My postman the **** is a Liverpool fan. Mocked me after the final and the 8-0 drubbing. Come Monday morning I shall be camped behind the front door waiting for the scrawny little p rick!!
Well I woke up this morning thinking I had a strange dream where we stuffed Liverpool. Just watched the highlights again to convince myself it was true. Very little voice left and the atmosphere was top drawer. The below is from the BBC website. The home crowd, too, played a part. Before kick-off the atmosphere around the ground was not one of despondency but one of belief that Watford were doing the right things, despite recent results saying otherwise. They encouraged their team from the outset, rather than groaning at anything that did not come off, and when Sarr broke the lines with one of many promising runs on the flank early in the first half, they roared with an encouragement that clearly rubbed off on the players. Its been said before but we need to show that level of support for the rest of the season at home , 4 of our last 5 away games are in London so we should have sell out support. Keep the faith , we are staying up.
Right, now my personal initial excitement and shock has calmed off a bit I can give my take. I have seen many a great games at the Vic over the years. Beating Chelsea 4-1 and 1-0, Manure 3-1, Burnley in the FA Cup QF and the Doyley goal. But I cannot even attest to how awesome last night was. It was like poetry, something Shakey himself had written and Pearson and Co. executed it to the letter. Walking up to Vicarage Road I was surprised to see so much media. More than I have seen in a while. I pondered why, then asked a fellow hornet beside me who told me because if Liveerpool won, they would set a new record and obviously it was about who could get the best story of it. I didn't really care much for that but it did make me a bit more uneasy knowing Liverpool might not go so light on us. Took my seat and flicked through the programme, reading Troy's take and the like - nothing uncommon then the teams streamed out. Looking around I was surprised to see how full the stadium was for such a "free hit" game. It began and right from the off we were looking sharp into the challenge, defending well and not giving Liverpool time on the ball. In fact, Delafoo had a great early chance, then made another for himself. We were pinning Liverpool back in their own half, something I never thought would happen. Sarr was lightning quick down the wings, and a brilliant flick a sold one of their players a dummy - what a player he is. Liverpool grew into the game as the half wore on and as expected, they dominated possession but never really hurt us. In fact, only recall Foster having to make one save. Then, all of a sudden, our biggest chance so far. A whipped ball in from the right and Allison fumbled it like a clown with greasy gloves, it was a bit of comedy in the box before landing at the feet of Deeney who somehow managed to almost repeat his miss at OT a week prior, but to be fair I think Allison got a block in, the rebound fell awkwardly to Sarr who took a pot shot that went just wide. It got most of us singing louder, then a peak of silence as Delafoo hit the deck awkwardly, he seemed to twist his knee. You could tell it was bad when the stretcher came on, and to a man the ground applauded him off the field. I've heard it's possibly long term so might be him done for the season, but fingers crossed for him. HT blew and I was happy with the effort and commitment of everyone on the pitch. We had stood up to everything they had to offer so far, and dare I say it, we were even the better side. SH began with a mixture of tension and worry in my stomach as I knew how poorly we can end games recently. All of a sudden, a throw in on the right caused a bit of panic in their defence, the ball broke to Sarr who had a more or less tap in. Vicarage Road erupted, it was no more than we had deserved. Now ahead, were we going to sit back and defend or try to get another? That was soon answered when Deeney sprayed an absolute peach of a pass to Sarr, who ran into the box unchallenged, waited for Allison to move first, then dinked a superbly weighted ball over him and into the net. What the hell was happening? We are 2-0 up on the World and European Champions.... this is not supposed to be happening... A chant off "F*** your invincibles" rang out which was pretty funny to be honest. After that, I remembered how comfortable we had seemed against Everton before screwing that up, but this was a side transformed in a matter of a week. Liverpool began to pour men forward more and more, and we defended every cross, and blocked every shot very well. Foster shouted commands and having Kiko back was brilliant too - he carried on his impressive form all night, never giving Salah or Maine a sniff. We went close again after their late flurry. then Deeney scored his first ever goal against Liverpool, with a sublime finish past Allison from the edge of the box. It was a great goal, and more than made up for his past misses. He ran to the fans and punched the air in delight, and the stadium rose to their captain's song. Looking towards Pearson, he was unmoved, fully focused on us not conceding a goal and wanted that clean sheet. He was pointing and barking orders to get back and not be silly this time. The players responded in kind, but Sarr had one final real chance to score his first ever Watford hattrick, and by god he nearly did too, shooting just wide of the far post with Allison beaten again. FT blew after five minutes of injury time and the roar was deafening. Deeney punched the air in delight and gave high-fives to all team mates. I stayed behind for a bit longer than usual to drink in the atomosphere and most of us did to be fair. It was a brilliant performance - one that you only see maybe once a season. But we won a game nobody expected us to, we beat Liverpool ending their winning run and when teams around us had picked up points, we did likewise. Being out of the relegation zone on goal difference was an added bonus too. The lads deserve every bit of praise we can languish on them for the next week too. Special mention to Hughes, Capoue and Doucs who also ran the midfield engine. Masina again great. Thank you to all who went, and I hope like me, you celebrated that one more than any win this season. We are not safe - far from it. Now the hard work begins again - and we need to maintain this level or close to it in the remaining ten games. Do that, get what we can away and win our last home games, and we should do just enough.
Re the Saar vs Richarlison comparison, you have to say Sarr is already a much better finisher that Richarlison was at this stage. Richarlison initially could only score very reactive goals, Saar can already lift the ball over the keeper as cool as a cucumber. Richarlison has got better since, but if Saar improves further it will be scary.
