Should have been a penalty. Better chances. But overall a dreadful effort from both sides. There's a severe lack of confidence in the side. And at times nowse just gifting the ball away. How Sema managed ninety minutes and Pedro gets hauled off is a mystery. Hopefully Dennis, Louza and Sarr can bring some invention and threat back into the side.
VAR robbed us. Roy got us a clean sheet, massive props to him. Kamara MOTM was brilliant. Pedro growing every game too. 2 points from Newcastle, Norwich & Burnley is probably going to be what costs us but promising performance over all really. Sema & Kucka doing 90 minutes is laughable. Awful squad mismanagement. Hesitant to say it because Claudio also started well but if we had hired Roy instead of Ranieri maybe we’d be in a better position. Josh King is annoying me, Dennis to start upfront when he back. Sarr for Sema and let’s see if we can start scoring.
I can still remember a few weeks back when we were all debating whether we'd be happy with minimum 5 points or 7 points from Newcastle, Norwich and Burnley We got 2... Both teams stink of relegation
They said on the commentary that they wouldn’t like the game to be decided on a mistake, well it was actually from the ref!
New rules state that it doesnt matter if its accidental. His arm was away from his body and outside his silhouette. Even that Peter Walton bloke said it was a pen on BT and he NEVER disagrees with the refs.
I'll take that all day. A clean sheet and staying above them is a decent enough start. The team overall looked a lot more energetic than in recent games, the break has probably done the team good, plus Hodgson and Lewington have clearly got them running their socks off already - you could hear them egging them on from the touchline even on TV. Sure had VAR done its job we should have at least scored, and it's a disgrace that it did (even Peter Walton disagreed with the decision), but given we were missing Dennis and Sarr we were only ever likely to score from some stroke of luck like that and we're not the a team that gets given such rubs of the green by the officials. Stephens should have also had a second yellow on the 80th minute, though it probably wouldn't have changed the result. I won't dwell on the injustice of the VAR decision though, overall a draw was about fair, and with Sarr and Dennis to give us more attacking impetus in future games it's something to build on. The only minor slight on Hodgson today is I've got no idea why Cleverley came on for Kayembe - we lost control of midfield after that. Unless Kayembe was injured, which didn't seem apparent, then either bring on Clevs for Kucka or leave things as is.
That's only partly true - you doubt Cleverley would have made the second challenge which ultimately earned him the booking had he not already been let off without one for his first.
Having to do this fixture again next season twice in the Championship makes vomit come up into my throat.
In fairness, though quality low, conditions were poor. At one point, the corner flag bent right flat to the ground in the wind. We need a win from one of the next 2 to get a bit of momentum. For Brighton, we could have Sarr and Dennis to come in.
Point absolutely not good enough at this stage of the season, pretty much confirms our relegation. Absolutely atrocious game of football.
The first half was actually very promising - you can see the defence are more organised, but also they play more on the front foot - they are more decisive, and step out to deal with problems more, rather than dilly-dallying, staying frozen to the spot and letting the opponent do whatever they like in front of our box. The whole team worked a lot harder and were the more proactive team throughout the first half. The fact that we still suffer the patented Watford Wind Down in the second half is cause for concern, though - very frustrating to watch. Burnley were and are abysmal. To not get three points from them, in the situation we're in, and frankly look less and less like we were trying, was a bit pathetic. At least, if we're clutching at straws that are miles above our heads, we have the clean sheet hoodoo off our backs at long, long last. Single points will not be saving us, though, and even Burnley still have games in hand. Let's hope they continue to be as bad as they were tonight. Hit list - JP in the first half The defence does already show some signs of improvement and actually knowing what they are supposed to be doing - namely, defending We have Sarr and Dennis to come back, as well as the possibility of Louza actually being played in midfield at some point Shyt list - The midfield - we still have no control whatsoever, and even in our ascendant period from about 25 mins to 45, we misplaced it and gave it away so many times. Kayembe's magic influence has already waned, though it's not like he was standout terrible. Individual decisions - I have complained about this so many times already, but we still take every stupid, silly decision possible - try and control the ball with my hip bone under pressure, flick a pass round 180 degrees blind to no one, fall over under no pressure when the last man, etc. That's the fundamental lack of quality we are all so aware of in action. Sema - shockingly poor as a player at this level, and devoid of skill - in the 22nd minute, he misplaced receiving the ball so badly, he played it straight to an opposition player in midfield twice in a row. This cannot be what we have relying on, Roy - please. Cleverley - the plucky tunnel rat hero is in fact, indeed, shyt at this level - looked worse than Kucka in much less time. At least we know for sure how he starts each time, now. We're going to need to have quite a lot of continued incremental improvement for that point and clean sheet to represent anything other than a missed opportunity. Fingers crossed...
Kamara excellent. Samir composed. Kayembe winning nearly everything in the midfield. A good showing from the new lads. Questionable to play Kucka on the right, but he was better than Sema, who wouldn't look out of place playing in League One. JP and King get frustrated at one another quite often, although I guess some of that is down to a lack of confidence.
I think a bit of context is needed in that Burnley are bottom of the league. I really don’t see how we get any points off of actual good teams.
A clean sheet. Sends a message to the rest of the league, Watford are a team to fear. Absolutely immense result. We are as good as safe. We couldn't have asked for more! COYH!!!!
Oh yes I remember that Arthur! No he was a tabby and white,as is Persephone. When he had a small op at the RVC as a young cat the vets called him a "proper cat". He was solid. I'd have taken a point. Always hideous at TM,if it isn't raining it's about to. Roy's super glue held firm!
Pretty sure we all said 1 point would be great so 2 points is huge! We lost ground on Norwich and gained no ground against the two other worst teams in the league. Epic! Now we just need to start beating much better teams than the teams we have failed to beat.
No clean sheets for 513 years, then Roy comes in and gets one immediately. Think we might just scrape this (at Burnley’s expense who are garbage)!
Got to be pleased with finally getting a clean sheet - Woy has certainly made is more resolute at the back and to be honest Foster was rarely troubled tonight. When Burnley hit the bar at the start of the second half I dreaded the worst - but I think on balance we probably edged it overall and we almost certainly got robbed of a penalty in first half injury time. How can you bend your body like that, raise your hand touch the ball and not give a pen to the opposing side? Pawson - you absolute shambolic referee. Woy had us set up hard to break down, and it was Burnley - so was never going to be a classic high scoring game. Sema needs to be a late sub if we are winning - that should be his role. Kucka played pretty well for change, even Cathcart made a good block. We came here tonight with the intention of not losing - and we did that at least, and for once, didn't concede. It was scrappy, windy, wet and turgid - but we ground out a point in Woy's first game. Problem is, we have Spam next - who battered us in the reverse fixture, not looking forward to that one. There were reasons to be cheerful after that - we are creating chances but finishing them off seems a major hurdle. We missed Sarr and Dennis tonight although King didn't do too much wrong and Pedro worked hard. Cleverley was all over the shop though when he came on - worst i've seen him for a while. Credit to R&R for ending our run of not keeping a clean sheet, and we looked a lot more up for it tonight overall than we did against Norwich. Still a lot of work to do though - Spam will be a much bigger test than Burnley were tonight, let's hope we can at least compete. Shoutbox was awesome again - thanks guys.
