And rightly so. He proved his quality against the likes of Rotherham and Wycombe so you can't blame the club for giving him another go in the PL.
On the dodgy stream I watched the villa game on, there was a tunnel cam and it showed the Villa team taking to each other in a huddle, whilst ours stood round in silence looking at the floor. Sissoko was the only exception. Again last night during a long injury break, the Palace players got together and talked. The Watford players just stood there, meekly accepting their defeat. Pathetic recruitment bringing in a bunch of bottlers.
The thing is, Sissoko looked like a leader at first. However six months later and he has been sucked into the malaise of our squad. The players all change, the coach changes but the ever constant gutlessness of the team returns year after year.
I've just said similar on another thread. Seems the only way we can turn things around would require 2 seasons in the championship and a complete rebuild under an up and coming British coach. But I can only see us floundering for years in the same as you were mould...
I blame our "fans". It an undisputed fact that positivity directly corelates with winning football matches, and clearly we aren't being positive enough, as we lost 4-1 at home. We really need to get behind the players, or else we are going to go on a losing run and maybe even lose our PL status. Stop moaning and be the 12th man. Otherwise the opposition are going to simply have more players than us. At least Gino knows who the TRUE FANS ARE. Flag display incoming. UUUUUU ORRRRRRNNNNNSNSZZZZ
Flags now sponsored by Stake.com no less. Thank you Roy Moore. Truly a man of the people (when Boreham Wood aren’t playing)
This is unfair on a supporter who has immeasurably improved the atmosphere which everyone could see was needed after a limp play off defeat. And was praised for it by many on here. We're all frustrated after last night but the anger should be directed at the club and players.
We can all have our different opinions on it and I respect yours. But I believe the guy is now too close to the club to be truly objective about it. And I believe he has lost sight of what his original aim was. Plus I have seen first hand the behaviour of some of the ‘1881’ lot, and think he could do far more to clean up their act as their de-facto ‘leader’. Yes the atmosphere at Wembley in the playoff final was drab - but there are plenty on this forum alone (just ask @Diamond ) who will inform you that their behaviour at the FA Cup final was far less palatable than that previous Wembley outing. I also don’t hold a lot of respect for a group of fans who spend the week before a game rallying the troops so to speak - only to then sing songs about thanking the Pozzo family and chanting about Ranieri being sacked as we get railed by Norwich at home. I do wholly agree that fans ire should be directed at the owner and his chairman though. The players too I guess but I do think they are largely a case of us getting what we paid for. Misfits with little ambition who see Watford as a stop-gap/stepping-stone/last pay-day.
Just to clarify, the issue I had at Wembley wasn't the 1881 groups behaviour, (as far as I'm aware they're never more than boisterous), but that fact that they leaked information about my seat allocation to a ****. A fact that the club denies despite the evidence provided and one of the reasons I refuse to spend money there anymore.
Once again Watford were weak and passive at home. Not sure why this keeps happening. We're a complete car crash in the home games, yet away, especially under Hodgson, we've looked competitive, organised and resilient. In his 3 away games we've picked up 4 points, conceded just 1 unlucky deflected goal and kept 2 clean sheets. At home it's the total opposite. We've been dominated by 2 average Prem teams. I'm trying to understand why that is. Going by yesterday, what seemed obvious to me was the ridiculous passing around the back whilst being pressed. So often it lead to a mistake or players being caught in possession. It set the tone for nervousness. When Palace were in advanced positions, we stood off them. We gave them time and space in which to pick a pass. This made Palace look like a Champions League club, which of course they are not. We were far too passive in the press whereas Palace pressed us in key areas. This is why they got on top and there was only going to be one winner. We did have chances to score, but so did Palace. They could have had more than the 4 they scored. I don't agree with Hodgson's appraisal that we played well, we didn't. We were poor all over the pitch. It's a stark contrast from the away performances. Maybe Roy is wanting to encourage the players a bit, by not going in hard on them as he has to get a tune out of them on Saturday.....but he's well wide of the mark in his analysis of the game. I thought Foster should have done better with goal 3 and 4. Maybe even the first one as well, as the deflection off Kiko was only slight. We can't dwell on it now though, but we need to find a solution as to how we play at home, as these are the games that will keep us up. Away from home we look ok, but the opposition are going to be a lot harder than the home games in the final run in.
Wasn’t that similar to what Masina did against Liverpool this season? Then gives away a free kick in the other half with a poor challenge (until recently one of his saving graces). I’m been a supporter of Cleverley until lately but I have to concede he’s not been up to much this calendar year, apart from a few shots on target he’s offered little. I imagine if we achieve the desired miracle this will be his last season with us, like with Ben Watson?
The really bizarre thing about our home form, even allowing for the step up in quality of the opposition, is that we’ve gone from winning 10 consecutive games at the Vic at the end of last season and the first match of this, to now losing 7 in a row. That’s a huge swing from one extreme to the other. As I mentioned last night, Xisco took more points in his 3 home matches this season (and a cup win) than his two successors combined have managed since. That’s risible.
I suspect, though don't know for certain, that Clevs is on a significant wage. Too much for a Champ team and he's not good enough for the Prem, so he would be here for as long as his ludicrous contract has left to run.
To be fair, of all the things to criticise the club for, that’s pretty low down on the list, if it’s on it at all. It would be unfair to drop a player who was probably our POTS, had gained much needed confidence in a winning side and rediscovered what his main strengths are (pace, link up play, assists) that the club reasonably thought would be enough to compensate for his weaknesses in defence and make him the at least OK player he was before the relegation season. TBH with the culture at our club and the turmoil that’s been going on around our players and managers, even the likes of Lamptey and Livramento would struggle for consistency in this team.
Surely there is no one anywhere who has any positivity or think we are staying up still. Just surely not.
it all went wrong for us when Harry stopped doing his dances in front of the away fans pre match. Even he's given up now.
Tapped up already-he was always likely to leave anyway at end of season but his stock is high in the wider football world
Really? I'd say creating a substandard squad is quite high on the list of things to criticise the club for personally!
If Kiko had defended like a man it wouldn't of gone in. Face the ball and NEVER turn your back on the ball! It's unacceptable at any level of football. I've lost count how many times I witness this. I played with players with more of a winning mentality in Pub leagues.
Why would someone leak information about your seat allocation and why would anyone care about that information is what's confusing me.
I say the same thing about Cathcart. You see other defenders throw themselves in front of the ball. Not Craig, he turns a bit, lifts his leg a little bit and invariably it’s a goal. Absolute cowards.
No it isn’t. It’s been virtual silence at home games for months, so basically it’s as it was before he ever started organising his pub mates into the same area of the ground. Does he not deserve scrutiny like everyone else involved in the club?
Our xG conceded last night was 0.7, whilst our xG was 1.1. So really, we should have won and we were robbed by some bad luck/ very good finishing. We’ll thrash United.