A few more thoughts on yesterday. 1) Ishy S was magic of course BUT did you see how Hughes bollocked him vigorously for letting Robertson run free off him while he stood flat footed? Also wtf was he doing there when he blocked Hughes goalbound shot? Get out of the bloody way! If he'd have touched it on its way through it would have been offside and if he hadn't it would have probably been ruled out for blocking the keeper. 2) Deeney was a bit fortunate to get away with that studs up smack on Terrance Benedict-Arnold in the 1st half. An orangey-yellow card I'd have said, but we know how these things go with VAR and big clubs. Fortunately they didn't seem to review it. VAR ref just finishing shaking off the old man at the urinals perhaps... 3). How much did YOUR arse twitch when they got corners in the first half? Especially the first two. My confidence with us and corners remains shaky. Big puff of relief each time they got cleared. 4) Talking of rectum clench, the time Capoue spent a seemingly endless age with his foot on the ball and a 'Zut Alors!' horror-struck stance about three inches from our goal line, while what seemed like dozens of red shirts piled in from every direction of the compass. Eeeeek! So glad to see that end up in Foster's arms. 5). Kabasele and Cathcart's immense performances almost overlooked. Their front three all had the famous 'off day', but a big helping hand in keeping the Yorkshire ripper lookalike and his extravagantly inked mates quiet was down to those two. 6). Minimino really is mini, isn't he? Also I was glad to see that ****van Dyke got so ruffled by the "battering" his world champions were taking, that his silly little man-bun came loose. I would not enjoy running my fingers through greasy Allison's oily locks either.
You should post an A3 letter to yourself and on the front and back paste the result in large letters!
If you have a plan and a decent manager defence is the easiest part to get right, yesterday they all executed the plan to absolute perfection. They will not be able to do that every single game, because they all individually have errors in them as we have seen consistently this season. Upgrading any or all of them would mean we see those errors happen far less and have more days like yesterday, but they are always capable of doing what they did yesterday.
previous to last night the last time we beat the team top of the " top " division was 14th May 1983 V Liverpool 2-1, does anyone know of any previous occasions when we did this? i.e. not sure if the following 2 teams were top? Man united Away 04/10/78 won 2-0 Liverpool Home 21/02/70 won 1-0
Joke is on you. I already sent a PM with lots if negative words to all our players ahead of Palace so there's nothing anyone can do to stop us losing.
Think what a great time you will have if we do get relegated, you'll really be able to fill your boots, then.
It's weird how some people can't enjoy an historic win and instead, immediately look to see how they can use it as a weapon in arguments with fellow fans. Really weird. You and BRLR are quite something. I wish I could be as good a fan as the two of you.
From the Red & White Kop forum. Apparently the VAR is racist ... 'VAR should've af least looked af Deeney's challenge. But just like Maguire the other week, I think nationality helps players in some of these situations.'
I used to hate Liverpool. I've hated them since I was a child in the 70's. My personal footballing priority list has always been: Love Watford Hate Liverpool Love whoever Liverpool played Boo Luton like they're in a panto (which to be fair they have been for most of recent history). As time has passed, I found myself respecting Liverpool more and more. Their horrible treatment by Thatcher. Their refusal to buy/sell The Sun. Their remain stance on brexit. Klopp is a hugely likeable man. They are genuinely great to watch. Some lovely experiences in the city. Everton's behaviour. Yesterday's game finally put to bed any lingering dislike of LFC. They are now an irrelevance, and I can concentrate my full hatred on the EDL-loving scum. Good luck to Liverpool for the rest of the season.
It's nice to know that even on the morning after one of our best ever results, I still live rent free in the head of some forum members. Especially the mythomaniacs.
I don't think anyone questioned the signings of Sarr and Richarlison did they? More the fact that we haven't signed players in areas that are needed. A win against Liverpool doesn't mask the fact that it's been an atrocious season which is mainly down to recruitment last summer.
Lets be honest just imagine if we had not sold Richarlison, we would probably be pushing for a Champions League spot with him and Sarr in the same team
Of course he's allowed an off night, but Van Dijk looked very poor yesterday, he seemed to struggle with basic things like judging the flight of the ball. In the second half especially he was terrified of Sarr running behind him. Seems that after all the fawning over him the big fella does have a weakness, get him on the turn with pace and he doesn't like it!
ZZ is really enjoying himself this morning. Wave after wave of passive aggressiveness in multiple threads! Check out the transfers section where he'd dug up some old posts from someone about Masina. The superfan characters are indeed strange.
I don't like them but I think that just stems from the media love-in, which isn't really their fault i guess. Their players and fans have been quite gracious in defeat which makes a change, so maybe they aren't a bad bunch after all! Plus I noticed Van Dijk and Oxlade-Chamberlain actually showed real concern for Gerard, also the latter waited on the pitch at the end to shake hands with all of our players even though he'd been subbed off.
Liverpool were 8th in 1970 and Man U were 7th in 1978 (we beat them 2-1 by the way). Really enjoyed reading this, thanks. I have just one quibble. Perhaps your memory is playing tricks but, although the Burnley QF in ‘03 was a great occasion, it was anything but a great game.
On the coach coming back from Old Trafford last week, the chap next to me was a regular away who goes to all the away games including Tranmere away. He said he thought we would lose by six or seven this week and I think many of us were nervous and hoping that the goal difference wouldn't be hit too much! Well, what a difference a week makes and isn't this why we all go to the football and support Watford, you never know do you?
