Glad the boys were listening, just need Wolves to give Carduff a battering tomorrow and the weekend will be complete. COYH!!!
Eight points ahead of Leicester - rather puts paid to the threat of their two games in hand for the time being.
I have every confidence in Malky Mackay's ability to make sure that the title ends up at Vicarage Road.
The sort of win that gets teams promoted. Far from perfect albeit we still actually had the clearer chances but we dug in well and got those 3 points. Looked a little flat at times but then we've had 2 away games and Deeney was probably missed up front. Bond did well after coming on..
The sort of win that gets teams promoted. Far from perfect albeit we still actually had the clearer chances but we dug in well and got those 3 points. Looked a little flat at times but then we've had 2 away games and Deeney was probably missed up front. Bond did well after coming on..
What is the damage to Almunia? Is he likely to be out long, and if so will Bond be a good substitute?
Looked like hamstring but may have taken a knock. Bond seemed ok i heard him call a few times so has some confidence, didnt see the goal so cant comment. Was a bit scrappy but they came to spoil and waste time, deserved to lose just for that although we could have had three by half time.
Well played Watford, what a platform, with Baadiff's habit of bottling it, the Championship is very much up for grabs! Very, very good luck to you!
Malky jokes aside, anything less than a Cardiff win tomorrow and I think a lot of people will start to believe that it isn't over. Even a draw and it would look do-able (for us or Hull). Six points and one game in hand would be a big lead, but not an unassailable one.
It will be interesting to see how Hull respond to there heavy defeat today. If they don't get a result against Birmingham next then there will be huge pressure to beat Palace who themselves face Derby before.
I apologise BB, of WE can and will do this, I feel a Watford FC tattoo coming to my body before the season is out, just how do I convince the other half? Mmmmmmmmm?
Right, I've had enough of missing out on what is turning put to be an amazing season. I've cleared the Sheff Wed home and Posh away games with Mrs A1 to come and see this team in action...
Without the usual prompting from Jon Marks, I felt that we have played so much better on previous occasions, yet a scrappy win yielding three points is as valuable as one with flowing football. Vydra looks great when running at defences, in fact you can hear the cries "He"s away" and even the UR stands up to watch. His goal was typical of so many that he has scored, in fact you knew that it was going in, but he had a couple of other chances that he might have done more with. Towards the end he looked tired, but he did a great deal of tracking back. I don't think that there is a better partnership than him and Deeney, today's didn't look that good. Anya started well and was causing many problems for their backs, but faded rather in the second half. Chalobah has many fantastic abilities, but I wonder if he is finding so many games at his age a bit too much, as he started to give the ball away far to often, and also looked tired halfway through the second half. Ref and linesman were dreadful. Have no idea what the penalty was for and no one else around me knew either. Crowd was great today, best I have heard for some time, even the UR was getting vocal and joining in with some of the chants. Good number at the game when it did not look as if Derby had brought many.
Well done Hornets. I'm hoping you can keep this up - and hoping the Toon are still in the prem next year so we can play you!
That set the tone for the shooting today. Nowhere hear as clinical as previous games. He did terrorise them. So much so they resorted to tackles more at home at twickenham. He dominated the defender for long periods. He has been great since he came back into the squad. Its just a shame he is too Christian at times, he should be more selfish sometimes. Sack the whole team!!!! The story of the game How he missed that I dont think even he knows. Just one of the baffling decisions by the ref, Manu was taken out late and nothing was given. Yet he gave the exact same foul on Lloyd earlier. I usually complain about the amount of protection afforded to keepers. But this was the opposite. Yet the foul on Anya which put Vydra in went unpunished. Baffling! He could have had two in the first half! He was lucky to make it. Says it all. I thought the same, but they all count. He would probably miss his own funeral. Zola has said the wounded would be assessed in the next couple of days. Good on ya A1. Both should be very good matches!
