Second time this season I've seen a nice club transformed into an odious bunch of cheats. Not as bad as Southampton, but Southampton did set a very high bar.
Didn’t think we were our usual dreadful selves today, but Leicester played within themselves. Once they took the lead they just managed the game in the knowledge we wouldn’t create anything and they would rely on a quick counter attack to score later on. Pretty much how it turned out. Can’t legislate for the gift we scored from. I bet Dennis has never scored an easier goal, even against his kids in the garden. People will be happy we huffed and puffed, but we played largely in front of their back line and once again showed we have little quality in attacking areas. Hoet was immense though and Dennis looked lively trying to make things happen. He created a nice chance on his own not long after his goal. That’s about it in an attacking sense. At one point I thought a paraglider was going to land on the pitch, which would have livened things up. An inevitable defeat realised and we STILL need three more wins. 15 games to get them. It will be tight.
Thought we did ok today . Didn’t think it was a penalty from the Ej stand and Leicester created precious little apart from that first half ( though so did we) , so unlucky to be a goal down at half time . Leicesters second goal was a rare bit of quality in an otherwise poor match . But can’t remember them doing much else and we had the better chances second half. I wasn’t impressed by Leicester at all. Clearly they have better players technically but they overpassed and werd Pretty unadventurous. If I didnt know I wouldn’t have said they are the top side in the league. Thought We generally kept our shape well and Hoedt was decent. Lewis has one of his better matches . Our final ball is so often not good enough though. This was always gonna be a tough one though . Many more winnable games to come .
Well that puts us out of the very slim chance of reaching the playoffs. Season is now over and with safety secured, there's no need to go to a game again until next Season!
I did go to Vicarage Road today, but only to visit my dad at the hospital, so I didn't watch the game, it's another game without a win, but it could have been worse, and with key players coming to fitness, we should pick up a little bit now, even if it's very unlikely to be good enough for the play-offs
Another disaster from Shambles FC. 6 points off the playoffs with 15 to play. It's now a mathematical certainty that we are going down. Sack this clown and give it to Eustace.
I thought we played reasonably well today against a good side who had some very good players for this level. Didn't really create too much which was largely down to the final ball being over hit or underhit repeatedly. People will understandably criticise Tom Ince but the balls he put in when he was on the pitch were so much better than what anyone else did. The penalty looked a bit soft from where I was sitting but admittedly I was a fair bit away from the incident. The linesman was a joke. How he give a fouls for Leicester at the end when Andrews had been clattered into from behind twice in a row, should have had an attacking free kick in a good area in the last minute or so.
If VI does these 3 things next match he needs to be sacked with immediate effect: - Play TDB at RB (especially over a fit Andrews) - Start the game with Dennis on the bench - Start Porteous over Pollock or Sierralta The Andrews experiment at RW today is an all new high of brilliant dumps that VI has made lately. The team arent world beaters but getting bored of these self made disadvantages
Got chatting to a Blackburn Rovers fan at the game this afternoon. He's staying in Watford for work for a couple of weeks and wanted something to do. Nice chap. He was impressed with the stadium which "always looks sh1t on the tv". He thought we were "fookin crap" and wasn't very complimentary about Rajovic. Interesting feedback
Well Blackburn got beat 4-1 at home to Leicester not so long ago so atleast he got to watch an improved team.
Didn't think TDB was too bad today, definitely helped when playing out from the back. I kind of understand using Andrews where he did as well, I'm assuming he wanted the pace up front of Andrews, Dennis and Asprilla to push Leicester back. But then he put Ince on the left and he looked like he was towing a caravan.
Saving him for the big clashes v Rotherham and Huddersfield. Not sure Rajovic is going to have a lot of belief and confidence after today .
Good result. Most had us down for a massive loss here, so to keep it so close is a huge win for us. Loving this season.
I know most of you on here do not consider we’re in a relegation battle, and consider we’re safe. Do you realise we’ve only won 1 of our last 8 matches, picking up just 7 points, and the future fixtures are harder (imo). The win we had was that lucky victory at QPR. We are in big trouble. We’ll probably get over the line, but it’s going to be close. Fans have to be aware how poor this team is, and can easily only win just 2 of the last 15, seeing as we’ve just won once in the last 8.
