Match Thread: Watford v Southampton

I''m not holding my breath on that one. The pitch was no worse than when we played spurs and neither team played hoofball then - in fact that was a great game of football. It was just a really dire game today in every way. League 2 standard and thoroughly unentertaining.

 

Just seen goals on Sky. How Lambert was allowed to score that far out with a header I don't know. Second goal good with pass from Lallana. Penalty...not sure..would have to see from another angle, but we'd have won anyway.

 

Happy happy happy happy happy happy happy!!

 

I think it's fair to say that it was a disastrous debut for the new boys, they were rusty and off the pace! Altogether another woeful display!

 

I'm more happy happy concerned happy

 

I believe Adkins has said that we were lucky to get the penalty.

 

Southampton were pretty average today.....but we were just worse.

First goal ...... another goalkeeping howler.
Second goal......fantastic finish by Lambert.....but ultimately it was Nosworthy's fluffed clearance that made the goal.
Third goal...... ??? I didn't really see the foul. Lee was falling all over the place though.....and had only a few minutes ago gone down claiming that Dickinson stamped on him...when that wasn't true at all. So...maybe it was a penalty, but Lee is a diver anyway.

Watford were just not that great...Trotta was trotting along, not putting in the work needed. Passes weren't clean enough....Eustace and Hogg yet again uninspiring. Other teams midfield pressure us and move up the field.....rarely happens with our midfield.

Kacaniklic is playing really well.....but isn't given enough of the ball. When he is, it's in a defensive position so ultimately he is not being allowed to play his game.

 

Fair play to adkins. Odd decision. Dont think it made much difference in the end.

 

Got to agree with BerksHorn, the pitch can only go a small way to explaining why both teams were playing hoofball. But Saints hoofball was better than Watford's. Poor poor game.

 

Be in no doubt, regardless of the penalty call, and even ignoring Kuszczak's howler, Southampton were relatively speaking the better team and deserved the win.

But neither team played well and as Berks said it was a dire spectacle. The state of the pitch didn't help but isn't an excuse either: Leicester and Spurs both like to pass the ball, and our games against them were good watches in worse conditions.

 

Thoroughly uninspiring display. Scrappy from both sides throughout the match, but Watford were worse. Couldn't string more than 4 passes together at one point, and we just looked off the pace. Hogg and Eustace just don't work together, and I would prefer to see Buaben in for Eustace as you could see when he came on that he linked the play from defence to attack.

Also want to make a point about the "Yellow Order". They say they are there to create an atmosphere and cheer on Watford, but they spent 5 minutes straight during the second half singing abusive chants to Iwelumo, who wasn't even on the pitch and was only warming up. When he came on he did well, and was more effective than Trotta was all game, yet every good thing he did resulted in sarcastic jeers. Pathetic really. I wouldn't have been surprised if he put two fingers up to the crowd and walked off the pitch, I would have felt like doing that if I was him.

Anyway, heads up for next week. Can't deal with another thrashing or poor performance. COYH.

 

Most promising sign is that we appear to have gotten our defense sorted out; three clean sheets in the last four, four in five league games (though the Saints on Ice excursion against Birmingham really wasn't indicative of much).

On to Leeds...with Blackpool playing Hull, and Cardiff playing West Ham, points will be dropped around us next weekend. Hope we can capitalize.

 

Not many positives to take away from this game if you are a Watford fan . Our passing game was poor, and we soon reverted to the tactic of playing long balls down the right for Deeney to run after. He is willing to do that, but it mostly led to nothing at all. I cannot recall a single serious shot on goal. New goalie looked very rusty-- a Loachesque mistake for the first goal, and he was flat-footed for the second. Nosworthy was outjumped for the first goal and generally second best. Hogg was very poor, and should have been taken off for Bauben, who might have contributed more creativity.Trotta ran around a bit, but seemed to want to scheme his way through the opposition defence--that might work in League One but not in the Championship. Southampton were good in defense. Their back five work well as a unit -- our defence could take lessons from them in how a goalie and back four can co-operate to frustrate the opposition. I was hoping that we might secure safety in the next 6 or 7 games, and use the end of the season to give the youngsters a few games. But this could stay serious till the last week of the season.

 

Told you we'd beat Watford.

 

Indeed, it's been great to see us finally becoming tight at the back. We'll now finish February having not conceded a single goal from open play (West Ham's goal was obviously a penalty), and it's not even as if we had a very nice and easy set of fixtures this month either.

Even early season, when we were scoring goals for fun, we were still conceding one or two more than I'd have liked. Not at the moment though.

 

Saints never had to get out of first, let alone 2nd gear to easily beat the usual bog standard type of Championship opposition we usually struggle against away from home.

Thats a good sign.

 

All I'm reading here is that Southampton were average and Watford were poor...I bet it was ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh olé,olé,olé

 

And unlike a couple of the early-season games, it hasn't owed to Super Kelv bailing us out...only ten shots on target over four games, half of which were supplied by West Ham. Conversely, we have three times that total.

 

Thanks xx

 

Yes, but perhaps we didn't want a "spectacle". We wanted the three points. And we got them.