Havent been back from the game long & strangely enough I dont feel disappointed about the result, if anything I feel slightly numb to it all. I dont know why because all week I have been really excited and/or nervous about this game. The game its self went as expected really, two fairly average & evenly matched teams, but with contrasting styles of football, cancelled each other out for long spells of it. Actual proper goal scoring chances was restricted to two each. Palace took theirs, we didnt. They also settled into the game quicker than us and asserted themselves far more than we did. I also thought they looked sharper off the ball & quicker to react than us, especially in the first half. They looked to attack down the wings through Bolasie/Zaha where as for long spells we tried to attack by lobbing the ball at Jedinak. If anything I actually thought the performance was an improvement on some of our recent efforts but the same old issues remain. I think what I find more disappointing then anything is just how negative we set up. Again. This was a fantastic oppotunity to reach a cup final, show some positivity & start on the front foot from the off. QSF said that once we achieved safety we would see more attacking/positive displays (or words to that effect) & this would have been a great time to have done that, Instead we reverted to type. I would like to see us play in a more attacking style next week against a woeful Villa side who can barely be arsed to turn up every week, yet I have a suspision we will see the same negative 4-4-2. Again today the front two were so isolated at times & with the midfield being so defensive & having no real width we lack creativity going forward. We actually moved the ball around well today in midfield at times but theres never an outlet for it. It was no coincidence that our best spell of the game came when Suarez drove forward with the ball, bringing players into it & linking midfield to attack. I'm not on the QSF out bandwagon, he's done a fantastic job in keeping us up. Though I am genuinely concerned that this form will continue over into next season & that QSF wont be flexible enough in his approach to change it. I've read abit on this thread about the players showing no desire or passion. I wouldnt agree with this at all, if anything I would argue that the real problem is that far too many of our players are either being played out of position or being asked to play within themselves. The ref had a poor game & at times was far to easily duped by some of Palace's falling over. Thought the atmosphere was much improved upon our last Wembley visit so kudos to the 1881. Pantilimon - the two goals aside didnt have a great deal to do. Dont think there was alot he could have done for the second goal, but feel that maybe could have done better with the first. Nyron - Didnt play too badly & generally did better than some on here are giving him credit for. Britos/Cathcart - Solid as usual, played well Ake - Had another poor game defensivley & was caught ball watching for the second. Hugely over rated imo & if im being honest I wont be too sad to see him go back to chelsea. Another one whose form has tailed off in the second half of the season. One of our top priorities in the off season will be to sign a half decent left back. Abdi - On the whole had a poor game. I was surprised to see his inclusion in the starting eleven given his performance against West Ham. I like Abdi & I feel he can be a real asset at this level but he is wasted out wide. Jurado - played ok, certainly better than he gets credit for. Tried to make things happen but doesnt have the pace to play on the wing & with no movement in front of him or overlaps from Ake was often forced inside or backwards. Capoue - was a much better performance from him until the injury, hope he's ok. Watson - battled hard in the midfield but is a real devil for slowing the play down when in possesion. Which he did time & again today. Deeney - put himself about & looked to bring others into it, but too often was double marked between the defender & Jedinak. Deserved his goal. Igloo - one or two touches but largely anominous. Had a huge chance to level near the end but fluffed his lines. Suarez - thought he played well. Got stock in & looked to drive forward with the ball whenever possible. Tried to link midfield & attack which is something that hasnt happened enough this season. Anya - wasnt on long enough to have much of an impact. Actually thought this was something of an odd substituion. I could see the merit of bringing him on late in the 2nd when we were chasing the game because of his pace & directness but why then waste it by playing him defensively? Nyron wasnt struggling, not like Ake at least, & Bolasie had gone off. Stick Anya further forward & have a go at their left back who has struggled defensively this year. AG - put himself about & tried to inject some urgency & much needed attacking impetous but was at times sloppy with the ball or kept getting in the way of teammates. Was one of the players I was surprised to see benched in favour of Abdi
I've also defended Jurado all year. But today, on this big occasion, he was outclassed by a number of Palace players far beneath him in technical ability. It hasn't worked and I wouldn't be sad if we turned around and accepted that; even if I maintain he would have been far more effective if played in his natural position. As would the rest of the team.
