I agree with this. A draw would certainly have been a fair result. Having watched the match live we didnt look like conceding apart from what was a superb goal. It was a sweet strike and I dont really blame the defence for a decent goal like that. Unfortunately with Deulofeu injured our chances of scoring such great goals have drastically reduced. There are many clowns on here who called for him to be dropped as he is wasteful or selfish or some other nonsense, but it's quite clear that his loss is catastrophic. He's a world class player, and we've had very very few of those over the years. Everything hinges on our home form and the hope that the teams around us dont manage a handful of lucky wins. We must pray for a win v leicester. They are 3rd in the table though. You'd have to say a win in unlikely.
Leicester are third but their away form isn't very good (they lost at Norwich last weekend - 3rd away loss in 4 I think). I think we need minimum 3 wins and a draw from our last 5 home games plus at least one decent away result.
I now make sure not to come on here straight after a defeat because it's always the same. We were absolutely dreadful, we're bottlers, we're not consistent (aside from Liverpool nobody is), it's Pozzo's fault etc etc What I don't understand is why we have all these posts when we lost to Palace. They may not be the prettiest team in the world to watch but they are effective at what they do and are having a decent season. That was their third win on the bounce and are now 12 points better off than us. From the way people reacted it was if we had lost to St Albans, not a fellow Premier League team. We were far from terrible. Clearly not as good as the previous week but it's unlikely that would happen two weeks running but definitely not awful. We created a number of decent chances and probably didn't get the bounce of the ball in the box. I thought Pereyra was ok and was involved a lot in the first half hour but should had gone off a little earlier. The goal is awful. Both Masina and Cathcart stood off Ayew allowing him to shoot and of course score. Foster was livid which rarely happens. We've lost one game. We will lose another game or two over the next seven games but we can also win a lot of those games. I don't think anybody bottled it on Saturday but the first goal when you play Palace is clearly hugely important. I think they are undefeated in the last 25 games when scoring first. No defeat is good news and when losing criticism is bound to follow but they way some react you would think we had lost 4-0 and not had a shot. I think we will be ok
I wish they'd beaten norwich. Logic and probability suggests they wont keep on losing to the dross at the bottom of the table. I think they'll beat us. I've got a bad feeling burnley away will be the pivotal match of the season.
Top quality trolling by the evening standard, Harry the wasp is it? "Watford mascot Harry the Hornet has accused Crystal Palace of "compromising his safety" when they revealed his identity in a clip shown ahead of Saturday's match on the big screen at Selhurst Park. Gareth Evans, who has dressed as a wasp at Watford home matches for around 12 years, sparked a feud with Wilfried Zaha when he threw himself to the floor in front of the Palace winger after a match at Vicarage Road in 2016."
There is a cumulative effect of such a poor season which will lead to reactions. We are running out of games to get towards the upper 30s. Every lost game is disastrous right now to be honest. Blunt performances and 0-1 narrow defeats are not enough even if in isolation it’s hardly a shocking performance. The hostility towards Pozzo is also cumulative. A man who seemingly refuses to make defensive reinforcements even on loan. Since the window where he judges Pusetto to be what we needed, we have had Cathcart’s disasters against Everton, the Mariappa howler v Brighton and the poor goal conceded on Saturday (admittedly well hit though). His outdated model puts offensive player trading above any needs of the squad.
I'm more worried about how toothless we look in front of goal rather than the defence. Palace showed how easy it is to snuff Sarr out, Deulofeu is kaput and the options on the bench are frighteningly bad. All the people on here who think pussetto will come good...I fear they are in for a rude awakening. He is simply nowhere near the standard required, and has the physique of a 12 year old boy. Not ideal for the premier league.
No, I would count an away draw as a decent result. So 38 points. Any less and we'll probably be sweating going into the last game of the season.