Excellent 3 points today against a pretty good Derby side who came to frustrate. To be fair it could (and perhaps should) have been more comfortable had it not been for some pretty appalling refereeing. Here are just a few observations..... - How poor was it to see their goalkeeper wasting time after a couple of minutes? I'm so glad that they didnt sneak a point as would have been completely undeserved. - Matej Vydra looked a class above in the first half and his run and finish was just outrageous. He worked so hard that it was unsurprising he tailed off in the last 20 mins and could have perhaps been substituted off a bit earlier. I very much doubt he will play against both Wolves and Sheff Wed. - Geijo looks very talented (has a lovely touch) and whilst I would never pick him ahead of Deeney or Vydra I feel that against the so-called 'weaker' teams he can def do a job for us. Indeed, as predicted, our strength in depth has helped us to win 3 games running whilst Hull, Palarse and Leicester struggled today. - Hogg - a few people complaining about how rubbish he was when he came on around me today..... Embarrassing really. He is still a very important player for us and when he was injured earlier in the season we missed him. Like Geijo I feel that he lacked a bit of 'match practice' but worked hard and kept us solid when he came on. Having said all of that he is still a poor mans Battocchio! - Abdi - some nice touches and worked hard but not his best performance. - Chalobah - some wonderful turns and touches but as others have pointed out seems to tail off towards the end of games and has to be careful not to play with the ball too close to our back line (once or twice today they had spare runners after he or Abdi lost the ball trying to do a little too much). - Anya - worked very hard and made some lovely runs in behind. Unfortunately the final product wasnt there today (with 3 or 4 crosses and when he got on the end of Vydras pull back in the first half). Is a useful player to have as the L or R wingback and looked as good offensively if not better than Pudil whilst still looking as sound at the back (apart from losing his runner once near the end when the pullback whizzed along our 6 yard box - heart in mouth time) - The ref..... where to begin. How often do supporters of the winning team complain about the ref. Well that says it all for me about how bad he really was. Lets go through his decisions shall we? 1. Ward foul on Doyley early on - tackle was so late it was in another time zone yet escaped a booking because Doyley didnt make anything of it. Had he been booked the foul on Battocchio would have been a second yellow. 2. One advantage he played for them where Ekstrand went in hard and missed the ball and player. They kept the ball and then played a pass. The pass went out for what should have been our throw. He brought it back 2 stages for a free kick to them. Few mins later one of their players caught Geijo as he turned in the centre circle and whilst off balance he tried to pass to Vydra. Ref had raised his hands to play advantage but when ball didnt reach Vydra decided not to give us the free kick. 3. Foul on Vydra just before halftime - last man - possibly, stopping a goalscoring opportunity - definitely.... therefore surely should have been a straight red. Was so cynical. In addition, having played the advantage for foul on Anya in buildup to this foul surely he should also have booked the Right back? That Right back (Brayford I believe) was a nasty piece of work - diving a few times and also completely taking out Anya off the ball (another incident the ref noticed but did bugger all about) when he tried to go for a 1-2 early in the first half. As an aside, the same centre half that should have had a straight red also went in late through the back of Vydra in the build up to another attack about 10 mins into the 2nd half when Anya went clean through on the left and it came to nothing in the end. Again he should have been shown a 2nd yellow and been off. 4. Finally the penalty - this was a laughable decision. I still cant quite believe it was given (or what it was given for). Most referees would not even give a free kick for whatever the Derby player threw himself on the floor for let alone a penalty. We were coasting before that and I have no doubt would have given Vydra a rest earlier and perhaps scored 1 or 2 more on the counter attack had it not gone in. Hope those who travelled a distance enjoyed the performance and result. I am starting to feel that this is going to be our year. COYH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm happy to see there are a number of us who couldn't understand the penalty decision cos even having seen it on the box again and despite the BBC saying it was a clear penalty - the only thing clear about it is it definitely wasn't a penalty. The injury to Almunia worries me but if Bond goes on to prove himself it could be a blessing in disguise. As we still have to play Mankies mob a win will draw us nearer to them and we can catch them provided Mankie causes them to fade. After all this might be where our bigger squad comes in as Baadiff have to play more of their team each week than we do. Come on you 'orns - we can be champions!
