Ah well - got exactly what we deserved out of that... With all those reds & yellows, looks like we'll be fielding the reserves next week.
Second in every department today. When Stoke lost the ball they tackled back for it immediately - when we lost it we backed off. Many of our players didn't look like they really wanted the ball. 4 yellows, one red doesn't look good, and partly a result of petulance and indiscipline. When is Mariappa finally going to get a go rather than simply sitting there to make up the home quota ?
Stoke did a job on us and we seemed very lethargic. Missed opportunity for 3 points. At least Mazzari tried to change things. Troy seems very frustrated at not getting that goal, ball does not fall for him at the moment despite his mates trying to set him up, but some of his touches are really nice. With out resources we should be doing better.
At least we are keeping up our tally of reds/yellows & fouls - that must be worth a few extra points at the end of the season...
Two posts two posts I put on the wrong thread: Britos very, very silly. -------------------------------------- Behrami booked. Three players suspended for the Hawthorns.
The goal summed up our day! Let them dominate and get on top so we just got frustrated and created next to nothing. Stoke came to do a job and did it well. Ref was really hopeless too but overall we didn't help ourselves!!
Kabasele impressed me. Agree with recent posts about desire. You have to have 'fire in your belly', which we didn't at the start. Then, if you get it, it has to be focussed professionally, not petulantly. The first time we looked vaguely threatening was when we fired balls to the front three of Ighalo, Deeney and Okaka. We never seemed to win any of the second balls that these opportunities gave. Could someone advise on that?
I don't know if it was on the wrong thread Andy, we could have done with Fidel Castro or Che Guevarra for the half time talk.
Adam says he thought he fouled Behrami when he scored. Very honest. It seemed to me any push shouldn't have been enough to dislodge our defender.
I'm not sure about that - honesty would have been owning up to the ref when it happened, and saying no to the goal...
Kabasele impressed me during his very first appearance - but, for some reason, he obviously doesn't impress WM. You're right about petulance - we have a goodly number of players who are guilty in that regard. The EPL, clubs, managers and TV pundits/commentators et al seriously need to do something about it. Maybe referee consistency would be a good place to start, along with TV refraining from analysing every decision from fifty flipping angles at a tenth of normal speed.
Why stop there? Handwritten letters of apology for each Watford fan today. Not just those at the ground either.
At present, a player can get a red card rescinded at a later date, but if his team lost because of his absence, there is no compensation. Much better to use technology and get the correct decision in the first place!
I'm not sure if that applies to the 'two-yellow' red cards though? It does strike me as being a bit unbalanced that a player can be sent off for two moments of petulance, when some can get away with crude tackles etc because the ref missed them. I'd like to see the red/yellow card system scrapped completely & be replaced with Aussie Rules' on-report system with hefty penalties. That puts the onus straight back onto the players, where it belongs.
What do you mean by hefty penalties, and how does that work at all levels? As for the match, the only televised match we've truly shown what we can do was on BT (even the Boro win on Sky was a poor performance) and if a team sets up to stifle us, we don't seem to have an answer.