Spot on, 100% agreed. Joka implies that change was forced on him by injury: “I decided to take off (Adlene) Guedioura earlier in the match not because he didn’t have a good game but because he had a small problem. “I decided to give him a little bit of a rest. After that moment we didn’t have balance and they started to cause problems. “So I wanted to fix the problem in the midfield and I decided to do that with a centre-back. We fixed the problem, scored the goal and we had an easier last ten minutes
The Reading forum seems incredibly relaxed about a 4-1 reverse. Their emotions range right from 'oh dear' all the way to 'never mind'. Maybe we should take a leaf.
I remember how awful I felt driving home from the Vic after the last match of last season. That 1-4 loss was one of the worst performances I'd seen in many years of watching us. The lack of team spirit was apparent, and I had little faith in the then Head Coach to really kick on with us, if he managed to survive the summer. A gloomy end to a nothing season, and not much positivity to take into the summer break. And now, fast forward 10 months, another 4-1 scoreline, but what a huge difference and what a far nicer feeling driving home. A stronger squad of players, a hugely improved team spirit with everybody pulling in the same direction, and a Head Coach who, after a few uncertain periods, has finally cemented his personality and ability from the touchline. What a wonderful transformation happening right before our eyes. A season that looked like degenerating into farce at one point with all the changes has turned into one that's brought us more wins than anybody else. Despite 4 coaches and losing 4 in a row at one point, which isn't the recommended way to promotion lol, we're in the automatics and the form side at exactly the time you want to be. We can lose our top scorer and the new forward pairing get 8 goals in 4 games. We can lose our best midfielder after a few minutes today and see his replacement score one and set up two. We have seasoned internationals ready to come off the bench. Honestly, the last few weeks have been among the best of supporting us for years, and the remaining 9 matches promise so much. And without wanting to tempt fate, as I know Tuesday will be tough for starters, I say 9 and not 12! The debates, and probably squabbles, about who said what during the Joka poor run when, let's not forget we fell from 1st place to even start worrying about getting a play off place, or whether people like me were right in thinking Beppe wasn't the man to get us promoted, can surely wait until the season is over? It's not about lauding it over one another right now, or trying to prove who was right or wrong (though I accept I was very wrong to panic about the Pozzos changing too much this season). It's about all of us, every one a Watford supporter through and through, enjoying every minute of things right now. Because this promises to be a special era in our history, a special season. Let's all enjoy it together as one, as today's show of support for Nick showed.
I'll have more to say about the game in a bit, but most has been covered... However, I'd like to highlight probably the biggest ****ing tool in the whole ground who sits next to me. When we started the applause at 44 minutes, he deemed it "Unnecessary" and "All getting a bit silly now" **** off you ****ing ****** and never come back.
Just got back, we've started getting food after the game to avoid the 50-oddperson queues to pay for parking when we have to go in the multi-story... I actually think this was a very good performance, though to be fair the two other games I've been to recently are Blackpool and Leeds, where we've been 2-0 down at some point. Referee did a decent job, everything for Nic seemed to go to plan - the atmosphere was a bit subdued, but I was expecting that... Gomes was great again, his fingertip save to tip a shot over the bar was fantastic. It led to their goal when Vydra didn’t clear the ball properly, yes, but that can’t be blamed on him! Completely disagree with the posts criticising Pudil – I thought he had one of his best games in a Watford shirt (that I’ve seen). Strong in the tackle, won the ball a fair amount, showed plenty of energy and was involved in a lot of play. He even got a block in to prevent a cross from the corner of the box in the second half! Motta was excellent also; even if you ignore his incredible strike (which I was convinced was going in!), he was finding loads of space and was fantastic going forwards and defensively. In my opinion, Pudil and Motta proved that saying that fullbacks have to compromise either defensive solidarity or attacking play is incorrect – it just takes intelligence from them and the covering players. An absolute world away from Anya and Paredes as full backs. Cathcart was solid, Ekstrand made a couple of important challenges (one on Blackman in particular, when Reading had just got their goal), Angella was as composed as ever when he came on. Watson was our best midfielder, in my opinion. Excellent challenges and seemed to appear everywhere. A few stray balls, but on the whole a great performance and exactly what we were missing. Guedioura also had a great game, and was unlucky not to get an assist with a great cross for Forestieri’s acrobatic effort. Tozser was fairly unspectacular, but made few mistakes so there can’t be too many complaints! Our whole performance dropped a gear when Layun came on, but I think that was down to general fatigue rather than a reflection of his performance. I’d still have preferred to see Munari coming off the bench than him at the moment, though. Abdi was Abdi. For five minutes, which is a shame. Deeney's performance was as good as ever - two assists and a goal is just what we've come to expect from him. I actually think he's underrated in a way - if he performs slightly worse than this, he's often said to have had a bad game! Vydra was involved a lot and showed a finish that wouldn't look out of place in January 2013 but tired after about an hour, and would have been my choice to come off instead of Guedioura. I think he probably would have if we had a striker on the bench. EDIT: Just seen that Guedioura apparently had a niggle, which probably renders this point invalid, but still worth pointing out that he faded a lot! Final note is on Forestieri. I've been a fairly vocal critic of his at times, for displaying very little end product and for needing something to get him 'in the mood' to play the level of football we know he's capable of. Today, he was completely different - he was chasing down everything, and showed incredible skill and composure to get into a position to pass to Vydra and then Deeney, and then to actually make the pass. He had a couple of long range shots when there was probably a better option (earlier in the first half), but I was delighted that he got his goal today, as he completely deserved it. That's probably the best I've seen him play without having something rile him up beforehand. Very enjoyable game. It's not often that I come away from a game with nothing that stands out as an improvement that needs to be made. Onto Wigan!
