His strength is he was scoring goals yet he kept getting dropped. Today he got 12 mins after being frozen out yet I read laughable comments about how **** he was today. What do people expect him to do for 12 mins considering Deeney and Okaka played for an hour, scored no goals and have been getting game time in matches?
It is a bond of sorts. One expects Deeney, being the captain, showed him around when he first came here, introduced him to the players etc, made him feel at home. Gracia returns the favour by playing him every week.
Elton was there, sitting in his own stand. I didn't realise that was really him, when they panned on him before the kick off. I thought it was just an EJ lookalike.
Considering he's been producing non-stop 0/10 performances recently I have to agree todays 2/10 was refreshing .
No need to be flippant. I don't necessarily think he's the right guy, but who is? Whoever his replacement is will be just be another version of him - nomadic, semi successful and willing to accept no control over transfers. After what went down with Silva, we can kiss goodbye to any prospect of having a coach that thinks for himself. You are right we should have scored more, but we haven't had a single attacking player in form since November, so I do feel it's been a tough task for him.
I think we've done a lot of damage bringing him in and playing him like we have. A bigger side would have bought him and sent him straight on loan to the Eredivise. Park him there for two years while he gets to grip with European football, then bring him in. Instead he's been sent into a negative spiral of performances after a blistering start. I've never seen a player nosedive quite like he has in the last 6 months.
How can anyone criticise him today? His much maligned first touch was good, and he'd have been clean through had Rich not over hit the through ball by about 10 miles
Watching it on sky now. Christ the ref had a shocking first 30 minutes. Doucoure booked for first foul. Ward, McArthur and Tomkins got away with all theirs. Some good chances created by us. Some good passes by Capoue and Hughes. Couple of awful Holebas moments. Palace really had a go at the ref most of the half. MaArthur had to be dragged away from the ref at half time by Sakho. Horrible club, fans and a real sense thry are now our main rivals. On another note about horrible. Okakas hair.
What did he say exactly? I noticed a lot of people waiting outside the ground. Even the bloke Infront of me couldn't get in.
Agree. Ref was awful, don't understand the praise he has been getting. He was very close to losing control of the match in the first half. He was far too weak imo.
Capoue, Cathcart and Kabersele were all fantastic Everyone else was good No one had a bad game, everybody put a shift in the 1881 were magnificent The only disappointment is that we didn't create a clear cut chance
As others have said, great atmosphere created today. Good performance overall. Yes, some players didn't live up to our expectations. We are Watford, we are human. But, we defended with real dedication, energy and commitment today (compared with recent performances). True, we need someone who can hit a mean shot on target ... how much do they cost?
Funny how fans see things depending on which side they are on . The Palace fans are getting in a right state about how our players "got in the face of Zaha" Sure he is used to it though and well most of ours are hardly the agressuve types ! Maybe Zaha should have stuck with England - he probably would not get accused so much ! Mind you I did think Doucoure was a bit risky rushing up to him having been booked - and the ref did tell him off.
First half we were first in the tackle from the off, which was great to see, 2nd half they had more of it, but how come they had balls cleared off the line when we never create those sort of chances in the first place!
Didn’t he try that at Man U? I thought the ref had a good game. He got the two important decisions right. Ignoring the first Zaha pen appeal & booking him for delinquency on the second.
Not so sure "a good game" is quite correct. He got a lot wrong as well as correct. Zaha should have been sent off.....twice. Yellow for the first dive, a yellow for the second dive and a red for the terrible challenge on Karnezis.
Cavanagh showed common sense. The Milford types would have sent off Doucs, as they would be entitled to. But in the context of the match & Zaha’s dive, that would have been wrong. Booking 3 CP players in the first 30 mins. Again, counter productive. It was a feisty affair, which it should be, & credit to the ref for getting the important calls right & keeping things flowing. I await the call from Stockley Park.
He also kicked the ball away at some point in the 2nd half - again might have been petty but seen refs give yellow for that. Palace fans getting a bit upright (even more so than the Bournemouth fans do) about the reputation Zaha has - well everyone seems to agree he dives no matter who they support so its not just us!
Gray was awful when he played for us earlier in the season. That is why consecutive managers fail to select him. He missed so many 1-on-1s and easy chances. There’s no deep dark secret as to why Okaka is being played ahead of him, and I imagine the calls for Okaka to play would also be loud if Gray was being selected. The truth is - they’re all awful options. We can keep rotating them all we like, but it’s zero use. Let’s just play the ones with the lowest appearance fees, until we can bid them farewell the second the transfer window opens.
It's not about it being their first foul. Doucoure's was 100% a booking - it was a spoiling foul designed to stop Loftus-Cheek breaking away. Zaha was on his bike ahead of him and Doucoure had no intent to win the ball. I don't think any of the 3 you mention were close to that.
Maybe because he hasn’t actually scored that often, whereas the Deen won us two valuable matches recentlyish. Not saying that Captain Cojones is unproblematic though.
Of course it was taking one for the team. My point was the ref let them have numerous first offences then Doucoure got booked with our first one. If he had set the tone with the sly ones he should have done the same with the cynical one. Wards first was cynical and he was last man. I know the ball was away from goal but Peryera had beaten him and was on his way - talking to. Makes no sense at all.
Good defensive performance yesterday, Cathcart and Kabasele compliment each other well. Mariappa performed well at right back against the odds. The midfield performed well and supported the top two, Pererya had the best of Ward all day who was incredibly fortunate to stay on the pitch. The top two performed well with Deeney actually offering something for once but was overshadowed by Okaka. The ref started off ok in the first half letting the game flow and then just went to pot in the second, absolutely hopeless. The atmosphere was cracking for the first time in a while and everyone was behind the team. Got to love Woody's burning down and a bloke chucking stuff out of his window on to the ring road causing absolute mayhem. Never change Watford.
