Strangely enough Dave the commentary I was listening to suggested that he was very much favouring Norwich in the first half. Yes there were decisions that were just plain laughable for both sides, but you do get a good impression from Jon Marks and the crowd reaction just what is going on. At the end of the first half it was suggested that this guy could get things badly wrong in the second half if he continued in similar vein and his performance didn't improve. Jon Marks and Derek Payne are very loath to be critical of officials, but today they were very critical despite reminding themselves that they don't do it. The game has gone, nothing can be done anymore, but maybe it is time for the fourth official to have instant replays that he can view and advise the ref on. After all he does little to get his match fee.
I get the impression that fourth officials are not allowed to interfere, and certainly managers are not allowed to ask questions either during or after the match!
A game to forget ..Very frustrating / dull to watch ... Norwich successfully stifled Watford's attacking play . Season still far from over . Thought Norwich used too much "Gamesmanship " for my liking .
At present it seems they have little role and I am suggesting they should have one on things like penalties. Managers do have the right to speak to the ref for half an hour after the game. As Joka said a couple of weeks ago, what is the point, the game is over by then.
Agreed they are basically cheats - both games now - and much worse than other teams which I think is a shame. Other than that we were absolutely awful in the second half so didn't deserve to win anyway.
none of us are happy with this result or the way we played but to say the manager has no plan b i think is a bit unfair he has pulled things round when it looked bad in the last few games ?
A disappointing game whatever way you look at it. Two teams cancelled each other out in the first half and we showed too little inclination to move the ball forward quickly. The penalty clearly was a dive but our response to it was not the stuff promotions are made of. There is no-one in the centre of the team to rally the rest and heads go down too easily. Layun and Abdi never looked likely to unpick Norwich's defence and Deeney and Ighalo have rarely been so well marshalled. As for our defending we desperately need someone who is more than just a competent header of the ball or tackler...we need someone who is alert, vocal and able to call the shots for those around him.
A very poor game in my view we lacked any will to win especially after the "penalty". We can blame the ref all we like and some tactics by Norwich in the end we just weren't at the races today. A very poor game indeed.
As always, I find myself in agreement with OFH -the ref was not biased he was rubbish. Even so we had half an hour to sort it out after the penalty and did not. The substitutions were a mystery, Paredes was dreadful.and I lost count of the number of times Deeny had the ball in their area and had no support. Still, we all have our off days and it's still well in the balance.Finally, have to say fair play to Norwich - their game management was better and their fans helped create a great atmosphere
Unfortunately I think that was coming after struggling against poorer teams recently As has been clear before the other top 6 teams are better coached and organised and seem to be able to outsmart us tactically when it matters. The ridiculous penalty aside, we looked pretty lost all game and well beaten. A very forgettable afternoon, and I'm not sure where we will find the nous and leadership to outwit the other playoff rivals.
Slav did say we didn't have any shape or tactics to get back into the game which was a worry as he is the manager and well clearly we had enough about us to do that against Bolton (and to a lesser extent as they had 10 men) against Brentford. Remember we were having a tricky time against Blackburn as well. despite the win.
The fens! Geography not your strong point? (Most of the fens is in other counties, only a bit in west Norfolk) Thought you boys were a bit unlucky today - the ref was truly abysmal for both sides, but the biggest decision seems to have gone our way. I actually thought you looked a better side than Wolves or Bournemouth and remain in a very strong position for promotion, but were very unlucky to get us at a time when we are on a ridiculous run of form with the new manager and a mostly fit squad (I worked out our subs coming on cost c. £13m if you include the fee we've reportedly agreed for Dorrans in the summer, which is probably more than most other Championship teams cost entirely - just goes to show what a ridiculous difference getting promoted does for finances... ) Anyway best of luck (and I hope you take points from our rivals...) Vicarage Road is a good atmosphere
Not yet suffered watching the lowlights but there were three teams out on the pitch today and none of them have much to be proud of. We were rubbish. We got what we deserved which was nothing. Norwich played an uncompromising game and were helped along by weak officiating. It's bad enough that we were pants and the oppo were a bunch of diving cheating timewasting thugs but worse was the three timid halfwits in turquoise letting them get away with it. Being bullied out of it is hard to take as a supporter. Watching the officials being bullied (as a qualified official myself) as well is totally unacceptable.