Guedioura is pretty much the last player we can afford to be without right now. We need his bite. So it goes down as a good call from the boss.
this - we've been doing this all year, the traffic is getting worse, makes for a proper family afternoon out (although adds another £50 to the cost of the day!)
Another example of the media completely ignoring us: Featured teams: Bournemouth for going top, Boro for "keeping up the pressure" and going 3rd, Derby and Norwich drawing. No mention of the team who just went 2nd, getting back into the automatics for the first time this year. It's like Harry Potter has draped his cloak over the entire club.
Today was Deeney's 100th career goal (for us and Walsall). Joka's win percentage is now 57%. He's won 15, drawn 3 and lost 8 of his 26 league matches in charge. A sign of how quickly things can change in this crazy division this season..the last 4 matches have seen us gain 8 points over Derby, who had been top before that! We've gained 4 points over Boro in the same period, 3 over Norwich and 9 over Ipswich! We're the form side, along with Bournemouth, and looking at the next two round of matches there's no reason we can't be top by this time next week.
On the BBC Football homepage, they feature four matches: CHAMPIONSHIP Bournemouth return to top of Championship CHAMPIONSHIP Norwich denied win by Ruddy own goal CHAMPIONSHIP Point edges Wolves closer to play-offs CHAMPIONSHIP Bamford hits brace as Boro stun Ipswich They may as well have titled the Wolves one 'TEAM FAIL TO MAKE THE MOST OF TWO OTHER TEAMS COCKING UP, ARE STILL IN 8TH'. I really don't get it. I'm not going to complain, because going under the radar is often the best way, I just find it absolutely mystifying.
to be fair, it was the same when ipswich were in 3rd or was it 4th for significant amounts of time...an unfashionable team with the expectation that they would eventually fade away...
**** all the other teams we all know watford have the best chance of going straight up in years.All I can say is don't ever ever underestimate the hornets or you might get stung.
Was absolutely delighted for Forestieri for his performance and especially his goal today . It's been a while since he's had such an impact ( although obviously not been getting in the side much this season ) his over exuberance can make him frustrating to watch at times , but on his day he is a player I would genuinely pay money to watch ( which is good as normally I do have to pay!). Other than that a fairly professional display with a few lapses at 3-1. Did anyone else think the atmosphere was a bit odd at 3-0 as it seemed like the game was wrapped up and Reading had settled for a defeat. There was someone behind me Completely changed when they got the goal back. Agree about Motta, there is something of the cassetti about him. Some of his touches to release people were tremendous and yes that would have been a sublime goal if it had gone in What a great position. We're in in the table . Bit concerned about Wigan as I have this down as one of the harder games , they appear to be hitting some form....
Good - don't think it's a bad thing to stay 'under the radar' at the moment. I actually don't give a flying you-know-what about the media coverage - or lack of - we get. I only care that we keep winning. As for today's game, agree with much of what has been said on here already. Thought everyone had a decent game and, apart from a ropey 10 minute spell in the second half, we looked totally in control. Motta, Watson, Deeney and, of course, Foresteiri, stood out for me. Nice to be talking about Fessi for positive reasons again. I agree that Layun wasn't great but I still find it incomprehensible that some 'fans', at 4-1 up, choose to make the most noise shouting how '****' he is, rather than participating in any positive singing. Re the gestures for Nic/Moo - thought they were done very sensitively and that the banner was spot on. Thanks to everyone involved for organising. Full credit to Reading fans for participating so fully. I have to confess I had to put my sunglasses on while they were going on, despite the fact that I sit in the sunless Rookery.... Btw was the 'All Together Now' track for Nic?
If the last nine games are like a mini-season, then today's game was like a bonus 'pre-season' warm up. I feel almost embarrassed to be slightly underwhelmed by a 4-1 win over Reading. Forestieri's performance was obviously a big plus, but apart from a spell in the second half after Guedioura came off, that was a very poor side we faced today. You can only beat what's in front of you though, and we dispatched them quite professionally. Onto Wigan, against whom we'll require more grit than we did for today's turkey shoot.
According to Clarke "The difference between the teams was that Watford were clinical and we weren't." Apart from that, no real difference then Steve? Everything roughly equal? Another t**t of a manager.
Clarke's comment's were obviously for the ears of his chairman. The only equal thing between us and the side Reading put out was the figure of eleven a side.
Some thoughts https://nathanlowndesfootballgenius.wordpress.com/2015/03/14/thoughts-watford-4-1-reading-aka-the-fernando-forestieri-show/
He's deluded. Apart from a brief wobble we pissed all over them. As easy as an afternoon of Championship football can ever be.
Haha, I saw that earlier and couldn't help but smile. The bookies fancy Bournemouth and Norwich; the media fancies Bournemouth and Derby; the pundits fancy Bournemouth and Middlesbrough; the football hipsters fancy Bournemouth and Brentford. Good thing Bournemouth have wrapped the league up really. To be fair, what's he supposed to say? "We played a load of kids and they were completely our of their depth"?
I reckon that was Pudil's best game for use today, he actually showed that he can defend to a good standard and kept his head not diving into to challenges all the time. Everything else has been said about the game. I am now putting Layon into the Neutron category of Pozzo-era players. Pure durge. He ain't no left back either before people say that is his natural position as no defender would waft a leg around like ho does. Keeping Guedioura fit will be key, right thing to take him off as a precaution but losing him showed how thin we are in the middle of the park against Reading's reserves.
The media ignoring us is nothing new. Pretty sure I saw a video on YouTube from two years ago that showed Sky Sports News saying Palace were third when we were, clearly on the screen, and completely ignored us. Unfashionable for life.
No magic loo today, but the rancid fart I did whilst watching Les Miserables in the theatre in London seemed to do the trick!
