Our performances are extremely unpredictable but our results are pretty much always the same - win at home, lose away
Oh yes two other things... - great moment when the BC fans started chanting "come on you reds".... My wife was totally confused saying "but they're both wearing red shorts?" How the hell was that late challenge not a penalty!??? The defender touched the shoulder on the edge of the box then brought him down 3 yards in.???
Not sure how we won but hey ho! Nice strike by Andrews. Did struggle somewhat in midfield and really were wasteful at times although Louza did ok . Was worried Sierralta would get sent off tbh . Bachmann kept us in it .
Just a word on Scott Twine - good player at this level. I know we went in for him (or rumoured to) but he'd do well here. Cracking strike off the bar late on.
Another uninspiring performance but another three points. I still think the results are flattering us and our luck will run out soon, but maybe Cleverley really does just have the formula for grinding out wins. Ebosele was alright but looked a bit awkward on the wrong side. I said throughout the first half we needed Larouci on and he did look a bit better. The half time change paid off too. Bristol were far less threatening after the break and having Kayembe as the nominal right sided attacker allowed Andrews more space in the channel to get forward. Credit to Bachmann for some good saves as well. He had to be on his toes to prevent a Porteous OG. Overall I’m glad I braved the cold for that one. Long may this run continue.
I could see it must’ve been cold coz there were plenty of empty seats. Thanks for braving the weather @simpleMASH and all the other brave Orns
The unconvincing nature of that victory makes me feel slightly better about the unlucky draw on Friday. Having said that, for all the possession Bristol City had and the relative solidity they showed in defence, they rarely ever looked like scoring or put us under massive pressure. If not for the Andrews trademark arrow shot then it had 0-0 bore draw written all over it with both sides cancelling each other out for the most part. Bristol could do with someone like an Andre Gray up top perhaps. We started sluggishly. Baah wasn't in the game as much as usual. Chak kept dwelling on the ball. Sierralta played like his head was still in Chile. It turned out Ebosele was the player left with the most space on the pitch as their wing-back couldn't be bothered to defend. He did surprisingly put in a couple of decent crosses with his weaker left foot but we had no one to get on the end of them. Getting on the natural left-sided player in Larouci helped us though. Louza also had a surprisingly committed performance and generally showed a much more positive attitude on the pitch - that's a couple of good games in a row now, but I'll hold by breath before considering him redeemed for his years of nothing until now. I was getting a bit nervous when Ince came on later "to see the game out", but Doumbia did an alright job at chasing their defenders and keeping the ball - he still needs a season or two but is looking less lightweight already.
We scraped that result. A sub par performance with an excellent outcome. What worries me, what really worries me is that me and my boys are going over to the QPR game and we haven’t seen them win in many years. Am I and my family destined to jinx our phenomenal home winning streak? Try sleeping with that prospect hanging over you!
Bristol City wasn't too bad, but I doubt they will be making too much of a promotion push. The first half was the poorest Watford performance I have seen at home this season by quite a margin. The second half was better although I don't really think Bristol City were that hard to play against. Their build up was very slow throughout without too much quality and this allowed us to simply sit in our shape. I felt we were more comfortable holding the lead than we were against Plymouth at the weekend. Credit where it is due as he usually gets criticism regarding work rate but Louza seemed to be everywhere tonight and it is so helpful having a midfielder that can keep the ball moving at tempo. I much prefer Pollock on the right as I think he helps us play out a bit better and he can't play the same balls over the top on his left foot.
Totally agree with this summary. Only 17,5k there and just started to rain as we left -we still have the longest unbeaten home run in all 4 divisions. Sure we rode our luck and TC said as much afterwards but we did see the game out after scoring with our only shot on target. Maybe TC does have something in terms of team spirit keeping us looking forward/upwards not whose behind us because with over a third of the season gone we will sit in the play offs after tomorrow’s games.
You'll be alright, I've had a word with Tom and it's nailed on win. It's interesting how people viewed tonight's win. Some say poor and we scraped it, whilst some are more positive. My positivity was mainly the amount of sheer effort and teamwork the guys showed tonight - second half had me reminiscing on the Mooney / Robinson times (gritty and hard working) and for me that's what I missed over the last 4 years....
Forgettable game but another home win and another clean sheet. Porteous, Pollock and Bachmann in particular were excellent again. Louza was impressive in the middle and we looked better in the second half with Sissoko involved. Bayo did well up top so all told we had a decent spine to the team. Baah wasn't in the game in the slightest and Giorgi was poor again. Ebosele seems wasted on the left. We look better with him on the right and Larouci on the left. Andrews was all at sea defensively but his strike was a peach. Incredible home record vs the divisions whipping boys on Saturday - we all know the drill by now...