I think it's this bit I really don't understand. Yes we could do with some better defenders and that is not great but the positives far outweigh the negatives. People say he just trades players and looks at forward players because their mark up value will be higher. What do you think he's going to do? We need players we can sell on to survive. In Premier League terms he is not a wealthy man so can't just go and buy anybody he likes. He bought Sarr for a lot of money but I imagine he was told he was the next Richarlison or possibly better. That very rarely happens with defenders. We survive this year we will enter the 6th consecutive year in the top division, something that has only ever happened once before in our history and while doing this has improved the ground 10 fold and now appears to be trying to get the club to the next level with the possibility of a new ground. All of that yet people give him dogs abuse because we haven't signed a ******* centre back. We're not in trouble because we didn't sign a defender, we're in trouble because we were clearly under prepared for the start of the season and Flores (this is obviously his fault) but at least when Flores didn't work he changed it quickly. I know people love the phrase "look how far we've come" but is very apt. We were going one way when he arrived and it wasn't up
How do you know this? We seem to have followed the same Giraldi led path to a mountain range in Austria where they all wore their heart rate monitors in the photos. You say we aren't in trouble because we haven't signed players. I think you are woefully incorrect. We've struggled to put out a defence all season and have lost half the games we've played. We've not won after being ahead in a number of games and lost one game 8-0. It wasn't only a defender we needed, we needed a compentent striker. Not a injury ravaged has been. We've only scored 27 goals this season. 6 of those came in two games. Jumbolina says it's cumulative and that's correct. We've been desperate for recruitment in these areas, especially defence, for years. To keep harking back to how things were 10 years ago is just sticking your fingers in your ears because you don't want to hear the truth. I have no issue with those who don't really care and enjoy their days out irrespective of what happens on the pitch. I do have an issue when those who do tell the critical ones that there's no issues. There are. They need to be resolved even if we stay up and it starts with Giraldi leaving.
I don’t agree. I think we’re in this mess because of years of neglect to the defence (and indeed a succession of poor forward signings (Gray, Success, Peneranda). I put it at Pozzo’s door and I think much of it is avoidable. I know you don’t think this way so we can havea respectful disagreement. My opinion is we can’t always look backwards.
How do I know this? Look at the way we started. One or two players have admitted the squad wasn't ready. What difference does it make where they go. Once you fall behind where you should be at the start of the season it is very difficult to catch up. We bought a forward for £30m but we just can't buy who we like and shoe horn them in to the squad. We had Gray who scored 10 goals last season and we brought in Sarr and Welbeck. Welbeck was a fitness gamble but a very good player when fit and Gray seems to have gone backwards. Add Deeney to that little bunch and there is quite a lot of wages so not sure who else people felt we could buy. I've agreed we needed another defender but have stressed the reasons why I feel we concentrate on the other end of the pitch. It hasn't worked this season obviously but to consistently have a go at an owner that has produced arguably the most successful spell in the clubs history is ridiculous. Mistakes have been made because the owner is a human and they happen. I hark back to what it was 10 years ago because without Gino Pozzo we would likely be in the bottom two leagues if we had a club at all and I care about that a lot. I care what happens on a Saturday as do most other people that go to football, I don't like losing and this season we've had to put up with more losses than we're used to. I've not said there are no issues, what I said was that I feel the stick the owner gets is very much uncalled for and history reminds me that we've not always been blessed with the greatest of owners so I will back him while he is here which I hope for the good of the club is a long time
That's fair enough. The players you mention for some reason just haven't worked out. Ok Gray isn't good enough so that's one reason but Success looked very good for Granada as did Peneranda and he also looked excellent in the U20 world cup. Not sure if they've been mismanaged or what's happened but it doesn't look like any of those three are going to make it. I'm not saying Pozzo cannot be criticised as clearly mistakes have been made (Flores) but I think he has done so much good for this club he could be cut some slack. Thank you for a decent response
First of all I thought that you were the better team until we scored and we simply sat back and defended well. I hope that you don't go down as I want those spaces available for Brighton and West Ham and I don't think you will as you have proven that under NP that you can beat anyone, but it is always difficult to beat a well marshaled defense. Personally I hate the way Wilf acts although I do think that horrendous tackle by Capoue last season along with Deaney stating that they take turns in kicking WZ, it is understandable why there is a lot of hatred for both and also why we are protective of the only player we have that can relieve the pressure by turning defense into attack. Having said that, I can completely understand why opposition supporters hate him as he is a constant whiner and sulks, perhaps the other reason is that he can be unplayable at times and because of that it is common to hate somebody who is a threat ( and yes I think he was very lucky not to get sent off). I am genuinely surprised to see the league position that you find yourself in and I feel sure that you will survive; I hope so as West Ham in their shiny new stadium a quarter full would be hysterical and of course Brighton being relegated would simply add the icing to a wonderful season. Good luck
