Is This The Least Enjoyable Season Ever?

The 0-0 at the Kennel was my first away experience of that fixture. Dad took us into a pub this old bloke he was talking to asked me my favourite player not knowing we are Watford fans. Tommy Mooney, 8 year old me proudly replies.

 

I remember the Bournemouth game. It was incredibly hot and the sun was facing us throughout the whole game. I looked like a Ribena berry by the end of the day

 

I took the coach to that game. I went for a piss whilst the coach was moving and somehow the toilet door got jammed as the coach came to a standstill on the motorway. I was too shy to bang on the door and shout for help so waited for the next person to come along. I waited in the red hot toilet for what felt like hours until someone finally barged the door in, I was absolutely soaked with sweat.

Fun away day though.

 

We may be there again one day...

 

Because this season is still to run . If you cut off your season with 10 to go then you would be on the end of an 8 game losing streak . Given that some of our fans and are never happy and if we won the champions League they would moan if we were the losing finalists the season after, I can just imagine the melt down during that spell of defeats as opposed to positive togetherness . Maybe I am wrong maybe everyone had a skip in their step after that 8th defeat . Who knows? It was a long time ago .

 

I remember some wag of a supporter saying loud enough for all to hear “ Oh which Costa did you get that tan from? Dean Court, he said much to everyone’s amusement including a local copper who was visibly laughing

 

Very funny, WFC! But isn't April Fool's Day next week?

 

Predictably, this forum is very quiet at the moment - and I imagine it will remain so until a couple of days before the Liverpool game, as I get that for many people there isn't much to look forward to the remainder of this season.

But I find it hard to believe that there won't be some surprises and we will just end the season with a whimper - though there are a fair few substandard players in our squad, in a number of ways this isn't a typical relegation-threatened team. While many of us (myself included) are guilty of overrating our players, I'd guess that a number of outsiders are looking at our team and the amount of talent and experience in it and thinking why are they only on 22 points this late in the season? But it's up to the players to prove they are better than that individually and collectively if they truly have the desire to play in the Premier League backed by heart and courage, football isn't played on paper.

 

Or perhaps it’s because there is no football to discuss?

 

I’d guess there are hardly any people scratching their head at why we have 22 points. The squad is dreadful, especially in first half of season. We’ve been hot favourites to go down with bookies from Day 1. Add to the mix our chaotic buffoon owners and our 3 managers and it’s a miracle we have 22 points.

 

Obviously, as ever, it's not impossible that we stay up, but I can't help but feel that all this lionising of unexpected spectacular (relatively speaking) results is nothing more than the incredibly standard thrashing about of most relegated teams and their relegation seasons.

Even the worst sides that go down have their moment or two in the sun; a victory at a historic big boy, or a second win in a row where their players manage not to be totally collectively malcoordinated for enough of a single 90 minutes to look like offering a tantalising glimmer of hope. In the end, they're nothing more than footnotes.

There is a slightl asterisk to that this season, in that there are enough of those hopeless teams that one is potentially being offered an almost undeserved chance at survival, but even the likelihood of that seemed to diminish fairly significantly with the last round of results.

In reality, though it's not yet decided, all this talk of 'going on runs' and 'football not being played on paper' is far more likely to be, and almost always is, in practice, superceded by occam's razor and the fact that the worst teams over the course of an entire season tend to get what's coming to them. We have very, very much been one of the three worst teams in this league to date, and we're a basket case off it, to boot.

I really, really, really hope it's not the case, but I find it incredibly difficult to see past any other fate unfolding than one that looks remarkably similar to what we've been treated to up to now; perhaps with a baseline of marginally less on-pitch chaos as it does so.

 

As a newly promoted side without a huge budget we were always going to be favourites for relegation. Unfortunately unlike 15/16(?) we weren’t able to replace the bulk of the side with some real quality on a shoestring. As often happens, only one of the 3 promoted sides is going to stay up, just, and they will probably be down next season. Every time we are promoted to this league, we are likely to come straight back down. The owners fault of course. I’m surprised so many fans have been surprised by our struggles. I guess the fact we survived last time we came up meant they thought that would be the new norm ?

 

Without doubt. We will look back on a few key games that were lost when they shouldn’t have been. Brentford, Norwich etc. maybe that could have made the difference ? You have to be able to beat those around you to stand a chance.

 

Yep. We could definitely have been closer, but I guess they are counteracted by out of the blue wins like Everton, Man Utd. It was unforgiveable not to show up for the Norwich game and lose 0-3. Brentford was a bit unlucky (if stupid).

 

Well, I don’t agree with all that, but I like your way with words, including the phrase Occam’s razor (I googled that and even after looking at two definitions I’m still not sure I know what it means!). Are you a journalist or writer perchance?

 

Yes it’s a bit odd that we can look so good in a couple of games. A bit like the previous relegation when we thrashed Liverpool and beat M Utd.

