I don't know if i'm speaking out of turn because some people might think he is brilliant but having watched Watford over 30years I can say I have seen some truely good nay great keepers. How many of us can name them over the years and the Watford tradition is one of bringing forward consistantly good keepers. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for Scottie who in my humble opinion is one of the worse keepers we have ever had. I have nothing against him as he seems like a really likeable lad, a good role model for kids and gives everything. The only problem is, he collapses under even mild pressure and is phrone to gaffs at any stage of any match. This lack of consistancy is the only thing he is consistant at. It seems that its one major gaff once every two matches with minor gaffs happening on a 90 minute level. How much longer is this going to carry on. Surely after the latest blunder it is time for call on Bondy to see if this keeper has what it takes because lets face it he can't do any worse!
Bit harsh Yv he did do a few good saves in that game to keep them out ,I think its down to his trainers ,they dont teach him to command his box! if he was selected to play for England U21`s there must be something there!
I certainly wouldn't put him in the 'worse we've ever had' category - nowhere near there TBH, but you're right, he does seem to be getting more prone to silly gaffs. Playing Bond for one or two matches as a wake up call may be the answer but I just can't see SD doing that.
Sean doesnt play the kids , we have figured that one out now Sean has dropped him before and it seems not to have stopped the howlers! However I think it can also be put down to diabolical luck as well!
If it weren't for these two goals (today's one I'll need to see again before criticising, was sat right near the front and middle of the Rous today for family reasons), I'd say that the decision to drop Loach before worked out well for both keepers concerned. Definitely no-where near the "worst we've ever had". There's no shame in not being Tony Coton.
I think Loach gets far too harsh a criticism most of the time. He makes some fantastic saves and this season has commanded his box much better. He wasn't (completely) at fault for the goal today, and imho it was Hodson's fault, Mapps and Loach had no hope! To keep Loach-bashing seems senseless. He had one bad season, give the poor guy a break...the more everyone goes on at him, the worse he's going to get!
Really NNW , Gilmartin was our keeper against saints and lets say he offered no improvement!! Glad to see |Rene doing well at yeovil though !
We probably would've lost 4-0 to Saints anyway. And I don't think he would've got a loan to a team as high up as Yeovil unless we had used him in the League.
His game last season v brighton in the cup !!! He had a howler as well! I think BB is right though , maybe its time to give bondy a go! whilst we still have nozzer to marshall the defence!
Loach made some good saves but he is too error prone. It's not on....we are losing points almost every week because of dodgy mistakes. We should be in the play offs but we've lost too many points.
At the moment I'm not willing to place the blame for our league position on Loach because we're not doing enough at the other end. Last season we were scoring, and therefore he probably deserved it.
I agree that when we go ahead, we usually dominate the game and get lots of good chances but don't take them. This then comes back to haunt us when we give away very poor goals. So yes, if we scored 2 (which might've happened if Sordell wasn't brought down...) then we would've won. But we also would've won if we didn't concede another own goal. We shouldn't have to score 2 every game because of our defence....that's not realistic and it is going to cost us league positions. That was mostly from the start of the season. For the form we've been in we should have more wins.
We've played 23 games and scored 23 goals. We're 6 points ahead of relegation and 8 points behind the playoffs. I don't deny that Loach has been the difference betwee a couple of draws and a couple of wins, but we can't hope for too much more than to be where we are when we're scoring at that rate.
Also another point......we lost the most points from winning positions last season......something like 35 points!!! That was arguably the difference between a comfortable play off spot and mid table gloom. Is it going to be like that this season again? Knowing that we can be challenging for promotion and throwing it away two seasons in a row is too frustrating.....even if we're supposed to have a "be happy to finish 21st because we're poor old Watford" mentality.
Loach was not to blame in Malky's first season, he was a big part of the reason we had so much as a sniff in the first place. And as I eluded to above, I'd be amazed if a team got promoted with 46 goals at the end of a season, which we're on course to do. Agree with you about last season though.
Anyone who thinks we had a shot at promotion this season is /was sadly deluded (sorry moose) there is too much stacked against us this season , NNW is right , rather than blaming Loach we need to score more !!! 23 goals in 23 games is defo not promotion stats!!
If a keeper comes past his near post as Loach did he must be a) sure of getting the ball and b) give a shout to his defender(s) on the near post. As far as I'm concerned, as AM tried to head the ball away either SL did not do b or if he did, not loud enough for AM to hear. SL did appear to come decisively for the ball, so I don't think a is in question. N, as for the comment for it being to do with his trainers, do you think we should sack Alec for something that happens in the heat of a match?
No I dont Barry, but I do think these shall we say unfortunate incidents need to be analysed in a more productive manner , I dont buy into the Scott is a crap keeper camp , If he was good enough for England at one point , then there has to be the raw material to work with, my question is are we working it correctly?
In the last 4 games we've scored 4 goals. In the last 6 games we've scored 6 goals. In the last 8 or 9 games we've scored 8 or 9 goals respectively.
