I think Boro set themselves up very effectively to nullify us. They pressed WTE and Hughes well and concentrated a lot of players on their left hand side to deal with Sarr and Kiko. With the exception of the goal we didn’t give them a sniff and had we held out for the win we would have deemed that a dour but thoroughly professional away win. The defending for the goal was really poor though - it was such a simple and predictable ball in - and Sema gave the free kick away so needlessly. Unforgivable to do that against a side like Boro (at least how they were playing today) who offered no threat from open play. Still, none of our promotion rivals will secure more than our four points over Easter Weekend - and that’s even if they win their remaining games. Could be worse.
Poor performance after such a good run. The holding on to a 1-0 lead could not go on and on. Our luck had to run out at some point. Let's hope our form hasn't started to dip too early. Big games coming up and we must hang on to our place in the play-offs. Fingers crossed
There are very mild shades of last season when we all looked at the fixture list and knew we needed to get our points on the board before the final two games - similarly, we know we have a better chance of picking up the required points in recent weeks compared to the final run in. Those two points we dropped today will now probably have to be harder won in a week or two's time, which makes them more difficult to win at all, and they will likely be needed to achieve our ultimate goal. That being said, this isn't 'we're not getting promoted now' and it isn't 'it's hopeless', so we have to have more belief that we will be able to get points in those final, difficult fixtures (and realistically, we are far more capable of that than we ever would have been last season). It's always slightly tough to reconcile a sluggish, frustrating performance in its immediate aftermath, though, and given that it's a second in succession, it makes you that bit more pessimistic about being able to raise our games to win those 2 harder points somewhere down the line. Let's hope that the players come out on Friday night and immediately dispel that pessimism.
Not at all lol, a big difference between a team that ****ed us 14-0 in the previous two games and one with the likes of Aubameyang to two teams far more evenly matched with us
So that’s 4 points gained over Swansea this Easter weekend. I doubt either side will have anything riding on our meeting on the final day, but if we do still need something from it I’d imagine they’d be more concerned with preserving themselves for the play-offs. Whatever Brentford do tomorrow, they won’t gain any points over us over Easter, merely equal our points tally if they win. Remember things have changed dramatically from a few weeks ago. We are no longer chasing, but being chased. When you’re trying to play catch up, any dropped points are bad news. We’d have been in despair tonight were we the ones trying to catch the club in second place. But they’re after us. Any point like today is a point happily banked, and any slip up from the chasing pack is better news still.
Talking of nerves. Swansea concede late again at home. Points in the bag over games in hand and all that.
Don't think it's negativity. More a big klaxon like noise shouting WAKEY WAKEY RISE 'N SHINE at our drowsy players. The pollen levels have risen and the anti-histamines need to be broken out pronto.
After Swansea's screw up....all eyes on Brentford. Surely they won't mess up as well? If they do, then we're in a fantastic position. Not even wobbly Watford would throw this away....would they?
It's pressure. Pressure on Watford to keep the run going and close the gap on Norwich. Pressure on Norwich who have the title in the bag and don't want to mess it up. However, the real pressure on Swansea and Brentford to play catch up with us with games running out will be absolutely horrendous.
Considering Brentford blew automatic promotion when it was theirs for the taking last season, and have blown two consecutive play-off finals too, I’m hardly losing sleep on their ability to hold their nerve and put together a brilliant run over the coming weeks to reel us in. I’d guess their current mindset is ‘uff play offs again’ rather than a strong belief that they are going to catch us up. I’m not anti Brentford btw. I’d love them to come up through the play-offs. Be nice to have a new team in the PL. If they’d like to beat Muff in the play-offs, even better!
So basically he travelled to undermine a squad that was previously highly motivated and on a 6 game winning streak!! Troy has already destroyed the team spirit once this season and now he's gonna do it all over again. You couldnt make this shyt up. I can't believe Gino is willing to flush £150m down the toilet just to pander to a burnt out, punch drunk has been. Does anyone seriously believe players like Troost, Sierralta, Hughes, Sarr and JP are getting complacent when they are 6 games away from promotion or that the leaders in the dressing room can't guard against complacency themselves?? No doubt it was Troy who came up with his role as self appointed guardian against complacency to try to re-establish his dominance over the dressing room. One of Troy's specialities as a 'leader' is dropping points by conceding late goals. We didn't drop points to a late goal in any other game since Troy got injured. Troy gets more involved in the dressing room and then we let in yet another late goal and drop points. When was the last time we did that?? It was the 2nd last game Deeney played in v QPR. Where is the accountability? How has he got away with being such a leadership disaster for so long? He's not even playing and he's still fooking us up. After Troy's disastrous leadership made it look like we might not make the play offs we then won 10 out of 11 without him. So what do the idiots in charge do? Bring him back to guard against complacency........it's bat$h1t crazy!!
