Stevenage Borough 1(4)-1(3) Watford Fc - League Cup First Round

The ref was very busy and keen to have the attention. He didn't let the game flow at all.

 

Ref was a bit of show pony. I think half our yellows were for chatting back to him in some form.

 

If one option was to scrap the League Cup altogether, surely a better option would be to not allow teams who have qualified for Europe in. That way at least normal clubs have a chance of actually winning something.

 

Didn’t see it last night so this is balanced and much appreciated insight.

 

Using the argument that only half a dozen clubs contest the cups, don't we have to get rid of the Premier League too?

And are you genuinely concluding that we should only have the football competitions that Pep, Klopp, the media, the managers and the players prefer? What about what the fans want - at all levels of the game?

Cups aren't only about winning. Ask the fans of the double figure number of clubs last night who enjoyed an underdog victory.

I'm amazed. I know that our two cup final appearances mean a lot to you. Take away the cups, and you take away the pride and joy that it was our turn to feel in 1984 and 2019.

Yes, it's miserable to go out of the cups early. But only having league football would be even more miserable.

 

This forum will never learn. No matter the side we put out, how we play, who we play, or the result, the early rounds of the cup have zero value in figuring out how good/bad we are as a team.

Yes it was a strong team. Does that mean the players will have put in the same workrate and shown the same desire? No, and rightfully so. Just another 90 minutes to get match fit and to get accustomed to squad roles and positions.

 

D'oh! If it wasn't for someone with their head screwed on, I would have got away with it. Yes, it's a dodgy stat. But less dodgy than the opinion I was refuting.

On Ken's Premier League involvement, though, it's remarkable that Watford's record with Ken playing, in his first season (2018/19), was W13 D6 L3. That's a 59% win percentage. Without him, our record was W7 D3 L13. A win percentage of 30%.

 

You don’t need stats when it comes to Ken and the PL. He was woefully out of his depth both physically and skill wise. He’s just get outrun and muscles into touch every time he got the ball. Nothing against the guy but that was just the reality. He’s ok at championship level.

 

Missed the first 15 minutes due to the carnage trying to get into the ground .

However , if you know then you know , you can park literally minutes from the
ground , you just walk through a little wooded area which takes you to the away
end .

We need a centre forward. Yes Bayo scored but he rarely gets good possession of the ball.
In fact I don't really know how to describe Bayo a player. Maybe a 6 yard toe poker ? Because
he is not a 9 or a 10 and he is not going to frighten anyone with his dazzling skills
Possibly his role could be as the goalscoring cavalry on the bench ?

 

Lost control for 45 minutes? So that would be half the match. Quite a big passage of play wouldn’t you say, losing control for half the game to a League One side with our current first choice starting outfield players.

What I’m disappointed in is reading The Athletic this morning and seeing VI’s quotes. Saying he is still assessing the squad and learnt more last night than he did against QPR. He should already know all the strengths and weaknesses by now, but maybe had we played more friendlies he’d have a better idea? But I can excuse Ismaël for not knowing how crap the squad is but I can’t be quite so understanding with the rest of the board. They know exactly the level of this squad and to think that Ismaël coming in and making them run a bit harder was going to paper over all the cracks was just folly. But it appears this is what they were thinking.

Ismael did suggest they strengthen other positions too, but this will be based on following performances. So let’s hope Plymouth rip us a new one on Saturday.

 

Found our level, 3 points against a team that will be playing League One next season and a draw away to a team in League One now.

 

Saturday didn’t make us world beaters and last night doesn’t make us hopeless no-hopers. As always, the truth is in between. A club and team in transition. There will be steps forward and the raising of hopes, and steps backwards at times bringing us a dose of reality. I don’t feel the opening two matches have changed much. We have some strengths but yes of course we have weaknesses too. Those supporters who want to see some green shoots of recovery as a club have had some good moments already. Those who are perfectly entitled to want to see doom and gloom (and who mysteriously disappeared on Saturday evening) are justified in noticing things last night that weren’t great. Personally I’m enjoying the season so far, it’s a voyage of discovery and learning, and I continue to be impressed by VI, who I thought was tactically flexibility when we were struggling and who gave a thoughtful and honest post-match interview last night.

Nobody in their right mind can predict an entire season based on two matches, and why would you want to either? It’s one match at a time. Things will evolve, things may regress but half the fun is following the journey into the unknown.

 

Sema and Bachmann are simply dreadful and it is beyond belief they are both regulars.

We're ****ed, frankly.

 

I hope that not too many of the Watford fans who parked in the shopping centre (the one with the Burger King) get fines through the post. It said 4 hours free at the entrance, but the not-very-prominent terms and conditions notices had in small print at the bottom "90 minutes on match days".

 

Bachmann gets a free pass from me after watching Hamer's distribution.

 

They will have to change that this season to say 100 minutes eh!

@SkylaRose Technically last night was a draw!

 

Though so far all 5 goals have been at the opposite end to me, so the green shoots have been oddly distant!

 

We’ve now gone 11 away games without a win in all competitions, so that’s something that clearly needs addressing.

However poor QPR were, I still believe we got fortunate that the fixture was switched.

@UEA_Hornet Haha poor you. Bring binoculars on Saturday! All our goals this season have been first half eh.

 

We've got a proud history of usually having ace keepers. How it is has come down to Bachmann + Hamer is utterly heartbreaking.

 

Interesting to hear. I don't think he did anything after an impressive opening 20-25 minutes on Saturday. Haven't seen anything to suggest he's good enough to start regularly as a central midfielder, even his one season without injury on loan at Reading he was mainly played on the left of a front three I think.

 

We won at Sheffield United with Paddy Kenny missing the last kick infront of us.

 

Apparently Healey never misses penalties.
https://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/1191797051?-276:790

He sounds like a bit of a tool to me.

 

"Yeah, I've never missed." When asked how many he had taken, he added: "Probably about 12 or 15."

"I don't see how you can miss... as a professional you should"

Yeah what a tool, reciting his own real life penalty record. God forbid we have a striker confident in his own ability.

 

I went to just enjoy the occasion because it was 'just a minor' cup match and a chance to visit a ground I'd not been to but as the game dragged on i became increasingly frustrated.

The manner of the defeat concerns me, especially what looked like the lack of professionalism when things weren't going our way. Played right in to their hands. That said, Bayo or Louza should have scored to make it 2.1.

There are some fairly balanced responses from others who went which i accept.

 

Honestly the ref was blowing up for everything. Free kicks all over the pitch and both teams leaving the boot in. Just one of those games.

 

This has made my day. The official stadium car park was absolute carnage and we couldn't get a space, so we tried another car park on maps and it was a corporate head office with electronic gates, so we ended up in another car park 15 mins walk away from the ground and missed the first 15 mins of the match. Upon walking to the stadium we saw the retail park had "4 hours free parking" at the front and was fuming!!

 

Not sure if anyone has replied but Sheff Utd away when we reached the Semi's, 2004/05 I think

 

If they weren't going to put in the same workrate and desire as Saturday, why play them ? Why not start with the bench from saturday and see if any of the reserves could be bothered to try to impress their new manager to win a starting place in his league side ?

 

Then please show even one instance where I have said that:

"[results in pre-season and cup games] have a benefit that is above a full strength team taking a game seriously".

 

Considering we've won about 5 games in the competition since then, we must have done a deal with the devil to win that shootout!

 

We don't play in green m8. Hopefully all the green shoots on saturday will miss.