Agree about CP completely. Disagree about BWP, but we always do We need Stephens in the team, but we need to work out how to get the best out of him for 90 minutes and not just in doses. I know it's a radical change that won't ever happen, but I'd like to see him behind the striker pulling the strings - having no defensive responsibilities: Hamer Wilson - Cort - MM - Solly Razak - Hollands Green - Stephens - Kerkar Fuller/BWP (Fuller getting the nod at the moment) Agree WWOCB. I'm not a massive fan of Hamer (not ability, his presence and moaning towards others), but what was being said to him was nonsense. I truly thought some of them must not have been CAFC fans - accounts set up last night and being deleted the next morning - but to my horror they were genuine people who apparently support CAFC. Absolute morons - need to back the team and management rather than get on their backs. There is a very big difference from this team to the mercenaries we had the last time we are here.
You mad bro? How are those sour grapes treating ya? Oh and cheating, nasty team? Suppose you missed it when your player Wilson was kicking ours in the face when he was on the deck? Yeah thought so. Wipe up your tears kid and build a bridge.
Wilson didn't raise his foot mate. Your lad had his legs wrapped around Wilson's, who did seem to kick out when releasing himself but didn't raise his foot and certainly didn't make any contact with his upper body. The cheating bastard then clutched his face, changed his mind and clutched his balls instead. The same bloke who kicked the ball into the fans at half-time and was quite rightly booked for it. Right bunch of nasty cheats.
We aren't the first team to say this though. I haven't seen any of your other matches but have read what other forums had to say before our match, and to be honest it was the same as what we saw last night. The heavy influx of foreign players in the club seems to have bought a very european element to your play - positive in your approach to playing football, negative in your sporting conduct. Best of luck for the season, I still think we will both be hovering in a similar position above the relegation zone come May so it has been a very good 4 days for you
Agree with you regarding the foreign element, they have still got a lot to learn about english football and falling easily and kicking the ball away are some of the things they need to learn is not acceptable here. But I honestly believe come the end of the season we will be sitting in the top half of the table, once this team beds in (and the signs are there already) then we will be a pretty decent outfit in this division. I also don't think you guys will be in a relegation scrap, you have got some quality players and there are a lot more teams that are not as good as you. Good luck for the rest of the season, apart from your visit to the Vic of course!
Once again, sorry for pressing my point, but I just read on another forum that the same player after the game was offered a handshake by Ricardo Fuller and rejected it, smirking and signalling '2-1' with his fingers. Didn't see it myself but absolutely pathetic if true.
Yes that would be pathetic IF true, I really hope not. I was not there last night but can say that I have not seen any unsportingly behaviour from our players. We certainly are not a "cynical cheating nasty team" as described by one of your posters.
I can't see that being true - Fuller would have killed him if so. And I don't think I'm joking when I say that
Don't think they were nasty, this wasn't a dirty game. They were cheating though. The lad who got sent off being the worst offender the player who a couple of yards in front of me tried to get wilson sent off when untouched a close second. They slowed the game down (like all sides do in that situation). The free kick for their goal was a free kick so no diving there. Thought watford palyed some nice stuff, its good to see the ball on the floor in this league. Good away support from watford as well
I'm a bit surprised to read about abuse for Wilson. I definitely didn't hear anything like that in the NW. I don't mind a goalie who shouts at his players- as long as he's got a reason. All our games have been won or lost by one goal, but last night's felt worse than any other.
I will say if we were down to ten men at half time and took three points back to the Valley, I'd be fairly uninterested in criticism by the opposition about how we did it. Sounds to me as if it was a dive, but we had forty five minutes to take advantage, and we got taken advantage of. Not that I sympathise with that sort of football, but we all know the score in those situations. The secret is to score first. Let's try that at Blackpool.
I was going off what I heard on Twitter, especially a comment made by the official Charlton one. He won a penalty against Huddersfield.... I wouldn't expect anything more than for them to be bitter. Their manager said it was a fair penalty, I've seen the replay.... exaggerated fall but a penalty. What I do know for sure is that Huddersfield players loved to give him a good kick, especially off of the ball, so it's hard to take any "Watford ref" claims seriously. He was already being booed for diving by Charlton fans.... but from what I saw they were fouls. He's a very fast player, he was sprinting past your players like it was nothing... until they barged him over. He's a small lad... exaggeration or not he was fouled. For the sending off.... honestly my first impression was dive, because I knew it wasn't a foul..... but it was a wet pitch so he could have slipped. From what I've seen of him throughout the season he does slip a few times. I don't personally want to say "he dived" or "he didn't dive" because I don't really know. If he did, it was a very poor effort. If he didn't... well I dunno. No idea how you could think Mike Dean was biased towards Watford. A yellow for encroachment on a free kick? Sure, it's not like every player in every wall in every match moves well forward from the 10 yard line. I don't like to see those yellows brandished unless it's consistent. The sending off... well you guys can hardly complain about that can you? Where as we're left unsure. Time wasting... every team, especially with 10 men, time wastes. I think when you're losing every stop in play seems long... but it's not like Almunia runs to put the ball down and kick it within 3 seconds when the game is 0-0 either. You got 5 minutes added time at the end anyway.... I think you had ample time to get a goal. There wasn't really any other incidents IMO. I'm not sure about penalty claims, the only one I saw looked like the Charlton player made the most of nothing. It's a long season... I'm not a believer of "things evening themselves out" ... but I'm sure you'll walk away from some games relieved to have gotten a result.