Funny how opinions differ. I had two people sharing MOM: Bachmann and Andrews. Bristol put a lot of faith in attacking down their left and Andrews had a lot of work to do. Which he did, I thought. His shot was the icing on his performance-cake, and I agree with the person who said he is a potential right winger rather than a wing-back. Louza has taken 2 seasons to warm up, but he can keep on playing like he did tonight. I think Ebosele is a really good player at this level, but he is right-footed and this really limited his effectiveness. When Larouci came on in his place the left side looked much more effective. Speaking of Larouci, I thought he had his best all-round game so far for Watford, even though he only played a half.
It was difficult to see where the goals where going to come from this evening, thankfully Andrews thought he would try his luck and it worked nicely. Really we were all defence and midfield, if that what it takes to win so be it, but on Saturday lets have a bit more confidence up front please, we will be playing a team that to date have won one game all season!
Fair enough, Andrews was much better second half but I thought he was terrible in the first half, and I was calling for Cleverley to take him off and put Ebosele on the right and and Larouci on the left at half time. Thank God he didn't as we probably wouldn't have won.
Yes and to be fair we got into very good positions a few times and didn't get the shot off. Louza shouldn't have passed to Kayembe when he was in the penalty box especially as he has a really good left foot anyway and Bayo hammered one over when he really should have been hitting the target at least. There was a few times when the final ball cand decision making could have been better which could have put us clean through. This happened time and time again at Plymouth also.
I was thinking at half time that no matter how dire we seemed to be in attack, in past games we do seem to have a few individual match changers and that despite our lack of goalscoring opportunities we would create at least a couple of chances and would probably score 1. And we did. Whether it's Chakvetadze's brilliance, Bayo's flukeyness, a fantastic cross from one of the wingers that we bundle in or as it turned out tonight a superb strike, we do score some goals out of not a lot and when we look least like scoring, one player or another seems to come up with something outstanding. I guess we can keep living off those moments, especially if we can keep clean sheets.
Scored a few decent ones for us. Typical full back/wing back - - better at attacking than defending. TBF in the second we did get into some more promising positions but couldn't get the shot off or there was a bad pass. I look forward to having all the ball on Saturday with x number of shots and losing 1-0..
In a weird way, the first half being so poor and then an improved second half/winning is actually promising. Too often with previous Watford teams, we’ve started bad and just got worse. The fact Tom can make changes and effect them with words at half-time is a great sign and says a lot about Cleverley and the group of players. Louza great, Bachmann two outstanding saves and Andrews took his goal well. Giorgi is still a threat even on a marginal off day. Solid home form and keeping clean sheets, a great foundation for a play-off run. Would bench Baah for a while, let him come off the bench for 30 minutes and cause havoc against tired legs.
Another game in which we were lucky to be level at H\T and we had Bachmann to thank for this . Brizzles front 3 , as have other teams this season, particularly during the 1st half, looked very dangerous and mobile whereas we are reliant on individual play rather than team play . Louza looked good .....but for how long ? Baah needs a rest and we need a striker in January. But the positive is that we are in a great position league wise and a couple of up grades in the team\squad then who knows ?
Well, well, well! I must admit I didn’t think we’d win that one! After the first half excitement of last Friday, we’ve happily now gone back to being a second-half team again! I didn’t much like our starting line up, although I know the middle game of a three game week is always a tricky one for rotating. I feel Morris rarely lets us down despite his limitations, and by not starting him we looked unbalanced at the back and at wing-back. Kayembe clearly isn’t at his best in midfield. So the second half changes were welcome, we looked more balanced and duly came out on top in a match that, as others have said, we probably couldn’t have complained about had we not won. What goes around, comes around eh. Friday night a late shot from just outside the box flies in to rob us of two deserved points, last night a late shot from just outside the box crashes back off the woodwork to preserve two (maybe not totally deserved) points! Bachmann man of the match for me…maybe forgotten about by the end but those first half saves were so vital and one was truly top drawer, Louza very good, especially with his not so often seen defensive work. Sissoko, unimpressive on Friday, stabilised things second half. I like the positivity Larouci brings. Baah and Chak will both have better days for sure. So that’s three unbeaten, and just one defeat in six. Sixty seconds away from 3 straight wins in fact. We’ve closed out two narrow victories, while just failing to do the third. This is turning out to be a very enjoyable season, if somewhat bewildering at times. And as a South West based ‘Orn, I have bragging rights where I live today. Much better than last Boxing Day!
I agree regarding Baah, might be worth trying Vata from the start on Saturday and bringing Baah on after about 65 minutes against tired legs. Worth remembering that Baah has had a few issues in his career with his quads and also he isn't experienced in playing week in week out at the this level.
That’s right. We have the longest unbeaten run in terms of time, Wrexham do in terms of league matches. We last lost at home on March 9, they on the 16th, but as you say it’s 13 v 12. Throw in the two cup ties as well though and we lead 14 v 12 (as both their cup ties this season were away).
