Watford Post Match Thread - 1-1

[Deeg67]

It was certainly reinforced that our winger situation is dire, despite Albrighton's near miss.  He and Barnes were both dismal, and while Gray was great for half an hour he's so inconsistent that he can't be counted on.  

[Nicolo Barella]

1 hour ago, Ecdysiast said:

Apart from Chillwell's goal he came closest to scoring - hit the post with a great shot.. offers nothing??

In fairness, Albrighton did try hard all game and never gave up which is what led to that great attempt, but he was kind of useless otherwise. Actively losing the ball multiple times, crossing all the time to Vardy when he's stuck between Dawson and Kabasele. He performed better for us in the last game he played. Hopefully it's just some rust from our players.

[Nicolo Barella]

Iheanacho looked pretty sharp when he came on. Would like to see him and Gray start alongside Barnes on Tuesday, with Vardy maybe ready to seize the game by the neck from the bench. We're going to have to rest Vardy a couple of times during this schedule, maybe easing him into it would help him get his game back? As even when he got the ball yesterday he looked unsure.

[TheLittleBigMan]

I must admit i'm a bit disappointed the Watford players were louder than ours. Took the shine off an otherwise decent performance.  

[Chrysalis]

It felt like a defeat, I was ready to accept 0-0, we then took the lead, and I thought ok we won this is brilliant, as under Rodgers, we have never finished a game like we did except for Liverpool, man city, not against teams at the bottom end of the table.  Then suddenly mentally we collapsed, backs to the wall defending, no desire to play it out, scuffed clearances, the equaliser was inevitable, we couldn't hold for a mere 5 minutes.  People say defensive shape makes it less likely to concede, but I have always had the opinion the opponent cannot score if they don't have the ball and especially if you have it in their half, the team clearly doesn't have the mentality to defend all out, so I hope next game we adopt a play as you were when taking the lead.  Meanwhile wolves comfortably beat their opponent.

 

I agree the subs improved us.

Edited 21 June 2020 by Chrysalis

[Vindaloo FOX]

 

My thoughts of yesterday's game.

 

Also would like to add i thought Kasper did well, pulled off some important saves.

[lee7]

6 hours ago, Ecdysiast said:

Apart from Chillwell's goal he came closest to scoring - hit the post with a great shot.. offers nothing??

To be fair apart from that Albrighton offered little else! He gave the ball away and just seemed off the pace. 

Hard work only gets you so far but you still need some quality when your in possession of the ball and yesterday he lacked that. 

 

 

[Gordon the Great]

16 hours ago, foxinsocks said:

We get so many corners and we never score.

And we concede too many from corners and set plays, really need to up our game defending in those situations.

[The Quick Brown Fox]

9 hours ago, enmac said:

But we have a much better goal difference. If they win 3 more games than us we are still ahead. 

8 points ahead, 3 wins would give them 9 points and put them ahead by one point, our goal difference doesn't come into it. 

[Blanchflower78]

We look like limping past the post at best.  Not just yesterday but since Christmas:

 

Isolation of Vardy

Lack of creativity in final third

Wingers not effective

Tempo reduced

 

Watching Wolves again yesterday showed we are in front of them on points but behind them as a side. Much more balance, strength, creativity. Not much in it as the 2 draws have shown (albeit lucky ones) but as a standing start now I wouldnt fancy us to be within 6 points of them. 

 

It just highlights that despite an excellent season its imperative to buy well, keep progressing, have different options at your disposal. 

[Ricey]

35 minutes ago, Blanchflower78 said:

We look like limping past the post at best.  Not just yesterday but since Christmas:

 

Isolation of Vardy

Lack of creativity in final third

Wingers not effective

Tempo reduced

 

Watching Wolves again yesterday showed we are in front of them on points but behind them as a side. Much more balance, strength, creativity. Not much in it as the 2 draws have shown (albeit lucky ones) but as a standing start now I wouldnt fancy us to be within 6 points of them. 

 

It just highlights that despite an excellent season its imperative to buy well, keep progressing, have different options at your disposal. 

It was stark that despite a three month break we are still suffering with the same issues. I’d hoped a break would have resolved at least some of them.

[frany104]

3 hours ago, lee7 said:

To be fair apart from that Albrighton offered little else! He gave the ball away and just seemed off the pace. 

Hard work only gets you so far but you still need some quality when your in possession of the ball and yesterday he lacked that. 

