Can we repeat 98-99? Remember Mooney firing us into the play-offs winning 7 of last 8 games, or is that my deluded memory? Wright's overhead knocking the stuffing out of Bolton...... Can we force the play-offs again ? The foxes think it's over for them, but we are looking upwards ! No I haven't been on the Tequilita, just remembering some good moments. From 98-99 run in: Team Name Watford Form L L L D D W W W W W W D W D W Scorers Noel-Williams (10) Mooney (9) Smart (8) Wright (7) Kennedy (6) Ngonge (4) R Johnson (4) Palmer (2) Smith (2) Bazeley (2) Hyde (2) Hazan (2) Gudmundsson (2) Rowett (Birmingham) (1) Yates (1) Lee (1) Thomson (Portsmouth) (1) Jackson (Norwich) (1) Flo (1) Daley (1) Millen (1)
Yes that was a great run and Mooney was on fire in every game.... Of course.... erm.... you are .... not thinking... .we can do it this season are you???
Never say never, but to get into the playoffs from here we almost certainly need 10 wins and 2 or 3 draws from 15 games. And even then a playoff place isn't a certainty.
I do think we have the potential to match that run though. Not necessarily in that order, but the same number of wins and draws out of the 15 games.
I am afraid we are too far adrift to contemplate ..... We will need another 36-40 points in 15 games...... if only though
I'm not sure we do have what it takes but you never know what luck may come our way. This division has a knack for bringing up the unexpected so never say never!
I dont see why we cant get 8 wins and 6 draws from the remaining fixtures. The question is, will this be enough?? 10 of those teams are above us, so 3 points off them could be the difference. Crystal Palace v Watford- W Watford v Southampton - D Watford v Burnley - W West Ham v Watford- L Derby v Watford- D Watford v Coventry- W Bristol City v Watford- W Watford v Ipswich- W Leeds United v Watford- D Watford v Blackpool- D Cardiff v Watford- D (want a Win though) Watford v Hull- D Brighton v Watford- W Peterborough v Watford- W Watford v Middlesbrough- W
No, it definitely won't. 70 points is the absolute lowest possible to get a playoff spot, and for teams outside the playoffs to have 50 points at this stage is unprecidented.
Have you done the maths there NNW?? If we get 8 wins thats another 24 points, plus 6 draws at a point a piece gives us a grand total of 70 points. Plus it will mean we have narrowed the gap between 10 teams above us as we will have taken points off of them. Its not impossible, just unlikely.
Do we really want the playoffs? What if we win?? I am looking up, and i'd be excited as hell if we did it...but it wouldn't necessarily be the right thing for us, surely we should consolidate this season and rip the league apart next season
Forget all the speculation of could it/can it happen again , and look at the team that did it. Which one of our current team would you put in that team, and who would he displace? The team of 98/99 was stronger in every position than the current team, and the manager was quite good too. In this case, history is not a useful guide to any possible futures.
It won't happen as we just don't have the strikers to score lots of goals consistently (also thanks to my nervous disposition I would still like another 10pts before I start looking up and not down). Look at the team of 98-99; Mooney, Noel-Williams (pre injury), Smart, Ngonge, Wright, and an up and coming T. Smith. Compare that to Deeney, Iwelumo, and Garner as our only recognised forwards at the moment; I'm not having a go all three are doing ok at the moment but I would say they are all Forwards and not Strikers.
But our strikers dont have to score lots of goals. We only need to score 1/2 goals per game. Our defence is pretty solid and other than the odd 3/4-0 we have done ok. The only games i can see us needing more than 2 are the Saints, West ham. But possibly Leeds and Baadiff too. A 1-0 win is as good as a 3-0. Thats a good point H. I would rather consolidate this season, but i am always told aim for the best. So i would love to see the Play offs again, but if we dont then so be it.
"Consolidation" means stagnation. To fail to aim is to aim to fail. We should take each game as if we are aiming for the play-offs. Look at what happened last season when we got to 52 points and the whole club relaxed as if the work had been done - did we consolidate then?
I would suggest that our defence looked anything but solid against Leicester, probably as shaky as I've seen in several months, hopefully just a blip. I think we are being very hasty looking too far up the table we have 10pts from 12 but I wouldn't say we were particularly impressive in any of them and a couple could easily turned out differently. I think we should concentrate on getting as many points as possible without worrting too much about where everyone else is. If we end up in 15th or 16th at the end of the season and someone on here thinks we haven't exceeded all expectations i'm going to be a very unhappy person.
OK OK, get to a safe number of points then look up ! I was dreaming a bit really to even suggest the play offs ! Still Mooney is a god and maybe the right time to remember that run !
I agree we didn't look as comfortable at the back in the past 2 games but Leciester had a good front 2 whilst Forest played well whereas even as Dyche admitted we didn't.. I'd take a mid-table spot now...we are actually still quite some way behind even 12th I think...the 10 points in this little run has only moved us up 3 places in itself! Before that famous run we were 7th/8th and finished well in the play-offs in 5th. There's no Wolves either to have their usual play-off blow up.
Dean Yates. I have one of his shirts - worn in action as well. Ensignias on the arms and everything. Been trying to get rid of it on Ebay for years - no takers.
Are the play offs a bit more a a possible reality now? I sure think so, we DEFINATELY HAVE SOMETING TO PLAY FOR NOW and are on a good run. GAME WELL AND TRULY ON !
