anyone of the 4 teams can go on a run to take the top 2 slots it was bad but there has been more lost games that we have gone on to win i also thiknthat we will end up in the playoffs it will be good to be proved wrong
At last a level head, I've been to a few games at home this season and have seen us play worse than yesterday, first 45 mins v Blackpool comes to mind. Ipswich had a plan and it worked good luck to them. I keep hearing the argument about us v the other top teams and can understand the frustration but with my logical head on doesn't the fact that we're still second mean that the other teams must have been dropping points against weaker sides and presumably we haven't ? Lose against Derby and Boro, win the last 5 and we end on 87 points, can't see two teams getting more than that ? Let's worry about next season when we know if we're going to be playing Chelsea or Bristol City ?
If your not at least reasonably happy this season I have no idea how you have lasted this long as a Watford or football supporter.
This is a tight race- the Championship usually is -in recent years only Newcastle, Leicester and perhaps Cardiff have managed to break away and get promotion with games to spare. This year is the norm - with teams getting to the top and then not being able to hold there - Derby, Norwich, Bournemouth, Middlesborough and ourselves have all got to the top and then fallen back - it is what happens when there are a lot of good teams. At this stage of the season it is fair to expect to draw against fellow promotion contenders, to win your other home games and draw away. On that basis we would have expected 3 points from Ipswich, Derby and Middlesbrough. So yesterday we lost one "expected" point (going for a win in added time too). If we were to beat MIddlesbrough it would be better for us than drawing three matches as MIddlesbrough and Bournemouth are the top two excluding us. We stil have the toughest run in of all the top 8 but let's not throw in the towel after our first real disappointment in over 10 games
What was annoying about this defeat was that we seemed to select a defensive minded team, and played a good defensive game throughout--we kept 3 men back even when we got a corner of free kick in a forward position. Right until the last minute when we forgot all that-- we got a free kick and everyone went forward. So when Watson lost the ball, we had no cover and got punished .We will not make that mistake again. Still hopeful.
We executed a classic Away performance against a very strong team. We kept it tight and nullified your attacking threat and just waited for the one big opportunity to come our way. It wasn't pretty but the points are all what matter and our lads all worked their knackers off as they do every game. Huge credit to Mick for getting his tactics and subs spot on and I expect that he will have something tasty for Bournemouth when they visit us in a couple of weeks!
I would not want to watch that every week, but then I find these days I'd rather watch an entertaining 3-3 draw with some quality attacking than a 1-0 win with a lot of possession and square passing. A different line up might have made for a more watchable game but there's no guarantee the result would have been any different. Against strong defenders I think there's a need for wide players with a bit more quality and desire to get past defenders. Neither Layun nor Hoban looked likely to manage this.
After all the effort the team has put in to get where they were the frustrating thing about Saturday was to allow ourselves to be mugged. Irrespective of the merits of the two teams we made a silly mistake at the death and were punished. We would have lost top spot with a draw, so nothing really to bleat about we lost, we are a point further from where we could have been. I just hope we gather something from the next two games; I was looking for five points from three games, but we are, figuratively, in a bad place now and really need to beat either Derby or Boro, preferably both. We moan about a lot of things, but I for one am happy we still have a club to moan about. Any more than another few months of Laurence Bassini and we wouldn't be here.
i agree with you 100% on lb i cant say he is a crook but im lead to believe that he milked us for everything he could I thought we needed 7 points from 4 game from wigan so i would like 4 points from the next 2 then we will be down to the last 5 games which on paper we could win them all
Despite all the negatives we may seem about the game, how we played, what we could have done differently etc, I have to say I thought Ipswich defended very well. No one can say we would have done any better with a different approach, Vydra, Anya, Munari, Fessi (although injured) etc, so it is all speculation. I personally would give credit to Ipswich fort the way they defended, against a team sitting top, highest number of wins in the league, free scoring goal record, top form team. Against that backdrop, why should they not come here and defend resolutely, close Deeney and Ighalo down, press the midfield etc. Tactically they got it right as much as we may have not performed on the day.
Slav says he got it wrong by going for the win when he should have been going for a point.............I personally think he got it wrong right from the start, I don't think Hoban is a natural LB, Watson and Angella have been gaff prone and shaky, Vydra has been on form but didn't start and we had no width with neither Anya or Paredes starting. I'm not sure Slav is getting better as the results have indicated or it's just the natural class of some of the players shining through
I think that's spot on Goldentrue, Watford didn't allow themselves to be mugged as somebody else seems to think, Town didn't turn up just to defend and spoil the game as another suggested, just compare the corner kick count and more importantly the shots on target count and then you ll get a truer picture. It was a tight game with one goal likely to win it the longer it went on but credit Sears for hounding the defender even in the 95th minute to dispossess him and supply Chaplow with the scoring opportunity.
But, it's in our hands. Only WFC boro and bournemouth can control the outcome - all the res have to wait for slip up. If we can beat boro, and match their result against wigan with ours at derby (I know I know, but norwich vs Wigan ??) then boro are also dependent on slip ups. If we are in top 2 on April 7th, by a point, then we have better records against clubs below us than all the others ( must be true as our record against top 6/7/8 is so awful!). COYH
I haven't had a chance to comment on this match till now. First I would like to congratulate Ipswich. They got it exactly right. We were poor, but that was because the opposition nullified our threats. It looked as if it would be goalless but SJ wanted a win and we lost a point. That is the way it goes. On reflection we have been spoilt since the Pozzos arrived. Before them this was the sort of game we saw week in week out. Now our expectations are much higher but we have no divine right to expect sexy football all the time. We are currently a Championship side. It is bitterly disappointing to lose, but as I wrote earlier, we could not expect to win all our remaining games. As has been stated by others, we are still second and promotion is still in our hands. This is an amazing league full of good teams. Next season I wouldn't be surprised if all the promoted teams stay up as a consequence of the level of competition this year. The real test for all the promotion hopefuls this year is how they cope with teams lower in the league. Silly defeats and draws may decide the final outcome. I suspect that how sides cope with the pressure on the final day could be the deciding factor.
Fair Play NZ Here's hoping that we can do you a favour by beating Bournemouth and that you will reciprocate by beating Derby!
