Saturday, February 28, 2009

Charmless Man- Watford 2 Crystal Palace 0

I wonder if Richard '40' Shorty and his mate Tim select various appropriate tracks on Radio Hornet for events that have happened during the game.

If they do then Blur's 'Charmless Man', which was played at half time, was absolutely the perfect choice for one Mr Neil Warnock. His team yesterday were one of the worst incarnations of a Warnock side I can remember seeing for some time. His instructions for the game appeared to consist of ensuring your elbow was always waving around ready to meet your opponents face when jumping for the ball, shirt pulling at every available opportunity and getting the tackle in regardless of where the ball happened to be.

Every decision that went against him he raged at from the sidelines making him look like a Thunderbirds puppet on ecstasy. Unfortunately the ref totally bought into this from the moment 'Colin' made such a fuss of our opening goal.

Whether or not Don Cowie's nutmegged effort should have stood, the referee should not have granted the opposing manager a two minute pitchside audience presumably where he was informed of all the areas he was going wrong. A stronger referee would've asserted his authority on the game by telling Warnock where to go. Not this chap though. He spent the rest of the game trying to make up for the possible error by awarding everything Palace's way and only giving bookings where a charge of GBH might have been more appropriate. It is a sign of how poor Palace are that rarely did they ever look like capitalising on their twelfth man.

We, on the other hand, put in a solid display in a game that a couple of months ago we would've lost three or four nil. Back then Mariappa wouldn't have timed his tackle to perfection to deny what looked like a certain goal after 15 minutes. Cowie's goal would've been offside. Palace's shooting wouldn't have been so wayward. They would've scored from the bundle up at the Vicarage Road end early in the second half. The ref would've found a reason to disallow our muddled second goal which looked far more like the 'own' variety even though McAnuff claimed it.

But its not only our luck that seems to be in at the moment. Warnock said at the end 'Watford had more leaders out there today'. A huge compliment given that a little while ago it was impossible to name even one.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Sorry Brendan- Blackpool 0 Watford 2

Events over the last eight days have seen a massive shift in my way of thinking.

For the first time in ages I felt we'd win today. The only surprise when the first goal popped up on Sky's vidiprinter thing was that Mike Williamson scored it. No surprises about who got the second.

Looking through the remaining fixtures I now feel confident we'll stay up. I am looking forward to, no actually, can't wait for the Palace game such was the enjoyment of Tuesday night. At 10am this morning I was half planning to jump in the car and make the four hour trip up to Lancashire. Only a look from my wife persuaded me it was a better idea to stay home and entertain the kids.

Its not just things happening on the pitch but off it too. The news that Brendan took the time and trouble to visit those in the Peace Hospice and also seeing him interviewed on Soccer Saturday has melted anyway any worries of the second coming of a dis-interested Chelsea man to ruin our club.

If they served it I'd order a large slice of Humble Pie from the Chinese tonight. But as the charming girl who answers the phone has trouble understanding my orders anyway I think I'll stick to Deep Fried Chilli Beef. Its the thought that counts though so let me place it on record now. Sorry Brendan.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Goals As Pornography- Watford 2 Swansea City 0

I'm not going to tell you this was a Swansea side tired from their impressive endeavors against Fulham at the weekend. Neither am I going to say that this was a Swansea side having a bad day.

This was quite simply an immense performance from the 'Orns. Easily the best of Brendan's reign so far and probably the most impressive I've seen from us since the Playoff annihilation of Palace at Selhurst. We were just wonderful.

To prove how good Swansea were for the opening five minutes we barely got a kick. They passed the ball around so confidently that we were chasing at shadows more so than we were at any time on Saturday. There were some nervous moments and it looked like we were in for a long night. But gradually we started winning tackles, stringing passes together and out-Swansing Swansea.

By bringing in Mike Williamson BR seems to have solved the defensive problems that have plagued us for over a year. Mike is just the no-nonsense big man we've been missing. He is a rock at the back and compensates for any nervous moments DeMerit or Mariappa might experience. There's no need to mention Doyley in that list at the moment. He is playing out of his skin. He managed to better Saturday's performance winning every ball, every tackle, even every header and his passing has become a revelation.

As against Chelsea it was one of Doyley's passes that led to our opening goal, although not quite as directly. McAnuff was the recipient this time who set Smith off down the wing and Priskin made no mistake from the cross despite appearing to be at a tight angle. It was fantasy stuff. The kind of thing that occasionally comes off when playing FIFA 09, but it was real, right in front of our eyes.

Ten minutes later we were at it again. This time it looked as if our rapid break hadn't come off as Priskin's Ankela like overhead kick was saved but the ball found its way to Smith who blasted it home from 25 yards. Delirium. I may not have been (and may still not be) 100% behind BR's tactics but he doesn't half get our team scoring some beautiful goals. They are the kind that you think 'it would be wonderful if this went in'. Excluding GT, under any other Watford manager these chances never seemed to. We'd just hit it wide or it would be saved. The goals we scored under them were always scrappy affairs. But under BR we do score them. They are just too good to be believed. Its goals as pornography.

