WBA Team and reaction

Massive shame about the last minute goal conceded but what a performance. We worked unbelievably hard, got stuck in, competed and at times played some good stuff. The defence looked much better, stayed solid and showed a great amount of determination to win the ball. Dale Bennett for me was brilliant along with everyone else in defence, including DeMerit which I have to admit surprised me a bit as he showed a lot of courage and a high work-rate. Danny Graham's goal was absolutely brilliant, lovely volley smashed into the bottom corner from around 25 yards. Meanwhile, WBA's goal was not great by us but with ten men and them throwing everything they had at us, we struggled to keep up with them and one of their players just managed to get free and nod in. A big shame to not win but when you look at the squad we were up against and the squad we have when you consider all the injuries/suspensions, we picked up a very good point.

Loach- 6.5 Actually didn't have a great deal to do but did most things well. His kicking was fine enough and he made one or two decent saves.

Mariappa- 8 Brilliant, he worked very hard, defended superbly, looked strong in the air, passed the ball well enough and tested their keeper with a stinging drive for far out. Maybe he could have done a bit better for the goal but you can't fault his performance over 90 minutes.

DeMerit- 8 Came on as a sub for Doyley after ten minutes and being dropped seemed to galvanise him. He looked strong, determined, and he put in some brilliant slide tackles. Much improved, now it's up to him to keep it up until the end of the season.

Bennett- 9 Absolutely immense. He won practically every header and he put in some truly brilliant tackles & blocks. His determination, work-rate, bravery, and courage were all top notch today and he looked to be really fighting for the shirt. Fantastic.

Hodson- 7.5 Looked very good defensively in a position that he has not played in for the first team. He won tackles and did well in one-on-one situations however I do feel that his passing and crossing let him down a bit. Too often they would be off target.

Buckley- 6.5 Did alright, worked very hard and went on some decent runs. He has stepped up two levels so he doesn't get as much time as he would like and he needs to learn when to play and when not to hold on to the ball in our own half. He put in a couple of alright crosses but at times his end product wasn't the best. Overall, he did OK, not badly but not great.

Eustace- 8 Very impressive. He worked extremely hard and he also played very good passes. He looked strong, aggressive and touch in the tackle. Unfortunately he had to play on with an injury late on and that certainly didn't the effort to keep our lead but he was brilliant. Perhaps a bit lucky not to get sent off though.

Harley- 7 Put in an impressive shift but he stupidly picked up a red card. Before that he did very well playing in the centre, looking strong in the tackle, energetic and playing some good passes but that stupid second yellow he picked up really didn't help us.

Cowie- 6.5 A bit quiet today but did what he to do. He worked hard, tracked back, won some tackles and passed the ball nicely. He can't put in a good cross with his left-foot however. Solid enough overall.

Cleverley- 7.25 I really hope he can make at least 1 game before the end of the season but it looked like a really bad injury. As for his performance, he worked hard, looked bright, and energetic, he passed well and went on some good runs. At times I feel he could of latched on to Graham's flick-ons a bit better but still a good performance overall.

Graham- 9.5 MOTM Simply amazing. He worked unbelievably hard, he won a huge amount of headers from long balls; he held up the ball wall, linked up play well, scored with a stunning strike and showed a large amount of passion today. By the end of the game he was absolutely knackered and could barely run but a more than brilliant performance.

Subs:

Doyley started the game but only played 10 minutes so no rating and I put DeMerit in the starting part.

McGinn- 6 Not much chance to make an impact and he is not really a winger but he worked hard.

Hoskins- 6.5 Worked hard and displayed a few nice touches, not much else.

 

Bang on, great partnership, we don't need Demerit, DEFENDAAA will do us fine next season


Are you f**king kidding me?

Danny Graham, you have unbelievable tekkers, he was brilliant, held up play brilliantly. And what a suprise, HH doesn't play and Graham is back to his best

 

last game for cleverly (broken leg?). i thought eustace was a good leader again and dale bennett had a great game which means the demerit will have to show more fight and hosson over doyley anyday but it would be nice to see a left footed player playing left back. graham goal of season?

 

Cant be asked to rate everyone but Bennett and Graham both get 10/10, they were impeccable and either end of the pitch

Grahams performance today is the best 'target man' performance I can remember seeing

 

I haven't seen a game since Christmas, and then I only saw one. Before that I would be going back to September.

Mariappa looked a different player than the one I used to watch. He was great on the ball, had some fantastic little creative one-twos, got himself forward and defended really well.

A different player.

 

Also gutted to see us lose 2 points from a game that many people earlier on this week would of had down as a heavy defeat. Some members of the team looked like they had been kicked up the arse and actually started playing like we were earlier in the season. What you have to remember that West Brom are a talented team, and as for why they were lumping the ball forward when if they had passed the ball around the pitch they would of probably got a couple of goals is beyond me.

Anyway, the positives that I could see today:

Outstanding performances from Bennett and Graham, they were playing for the shirt today.
DeMerit looked decent when he came on, possibly a goal saving tackle on Giles Barnes just after he came on. Some have questioned his commitment recently, but he more than proved himself today.
Another cracking finish today, came completely out of the blue.

Negatives:
Season ending injury for Tom Cleverley, he has been superb this season, was sad to see him end his season like he did.
Mariappa who was solid for most of the game was again caught ball watching for the goal, when will he understand that he needs to follow his man, especially in the 5th minute of injury time when you are 1-0 up against the team that are 2nd in the league, and winning us a vital 3 points.
More injuries that could cost us in terms of Doyley, Buckley etc. when we already have so many people missing already.
Harley being a twonk and getting sent off for two silly fouls (although it must be said that Mr Tanner was too quick to show his cards for me today)

Saturday is MUST win now.

