For warm weather games, against non physical teams after a break they are both unplayable l. A snowy day deep into the season is no way to write them both off. Richarlison has the greatest skill of anybWatford player I’ve ever seen. He comes from. A warm country and has been playing for about 4 years non-stop
Listening to the match on the radio, it seems Maps had a great game, Janmaat and Holebas made goal stopping tackles and Hughes and Okaka made a world of difference. Bravo a Diolch i chi gyd o Gymru x
Let's be honest, there wasn't much between the two sides today. It was on a knife edge and could have gone either way. Rondon missed a sitter, but Watford scored a well crafted and taken goal. Foster made one other brilliant save from Janmaat with an outstretched foot, and Karnezis also made a good save with his foot. I remember we had a deflected shot early on from a corner, and West Brom also had a very good chance early in the first half that was deflected over. In terms of goal mouth activity that was about it. Carrillo and Pereyra looked a bit light weight today, and Richarlison's form has been fading fast for a long time now. On the positive side, Karnezis was superb. I was a bit concerned how he would cope with West Brom's aerial bullying at corners/free kicks, but his handling was magnificent. He caught everything cleanly, even under severe pressure. Apart from one weak back-pass, Mapps had a good 250th game, and Deeney looks like his old self of two season's ago, in his 300th game. I'm so pleased he's back to this level, as I was beginning to think those days had gone. Very good finish today, and something Gray can take note of, how to be cool in such moments. Great to see Hughes get a run out. He's so good on the ball, and he's one of those players you know you can trust on the ball. He rarely gives it away cheaply, and can play the killer pass, like his assist today. We did get into the habit of holding onto the ball too long which invited pressure. This is what causes mistakes and puts the team under unnecessary pressure. We need to eradicate this and move the ball around the park much quicker. Holebas and Janmaat were good today. They are playing a much more disciplined role and it suits them. We're now hard to break down, and have not seen this solidity since QSF's first 29 games, which is a long time ago. Neither Silva or Mazzarri gave defending any credence. We need to be strong and reliable as a team. No more soft touch defending and it keeps us in games for much longer. Gracia has had 5 games, 3 clean sheets and only 3 goals conceded. That's no fluke. We've picked up 10 points in those games, but it could have been zero in different circumstances. All the games were in the balance until the last 15/20 minutes. This is when Watford seized the initiative and stepped it up. The only blot was at West Ham, where they scored an early goal against us and the game plan was difficult to implement. Do not under estimate how well Watford are now doing. Today's team included a lot of second choice players. We're missing Chalobah, Kiko, Deulofeu and Cleverley. All would walk into that side if fit. The players have responded to Gracia and it has saved our season. Ok, the next two games maybe tough pickings for points, but we only really need to win one more and have 9 chances to do it. Personally I think we'll now get over 50 points, so should be well clear of any thoughts of relegation by the end of the season.
Hughes for £8m is an outrageous bit of business. I guarantee you that City will spend an absolute fortune taking him off our hands. You could have 10 players closing him down and he wouldn't be flustered
Agreed. Today was a poor game but who cares as the result was so crucial and I feel pretty optimistic for next season. I think Hughes is great and can keep the ball well when under pressure with the skill to create chances and score. Even if Doucoure leaves Chalobah and Hughes are great options for next season. If Doucoure stays its an awesome midfield with back up from the bench in terms of Cleverly and Pereya and Capoue. Pereya has frustrated me of late as I thought we had a gem initially, he perked up today in the 2nd half on the left.
In 21 years of going to Vicarage Road I have NEVER seen two such identical matches back to back as Everton and West Brom. Very bizarre. Side thought: some Watford fans were happy for Deeney to leave in January.
He has done well under Gracia, no doubt. And a cracking goal today. But comments like you have just made are just daft. It is almost like you think that if he had been sold, we would have been left playing with 10 men, instead of replacing him with someone else. No-one would want Deeney to go now based on the last handful of games, but our thoughts in January were based on the last couple of years.
I'd rather they play **** football and get three points Better than playing beautiful football and getting nothing Main thing here is the three points , you address shoddy play going forward , lost points you cannot Consider arsenal and Liverpool a free hit now and maybe okaka start next Sunday in a two up front?