Arrived back in Tewkes at 1.45am and my annoyance still hadn't dissipated. In fact, it's lingering even now. What the Hell was going on last night? We've been bigging up Rasak all week and when Hollands has an absolute stinker, where's our new acquisition? Sitting on the bench. I thought it was cruel to keep Hollands on the pitch last last night, he had a terrible game and his body language said it all after yet another misplaced pass went astray. We were being muscled out of the game, so why did Bradley Pritchard come on? Even as one of his greatest supporters on here, there was no way he was going to make a difference. I thought Kerkar played well, but fifteen minutes before the end, he was completely knackered - I could see that from up in the stand, so why wasn't it noted on the bench? Solly has to go back to the right, and Evina must come in. This will be tough on Wilson, but the cracks were starting to show last night and even though Solly had a decent game, too often he turned inwards to get the ball on his right foot, and the linkup play with Green just wasn't there - Wilson did as well as he could, but he doesn't have Solly's touch. The crossing/corners/free kicks last night were as bad as I've ever seen. Park football standard. Hulse will be a good temporary replacement for Kermorgant. Our goal was simply beautiful - why then did we try to break them down in the second half using the arial route - completely pointless. If we play like this against Blackpool, we're going to be taken apart. And finally, to end this therapeutic little rant - Even though it made little difference in the end, because we were so bad, Watford's approach to the game was absolutely appalling. That was the most well-deserved sending off I've seen in years - what an excuse for a footballer that is. What makes it so upsetting to see a team behave like that was the memory of how Zola played with such grace, power and artistry throughout his career. His defence of Forestieri is misplaced and not worthy of such a presence in the game - if he just 'slipped' Gianfranco, why did he then stay down? (No answer needed, unfortunately) Their fans, who were magnificent throughout, deserve better than this bunch of cloggers and divers. I feel better for that.
I stick by my view....nasty cynical team yes we couldn't score yes we resorted to long ball in desperation But they were just horrible simple as that. Agree they played some decent stuff but it was far out weighed by the diving the play acting the time wasting the off the ball elbows cynical fouls that in the main went unpunished. Just grrrr my blood still boiling
Sure we time-wasting with 10 men and holding onto a lead whilst one guy did go down easily (that's up to him to learn really) but we certainly don't have such a negative style generaly as our goals against record proves! Infact last night was probably our best defensive performance of the season by some way. I think you'll be fine as well...showed enough to prove you can create chances and just need more luck.
Some thoughts from my 2nd game of the season - 1. Ricardo Fuller is a class act. His awareness, anticipation and first touch are of a player who has clearly played a level above for the past 4 years. 2. We need to stop playing like we did in the second half of last season. Lumping it forward worked against weaker L1 defences, but not Championship. 3. Watford were organised and did exactly what they needed to do with 10 men. Frustrating but that's football. 4. It's painful to see us fail to break down 10 men. 5. Say what you like about Almunia as a keeper, but he's world class at time wasting. Puts some of our keepers to shame! 6. Kerkar didn't look very impressive, but then he hasn't had many games i'd imagine? 7. Hamer got very panicky in the second half, no idea why. It seemed to resonate through the whole team. We needed to be patient and keep the ball. 8. I thought BWP played well last night, worked hard and had some good touches. BUT this takes him away from where I want him. He needs to stay on the shoulder of the last defender. I couldn't care less if people think he's lazy for doing that. He's a poacher! 9. I want to see Dale Stephens further forward, playing the ball quickly into Fullers feet. 10. We need to base our attacking play around Fuller, but i don't want BWP dropped. I'm a firm believer in playing 2 strikers and I reckon they can make a quality Championship partnership. I don't think we should panic or boo. A lot of these players are experiencing a steep learning curve and need as much support as possible. As fans we need to follow the example of Ricardo Fuller. After yet another wayward cross, he claps, cajoles and gives words of support to Kerkar. We will be fine this season. It's going to be a bumpy ride, but we will be fine.
I like your post, Salford. I think if we are going to play with two strikers we cannot afford two "luxury" wingers like Green and Kerkar as well. It leaves the CM pair too much to do. Stephens is a liability in his own half so we need another midfielder who can consistently mark and tackle to help out Hollands. I don't know anything about Razak but he seems the right type of player to do this. So is Pritchard, but he is not quite good enough. I am hoping Razak has all Pritchard's good qualities but can tackle like a mule as well (and without giving away too many free-kicks or any penalties). I agree about playing on the floor more, even when Kermorgant comes back. I think you guys miss the point about time-wasting. Time-wasting is not primarily designed to waste time. I guess the maximum amount of time a "time wasting" team wastes more than an average team is one minute. A poor excuse when we have had 44 other minutes to score again against 10 men. No, time-wasting is designed to irritate and agitate the opposing team and make them lose their cool. The more the home supporters hiss and boo the more they are helping the time-wasters.
What frustrates fans is no yellow card for time wasting until the 92nd min drives me mad As for BWP he's the last player I'd drop he's quality
I wouldn't drop him I'd play him further back in the role Jackson played against Blackburn before his injury.
Refs need to give a yellow card each time a keeper time wastes, if they do it again, send them off. Only needs to happen once then it will get cut out