Well its over 30 years since we finished so high up in the league so unless you want us compete with teams that will be bidding 70 million for Paul Pogba and Gareth Bale this summer id suggest mid table is about as far as could have managed first season back. A little progression from finishing 2nd to Liverpool? Are you for real mate, it aint going to happen. Or do you think we will 'do a Leicester' next season? Are they the benchmark for success.. I'm happy with the Pozzo's and people who criticise them are complete muppets imo.
Actually would rather bin my season ticket and go to watch Chesham/ Hemel/ Kings Langley than the crap served up for 70% of home games this year.
Palace fans werent anything special, they were only loud after both goals & it didnt last long. Wickham bossed the game? Not by any stretch of the imagination. If anything he was a passenger until he popped up for the 2nd goal
Meanwhile, in a galaxy far, far away, Leicester trounced Swansea 4-0 to move eight points clear at the top of the PL. 4-0. Without their star striker. Playing the type of football that made the crowd scream so loudly it made the cameras shake.
Sound doesn't travel at all at Wembley but still heard them , still saw their 1881 equivalent clapping as one and saw the majority of the lower and upper tiers joining in. Credit where credits due - their fans know how to support their team
I was sat there today and I saw the same sights I have seen all season long at The Vic A load of teenage posers with topshop clothes and Geordie Shore haircuts who spend most of the game recording snapchats of them and their mates 'being at football'. My dad is in his mid 50s and looked genuinely sickened by the ****s in front of us all whipping out their phones in tandem every time we got a set piece down our end
Tired of the negative bs about our support,from what I have experienced over 40 years we are a family club who have always welcomed dads,mums and kids. Those who write about only letting away supporters go to marquee games such as today are obviously among those I saw today behaving despicably,spending most of the game kicking and banging the seats ,swearing about everything and nothing or those running down the isle after our equaliser knocking one fan over gashing his head. Well done to our support,Watford is every Watford supporters team not just those that enjoy chanting and definitely not just those idiots that seem to turn up on our big day outs. Let's get behind the team for the rest of the season,finish with a few positive results and then wait and see what arrives next season.I think the Pozzos will make the right decisions.
I agree after today if the coach and squad want to show that they can form a positive partnership for next season they need to win the last two home games and get at least one point from the two away games. After today anything below 45 points would be very disappointing end to the season. I would suggest that if QSF thinks we will get to love Jurado he goes back to 4-2-3-1 with Deeney up front Ighalo on the bench, Jurado behind Deeney with Gueds and one of Anya/Abdi/Berghuis with Watson and Behrami (assuming Capoue is out).
Nonsense, I was in the top stand equal to the edge of the penalty area and could only really hear Palace throughout. Took me a while to work out which song we were singing but I could hear every word of their chants. All of their stands were joining in. Wickham bullied us, and that is not testament to his ability but our performance.
This. Phones should be banned at football grounds these days Look how many ********s have their phones out
Jurado was decent. Not amazing, not awful. I think because of his clear technical brilliance the expectations are high so people are naturally disappointed. He was twice the player Abdi was today. Oh, and people mock him for lack of assists then when he gets one, it's sarcastic comments. Whingy *****. Suarez is class.
It is difficult but I have come to believe that this club will always bottle the big games. Play-off final, game to win the title last year and of course today. I wasn't confident about today, hopeful but not confident. We seem to be able to handle a season long campaign but if the game has something more tangible than three points riding on it then forget it, put your money on the opposition. Tactically we are poor at the moment, I know we are going to have our best season in in the top division since 1986-87 just by staying up but we are so poor to watch that I honestly don't enjoy the games at the moment. Silly I know, I mean I watched us under Colin Lee for heavens sake but back then we were just crap. This is worse because I think we could and maybe should be playing better with what we have at the club, but the shoehorning of players in to a system that we appear ill-equipped to carry out together with poor decisions on the make up of the squad have come home to roost. Its also worse because I still like QSF. I really hope that when the season ends the club looks long and hard at the manager and the players and the balance of the squad because what we are seeing at the moment is a worrying downward trend, and they have a habit of carrying over to the next season. Four games to go staring with Villa on Saturday, with Capoue injured we might go with just two sitting defensive mid-fielders which could be seen as reckless. Can't wait
You start by saying 'tired of the negative bs about our support' and then go on to write negative bs about our support. Or is it only a certain type of fan that we're allowed to slag off?
