Watford Post Match

[Lillehamring]

Just got back in from the game and I still can't get my head around the collapse in the second half. Not happy with a point tbh, the defending at times was horrific. Losing Wellens was a big blow, Adams was dicked on in the centre before moving out to the wing.

what was that all about? we were very confused when they mentioned that on the wireless (interesting, wireless has now come full circle )

[smudger63]

All doubters get back in the wood work. Pearson has done a great job since he's been here. We've lost 1 game this season.

Results like to today are frustrating but also like the oneill days with a never say die attitude.

I'm not sure what people expected this year but if with 4 or 5 games to got we are 9th with a chance of the play offs we'll have had a great season!

I`m sure that all city fans would say that pearson has done a great job here, so far, but that doesn`t mean he should be free of criticism, if people feel he`s got something wrong.

His selection of Brown, ahead of Tunch, after tuesday nights display, defies belief.

Tunch is a class act, and if fit, should definitely play.

Also, today, pearsons substitutions, were a little baffling, to say the least.

Especially taking fryatt off, he`s on fire at the moment, and it did seem very strange, to take off an in form striker, who was on a hat trick.

Encouraging thing today, was that we kept going till the end, and got something, when a couple of seasons ago, we would have felt sorry for ourselves, and given up the ghost.

Thats all credit to pearson, who has instilled that, "never say die" mentality, back to the club.

[Lovejoy]

what was that all about? we were very confused when they mentioned that on the wireless (interesting, wireless has now come full circle )

Replaced Wellens directly and proceeded to win absolutely, err, nothing. He then went to the left, Gallagher switching flank to the right and Oakley joining King in the middle.

[Lovejoy]

I`m sure that all city fans would say that pearson has done a great job here, so far, but that doesn`t mean he should be free of criticism, if people feel he`s got something wrong.

His selection of Brown, ahead of Tunch, after tuesday nights display, defies belief.

Tunch is a class act, and if fit, should definitely play.

Also, today, pearsons substitutions, were a little baffling, to say the least.

Especially taking fryatt off, he`s on fire at the moment, and it did seem very strange, to take off an in form striker, who was on a hat trick.

Encouraging thing today, was that we kept going till the end, and got something, when a couple of seasons ago, we would have felt sorry for ourselves, and given up the ghost.

Thats all credit to pearson, who has instilled that, "never say die" mentality, back to the club.

The introduction of Waghorn and Big Dany saved us a point . Those two he got spot on.

[Ozwin]

Why the fook didn't Tunchev start? Any sane person would see that he calmed the game down on Tuesday. Brown just gets worse and worse every game.

[TrickyTrev]

I admit Howard needs to start chipping in with a few goals, but did you not see how much we struggled and missed Howard last season when he was injured or suspended, with no disrespect, in League One?

That is because we tried to play in exactly the same way without him as we did without him, lumping the ball up to Dickov and expecting the same results. We have the players this year to play differently this season and we should.

Howard missed two sitters today in the first 5 minutes of the first half, perfect balls delivered on his head middle of the goal about 8 yards out. If he isn't putting them away its difficult to see how he is going to score any goals because he's not even getting involved in general play. Once again his use as a target man was reduced by his (lack of) mobility to flick ons from goal kicks and he hardly held the ball up at all. This really told when we were under siege at the beginning of the second half and our target man didn't offer an out ball. To make matter worse when he did finally offer for the ball it bounced off him further than most players can kick it and lead to their third goal. If we must play with a target man let it be N'Guessen, who looks as good as Howard in the air but has the touch and mobility to be a useful option with his back to goal and down the channels.

All of this shouldn't have mattered. Watford were very bad in the first half and we got ourselves 2 goals up. It was obvious that they were going to come at us in the second half and put us under pressure and were indeed a different side once Helgurson had come on. We didn't help ourselves one bit with our panic ridden defenders lumping the ball aimlessly and inviting pressure, on top of this Pearson dealt with Wellens' injury pretty disastrously and in the end we were lucky to get a draw. But still a draw is probably not a bad result away to a good side, but once again it certainly feels like we have missed a good opportunity to collect 3 points.

[morris1234]

I`m sure that all city fans would say that pearson has done a great job here, so far, but that doesn`t mean he should be free of criticism, if people feel he`s got something wrong.

His selection of Brown, ahead of Tunch, after tuesday nights display, defies belief.