 

He wasn't bad, but he was certainly not brilliant, still gets caught in two minds when he gets the ball
F**king run with it! He can beat players and whip a good cross in, but he never does!?:rant:

 

If we can beat Plymouth it will effectively send them down and will go a long long way to keep us up

we have a much better g/d than Sheff Wed and their remaining fixtures are very hard

 

A pretty fair assessment of the game and agree with a lot of it.

However mariappa was no way worth a rating of an 8!!! The goal was his fault and the volley in the first half was a pretty big chance especially at the time.

To be fair to him he is a centre back/right back so probably the worse player for the chance to fall too. He hit it cleanly and powerfully but straight at him, either side of carson and its a goal with the power that was behind it.

 

I was thinking that they had a lot of difficult games still to play, the last game v Crystal Palace could be a big one for them.

 

Plymouth to play:

Saturday, 10 April 2010
The Coca-Cola Football League Championship
Watford v Plymouth, 15:00
Monday, 19 April 2010
The Coca-Cola Football League Championship
Plymouth v Newcastle, 19:45
Saturday, 24 April 2010
The Coca-Cola Football League Championship
Nottm Forest v Plymouth, 15:00
Sunday, 2 May 2010
The Coca-Cola Football League Championship
Plymouth v Peterborough, 13:00

Still some big games for them.

Crystal Palace to play:

Saturday, 10 April 2010
The Coca-Cola Football League Championship
Crystal Palace v QPR, 15:00
Saturday, 17 April 2010
The Coca-Cola Football League Championship
Derby v Crystal Palace, 15:00
Monday, 26 April 2010
The Coca-Cola Football League Championship
Crystal Palace v West Brom, 20:00
Sunday, 2 May 2010
The Coca-Cola Football League Championship
Sheff Wed v Crystal Palace, 13:00

More difficult to call.

This run in could be close!

 

Agree with this.

If only we had played like this all season......

Bennett was amazing - first time I have seen him, and to see that poise from a youngster was a joy.

I reckon if Doyley had stayed on we would have lost - but hope he is ok.

Danny Graham looked like an old fashioned centre forward - he is getting back to form.

Hoskins is no defender but tried to impersonate one.

De Merit worked hard - but you can see he is trying to play through a bad patch.

Cleverly worked his socks off - hope he recovers soon.

Eustace was a rock.

Harley should never mess up like that - I thought he was a better actor:biggrin:

With the suspensions and injuries I think we have probably left it too late - unless Noble is a child prodigy who can mug Malky.

 

Absoloutlu gutted, we battled so hard. They had one chance and scored.

Mariappa was left with two men at the back post, but we should have cleared it before it got to Demerit, what happened to gamesman ship and taking a good yellow for time wasting.

Probably the biggest team in the league and all they did was play long ball all day long, they won't survive in the premiership

Fingers crossed for Cleverley

 

Exactly what I was thinking all game. They're ****ed, they have to invest in some new players big time otherwise they'll be straight back down

 

Graham has solved England striker crisis!!!

 

They didn't like our pitch.

 

Apparently Malky said on 3 CR he left on crutches as a precaution, and the injury was not as bad as first thought? Anyone hear that?

 

Why did Malky leave on crutches?!?!?













:naughty:

 

A decent point and a good performance. I dont think there where many watford fans expecting us to win this. As it was we could of (and perhaps should of) got all 3 points. Its just a shame that if we had put in the same effort and played the same way over the previous 10 games or so then we wouldnt be fighting relegation now.

Bennett and Hodson played really well, Graham scored a great goal. Everythings been said really.

Harley got himself sent off in a really stupid and avoidable way. 10mins earlier brunt (who was on a yellow) did a similar challenge at the other end of the pitch on marriappa and that didnt even warant a free kick. I do wish refs where consistant. Even so harley should have had more sense.

Still not in the bottom 3. Next weekend is must win, which wont be easy with all the players we have out.

 

He hit it at about shoulder height in fairness, think he did well just to get it on target but will watch the reply later.

Gutted to concede so late, we must have conceded more in the last 10 mins than any other team in the country.

 

Plus points: Cracking goal from Danny Graham, good performance from Dale Bennett, much much improved performance from Jay Demerit.

Minus points: Three injuries, the red card, the last minute equaliser.

 

I saw him leave and he was on crutches but was also putting weight on the leg, so finger's crossed it may not be too bad.

 

2223 west brom there, yet they made almost no noise throughout the game right up until they scored. very poor.

 

Yes!

 

I thought Doyley had his best game in a Watford shirt.

 

You can't see them getting too much from them. As long as we are ahead of both Palace and Sheff wednesday on the last day we stay up then

 

I can't see us being above Palace, but given our current better goal difference we need to be 3 points above Wednesday going into the last game.

 

We were desperately unlucky yesterday, but you could see it coming a mile off. I don't see how we were content to sitt back after scoring, you can't do that against a team like WBA, you WILL be punished.

Fantastic strike by Graham, well worked and well finished.

The defence was all at sea (again) for the equaliser, Mariappa went walkabout when Brunt should've been his man.

I would've taken a point before the game but not in those circumstances, gutted.

 

Mariappa had to mark two people because Harley got himself sent off!

Harley should shoot himself, stupid w@nker. He is experienced enough to know that we don't have enough players already, without him getting himself sent off for pathetic reason. **** you Jon.

Loach should have come out when he saw that nobody was marking him, that would have been the only way to defend against it IMO.

 

No, look at the goal, Marriappa didnt have two men. We should have defended it better, the red card just meant we went 4-4-1 instead.