No-one really stood out. Maybe Suarez, maybe nyom. Jurado was as good as anyone. Which isn't saying much. Capoue looked like he was going to have a good day though.
I thought it was just me who was disappointed not so much by the 2-1 loss but by the fact that we deserved to lose and our manager who seemed such a genius in the first half of the season made some ghastly decisions in such an important game. This wasn't Stoke or Leicester at home when safety was virtually assured - when our negative approach seemed forgivable - this was the FA cup semi final - a chance to get to our second major cup final in our history and we were generally woeful. THE MOST OBVIOUS mistake was playing Pantillamon instead of our player of the season Gomes - why????????? To spare the feelings of Pants? Was it written in his contract? I said before the game that it would be an awful mistake to not play Gomes who has saved us so many points this season. I think we may have lost anyway but he would have done better with both goals and Gomes at his best would have saved the second goal which wasnt a glaring error from Pants but a world class keeper would probably save it. Our style of football was what we have seen recently- predictable and insipid. Jurado and Abdi are not wingers and finally we saw how pointless it is having two central midfielders out wide trying to contanstly cut inside. QSF hasnt been clever in trying to convert Jurado into a winger - he's just stubborn in trying something that isnt working because QSF for me lacks imagination to try different attacking options. We had no dynamism or variation in our attacking play. Just kept passing it backwards - then hoofing it. It didnt work. Deeney and Ighalo arent working together well in 2016 and yet the media keep going on about how dangerous Ighalo and Deeney are for Watford as a pair. Its as if the media have made up their mind on those two earlier on in the season and just repeat their explanation for Watford staying up. Also on Talksport they interviewed QSF after the game and asked him ' we really like you QSF and we dont want to see you go - please give us some assurance you will be here next season'. I did think after the run in the first half of the season that QSF was a brilliant coach who we would be happy to have for many years - but today was unacceptable. We couldnt even hold the momentum we had for a few minutes until Palace made it 2-1.
From a decent corner, he's hardly ozil. Still no assists from open play and the usual "technical brilliance" followed by a sideways pass was theme again today. Deeney put him in a great position to at least have a good shot second half and he managed to give the ball away. The guy slows down attacks ,adds nothing but the odd nice touch ,creates nothing, gets brushed off the ball so easily, doesn't track back and still he gets picked whenever he's fit. Just one of the reasons why flores needs to be given a one way ticket back to wherever he came from. Oh and at least Abdi puts in a decent shift defensively when stuck out on the wing.
Of course WFC are a family club (whatever that is?) and aunts, uncles, kids, wives/girlfriends (if fit) and mums and grannies should enjoooy the game too. The trick missed and my point was, that Crystal Palace got all their Holmesdale lot in the same place and the same section an they drove their singing and noise. We, on the other hand seemed diluted. The idea about selling the four blocks behind the goal to develop a singing section didn't seem to work as discussed, The 1881 and the hardcore away support (who aren't all knuckle draggers) were split up and speckled with kids and strangers.
Just reading the various posts it is interesting to see how widely the views differ with regard to the performances of many of the team. There are those who feel Suarez was a breath of fresh air others who though he was ponderous and gave the ball away. Similar different views relating to Jurado, Nyom and Guediora. Clearly we all have opinions and that is all they are opinions of fans, all of which are strongly felt. However what is not a matter of opinion are the countless times that players are played out of position and in a position which they are clearly ill suited to. Abdi and Jurado spring to mind, but at various times you can include nearly all of those who have played in midfield this season. I can understand that occasionally it is worth experimenting but when that experimentn has failed time and time again I think that it is time to be seriously concerned. Wwhilst I have supported QSF through the the season and am proud that we have achieved so much it sometimes feels as though it is despite our line ups rather than because of them. For this reason my loyalty of QSF is beginning to wain and for that I am sad.
Didn't actually mean to dislike your post it was an error,I wanted to dislike Lloyds post which was either above or below yours. I enjoy the chanting and join in when I want to.
