Match Thread: Watford v Southampton

Just got back and have to admit it was a bit of hoof ball from us and them today. But who cares, its another valuable 3 points. Once we got the early lead we always looked comfortable even though our slick football wasn't too evident today. The only downer was Lallana going off, anybody know the extent of his injury?

 

Out for 3 months.

 

6 months...

 

A poor performance all around against a strong Southampton side.

Shame the new goalie made an error for the first goal but cannot just blame him.

We never looked like scoring.

 

I would just like to thank lamballana fir starting the "Is Rickie going through a lean patch" thread which undoubtedly won us the game today.

 

Just had him put down.

 

.

 

Cremation tomorrow 15.00.

 

..... and you were right, well done.

 

Too heavy for you?

 

Adkins clearly looked at the conditions and altered strategy accordingly, and to a large success

 

It was only Watford, they're not as good as their fans like to think they are

 

Sure. And as a cynical person who doesn't get to many away games, the ideal scenario is for my team to win a game that no-one in the ground will remember for long.

But don't mistake today for the sort of gritty performance that will take you to automatic promotion. If you play like that five times on five poor surfaces against five average Championship sides, I'd be surprised if you win more than once. I'm not going to call that our "worst performance of the season", but we really did make it easy for you.

 

Think I've lost count of how many times I've heard that this season. We've obviously just been very lucky that all our wins have come against teams having off days!

 

Intelligent comment. I dont think we are under any illusions that our main aim is to stay up tthis season. On the other hand if you were pleased with you team today you're in for a rude awakening in the prem. Youll have to be much better than that just to get a couple of points on the board.

 

Our feet are on the ground and don't think we're not grateful for your awfulness today.

 

That's an interesting point on two accounts. Firstly, because it maybe does fit in with our away record to date. Despite being in the top two all season, we've lost away to Doncaster and Bristol City and failed to beat Pompey and Derby (albeit Derby were on half decent form when we played them). Even against Coventry and Ipswich, we threw away great HT advantages, before eventually pulling ourselves back in the games again. Before today, Forest was our only straight forward away win.

Secondly, because of the sides below Palace (ie the bottom 11, ie the sides around you) we've only still got to away to Millwall and Posh. All our other away games are against top 13 oppositon, such as Leeds and Boro, where the surfaces hopefully wont be as difficult, in general.

 

Just got home and delighted with today. Read the last few comments here but the obvious reaction is that you can only beat what you're playing against. Lallana went off early with his 1 touch ending in a skillful assist, who knows the extent to which he would have destroyed Doyley (potentially the worst player i've seen this season) had he stayed on.

Fox and Hooiveld looked very solid I thought and Fonte was ok although he worries me a bit these days. Anyway another clean sheet, only 1 goal conceded in 4 (and that was a pen) and we're scoring freely again.

Oh and Tadanari was excellent with his movement and frequently moved us up the pitch with his constant pressure and tenacity.

PS Watford fans: The move that resulted in the pen was probably the best bit of football you;re going to be treated to this season. Hope you enjoyed it. Also the only song you sung all game was insulting Connolly when he came on. Terrible, terrible home atmosphere!

 

I could only listen to commentary this afternoon, but you get a fairly good impression of what is going on.

Goal 1. Keeper who hasn't played a competitive game since May comes out and makes a bad error of judgement.
Goal 2. Well taken goal that most fans would have been pleased to see.
Goal 3. Dubious by all observers, but if correct well taken.

Overall a very poor game from both sides, but you cannot blame an uneven pitch. The same one was used against Spurs and that was a very good passing game.

Saints will do alright in getting into the playoffs at least, but there is a huge gulf between the Championship and the Prem and the bubble could then burst.

Oh and the final comment is regarding Portsmouth. A few of the comments I read today about them were pathetic. No true lover of the game of football would wish for any club to be in the state that they are. Just remember that they thought they could buy success and stay in the Prem. Experience shows that those who try for that will eventually be caught out and finish up in a mess.

 

To tell you the truth, a team that is used to playing on a billiard table will always struggle on a less than perfect pitch, not able to play their natural passing game they took a leaf out of the West Ham book and played a more direct hit and hope game which paid off today, that won't happen every time, the worrying thing is better players are prone to picking up niggling injuries and when your two best players suffer so does the rest of the team.