Watford (H) post-match thread (2-0 home win)

[StriderHiryu]

25 minutes ago, deep blue said:

I echo that feeling. We seem to have someone in charge at last who really knows what he's doing, and who is bringing a feeling of confidence and optimism back to us..

 

What I find amazing is how he is starting to achieve it in such a short space of time. You aren't the only contributor on here to talk about 6 months, but in fact he was appointed on 25th October, which means that he has done it thus far in under 3 months, which is incredible, considering the shambles it had become.

 

Hope I haven't put the hex on him now!

Wow. That just makes what he has done even more incredible.

 

Compare our side to Everton who are the best comparable team to us. A team outside the top 6 that want to be the best of the rest / break into the top 6. They have spent over 200M and gone backwards massively, panic buying players at premium prices and having to resort to Allardyce as manager. Visit the Grand Old Team forums and see what their loyal supporters think of the season. Compare what's happened to them versus what's happened to us! They might only be 2 positions behind us but the state of our club is so much stronger than theirs. Honestly their is even a strong argument to say we are in stronger shape than Arsenal right now.

[Spudulike]

... and then Silva gets the boot

[Aeropars]

Anyone know why Iborra was dropped? 

[HighPeakFox]

4 minutes ago, Aeropars said:

Anyone know why Iborra was dropped? 

Cake

[Mullet1]

47 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

... and then Silva gets the boot

So that’s Silva and Mourinho that have lost their jobs after losing to us. Anyone else?? 

[brucey]

9 minutes ago, Aeropars said:

Anyone know why Iborra was dropped? 

Better players are now fit?

[HighPeakFox]

I missed MOTD, anything of note regarding our match?

[foxes_rule1978]

Just now, HighPeakFox said:

I missed MOTD, anything of note regarding our match?

Mahrez and vardy were heavily highlighted 

[HighPeakFox]

1 minute ago, foxes_rule1978 said:

Mahrez and vardy were heavily highlighted 

Ty. I presume the imminent decline of JV was all they talked about....

[Leamington Fox]

For me what was most satisfying was to win by two with a clean sheet against very tough opposition.  I mean tough in the literal sense- they lack some quality going forward but I thought Watford were difficult to beat yesterday and the boys should take immense credit for a job well done.

 

Dragovic was my MOTM, closely followed by Ndidi and Maguire.

 

Amongst many things, I like the way that we seem to be able to win in different ways under Puel.  God love Shakey, but we are so much better off now than we were at the start of the season.

[SheppyFox]

I’ve been saying Puel is a French Lion-Wizard for ages, glad people see the truth now ?

[foxy boxing]

Another great win and another clean sheet, you can't really ask more than that! Maguire is having a great season while Dragovic is looking more and more assured! I know James is playing well and deserves to be in the team but I would like to see more and more of Silva who came on for a small cameo at the end! Another great goal by Mahrez and an overall great team performance. In truth Watford hardly offered anything and now they are looking for another manager to come off the conveyer belt.

[foxinsox]

4 hours ago, deep blue said:

I echo that feeling. We seem to have someone in charge at last who really knows what he's doing, and who is bringing a feeling of confidence and optimism back to us..

 

What I find amazing is how he is starting to achieve it in such a short space of time. You aren't the only contributor on here to talk about 6 months, but in fact he was appointed on 25th October, which means that he has done it thus far in under 3 months, which is incredible, considering the shambles it had become.

 

Hope I haven't put the hex on him now!

Quite right, 3 months to overhaul and transform is quite a feat. It will be interesting to see how he does in the transfer window. He doesn't give the impression of writing blank cheques, but rather has a clear vision of what is needed to progress. 

[Tringfox]

3 hours ago, HighPeakFox said:

I missed MOTD, anything of note regarding our match?

Their manager got the tin tack!

[Chocolate Teapot]

14 hours ago, Webbo said:

Do I have to pretend it was a good game because we won?

Yes this is entirely the purpose of the forum.

 

Threads that suggest the top 4 is possible after beating a side that has won one game in the last 11 (against us) and threads that suggest sacking the manager after one loss.

 

Spare me your perspective please.

[BenTheFox]

Puel really has gotten the best out of our holding midfielders. It made me wonder whether the fact he played there himself has had an influence on them. 

[Chocolate Teapot]

8 hours ago, murphy said:

You can do what you want.  There's a difference in tone between criticism and the negative constant moaning I kept reading.  Some of our fans are coming across as entitled tw@ts.  How about some credit for what has been achieved?

 

Of course I enjoyed the cup wins and I loved the M'ON team, but come on, this team is so much better and with so much more quality than M'ONs team.  I wonder how much you slagged them off at the time?

 

Back then of course, I felt we were invincible and then along came Peter Taylor and a decade in the wilderness.  Things can change so quickly in football and we could be back with a team of Elvis Hammonds again before you know it and then you will realise that you spent the best era this club has ever had moaning.

Yes we are doing well, but we've also got the most expensive squad we've ever accumulated, have spent consistently in the top 6/7 clubs on transfer fees, so we are kind of where i expect us to be.

 

Im pleased with the progress of the club but we are where we should be now abd should have been last year so forgive me if i cant get carried away with beating a mediocre side at home. 

 

My only criticism of Puel thus far is the debacle of the Man City QF....but some of our fans think finishing 7th is a trophy.......

Edited 21 January 2018 by Abrasive fox

[HighPeakFox]

2 minutes ago, Abrasive fox said:

My only criticism of Puel thus far is the debacle of the Man City QF....but some of our fans think finishing 7th is a trophy.......

