Evening all. That was one hell of an eventful evening. I sped home from work to get my ticket and my shirt and then raced to the station and got to North Greenwich with 40 mins to get to the ground, I then tried to find my way, very unsuccessfully and eventually ended up taking the bus and arriving just as they scored the equaliser. Not something I want to be repeating! Funnily enough I did that in reverse to get home. He had a shocking 2nd half! He never appealed, the ref just lost the plot. That sums up the performance of the ref, he saw the kick from Wilson and spoke to him but did not send him off. Appalling officiating. You might want to look in the mirror. You defenders were constantly holding Deeney and Wilson even kicked Pudil when he was on the floor. Deeney got prison time for that, Wilson got a chat with his pal Mike Dean.
I think Zola was reading some of his countryman's quotes berofe blaming FF's studs, Berlusconi said 'I'm a man of honour, a truthful person, a gentleman of absolute morality,' (From "La Repubblica", July 13, 2003.) OK OK Ok maybe a bit OTT to compare the two but how could such a 'nice' guy lie to protect his players...erm...think about it...it's blatent cover up... for two games FF's been getting bad reviews from most opposition fans, despite his obvious raw talent. I am not saying he should have been sent off but it sounds like he is a diver. I am chuffed we won, glad we are in the situation we are in. BUT THERE SHOULD BE NO PINCHE DIVING/SIMULATION. This is a tough league in more ways than one, if we get a rep for being a team that time wastes or dives I'll be devestated as it is against my footballing principals. Zola had better sort this out. SD wouldn't have had it. I don't accept it. We as fans should accept it, even if it gives us the advantage, IT WILL RUIN FOOTBALL. Let's smash Boro on Sat and keep the theatrics out of the game !! RANT OVER.
So basically he's quoting the old proverb of too many cooks spoiling the broth. But under cover of a fancy-shamsy scientific sounding title. Some people need to get a proper job.
Has the fact that Fernando Forestieri been labeled a diver been because of his Latin temperament? From what I saw over the years Heiðar Helguson won many penalties that could be described as diving, yet people just smiled and said that he was very good at it.
Whilst it is correct that diving cannot be condoned I think part of the responsibility needs to go to the referees. The problem is that refs miss so much especially in the box, that players this day and age feel a need to over react to any nudge, shirt pull or trip as if they don't the referees don't seem capable of spotting them. Last night Charlton 'cheated' (to use Miketyson 2007's terminology) time and time again through pulling shirts and kicking out whilst defending but Mike Dean was incapable of seeing these misdemeanours so is it any surprise when Forestieri went over somewhat easily? Having said that I don't think he dived as he didn't make any appeal afterwards. As for the sour grapes being expressed by Charlton fans - sorry lads you lost - you weren't good enough - move on (or in your case most likely move down!).
Good point Yello. Someone on Talksport made the point that if refs actually gave penalties for fouls when a player has made the effort to stay on his feet diving would probably drop by 50%. There was a game at the weekend, can't remember which, where a player was clearly fouled stayed on his feet to try and get a shot away and of course the ref gave a goal kick. As a player why try to be honest?
This happened last night when Wright Phillips was in the box taking a shot and Neuton gave him a little tug... commentators said if he HAD gone to ground would have been a penalty..
I can't remember the Wright Phillips incident - but then I'm biased - but I remember a few incidents upon out guys in the box - especially Deeney having his shirt pulled time and time again - but then i guess if every penalty was awarded our goal difference would be a lot healthier.