 

 

Agreed. He offers nothing going forward. Like you said, hard work can only take you so far. Gray at least looked positive when he came on

[Foxin_Mad]

9 minutes ago, Ricey said:

It was stark that despite a three month break we are still suffering with the same issues. I’d hoped a break would have resolved at least some of them.

It seems like a tactical decision to play the way we are to me, which doesn't make sense.

 

When we upped our game we created 3 chances in a few minutes. I dont know why we dont play with that intensity for more of the game.

Edited 21 June 2020 by Foxin_Mad

[Sunbury Fox]

I thought that on reflection I might feel better about getting a point on the board and keeping the gap to 5th to 8 points, despite the way we tossed away a win. But I'm still really p1ssed off. In isolation a draw at an improved Watford is not terrible but the fact we missed out on being10 points ahead with a great chance to make that 13 before our main challengers next play still rankles a lot. Now we face huge pressure to beat Brighton, especially given the fixtures coming up. Plus I think many of the chasers will benefit more from the break than us. Man U and Spurs have got injured key players back and Wolves have had a much needed rest when they might otherwise have run out of steam. Man U and Wolves also have much more favourable fixtures than us. Fail to beat Brighton and I'll be seriously worried that we could blow CL. Tbf, our form has not been good since mid December, 4 wins from 13 PL games. If we continue that ratio over the last 9 games, making CL will certainly be very touch and go. 

[leicesterseddon]

Difficult to know what to make if it.

 

The generous interpretation is that it’s the first game back and we need time to get up and running again.

 

The slightly more pessimistic take is that we created very few good chances and some of our problems post-January are still all too evident. 
 

At this stage I think we should maybe consider a switch back to two up front, certainly against the lesser teams at least.
 

Vardy looked surprisingly sharp but apart from hopeful punts from Albrighton and the odd pass from Maddison he had very very little service. 

[Long Eaton Fox]

Part of the reason Albrighton played was to give extra protection to Justin on his right back prem debut

[enmac]

3 hours ago, browniefox said:

8 points ahead, 3 wins would give them 9 points and put them ahead by one point, our goal difference doesn't come into it. 

You're right. Must be wishful thinking on my part. 🙄

[CosbehFox]

Sour grapes here but Watford striker in offside position, in front of Schmeichel as Dawson hit it. 
 

Plenty of teams would have moaned enough to get that on VAR

[Blue ROI]

Disappointing not to have held on but I would have been happy with a point beforehand.

 

To anyone not happy with the result what did you expect. We were up against a team in relatively good form before the lockdown, one who gave Liverpool a complete pasting and managed by one of our most significant club icons who knows us inside out. And we have been in indifferent form since the win against Villa back in December.

 

Any time you win against a Pearson side you work hard for it.

 

Tough gettting back into the swing of it after 3 months away but this game might do us the world of good. There were far worse performances than ours over the weekend. Brighton is a chance to put things right.

Edited 21 June 2020 by Blue ROI

[st albans fox]

1 hour ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Sour grapes here but Watford striker in offside position, in front of Schmeichel as Dawson hit it. 
 

Plenty of teams would have moaned enough to get that on VAR

I wondered about that initially but he moved towards the post and Kasper had a clear view ..... Kasper isn’t shy about complaining ! 

[urban fox]

8 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

I wondered about that initially but he moved towards the post and Kasper had a clear view ..... Kasper isn’t shy about complaining ! 

Exactly that. I did wonder why there was no big shout from kasper  but in reality player had already moved out of his line of sight before the ball was struck so not interfering with play.

[KingsX]

22 hours ago, Gamble92 said:

Yeah and id like a pamela anderson in a bikini washing my Fiat Punto

 

I'll send her round ASAP.

 

 

You sure about that bikini?

[Paninistickers]

5 hours ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Sour grapes here but Watford striker in offside position, in front of Schmeichel as Dawson hit it. 
 

Plenty of teams would have moaned enough to get that on VAR

I.liked that Madison appeared quite spiteful and resentful in his post match interview that Watford grabbed a point

 

I didn't quite agree that we looked fitter and dominated as he claimed, but I do.like players being angry and bitter about defeat (or draws that feel like defeat)

[deep blue]

7 hours ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Sour grapes here but Watford striker in offside position, in front of Schmeichel as Dawson hit it. 
 

Plenty of teams would have moaned enough to get that on VAR

We didn't seem to moan about Dawsons foul on Soyuncu either.  VAR might possibly have given either in our favour.

[red5]

Dreadful management 18 minutes between 3 individual subs, 6 between the last 2, imagine being able to bring wes and/or bennet on after chilwells goal,