I respect a lot of your posts, and indeed you make an interesting point here too. However, you've called Puel for the Man City match, and then cited the fans, as if it was because of them that the decision was made! My feeling about that match is that he took a calculated gamble (which nearly paid off, to be fair).

 

I think people get sick of routine negativity/slagging even when we win, which is entirely different to constructive criticism. Likewise, lack of balance (here's what was wrong/right, no countering points) makes for difficult debate.

[Chocolate Teapot]

13 minutes ago, HighPeakFox said:

I respect a lot of your posts, and indeed you make an interesting point here too. However, you've called Puel for the Man City match, and then cited the fans, as if it was because of them that the decision was made! My feeling about that match is that he took a calculated gamble (which nearly paid off, to be fair).

 

I think people get sick of routine negativity/slagging even when we win, which is entirely different to constructive criticism. Likewise, lack of balance (here's what was wrong/right, no countering points) makes for difficult debate.

Its a seperate point on Puel, that i think hes doing a good job on the whole but isnt immune from criticism just for the league position. We've got some tough away games to come so we will see how we fair on those.

 

And my point about the fans is a logic that really disappoints me that a few positions in the league are worth more than a trophy. Not for me. Ever.

[Bluetintedspecs]

34 minutes ago, Abrasive fox said:

Yes this is entirely the purpose of the forum.

 

Threads that suggest the top 4 is possible after beating a side that has won one game in the last 11 (against us) and threads that suggest sacking the manager after one loss.

 

Spare me your perspective please.

Come on Abrasive..... you know that won't happen as the hissy fits and knee-jerk reactions are an integral part of Foxestalk 

Back to CP, he is measured, thoughtful and it's great to have a thinker and tactician in charge.

[HighPeakFox]

7 minutes ago, Abrasive fox said:

Its a seperate point on Puel, that i think hes doing a good job on the whole but isnt immune from criticism just for the league position. We've got some tough away games to come so we will see how we fair on those.

 

And my point about the fans is a logic that really disappoints me that a few positions in the league are worth more than a trophy. Not for me. Ever.

I know that, but the way you presented it made it look as if the 2 were linked - that was my point.

 

I see your point regarding the fans, but it'd be boring if we all agreed. If 7th place achieves a European spot, then that is a win, if not a pot on the mantelpiece. The fact that football has changed to the degree that that is possible, is, perhaps, worthy of debate.

[The Prince]

To come away from that match and be negative is just strange. I guess that is just a reflection of people's personalities. 

 

Personally I was a little frustrated for parts of that match. First half was a little pedestrian and second half, we were wasteful after a number of opportunities to kill the came off but the positives out away the negatives by such a long way. 

 

We we have genuine quality in every department. The likes of Amartey and Dragovic came in and did an excellent job. 

 

We can certainly look for areas of improvement but to moan about that performance (and the majority of performances under Puel) is odd. As some have already said, if you've watched city for any length of time you must appreciate the football we are currently watching. 

[katieakita]

16 hours ago, ARTY_FOX said:

Had to sit next to two guys again today who has got to be the worst 'supporters' in the world. They buy their tickets from someone who has never been to a game but bought the tickets to sell on when we went up. They have absolutely no idea what they're on about. All thethey do is moan that everyone is shit. 

 

The season we won the league it was all about how we're shit and every player is shit because we don't have 80% possession literally saying how can we play like this and expect to win the league without any irony what so ever. Now we don't counter enough. Everyone in the team is shit. But Maguire is 'Alright'. Constantly talking about how everyone needs to be sold and we need a new defence, midfield and attack.

 

They kept repeating the same joke that nobody found funny about mahrez not being worth 100 pence let alone 100 million pounds. Every time James touched the ball they were moaning saying he's shit and not good enough for this level blah blah blah. One of my personal favourites about N'didi being shit and bringing nothing to the team. 

 

They were screaming at mahrez for being shit in the build up to the penalty. Then it was okazaki's fault then saying it was never a foul and it was dive. Everytime they come it's 90 minutes of why everyone we have and everything we do is shit and watching them is a waste of time. 

 

So what I'm trying to say is if you were these fellas sat in J2 Row X Seats 231/232 just don't ****ing come again. If you know them. Tell them don't ****ing come again. Thanks. 

 

 

Could also be a simple understanding perhaps they were told in 2015/2016 they were watching the best team in the league and you can understand the confusion when we had nowhere near 70% possession like they were saying in the papers and the papers even got are colours wrong being more Blue and white than white and blue and they were clearly struggling working out which of our players were Kane,Dele,Son and co even Potch looked a lot older and greyer than he did on MOTD. 

[ARTY_FOX]

1 hour ago, katieakita said:

Could also be a simple understanding perhaps they were told in 2015/2016 they were watching the best team in the league and you can understand the confusion when we had nowhere near 70% possession like they were saying in the papers and the papers even got are colours wrong being more Blue and white than white and blue and they were clearly struggling working out which of our players were Kane,Dele,Son and co even Potch looked a lot older and greyer than he did on MOTD. 

Wouldn't have surprised me in the least if they had asked those sorts of questions. They've claimed Vardy is done and shouldn't be playing anymore multiple times so anything's possible.

[Bayfox]

6 hours ago, Mullet1 said:

So that’s Silva and Mourinho that have lost their jobs after losing to us. Anyone else?? 

Pretty sure Sherwood and monk lost their jobs after playing us as well. Sure Claudio did for them 2 as well as Jose.