Spot on from Troy. Norwich are cheats and refs are ****. And what do linesmen do (Let's not call them assistant referees, because they don't assist the referees as far as I can see)? http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sp...ahan_told_me_he_dived_to_win_Norwich_penalty/
I really like Troy Deeney .. no mealy mouthed nonsense from him , just says things as they are . If we had 11 players who had his passion , work rate and determination , we would walk the championship . Was it just my perception or did yesterday's game really lose a huge amount of time to setting up of free kicks ? ..I felt cheated out of a fair chunk of play . This spraying on of foam is rubbish ...the flow of the game was constantly disrupted by lengthy free kick breaks . Re the officials ... The day must soon be coming when instant video replay has a major role . I personally cannot stand all the shirt pulling , "hugging" and play acting . This behaviour should be wiped out of the game , it would be easy to do . That sort of dive should earn a 5 match suspension ..shirt pulling , a 2 match suspension . This behaviour would then stop over night . Someone mentioned Paredes ... Sitting at the front of the LGT stand , I have watched him close up ..He is a bloody good player . Poor sod took a blow to the face very early on . Of course , ref ignored this . Surely he would be more useful as an attacking winger . Norwich did successfully stop us playing yesterday ...But I would be totally ashamed if I had to watch a team play like that ..it's not sporting behaviour . Having passed the 50 years mark , I'm increasing going into ol'fart mode . I did prefer the way the game was played in the past . Ok , it was at times brutal / harsh , perhaps more legs got broken , but it was a man's contact sport . Now far too much of the play is sneaky and sly ....so far from noble . ( foreign influence ? ) . ......And finally , There was one total moron in the Lower Graham Taylor stand who spent the entire match shouting abuse at the ref .. it was amusing for 5 mins but not for the entire game . I have never heard f@@k w@@k used in combination , so for the first time it was educational . Had I been sitting next to this abusive loud mouth , I would have politely asked him to tone it down . If he continued I would have forced him to shut up . The football world has changed big time since the 1970s ..zero tolerance of racism . etc etc .. Now perhaps as football supporters , it's time to voluntarily tidy up our act re excessive use of the dull and cretinous F-word ... I fully understand there are people in this world who are ignorant and perhaps suffering from problems of the mind . But we pay good money for our seats . If he was using this language in the streets he would have been arrested . Remember there are plenty of young children around . If you are that fool ...please tone it down . Rant over ( for now ) .
I have just watched the recording of the FLS and I have to say, I'm astonished that there is no recommendation of an Oscar for our Wes. How on earth that cretin in the middle saw that as a penalty I will never know. That has to be up there with the very worst decision ever!
'63, I agree with almost everything you say, except Paredes. I don't know whether your view of him is different from mine in the Rookery, but he should be dropped, Anya moved to the right and Pudil reinstated.
Same reason he saw Angella's slow-motion belly-flop as a free kick I should imagine. I find accusations of "cheating" quite amusing these days, as all teams have lots of players who do it. And if a team has ambitions of playing in the Prem, they're going to have to put up with a lot worse than our so-called "gamesmanship" yesterday. I bet the Watford fans never saw Ighalo's nasty attempt to knee Bassong as he was shepherded out in front of the away fans. As well as the scrapping where their midfielder was lucky to get a yellow and lots of holding onto the ball when we were awarded a free kick. It's a shame, but it's just the modern game. All teams do it. And in the Prem it's worst of all. The ref and the linesmen were truly dreadful, though, and lost control of the game as well as making it really stuttering. That's why it was so scrappy and ended up in a terrible penalty decision. Some terrible decisions both ways, but although the key one went in our favour, I don't think you could say it affected the result. One shot on target for Watford spoke volumes. But as I said earlier, they're a decent team who are on the same points as us, bar yesterday have decent momentum and the top teams to play at home, so no reason why we couldn't be a 1, 2 in the autos tbh.
There's no argument about the penalty, but TD is being disingenuous in complaining too much about refereeing and how easily they are being influenced. It's hard for us Hornet fans to be objective but in far too many games the season he has spent half the game in the referee's ear. You can argue that's the captain's job but he still clearly thinks he can influence referees in his favour.