Yes, 55 points is around what I think we’ll get, so we’ll be safe, but probably by only 5 or 6 points. Those results (as I said earlier in the season) against the bottom 3 have been priceless. We’ve pick up 13 points in 5 matches against those clubs. Against the rest of the league we’ve been pretty poor. Picking up just 28 points from 26 games. This is why I consider us a bottom 6 club.
Dont think we deserved to loose that, a draw was probably the fair result. We were well organised, worked hard and did a good job keeping Leicester at arms length and stopping them playing. We created little in fairness and Leicester virtually nothing outside of the second goal. The big difference between the two sides was how much faster Leicester moved the ball compared to us. We always seemed to be slower to spot the pass and then need an extra touch or two before making it. It was never a penalty, it happened right in front of where we were sat in the Rookery and Chalk didnt touch him. I'm not sure Chalk even made a challenge, the guy threw himself to the floor. Awful decision to award it by the ref. This Leicester side, based on todays game, are a pretty unlikable bunch. Lots of niggly fouls to stop play when we got past them, feigning injury and diving - none of which were helped by some woeful officials. Andrews got shoved to the ground twice in quick succession and the lino gave Leicester the freekick was the standard today of decision making today. The penalty was offset partly by the horrendous mistake, under no pressure, that Hinks made in setting up our goal. H0edt and Sema the pick for us. Livermoore also had a solid game I though. Better performances from Kone (who looked shattered with 15 minutes left) and Chalk. Porteous was having a good game up to his sudden rush of blood that cost us the second goal. Ince is one of the few players we have it seems who can actually cross the ball. I like VI, I think that he's done a good job this season for the most part with the players he has. Only 6 teams have lost fewer games than us in the championship, only one team has drawn more and we were the 6th highest scorers. Not too shabby for a relegation bound team. We're just lacking that bit of quality and depth needed to move past mid table. Playing a central midfielder at right back and our only fit actually right back on the wing when we're chasing the game is a strange one. It didnt work. In fairness TDB did well defensively but again wasted acouple of promising moves with some ropey passing.
You see this as a season when a particularly high survival point total will be needed then? Interesting. I don’t get that sense to be honest but accept if that’s your view why you’re probably more concerned about relegation.
We’re massively missing Kayembe. The midfield balance only works with Livermore, Kayembe and one of Kone, Georgi and TDB.
I have never once said we’d go down, but being 5 or 6 points from the drop will be too close for comfort, especially for a club who supporters were thinking would push for a playoff place or even would finish mid-table. As a side we are well below that mark, and I just can’t understand why people cannot see this. We are better than the bottom 3, but recently both Sheff Wed and QPR should have beaten us, so we’re not superior to them. As the season progresses, we seem to be getting worse and I’m factoring that into our expected results going forward. I’d love nothing more than to be wrong, but I’ve seen nothing all season to suggest I am. I guess we’ll have to see results play out before people understand.
Suppose it depends how people define mid-table? For me it’s about 9th to 16th in a 24 team league and I’d say we’re nailed on to end up somewhere in that range.
I wouldn’t consider 16th mid-table. 10th to 14th is the range I give for that. But that’s picking hairs. We’re going to finish no higher than 16th but I will expect a bottom 8 or lower final position.
That was never a pen, Chadz didn't even make a challenge he just ran past and the Leicester player dived to the ground. Porteous proved my point again, rush of blood ahead of both goals. The second one was the worst he has done all season, he's in line with the attackers closing down the ball when there's other Watford players doing the same. I have lost count the amount of times it has cost us a goal. Get him out the club ASAP!!
Leicester barely got into second gear - yet we let them do that for the entire first half. Passive, slow, dull. Maybe that was Ismael's plan, and maybe you could say it worked for the first 45, but it was dreadful. We gave it some effort in the second half, but at that point our quality (or lack thereof) was apparent. Dennis's goal was due to a tremendous error on their part. Beyond that, chances that weren't really going to be converted into goals. Which is the story of our season. Over something like the past 500 minutes, we have one goal - a debacle by Leicester's keeper. Beyond that, this team doesn't have a real striker, isn't getting what it needs from the wings (Martins has flash but no substance), and is so hot-and-cold that it has still not put in a full 90 minutes. Mid-table mediocrity. What we are and what we'll end up with.