Tunch is a class act, and if fit, should definitely play.

Also, today, pearsons substitutions, were a little baffling, to say the least.

Especially taking fryatt off, he`s on fire at the moment, and it did seem very strange, to take off an in form striker, who was on a hat trick.

Encouraging thing today, was that we kept going till the end, and got something, when a couple of seasons ago, we would have felt sorry for ourselves, and given up the ghost.

Thats all credit to pearson, who has instilled that, "never say die" mentality, back to the club.

have a word!

Its not like he decided two minutes before kick off that tunchev wouldnt play, these things are thought and are put out to deal with whatever threat the opposition has. Brown had a bad game (so i hear) but i thought he was excellent against blackpool and if he wasnt on his game then we could have lost as

hobbs was shocking in that game, but nobody has mentioned it.

Also, toward the end of a game you want somebody to try and prey on the tired legs of the other team and waghorn will run all day and n'guessan got the equaliser.

i do, however, 100% agree to the end of your post!

[Fox92]

I am dissapointed today.

I would have taken a draw at Watford, it is a hard place to visit and they have been doing well so far this season so, yes, would have taken a draw. But to be a not one, but two goals up, at half time and only come away with a point is a bit, well, dissapointing.

Never the less, its a point to where we want to be, and a good point for us having just come up from League 1. But, if we are looking for promotion, really, we should be killing off teams like this and winning by 2/3 goals if we are already 2-0 up at half time.

Then again, it may just be a bad day at the office, in which, I want 3 points against Preston.

[martyn]

Despite the last minute equaliser, i feel deflated after that.

First half was uneventful until the goal, from where we proceeded to boss proceedings and play some quite nice stuff around midfield and getting the full backs overlapping (especially Berner). I thought Gallagher was integral to a lot of the good stuff we were doing whilst Watford looked absolutely abysmal and never loooked like creating anything whatsoever.

The start of the second half was an immediate concern. Watford employed a more direct style and got the ball out wide. Our formation was exposed as the fullbacks were left with 2 on 1 situatuions all the time. If a time was ever needed for Tunchev, that 20 minute period was it..hacking the ball clear and slicing it into the stands in a fit of panic is not what was required but exactly what occurred. The defending for all 3 goals was absolutely schoolboy...they all came from crosses from the right but seeing as Berner was woefully exposed (he played really well again today) it would be a bit silly to blame him until i've seen replays. Irrespective of the crosses coming in, the 2 centre backs and Neilson on the cover were absolutely pathetic for the goals (especially 2 and 3).

The injury to Wellens is a concern...hopefully he's not out for too long. Fryatt's second is an absolute beaut as well, wonderfully taken.

[samjohnson]

The first half from what ive heard was fantastic. Decent passing and a looked like a guarenteed win... But what the hell happened in the second half? Embarrasing...

[TrickyTrev]

Replaced Wellens directly and proceeded to win absolutely, err, nothing. He then went to the left, Gallagher switching flank to the right and Oakley joining King in the middle.

He did not replace Wellens directly. He went to the tip of the diamond and Gallagher went to the left where Wellens was playing. Both looked very bad in their new positions, as did the whole team, hence why we changed again to a coventional 442 with Adams on the left and Gallagher/N'Guessen on the right. Easy to say it now but perhaps putting McGivern on and moving Berner to holding player and King forwards would have been better, at least it would have allowed us to keep Gallagher and Fryatt linking up which was our main threat in the first half.

[Stuliasz]

On the way back in the coach. Can't believe what happened. We were coasting in the first half, they never looked like scoring. The second half was diabolical, we were very lucky to get a point in the end.

Midfield went to pot when Wellens went off. Brown was absolutely pathetic in the second half, he lost every header, missed tackles and was bullied by Helgusen. Really awful display. Get Tunchev back in asap.

Overall we were very lucky to get a point

Just arrived back after an entertaining game and the points above pretty well sum up by views. In addition, I think we need to start rotating Howard - he's just not cutting it at the moment.

[marbelladave]

Just got in, I'm living in Harrow at the moment, a handful of stops away on the Overground.

Exiting but ultimately frustrating game.

City started appallingly, it took nearly ten minutes for the midfield to even work out who was supposed to be playing where!

