

This is because the default stance for most that comment on Watford is we are an irrelevance. This manifests on a daily basis and very often is not a deliberate slight on the club. We are one of those clubs that people forget instantly. We just do not register in the mindset of anyone outside of Hertfordshire.

In this particular match, QPR were the minnows. They obviously would want to side with the underdog and big them up. The general view since the match is that we were extremely lucky to win that match. I just don't see it that way. We scored two valid goals, ok one was incorrectly disallowed, but it should be included when you analyse the merits of a teams worthiness for winning a game. I bet anything you like, if QPR had a goal incorrectly disallowed, much would have been made of it. The fact it was us, it has now been airbrushed from history. They just feature that big miss at the end of the game, which is why they are saying we should have gone out.

 

I think the general rule is to show the previous night's action last on MoTD.
For instance there's been 4 Friday night Premier League fixtures this season and on 3 occasions the game was shown last the next evening on MoTD. Man United v Leicester, Brighton v West Ham and Cardiff City v Wolves were all on last. The only exception was the Wolves v Liverpool game which was shown 2nd.. though tbf Liverpool were top of the table at the time.

 

Shame on me for having to google her, but Eniola Aluko was fantastic during the World Cup. I know she's "done" a few MotD's but I'm not a regular watcher of that...

 

I broadly agree with you that the ‘second phase’ element can distort the making of a correct decision on occasion but it was very frustrating back in the days when a 25 yard screamer could be disallowed for a player standing marginally beyond the last defender (and not blocking the goalkeeper).

 

Give it a rest now. We are not that hard done by

 

I will not stop posting opinion as I see it. If you don't like reading it, please just put me on your ignore list.

 

I feel this has been the first real break through season we've had since being promoted to the PL & we are now seen as one of the PL establishment. That is largely because for the first time it's perceived that we now have a stable head coach behind us & the team has been performing well overall.

Media commentary is slowly warming to us, through earned respect & I don't think we'll be favourites for relegation at the start of next season like in recent times.

If you look at the other side of the equation in terms of other clubs message boards, you will find most are complementary pre match & no one sees it as an easy game to play Watford anymore.

The trajectory is most definitely up.

 

I watched The Debate the other day. It's usually exclusively only about top 6 clubs, with a little footnote about something topical at the end of the show.

Last Thursday was the first headline being about Watford in the FA Cup. I thought, great, something about us at last. Charlie Nicholas and Ian Holloway were giving their opinion.

It was used as a vehicle to moan about Watford and how they are being disrespectful by fielding weakened teams in the FA Cup. No mention at how well we've done in getting this far by beating opposition away in every round.

They couldn't keep on script for very long though as they seamlessly went from scowling about Watford to purring over Wolves and how wonderful they are. I guess Wolves must have fielded their strongest possible side in every round as that was not once mentioned.

This is just another typical example of how we are portrayed. People can deny this all they like and say it's not happening, but it is.

 

I don't think many are denying it.

More just that people aren't that bothered by it. Some people go on like its some sort of conspiracy against us when in reality its just poor researching from lazy TV pundits. Who cares. It's not affecting the players or club one jot.

So we happen to be last on Match of The Day...or Chris Sutton says we are a disgrace...is it really something to get so worked up about?

 

Many are denying it, and I don't believe people are not bothered by it either. Of course it's nice to see the obligatory word "conspiracy" being used. No alternative view would be complete without it.

 

Unfortunately, I think it does matter. Not because I personally give a crap if Sutton makes an arse out of himself; I don't. We've never been fashionable and to be honest, I don't give a monkey's about that. If I wanted fashionable I'd support Barcelona.

Instead, the problem is that football players. agents and managers watch football programs and are absolutely influenced by them. Let us look no further than the aforementioned Sutton, a former top division player (albeit not world beater). The opinions he espouses are the opinions of us as seen by a player.

If Sutton sees us like that, you can bet the comments in the media by other, similar talking heads are reflected by active players we're currently looking to recruit. Most football players aren't exactly renowned for being deep thinkers (the fact that Joey Barton is held up as an "intellectual" footballer should make that abundantly clear). If the vast majority of the football media coverage is bad, it's absolutely going to impinge on the club's reputation and ability to sign certain players.

