Mariappa - unsung hero...

In fairness, Mariappa's distribution has always been shocking but was exposed by Sheffield United's tactics. They stopped the easy ball down the line and the short pass inside to the nearest midfielder leaving him two options - hit a dangerous pass across the middle which is way beyond his skillset, or try to force it down the line to Sarr or Deeney.

They also repeatedly overloaded both of our full backs, leaving them two on one, or sometimes even three on one. I have no idea what area of the pitch we had extra players in because it certainly didn't seem to happen the other way round when we had the ball!

 

We did on a couple occasions but Deeney was just so slow today that we couldn't take advantage.

Two centre backs would push, leaving Deeney with one, if he could have won, controlled and distributed the ball out wide to Sarr or GD on the break before then heading into the box we would've had a chance.

Chalobah not being a CAM doesn't help either. Douccoure is hardly a #10 but would've got closer to Deeney.

 

Proper hero today. Knew he was holding the team back at 1-0 up and so rightly got himself sent off as efficiently as possible. Once he was out of the picture we strolled to a 3-0 win.

 

First yellow was complete lack of awareness as Doucs would have taken the ball off Grealish.

Second was soft yet he made the ref make a decision.

 

Soft? Didn’t even touch him. It’s a complete dive by Lansbury.

 

Yet he went in with a raised foot - he's asking for trouble.

 

I expect it to be rescinded

 

There’s no appeal mechanism for second yellows. So that’s a no go.

 

Still not a foul though. Didn’t touch the player at all and Lansbury dived. Get what you’re saying but Mapps was very hard done by.

 

tbf shifting Kiko back to the right and Massina into the left improves the side anyway

 

That's difficult to tell really - Kiko has been playing like an entirely different, rejuvenated player on the left so far.

Meanwhile, I trust Masina even less than Mariappa.

 

One game.

 

Kiko started his decent run of form at right back against Palace.

 

Ref can cite intent, contact doesn't matter.

 

Mapps is another who gets a bad deal on this forum. He's been such a reliable player for us. Sure he's limited, but he loves Watford and as far as I'm concerned he's never let the club down when it comes to commitment. He will always give 100% and you cannot say that about all the players in the team.

Maybe I'm a little biased as I do know him personally, but I know how much he cares about the club and always gives his utmost for the cause. That'll do for me.

 

How can the ref cite intent? What was ne intending to do? It was a bouncing ball, and as soon as Mapps realised we wasn't getting the ball, he brought his foot down onto the ground and didn't touch the Lansbury, who fell over nothing whatsoever. The bloke dived, he cheated.

Foot raised? So what. How can anyone run, or kick a ball without raising their foot at some stage.? He wasn't out of control, as he brought his foot down again and made no contact.

It was an understandable decision as the ref was conned by a dive, and he doesn't get the chance to see it in slo-mo. But it was still wrong.

And the fact that it can't be reviewed by VAR, or overturned subsequently is one of the most stupid rules in football. It meant we played with only 10 men, which certainly could have easily changed the course of the game, and now means a suspension.

Absolutely bonkers.

His first yellow card was just stupid, though. He unnecessarily touched Grealish's arm, who went down like he was shot, making a booking inevitable.

But I don't understand why he gets so much stick on here. He isn't a great defender, he is lower Prem quality, but he always puts in 100% effort, and has defended pretty well against some top forwards recently.

 

His foot was up, studs showing. Yes it was harsh, but he made the ref make the decision. Had he gone for a block tackle, Lansbury gets booked for simulation.

 

So what is this citing "intent"? Intent to what?

 

Surely pulling his leg away showed intent NOT to foul?

 

He was sent off, deal with it.

 

He didn't though, he missed.

 

Mapps pulls out, so their was no intent. He realised he wasn’t going to get there, pulls out, doesn’t touch him and Lansbury dives. Even the pundits are saying it was a harsh yellow.

So to book him for intent is a poor excuse. A competent ref doesn’t send him off, and books Lansbury for diving.

 

Different situation and context but on the other hand you could say we were lucky with the third goal. Grielsih does play the ball first but is then clattered by Capoue, how many times do you see fouls given for that?

 

Grealish made it look like he was clattered by Capoue more like, having given the ball away and knowing that all he had left was to try to dupe the ref into getting him out of jail. There was very minimal contact. You’re right to say you see them given but the right call was made yesterday.

 

Correct decision i.m.h.o. Mapps goes right across Lansbury and doesn't play the ball. So unless Lansbury leaps out of the way it's a bodycheck/obstruction (with intent) anyway.

 

It was a poor decision to go rushing in to the challenge. He could have held his position and we would have been fine. From the refs perspective he looks like he has gone in with his boot raised and fouled Lansbury. From where I was sitting it looked like a foul and I didn’t hear anybody complaining about the decision, more that Mariappa had been stupid. I’m hopeful this means we can have a proper right back now

 

He's a great squad player who loves the club and can always be relied upon to give 100% whatever he's asked to do. But no whitewash is going to make him a top premier league CB.

 

You are right, he is a really nice guy. I have met him, a decent chap.
Unfortunately, all that community work stuff has long gone with many football clubs. It is all about the money now.
On the pitch he is mostly out of his depth. He sure tries hard and has played well in the last few games, but he is limited and it shows.

 

I like Mariappa he rarely lets us down when called upon.

 

Has signed for Bristol City.

 

Our loss and their gain.

 

If he starts against us on the 25th I'm sticking a tenner on him to score