Eventually they settled on Oakley right, Wellens left and King more or less in the middle. We started passing the ball around and soon took total control. As the half continued and the confidence came our midfield became more fluid and the midfield 3 were able to rotate places and it looked great.

Sadly the same cannot be said for our performance in the final third, sure we scored twice and should have had a (second) penalty but we created few real chances, specially considering how good we were in midfield. Gallagher playing behind Howard and Fryatt tried to play them in on the floor but with little success other than Fryatt's excellent goal, and when crosses did come into Howard it was banjo time.

After the break Watford came out with real purpose and then the wheels came off, or more correctly the Wellens came off with a knock. Bizarrely the introduction of Adams caused total confusion, nobody new where they were playing and Watford just blew by our bemused midfield and rapidly went three up!

The seemingly ill-judged substitution (Fryatt off, Howard stays on.. .. ) gave us a bit more life going forward but we were still horribly disjointed. N'Guessan's equaliser came out of the blue when we pretty much looked beat. Both teams looked for the winner but the quality had gone from the game and the whistle was a bit of a relief.

What went right? What went wrong? I really don't know but I shall sleep on it and post my views then>

[Maybes]

First half, brilliant display the second goal was quality build up and a great finish from Fryatt.

Second half we looked a different side!! I dont know what pearson said to the lads at HT but it didnt work.

As soon as Wellens went off and Adams came on we fell apart. Oakley should have been put in the middle instead NP left King and Adams in there!!

N'Guessan was quality when he came on so was Waghorn.

Watford fans = awful.

[lou]

It scares me that losing 1 player can cause such catastophic results.... if hes off long term we are screwed.

Watford never looked like scoring 1st half but never looked like stopping scoring 2nd half! Unbelievable turnaround.

Think they will be more disappointed with a point than we are and at least our 3rd shut up their chavvy little fans to the right of us! Cant believe no one round us would stand up either.. gutted.

Still a bloody good day out though and saw some top ppl again. At half time everywhere I looked were FTers!

[davieG]

We fell apart from the 46th minute onwards sure Wellen's going off made it worse but we were shocking before that. It was like they were surprised that Watford actually came out and made a game of it.

Apart from that if you're going to draw that's the way to do it, entertaining, frustrating, emotional, surprising two cracking goals - got to be better than a 0-0 draw against Burnley.

[Thracian]

Extraordinary game in many ways and two absolutely brilliant goals by City.

At half-time with City 2-0 up, Watford hadn't troubled Weale with a shot and didn't look much capable of getting near our penalty area never mind the goal.

The second of those Fryatt goals was due to his clever culmination of a terrific one-touch move involving four players which left Fryatt with a one on one going into the left-side of the penalty area.

In typical style he turned the defender brilliantly before curling his finish into the far corner.

Quite what Pearson told the team at half-time I've no idea but it didn't look as if it referred to the need to close Watford down dquickly and well up the park to subdue their inevitable full-scale attacking comeback attempt.

We didn't close down, we sat back. There were no runners make passing opportunities when we gained possession and our back line started panicking - whacking clearances anywhere, losing their shape and being second to the ball. How Tunchev's calm authority was missed at this stage

The goals were at the far end of the ground but Hobbs seemed at fault for the first and lack of Neilson or anyone else covering the runner on our keeper's far right hand post didn't help because, on both occasions, a back post man was allowed to race in for a free finish.

Wellens injury didn't help and certainly affected our fluency in midfield where he, King and Oakley had looked in total control first half.

Adams arrival in place of Wellens did little to help and it was only when they finally went ahead and then hit the bar for what could have been another that we started to a few decent attacks together again and Waghorn, breaking down the left touchline, somehow delivered the perfect back-post cross for N'Guessan to power home his header for his third goal of the season to make him second top scorer behind Fryatt.

Basicaly we were inexplicable caught napping, cruising and in two minds about how to react to Watford's retailiation second half and, for 30 minutes it was a sad sight to see. People like Neilson and Berner - so determined to get forward in the first half, suddenly found the effort too much and began to struggle as Watford got behind them.

Our central midfield suddenly stopped getting passes from the defence nor having anyone to aim for in attack with Fryatt much closer marked later on, Gallagher losing influence and no-one else on hand to offer pace, penetration or to make themselves available for the simple ball.

That said our last minute equaliser was not only a cracker but said something for the character of the side and it was an exciting if frustrating game to watch with City creating a good number of chances overall even apart from their goals.