Find it hard to believe that if FF had just slipped he would have walked off without saying a word to the ref... He went past his man, slipped, saw the trailing leg of the defender and thought, why not give it a go. He appealed when he was on the floor by gesturing with his hands to the Referee so Im glad he got sent off as he may now learn from his stupidity including the first booking. As for Pudil. Dont make me laugh, he was not kicked. He went down claiming a foul that probably should have been given but decided to get in the way and sulk when it wasn't. The Charlton player wanted to get on with the game and has brushed Pudil at best. It was laughable to watch Pudil's reaction and as a Watford fan, I didn't appreciate it. Considering he was on a yellow already and we had already had a player sent off for simulation, Get on with the game. And finally to the Watford fans that decided it was a brilliant idea to begin taking apart advertisement boards in the stand and chanting 'We do what we want, we do what we want, we are Watford we do what we want', grow up and find an activity that promotes violent culture, because football doesn't anymore. I can honestly say that you don't look hard, or like a firm because most of you appeared to be students or of that age and your supporting a club with a very limited history in fan violence, thankfully. Im getting fed up of going to away games on a weekly basis and seeing the same losers thrown out by the stewards, its almost like your attempting to tarnish the reputation of the club you ''love''. This minority, and i stress minority, appear to be the kind of persona that is up for a fight, as long as there isn't a fight so grow up or take up WWE. On a positive note, this is a results business and the performance last night showed that the team will do anything to win. We didn't play well at all but defended admirably in the second half with some great desperation and last gasp blocks. The effort was tremendous and I think the scenes at the end showed the players just how much the fans appreciate that kind of a performance. Deeney was working like a machine and if he keeps playing like he played last night he might just prove the club right in sticking with him, hats off to the lad if he can now keep his head down and work like that he will begin to rebuild some kind of reputation. However moving back to the minority i mentioned earlier.. 'he hates the police he hates the police, troy deeney, he hates the police'.. no thanks ill stick to 'Troy Deeney Watfords number 9, lalalala'
It is unfortunate that we seem to be getting a small group of supporters who seem to think its funny to sing unfunny chants. That these supporters are also causing damage on their travels make them look even more dumb. We are a club which applauds the opposition goalkeeper at the vic and I've always been proud of that as it shows we are a cut above Neanderthal often associated with football supporters. I really hope the majority can tell the minority to grow up or travel up the M1 and support that other club instead.
I only listened to the game, but the solution to "diving" and "cheating" is to make sure that these things work against a team. The player accused of diving got sent off in the first half, while we had one player booked for dissent after the red card, and another booked for timewasting. Also, the referee added more than six and a half minutes of injury time in the second half alone. That's more than Fergie time! So let's say for argument's sake we did dive and cheat. Charlton definitely benefitted from that a lot more than we did.
From what I see on Hornets player he cuts back and ends up on the floor. From the camera angle its not 100% clear as to whether there is contact or not. But he simply lays there for a second or two and the ref blows the whistle. Its not a blatent dive like some I have seen, but he does not jump up immediately. With regards to the chants, I think its moronic that people insist on using these chants and behaving like brainless thugs.
I'm not 100% on the rules here... but if a player takes a shot then he is automatically playing advantage. As with any foul on the pitch, unless the ref blows up then it's play on with advantage. Obviously, that's hard to appreciate in slight second situations.... and I do agree with you, players these days go down easily because if you attempt to stay up you're far less likely to get anything out of it.
Well, that was a totally stonking night, it's gotta be said! Went for a meal off Oxford Circus with a mate from Twitter, a place called Bodeans, highly recommended and very very filling. Together, the two of us waddled to Charlton via Waterloo and had a drinky poo before going to the ground. Football with the kids is fab, but without them it's so much more....hmm...alcoholic! lol. The game was...as described above. I think the fact that FF dived or didn't dive is irrelevant to the red card. The fact he got a yellow for encroachment was bonkers! If he dived, and i hope he didn't, he deserved the second yellow, of course. If he didn't, i can't believe that within 2 matches he already has a reputation and is being booed by opposition fans. What really annoyed me was our 'fans'...The younger lot, who think it's cool to sing chants that are inappropriate, and to rip up advertising hoardings. Not impressed with them last night...they made us look like Millwall at times, and i for one was embarrassed. That aside, the support was immense, the performances were fab, and the grit and determination just proves that our team is a team, playing for Manager, club and fans, and we can be very proud of how things are going
