Another final whistle met with jeers, whistles and abuse. It’s no wonder the players aren’t performing at home. But this can’t be in the same category as games like West Brom and Barnsley when we were well beaten. McAnuff had the first chance when he headed wide when it looked easier to score. Personally I was on the verge of celebrating. It didn’t seem to get to the players though and they continued to attack. Priskin looked lively upfront when on the attack but he and Henderson didn’t seem to be on the same wave length at times. Priskin is accused of ‘being lazy’ and ‘not tracking back’ nor does he ‘get stuck in’. However he does have technical ability and for a striker I find that more important. It should be the midfield who win the ball back, not strikers chasing back into their own half. I still haven’t discovered why the goal we scored didn’t count. I assume it was pulling on the shirt or something equally pathetic. I realised something was wrong because the celebrations were slightly muted but the linesman wasn’t flagging so I did celebrate and to be honest it felt good. The week before I’d laughed at some West Brom fans when they thought they’d scored and realising it hadn’t counted was certainly Karma. At half time there was always that worry Palace would nick it and the second half was much of the same. Priskin could have scored when Henderson headed across goal. Whilst my first thought had been that the angle was too tight when I saw the replay I realised it was a brilliant chance wasted. As the game went on, a draw looked a more likely result - one of those days we’d have great chances to score and not take them. Would the draw have been well received? Personally I would have been happy with it especially due to the performance up until the Palace goal. The goal came from a corner that was cleared and not chased. Priskin was nearest and could have done more, but the midfield was invisible and nowhere near either. It was a good goal but a very cruel one. On the point of the midfield, another criticism of Aidy is his persistence in playing John-Joe. I think the youngster will be a good player for us, but he needs to be offered greater protection by his manager. It seems illogical that Williamson is never brought on, because a 19 year old should not be expected to run constantly from box to box, as John-Joe does for 90 minutes. Not only will he make silly mistakes from tiredness but it is putting unnecessary strain on his body and is more likely to result in injuries later in his career. Palace had the upper hand after the goal, the few fans that had made any positive sounds became even quieter, and instead ‘exchanges of words’ seemed to be taking place. Or at least that’s why I assume people were standing to the right of me as the stewards ran up the steps. It came as no surprise when Palace got a second, as Doyley continued to back off from Moses the ball was somehow squeezed in and the misery was compounded. But we didn’t deserve it, we were not well beaten. However, and it sounds ludicrous, it seemed the fans/supporters near me in the Rookery were just waiting for the team to fail. I’m fed up of Aidy and the club telling the fans to be the twelfth man, and whilst it is clear the players no longer have any confidence at home, I don’t believe the fans alone should be responsible for bringing that back. However, I think it is beyond ridiculous now the way a vocal minority are acting. If McAnuff had scored his easy chance would they even have enjoyed it? These are the same fans claiming Aidy (Mr Hoofroyd as they call him) has lost the dressing room – rubbish – if he had, and I say this slightly in jest, the players would be trying to play a different style of football!! No, all the players have lost is the support of a vocal minority. It pains me to say this, but Crystal Palace fans put us to shame, they were a position below us and celebrating the fact they were in the play-offs. Why couldn’t we? It seems to have been a miserable few months, but for me personally it’s only because I’ve let things get to me, things I’m going to try and ignore for the next (hopefully) 5 games. The style of play was one. It is not the same style we played two years ago, and even if it was, we’ve lost the 3 key players that made it effective. When we got relegated I just hoped we’d be in the play-offs and that we would play some decent football (not brilliant, just decent). Personally I don’t think we’ve even managed that and although the press have typecast us (unfairly I feel), there is a lot of truth in it. Substitutions or the lack of is another. We were drawing 0.0 at home and I saw Aidy readying Jay Demerit (who should have started). I have no idea what this substitution suggests about our manager. It’s very hard to defend decisions like that. It is even harder to defend his reaction to the goal – bringing on Sadler for McAnuff. We rely on set plays, and we took off the one player who delivers a decent corner – an attacking player as well. Not soon after we needed 2 goals. Kabba and Ellington both strikers remained on the bench, and I doubt either would have made any difference but bringing both or either on earlier would have at least given the illusion of trying to change things. It is now impossible to defend his comments. My dad joked he’d fear for Aidy’s health when he finally realises the glass is not half full but half empty (actually more likely empty altogether). I believe our manager would regain some of the respect he’s lost if he stopped saying things like ‘I wont give up on automatic promotion’ and his most infuriating ‘rest assured it won’t happen again’. We can still mathematically end up as champions, imagine how stupid we’d all look if we did… However in all seriousness, optimism and positive thought is good, but it is not always the reaction a fan/supporter wants to hear. But as I say, despite the above, we are still in the Play-offs, even though the amount of points we have would usually be good enough for upper mid table at best, that is not the point. We still have as good a chance as any of making it, so why don’t we just try and believe a bit? The teams above and below us have hardly set the world alight and their fans are just as quick to utter their discontent. When I first went to Watford under Perryman the average attendance was around 8000, the attendance is now more than double (16,000), attendances the year before went up were just over 12,000. Judging by the poll on wfcforums (circa 25% say sack at some point) and you do the maths. This isn’t me trying to criticise individuals or groups (though I’m aware it might sound it) because support is shown in different ways. This is an attempt to stir some passion - to remind us why we support our club and most importantly an attempt to get us as fans and supporters to show a bit of unity. We may have blown it, but we are still in the top 6. In terms of league position this is still one of the best seasons in the past 18 years I’ve been supporting the club, so lets just ignore the doom and gloom and have a party like we did two years ago rather than acting like the childish big-club syndrome fans that Leeds and Palace were.
We were not as bad as some have made out but once again we failed to score and that just pressure on our defence. One they scored it was game over and Aidy did not make changes quick enough in terms of Ellington (Not saying he would have mad a great impact but the lad needs more than 2 mins!) O'Toole needs a break - not a bad player but just looks shattered and Williamson was doing ok before being dropped. My worry is that people like Shittu and the full backs take the easy option of just lumping the ball high and anywhere in the hope of winning a 2nd ball.