[lou]

We fell apart from the 46th minute onwards sure Wellen's going off made it worse but we were shocking before that. It was like they were surprised that Watford actually came out and made a game of it.

Apart from that if you're going to draw that's the way to do it, entertaining, frustrating, emotional, surprising two cracking goals - got to be better than a 0-0 draw against Burnley.

very true was a good game and Id have taken that beforehand! Oh I missed Fryatts second coming back from the sodding loo!

[Sniffer-Clarke]

Maybe one or two cracks appearing now especially in defence.

[Libertine]

What a fucking contrast.

[SamL]

God help us at Boro tuesday night, lost 5-0 today, backlash expected!

Both teams have a match before then.

[Ozwin]

There's been cracks since the Newcastle game imo. Mostly through Brown.

[lildave3]

Cracking game.

First half was our best 45 minutes for sometime, we were quality. The build up and finish for the 2nd goal was brilliant, can't wait to see it again on TV.

Then the second half we started playing like retards.

[maddog]

Just got back.

The best match i've seen since Chelsea away, so entertaining.

And the contrast of each half was unbelieveable.

We destroyed them first half, we were so so solid, everyone was putting their shift in, we didn't let Watford get the ball and just closed them down and tackled hard, fantastic.

Robbie Neilson was absolutely epic on the right hand side, he was the only player who really gave us any width out there, and he isn't that quick and can't pass that well but made plenty of excellent 'runs' down the wing.

We were so solid, and deserved our lead from the Peno, then stunning team goal, cracking finish from Fryatt, 2-0 up, Watford failed to get a shot on goal, we were solid in defence, infact all over the park, yet managed to get 2 goals aswell.

Then the momentum just shifted, they came out second half and almost scored after a few seconds. I've never really seen anything like it, we had just totally stopped. It was just like Fulham away when we went 3-1 up and lost 4-3, every time Watford came forward you felt they would score and they piled the pressure on.

Wellens getting injured ruined the midfield, i think there was a communication issue because Adams didn't seem to know where he was playing, we had totally lost the midfield and the defence stopped, they were panicing.

I said we need to calm down and just keep the ball for a bit because if we let them get one back we will panic, and low and behold seconds later they had scored. And we were panicing.

All it took was 5 minutes with Wellens off the field and it was 2-2, and their total c****s of fans suddenly started making noise, they were so so quiet, 5 times worse than the Walkers home fans, then had the nerve to scream in our faces at 3-2.

But in the end justice was done, and super Danys bullet header made it 3-3 and probably a fair result, what a header, Howard should learn a few tricks from that, a big shame he headed just wide when we were 2-0 up.

Gallagher was fooking shocking though 2nd half, i just don't know what he's doing, i don't think he does either. Adams was good once he went out on the left wing, i think it was Oakley who told him to go centre mid where he was like a lost kid.

Oakley was very poor, and didn't look arsed when we went 3-2 down, as club captain, he should be energising the players, screaming at them and picking them up, not looking like he can't be bothered, he gave the ball away many times.

Fryatt played so well that first half, although Watford played like a poor League One side, but what a finish from Matty.

Wow i could type about that game all day, excellent match.

Tunchev, Adams, and N'guessan, with Brown, King and Gallagher on the bench next week please.

Also Wheale had his worst performance of the season today, he kept running one way across his goal and the ball was going high over to the other side of the box, flapped at crosses, got himself out of postion and looked lost really.

But the whole team was panicing by that stage, Wheale was like a rabbit in headlights

What a match, a game to remember, had we won it routinely 2-0 or 3-0 it would have been great, but not that memorable.

Am i right in thinking thats our first 3-3 draw since Boro away when we were 3-1 up , one to remember thats for sure.

[Heart-Shaped Fox]

Not good enough, simple.

We dominated the first half and they didnt even get in our box, Fryatt scored his 2nd very well and we really should have gone in 3-0 up.

2nd half was a different story. Howard had a chance to put us 3-0 up from a cross form the right but somehow couldnt header in. As soon as they scored their 1st we collapsed. The defence that looked solid looked awful and there was suddenly no midfiled with no end of space on the wings.

I knew they would score the 3rd after equalising,and N'Guessan saved us and that draw papers over the cracks imo.

Howard had possibly the worst game I have ever seen him in and I will be amazed if Tunchev doesnt play against Preston as we need him.