Can I ask a question - are you related to the guy he and his mates kicked in the head or personally been offended by him because as a guy in his 40s don't you think you are a little childish in this vendetta? The other players are adults and can very much carry themselves - surely a bloke in his in 30s isn't going to scare them that much. I mean a few of them have played with some hard nosed managers and are fully fledged Internationals. Wonder if he'd taken that chance Pedro slid just pas the post? Potentially... Is that 1 goal in a lot of games now - need our strikers to step up at some point and score.
Tend to agree with you. For a free kick from that area, I have often wondered what the advantages are in setting a high line on the edge of the box. You are under intense pressure in defending the ball whilst back tracking. If you defended the goal in a deeper manner, you can attack that ball and get it out. Silly free to give away in the first place too. They are just small points. Overall, we are still in great shape. It’s a two horse race with Brentford and we have a good head start.
If Brentford lose their games in hand we are up If they win their games in hand then they’re as much in the driving seat as us given our fixtures
Lucky to get a point? You might need to explain that. We were not great but we certainly did not deserve to lose. They had 3 shots on goal ffs
Blimey, I know we were not great but as it stands we are 10 points clear of third. Reading some of the stuff on here, you would think we support Rotherham. This is a tough league. It’s not very pretty at times but it’s tough. We’ve just had players fly all over the place and then two games in under 4 days. It was poor but we looked comfortable for the most part but got done by an excellent free kick. Swansea lost so gained a point on them. I honestly don’t care about Norwich. Not the worst point by any means. Onwards and upwards
Just from what some said generally but having seen the highlights we certainly should have got one more and they did indeed have only one shot
Pedro missed a golden chance, but it was our one big chance of the game, the goal was jammy in the extreme
Before the game is said I'd take a draw away at a Warnock Middlesbrough. We got a point. I'm happy. Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk
The only problem with going a long unbeaten run is when it inevitably comes to an end, some people think the wheels have fallen off.
I agree with a lot of your post, but I doubt it was a decision by "the idiots in charge", it would have more likely been Troy taking it upon himself to try and make himself important again and no one else having the spine to tell him to leave it out.
Exactly, turgid no doubt, but if you only allow a shot on goal a game as we've been doing home and away on a regular basis this season, the oppo are going to be up against it
Haha, I'll just carry on giving my opinion on the football, and anyone with half a football brain could see that we were lacking that sense of urgency over the last two games, just as we had opened up a gap on those below us. That isn't illogical, and in fact you used a similar reason for us slowing down after taking the lead today. Get ahead, unconsciously take the foot off the pedal, totally logical. So why suddenly personally attack me? I didn't mention you in my posts, nor any other posters. I understand you are probably hurting, several a few months ago you thought we might limp into the play-offs when I thought we will finish in the automatic promotion slots. A few weeks ago you said I was being unrealistic my thinking we can catch Norwich, and now today we could have been within three points of them, I realise that is upsetting you. You also said a few weeks ago that our team will only be thinking of promotion and "busting a gut" every game, they don't need to think about winning the title, yet clearly they are not busting a gut in our last two games, and I predicted that could happen if we started to look a bit comfortable in 2nd place. Yes, I can see why you are getting annoyed. Hence your little go at me in desperation. I see fellow that fellow "negatives" @a19tgg and @WatfordTalk, enjoyed your post, so all is not lost.
In fairness to @WatfordTalk he’s a positive who regularly pulls me up for saying we’ve got tough games left and perform badly in them, etc. So you’re possibly thinking about someone else. I liked the comment purely because it made a lot of sense.
Give Pedro some leeway. He is probably playing with a swollen ankle. Pulled off some lovely bits of skill again today but tried too much by himself. He's still learning. Masina had a good game last match in keeping his winger quiet, playing some great cross field passes and the pass to Sarr that led to the goal but you said he was shyt. It's fair to criticize players when they genuinely have had a bad game or run of form but it is not fair to label players regardless of how they played during a match.
