Surely in the opposition box, when he goes charging up the pitch like a lunatic for no apparent reason?
It is only a matter of time before we concede from 50 yards. I wonder if there's a way to bet on us conceding this season from their half? Less of a bet, more of an investment.
Will be interesting to watch the rationalisation after our team of mediocre non entities perform to type.
“Win or lose its a brilliant time to be a Watford fan!” There is no reasoning with these lunatics. Pozzo could detonate an atomic bomb during the warmup and they would be pleased.
Our entry onto the nuclear stage would mark a significant evolution in the international relevance and prestige of the club...
Quite strange to think that the last time I had full-on, survival-mode fisticuffs was in this strange town. And not even at a Watford away game!!! Stoke v Spuds FA Cup Quarter Final, I think. Probably late 70s. Cowardly fcukers, them Stokies that day, as about a dozen of them jumped 6 of us from behind. The 6 were triumphant. It's a long story as to why a Watford chap happened to be in amongst it all. Memories, eh?
Not sure them what looks after the pitch would be best pleased. Might need a bit of tamping down after.
Perhaps we might be able to get a few VAR decisions to go our way if and when we get back to the prem ?
can see it now , Watford is invaded as America believes we have weapons of mass destruction , 5 years later it turns out they misheard , what we actually had was a couple of weapons grade bellends
Hard one to call this being our first away game, it'll be interesting to see how we cope with a team that should be on the front foot.
I said elsewhere I think this and the upcoming Coventry game will give us a good/better indication of where the squad/VI are currently, I'll be happy with 4 points.
This is exactly how I'm reading this too. The first two fixtures were against expected lower-table opponents at home. It was probably the easiest start we've had to a campaign we've had in a long time. To have only picked up 4 points from those two games is disappointing. I think most top end clubs will beat both Plymouth and QPR on their own patch fairly comfortably. I look at the Stevenage match, and although they've clearly started the season on the front foot, they are still a division below us and we couldn't beat them. So the next three for me will be a strong indicator as to where we are as a team. Feeling it could be a couple of away defeats and maybe a battle against Blackburn at home, although they're not great themselves now, so I wouldn't be surprised if we won that. 3 points from the next three, making it 7 from the first 5 matches, is probably about right and would be around the 64 point mark. Not troubling the playoffs but not relegation candidates either. Although I'm still not quite convinced we'll be good enough to avoid a relegation battle, as injuries will occur and that will have a big impact on the team, this season more than ever, seeing how small the squad size has become.
I agree with all of that, but will just add that the size of our squad was going to happen this season. So much of the players we have released, sold or retired should have happened a long time ago. They also should of been replaced with younger hungry for success players by now too. Gino's failing as an owner over the last five seasons has seen us fall from a midtable PL team to a midtable Championship side with buckets of debt. Even had we stayed in the PL after the Pandemic break, it is difficult to see us still being there now. His utter reluctance to upgrade an aging team for so long (when we had the funds to do it) has all come crashing down and the club as a whole has suffered for it. He's not a terrible bloke, just a very poor businessman. Our cost cutting measures needed to happen, and we all knew this season was going to be the season we had to get rid of the high earners (Sarr) because we had to keep within our operating budget. In that sense, we have done a lot better than I thought, and made a bit of money through good sales for the likes of Pedro. Right now, I think win, lose or draw the fanbase will be happier as long as we continue to be competitive in games. We may not get promoted for a few seasons. I for one, am happy with that, as long as we continue to reduce the debt bit by bit and use what little budget we do have wisely on players that can continue to push us forward. This (as many have said on this forum) is hopefully the first of a rebuild, but that costs money we do not have right now. Still, the absence of a decent striker will hurt us for as long as are unable to find one. This will mean more budgeting to find the funds perhaps in January or even next Summer. Hopefully by that point, we should be a little bit more ruthless in the market.
We are currently on a run of eleven away games without a win (9 in the league). Our form on the road in 2023 has been an issue. Here’s a chance to improve on it, at a ground where we won handsomely last season, but where this season Stoke have impressed in both their matches there. I’d take a draw tbh
Rather than disappointing I'd go more for unlucky - only Southampton + Blackburn have had more possession than us so far, only Southampton have taken more shots whilst only Leeds have faced fewer shots (and we've conceded the least xG out the entire league), with 2 clean sheets on the trot as well - the only side in the league not to concede a goal. So whilst tougher tests are certainly on the horizon there's lot of positives to look at so far considering we dominated both games, if we'd taken 4 points and had been played off the park then I'd be be thinking a bit differently - but that hasn't been the case!
It's an interesting take, although I don't really think luck really plays a big part really. We're playing with fire using Bachmann as a sweeper keeper and only having Bayo, who has no composure when given time to think, will never take those 1 v 1 chances that are created. So the design of the team will ensure we have many "frustrating" matches this season. We could have lost that Plymouth match just a easily as winning it. They created 2 very good scoring chances from open play themselves, plus the gifts Bachmann was presenting. I don't really rely on that stats too heavily, as the final score is the only stat that really matters. Stats are an effective way to back an argument, but off target shots mean nothing (imo). We had 21, but only 3 on target. Plymouth had 13 but 5 on target, so our keeper was the busier. We both had 1 clear cut chance. So, overall, even though I believe we looked the better side a draw in the final analysis was probably fair, which I believe is disappointing over unlucky.
I will be going to this game. It will be my first Away league game since going to Brighton away in 2017 (can’t believe it’s been that long)… We lost 1-0 in what was an incredibly boring affair, “highlight” for us being Stefano Okaka’s near equaliser on the 94th minute. Can’t remember much else, but I was mildly inebriated in all fairness! Never been to Stoke though… I’ve heard it’s a bit of a dump, and lots of Stokey locals have been overheard talking about a local lass called Delilah. Something about putting their ****s in her hand, and her not finding it very funny (?)… Why, why and why? Needless to say, I am surprisingly looking forward to going this weekend. 2 games into the season, and i’ve already seen better football than the majority of the last. That positivity is likely to change though eventually, once it dawns on us that the £50,000 we’ve spent on transfers just isn’t enough expenditure to justify us being in the 2nd tier of English Football. Who woulda thought.
That it's definitely possible to be lucky or unlucky after only 2 games. Whilst the Plymouth game was undeniably closer than the QPR game we could look back in 20 games time, having lost every single one of them and think that actually we were lucky to get those 4 points with the benefit of hindsight (compared to my view of us being unlucky to only having 4 points instead of the full 6). Makes sense in my head but maybe I'm waffling haha.