 

I can’t agree with your last point. The Brentford game was the one where the team’s attitude was, bafflingly, all wrong. They had come off a difficult run of fixtures where they played pretty well, but failed to dominate a poor Brentford side. People look at the fact that we took the lead and only lost to a silly last minute penalty, but that wasn’t an unlucky defeat - it was a big chance missed.

TUT also says that “You have to be able to beat those around you to stand a chance.”, but I think the home form also has to extend to some wins against some mid-range teams like Southampton, Brighton, Palace etc., which we have completely failed at, bar Villa.

 

Well, thanks! I did train as a journalist as it happens, yeah.

(and I'm just using Occam's Razor in the simplified, plebby way that probably annoys actual philosophers or whoever - essentially, 'the simplest explanation is most likely to be the correct one'. 'Hear hooves, think horses, not zebras'-style.)

 

Absolutely, especially with a defence that has included Dan 'who put superglue on the line again' Bachmann, William 'doctor, I keep hearing voices' Troost-Ekong, Kiko '5h1t, this lot look quite good, better pull a hammy quick' Femenia, either Danny 'hot dogs, hamburgers' Rose or Adam 'ooh, do you like the way I chassee to the left whenever you look like crossing it' Masina, and Craig 'PLEASE don't kick it at me too hard' Cathcart.

 

Which is what that 15/16 squad were able to do very successfully.

 

Unless you're in the Serengeti of course...

 

Somehow we are still in with a shout regarding staying up .
Maybe this is a relegation version of when Leicester won the title when
the usual suspects were all in transition and Spuds went Spursy and finished
3rd after being pipped for the title .
Could teams stay up this season with minimal points because everyone else is
even worse than usual ?

 

That season although we lost 2-0 our performance at Liverpool set a blueprint which we managed to follow until Spurs at home, after which sadly we only met that standard once, in the reverse fixture. While we are highly unlikely to get even a point this time round (you could argue they are a better side than in 19/20, even though they won’t get as many points) our performance might give some indication of how the rest of our season will unfold. Huge game at home to Leeds thereafter, assuming we don’t lose 6 or 7-0 and be too demoralised to fight for survival.

 

5 or 6 wins and we are right back in it.

 

And as luck would have it on paper we have 5 or 6 very winnable games in our last 9 fixtures.

However whether we can actually produce those on paper wins upon the playing field is yet to be seen, but why the hell not...

THE 'ORNS ARE STAYING UP​

 

I can’t see where our next defeat comes from tbh

 

That Norwich game was the point where I went from being a frustrated fan to actually loathing this current incarnation of our club, from the owners to the players.

I hope they get what's coming to them because they are a disgrace to the history of our club.

 

I don’t care if you were born in 1881 and have seen every game Watford have played, surely nobody can say this isn’t the least enjoyable season ever?

Considering only a thousand or so fans go to away games, as we’ve just broken an all time record for consecutive home defeats, how could anyone (with a straight face) say otherwise?

Yes we’ve had lower quality teams, but can anybody say watching those lower quality teams actually WIN the odd game occasionally, is less entertaining than a a better quality team repeatedly losing to the likes of Burnley, Norwich, Leeds etc. etc. etc?

Do people seriously get more enjoyment from losing double digit games in a row because the quality is higher?

 

For a long time I insisted the 2006/07 season was worse and therefore my least favourite Watford season (although there’s stiff competition from 2001/02 and maybe 2009/10) but now I have to concede that this one is the least enjoyable, especially as expectations have been higher and we look highly likely to get fewer points than that season.

 

In 06/07 we were out of our depth in the PL but for me 07/08 was worse, even though we won more games, because we played a grotesque version of the football from two years before. I’m not sure why you list 09/10; there were several popular players in the team and it even included the Doyle’s goal!
This year though there have been so few joyous moments, especially at home.

 

It’s been dreadful. It also doesn’t help that after being locked out last season we have effectively watched two relegation seasons in a row.

It is a squad full of overhyped mercenaries or players who have been loyal and committed but lack quality. We lack leadership, quality, structure and cohesion.

All through the second half yesterday I watched Ray Lew telling the players to get further up and play a higher line and he was continually ignored. The players are doing as they wish, as they did under CR, as they did under XM.

The tears about Hodgson will continue but the squad absolutely stinks.

 

Listening to Derek Payne on 3CR whilst driving home, he was adamant that he could not believe sitting back from the start of the 2nd half was an instruction given to the players at HT, so he concluded the players 'cheated' by ignoring their instructions & doing what they wanted. And doing it so badly we lost the game.

He also said the coaching staff were crazy not to make changes midway through the 2nd half. For him, it would not have mattered if the player(s) brought on were of lesser quality; just the fact they would have given more energy should have stemmed the tide.

Both he & the presenter agreed the 'model' had to change, and the latter stated quite forcefully he doubted the hierarchy would do that. So the conclusion was that the current shambles would continue. If even the normally compliant Payne & 3CR are expressing those views on the radio, it shows how widespread disaffection is becoming.