Granted, I don't think Fulano, Mengano and Zutano from South America are likely to be influenced by the likes of MOTD, but many players will be.

 

I really don’t think that’s true.

Players will be much greater influenced by speaking to those they know within the game, their own experiences of playing against us and at VR. By their contact with colleagues perhaps at the club or previously employed by us. All of the above much more than Match of The Bloody Day.

The lazy opinions are those of people who have retired from the game or never even played it. You only have to see the social media profiles of the modern day footballer to know it’s very unlikely that they spend much of their time watching football on TV. And certainly not Match of The Day or Goals on Sunday.

 

Take the word conspiracy out then. The point remains exactly the same.

 

You are, of course, entitled to your opinions.

I would, however, suggest that there is a reason that companies look for good PR. It's not because people naturally reject what they hear in the media. Every single study conducted on the subject shows that propaganda works, that bad PR has an impact.

You may well be the sort of individual who is able to completely ignore information disseminated in public and absorbed passively, and if so props to you. Most people aren't like that, though. There's a reason Russia has taken to flooding western hot-button political issues with propaganda lately: it works.

 

The "Debate" HB mentions can be found here.. https://www.skysports.com/podcasts/the-debate
It was the from Friday actually not Thursday and was after our game at Rangers. You only have to listen to the first few minutes as that's the bit about us. Personally i couldn't hear anything negative about us at all? Holloway mentions that we made 11 changes the round before and just the 5 this time. Then mentions he did the same himself.

Perhaps i haven't listened to enough of it but i couldn't hear anything remotely like a "vehicle to moan about Watford"
If anyone can point out where that occurs please could they let us know where it is.

 

I dont care the sex of a pundit/commentator. The one off motd who has been doing it years imho is terrible. Scott however despite the millwall error looked like she'd actually watched the game for her opinion rather than wheeling out a phrase like most, if not all male pundits. I've never heard a female pundit wheel out "it's a game of two halves" gibberish all the likes of carragher or sutton manage. Aluko seems like she forms an opinion off what she watches also.

In one sense having a life in football but away from the dirge of mens football might actually stand them in good stead.

 

Ok. This coverage with the deliberate delaying of the draw concludes our investigation that the BBC and MotD are full of ****. When have they ever delayed the draw until this late? Normally make a point of having it prior to the Monday night game but it’s Chelsea v Man Utd and that would be too disrespectful of course. *****.

 

Lineker dribbling on with his platitudes. Do the draw ffs.

 

It was after the Monday match in the last round. When the match was broadcast on BT Sport.

 

That’s odd. Wasn’t the 5th round draw on The One Show?

 

Ah ok. They’re tossers as well then.

 

Scott set a world record for ‘they go again’ in her first couple of appearances.

Time to get some biodiversity into the studio & sign up some non players.

Frankly, anyone but that **** Lineker would do.

 

His dribbling is like milk & honey compared the way he waves his arms around, often ending with a double thigh slap.

Is it a nod to Vic Reeves?

The Ulrika thigh stroke.

Then the close up on those untrustworthy black eyes & the satyr’s beard.

Velazquez captured all this admirably.

 

One of my favourite paintings: The wildly inappropriately named Pope Innocent X. There sat a man who nobody in their right mind would cross.
But Lineker? Come on, now, you are just flattering him.

 

Let’s see in 5 years’ time.

The imperial Lineker has just been passed over for new blood. Maybe Alex Scott.

The previous pusillanimous bonhomie shown him by his vassals, Shearer & Wright, has evaporated now they realise that he was keeping them in a metaphorical cellar, to please him at his bidding.

The crisp ads have gone.

His casual ability to pick up totty in golf club bars in the Algarve has gone.

And he is left with that saddest of outcomes.

An evening with Gary Lineker.

 

L

Lineker won’t take the BBC ending his national broadcasting career well. He can hold a grudge for years you know.

 

Exactly.

The portrait really captures that.