Agree with a lot of what you say Rob, but can't agree with this. Most fans from both sides agree that the game was meandering towards a 0-0 draw. Neither side looked like scoring until this game changing decision. So it absolutely affected the result. You can argue Watford should have shown more fight in the remaining 25 minutes, but you simply cannot say the pen didn't affect the result.
Well, we all see different games it appears. The first half we appeared to be in decent control,and with good quality football without dominating their box. Naarwich gave the ball away a lot coming out of defence, which suggested to me we were well on top, but I accept we made few chances. I do credit Norwich for letting Aghalo have a sniff. Abdi was all lined up for one of his specials when we was chopped down - that was really cynical. At half time it seemed that a good 0-0 would be the likeliest outcome, unless the ref interfered, as his first half performance showed he was easily capable of making daft decisions. I think refs generally have a hard time , given the amount of deceit that goes on, and the absence of any possible assistance, from the 'assistants', 4th referee or technology, but the truly laughable pair of free kicks that norwich won in the first half near our box, and the non-freekick for whatever happened to Paredes worried me. Well, quelle surprise! Their second goal was classy or lucky depending on your point of view, the third irrelevant top judging the performance. The only fault I have with us today was bringing on Vydra instead of Fessi. If hooligan can win a pen with that sort of play acting, then Fessi could have got a host from this ref, and his invention would have been more use. Playing Vydra further than 10 yards from the goal is a mistake - his passing is woeful, and he gets no chance to show what he can do well. But, this is what cheers me up - Norwich are not as good as I had thought - judging by yesterday. I suspect Dorrans will improve them. Considering the other results, we might see this as a good day to have a dose of bad luck. Finally, suppose both the Blackburn game and this game had ended reasonably, they would have been draws - we would then be 1 point worse off than now. Onwards and upwards ! However, as soon as possible please!
I think it's more a case of you being better than you think. We have steam-rollered teams in six of our seven previous matches (albeit the players let up a bit too much against Cardiff and Charlton taking the gloss off the scoreline). The final score, if not the result, was probably harsh on you yesterday and so your team were definitely the best we've played since Middlesbrough in November, IMO. Brentford beat us because they got the tactics right and we were exceptionally poor, but I'd still say you were the better team despite the completely different results. I think top two will be a four-way battle between us, you, Derby and Middlesbrough. Could be anyone.
Yeah, of course it becomes impossible to say because we can't really argue "what if". I got the impression, though, that we were gradually getting a grip on the match and the five minutes build-up to the goal we already went very close to scoring a couple of times (Gomes put in a decent save). It felt like only a matter of time. In a sense, it's a shame we got the penalty the way we did because you can then always claim that transformed the game, but with our bench I think we were always going to come on very strong in the final 30 mins. 0-1 or 0-2 would definitely have been a fairer result.
Perhaps it was just a bad day at the office ...but on yesterday's showing both Watford and Norwich would really struggle in the prem . Chatted to a few Norwich fans on the way to ground and outside after , you seem a decent bunch . It's a shame all your goals went in at the Rookery end ..its a long way off , but at least you all went home happy . I just feel as supporters we are all robbed of entertainment when the flow of a game is disrupted as in this example. Shirt pulling , hugging , diving etc etc has no role in a man's game , it could be easily removed .... May I suggest professional football often now resembles pantomime farce . We are being short changed . I have coached another sport ...had I coached football , I would have had zero tolerance of play acting / shirt pulling , gobbiness etc . Although being a hypocrite will admit to having used " gamesmanship " to good effect in the past, to get under the skin of more skilful players than myself . But I was not a highly paid professional being watched by thousands ...or a role model for youngsters .
Thanks for that Rob. As I said before I think you got your tactics right and we didn't. We can complain about the refereeing but really if Jocanovic had changed things around at half time things could have been different. It is not all bad news though - I backed you lot to go up before the season started!
Not that it´s any consolation, but after just seeing the highlights, very, very dubious penalty, but wouldn´t normally consider Hoolahan a diver, so I´m assuming he felt some sort of contact somewhere. Can´t possibly say whether the pen affected the final result or not, but certainly gave us a lift, while at the same time dampening your lot´s spirits. We´ve been on the end of similar decisions countless times, not nice when it happens, but I fear it will always be a part of the game. Hope you lot make at least a top 6 finish, I think you deserve it.
The problem is we keep repeating this mantra about tactics, team performance and refereeing standards every time we play a decent team in this league and losing. Is it repeated coincidences that we have not beaten one team currently above us? We only beat Brentford with a once-in-a-season volley and again when they were down to 10 men (even then we went a goal down to them). Why should we be at all confident about dispatching Boro and Ipswich at home and Derby away? There is something awry about our set-up. Yes we can get 7, 5, 4 goals against certain teams, but none of those teams are remotely contesting the top half of the table. We have also conceded 11 goals in our last 6 games - hardly a defence that deserves to be at the top of this league. We have been relying on outscoring the opposition and when that opposition has the tactical nous to close us down, we flounder. I'm sorry if I am stating the obvious, but I believe that our expectations are fuelled by blind hope rather than logic.
Would yesterday's ref have spotted this ? .. Testosterone ..it's a curse ! http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31572147
Well he is the only one anyone can understand - I am not that helps if we are trying to gain a edge with the ref!
When a game is referred that badly it encourages the players who are getting frustrated with not getting fair decisions to dive to try and get those decisions; hence both teams had players going down easily or with no contact. With a strong consistent ref it wouldn't happen.