Delighted with the win, no matter how ugly it was. Can't be proven - but I'm sure we lose that game under the snake. Mapps was excellent, man of the match for me. Capoue caught out a couple of times, but still a much improved version of what he was earlier in the season. Deeney getting back to his best, which is great to see. Okaka was excellent when he came on again, but I still think there are question marks over his fitness for 90 minutes. If this is the case, I'd rather he be used as a super sub than starting a game and being withdrawn. Crucial interception from Janmaat, but also feel he should have buried his chance in the first half. Great to see Hughes playing again. In an attritional match like this, his guile on the ball and eye for a pass turned out to be key Regarding West Brom - still looked to me like a Tony Pulis team. I cannot see any difference. you'd think being cut adrift at the bottom, they'd really go for it. Instead, we saw the safety first football that seems to sum up the exclusive dinosaur club of Pulis/Pardew/Allardyce/Hughes/Moyes etc. Cannot believe I'm reading from various media sources that they should have won? One report said they "created enough clear cut chances to win the game three times over"??? Really??? So despite having more possession, more shots, more passes and crucially - more goals, apparently we were not worthy winners. And putting today's win against a team rock bottom into some kind of perspective - our record against the bottom side is poor; and also - looking at their recent results - their only heavy defeats have come away at Chelsea and Man City. All the other losses have been by one goal, during which they've always found the net themselves. Their bad run going back to mid December includes a point at Anfield, a point against Arsenal, a win over Brighton, a point against Everton home and away, and an 2-3 win at Anfield in the cup. Their recent poor run in the league - as stated above - includes 2 defeats at clubs in the top 5, and an FA cup exit. Not trying to "big up" the Baggies with those stats, just pointing out that despite their league position, today was always going to be tough. Finally - have seen a replay of Dawson's flying forearm smash into Deeney's face. Not deliberate, but that's irrelevant. Surely a booking at least, if not a red card? What a shame that Pardew might get the sack now......................
Our record against the bottom team isn’t that poor, is it? We beat Villa twice in 15-16 and Sunderland at home last year. Granted, we lost away to Sunderland last year but 9 points out of 12 (or 13 out of 18, counting this year) doesn’t strike me as “poor”.
I thought it would be that sort of game. I've been watching football for over 40 years - us, teams above, teams way down below - with friends, family and due to my addiction to the game - there have been many games like that. And, maybe my memory is deceiving me, but I recall many similar nondescript back to back games in past seasons, even when we last won promotion. Hornetboy1 perfectly summed up the game for me today. We'd have lost that under Slither - and, if we'd have had Gracia earlier in the season we would not have collapsed against Palarse, Huddersfield and Swansea (whose manager is obviously better than Silva but just doesn't have the looks for the media ...). Considering how long he has been here, the squad he has inherited with all the injuries, Gracia has done an amazing job - and, it's so good to see someone who is positive and never looks for an easy excuse...
We only drew 2-2 with Sunderland last season, and it took two 90th minute Deeney goals to beat Villa. This season we lost in identical circumstances to Palace and Swansea when they were bottom. Today was a flip of the coin win. We do seem to struggle against this sort of side......but the best thing is, we're not the bottom side ourselves.
He was playing poorly. Was off the pace and didn't warrant a special dispensation from criticism seeing as he is club captain. Happy he's turned it around but why not say at the time that he might need a change? His body language and effort suggested it as was his attacking effort. I would say his better form is great for the club but crucially for his own career.
He was the worst player on the pitch last week according to a couple of posters on here. A pretty damning assessment especially when you consider that one of those posters had a month previously proclaimed us as the worst side in the league.
Any win at this level is a good win. Did we deserve to win today? Maybe, maybe not but who cares. We are pretty much safe so I don’t really care what idiots like Crooks say. Easily the worst pundit out there.
Regarding Deeney I don't think he is playing any better it's just that with 2 up top we have had more chance to score. Okaka seems to be making the difference if anything when he comes on. Was unlucky not to score with the effort cleared off the line.
I should've made it clearer that I meant this season. When palace were 20th, we lost 2-1; and when Swansea were 20th, we lost 1-2. I was fearful of the dreaded hat-trick, what with Albion being 20th and written off by everybody as destined for the drop.
Deeney hasn't changed, he was never a bad player and he's not now a great player, he's good at some stuff (holding the ball up, reading the game, finishing..) and sh1t at other stuff (pace, movement..) That's all there is to it. Don't see the point in trying to create a silly argument over it.
Apparently Deeney has now scored on his 50th, 100th, 150th, 200th, 250th and 300th appearance for Watford.
Which 'years' specifically? Last season when he was top scorer or the year before when he scored 13, two behind the top scorer?
Maybe he's referring to when Deeney was scoring 20+ goals every season in the Championship, given that he was still slagging him off every week even then?
One small thing I really liked from this game was the lovely little game of chicken Grazia played defending corners by leaving two Watford players high up the pitch and asking the question - do you want have an overload offensively at the corner but risk being caught on the break? The answer was no, with West Brom dropping more players back to cover them and decluttering the box, which I felt worked to our advantage defending corners. To me it showed just how much thought Grazia puts in to his preparation for each individual game, and having identified set pieces as a strength for West Brom, he tried to unsettle them in that area.