Swansea tried to get back into the game, both before and after the break but we just didn't let them. Whereas previously a 2-0 half time lead would've instantly become a 2-1 nervy situation within 5 minutes of the restart, we were strong, resolute and determined. All 11 in yellow. Jenkins, so much more mature than his years. Cork too, the leader in the side we've been looking for despite being so young. Don Cowie already fitting in and battling for the cause. Our midfield snuffing out any chance of a Swansea comeback. For once there can be no complaints that we defended too deep for we never let Swansea get that far.

If I've got one very small gripe it was that it became apparent in the last quarter of the match we'd given up trying to score a third and were just happy to hold on to the ball and frustrate our opponents. Personally I'd rather protect a 2-0 lead by making it a 3-0 lead, but fair play to Brendan. If he is trying to win over this doubter he's doing a bloody good job.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Six Happy Punch Drunk Minutes- Watford 1 Chelsea 3

For six glorious minutes this looked like that 1 in 100 time that a team like Chelsea regrets playing in second gear against a smaller team.

We did well, for sure, but lets not kid ourselves. Chelsea were not exactly going for it when it was 0-0. They simply assumed their superior class would tell in the end and, if it were not for our post in the first half probably would've won even more comfortably. Doyley and DeMerit deserve the plaudits for keeping Drogba and Anelka fairly quiet and frustrated, to the point that Loach actually didn't have loads to do for the opening 45 minutes.

Given that we were never going to get too many chances I'm surprised we didn't start with Priskin. He eventually came on for the last quarter of the match and did duly take his one chance courtesy of a poor decision by the linesman. But, blimey, we've had some shocking decisions go the wrong way from the lino on the Rous side so we were owed and having not been given off side Tamas scored even though his shot hit Cech.

Those six happy punch drunk minutes past by in a bit of a blur. But I was very disappointed we didn't get a "Wilkins, what's the score" chant going. I did try but I am in the Upper Rous so you'll understand why starting chants isn't really likely to happen.

Chelsea then gave us a reminder of that bitter Premiership taste we've experienced many times before. They simply lurched into fifth gear and we were hit by two quick Anelka goals.

The depressing thing was that, as always under BR, we then seemed to give up. I know we were playing Chelsea but we stopped the hassling and harrying that we'd done so well up to then and allowed them to play the keepball game that our manager knows so well.

This giving up is something I think we really need to address when we go back to the business of Championship survival. We haven't managed to equalise when going behind since Brendan has been in charge. We've got the odd goal back when its too late but haven't yet got ourselves back into a game from a losing position. His comments after the Sheffield United game that at 2-0 we'd lost the game would suggest why. I thought it was an unbelieveable thing to admit and isn't something I can ever imagine Aidy or GT saying. But I think it explains a lot and is one of the reasons I don't think I'll ever be truly happy with him in charge. Give me a never say die manager any day of the week.

As it was we did nearly get a equaliser thanks to JJOT who always plays with that kind of anything's possible attitude. His ball through the centre of Chelsea's defence set up McAnuff but he hit his shot at Cech and didn't get the same bit of luck Priskin had. It was no surprise that Chelsea cruelly went straight down the other end and Anelka completed his hat-trick.

Brendan still worries me. I don't get the impression reading his programme notes that he wishes he'd been sitting in the blue half of the dug out tonight. But comments such as "we're not even a top division side at the moment" are either those of a extremely self confident, or extremely self delusional man. I do hope its the former and, if so, promise I will be the first to eat my words from these blog entries.

Friday, February 13, 2009

The Lampards

Is there any genuine Watford supporter who can honestly say they have any interest in the amount of fuss being generated about this?

Lampard Senior is about as Watford as Ray Wilkins is.

Monday, February 09, 2009

Two Sackings In One Day

The Adams sacking is no surprise at all. Not because of Portsmouth's recent record but just 'cos Tony Adams really doesn't come across as a bloke to motivate anyone. Football professionals always seem to say how, well, professional he is but whenever I see him he comes across more like the nutter on the bus than someone who'd inspire me that I could beat Man United.

Scolari though was a complete surprise. Some managerial appointments just seem to go together and as a flamboyant World Cup winner Luis Felipe and Chelsea looked made for each other. In the same way Big Sam and Blackburn, Steve Bruce and Wigan, and Colin and Pal-arse go together. They seem to share the same characteristics, like an owner looking like their dog. So today's news would've been an eye opener even if we hadn't been Chelsea's next opponents.

The game is made even more interesting by the fact Ray Wilkins has been made caretaker. I've been looking forward to the day one of the balding twins from 2001/2 returned to the Vic. I was bitterly disappointed Vialli didn't get the QPR job earlier this season. I do hope Chelsea don't spoil our fun and appoint anyone in the mean time.

Saturday, February 07, 2009

P-P Y?

During the daily lunchtime trawl through various websites at work yesterday I checked out the BBC Weather forecast for the following 24 hours. For the first time all week there was not one snow symbol shown at all. I was surprised then when the following page I looked at, which was the OS, told me the Southampton game was already off.

This morning, for the first time this week, upon looking out the window I didn't think to myself how dangerous it would be taking the car out.

Living in High Wycombe as I do, I decided the snow must be much much worse in SW Herts. However I've just come back from my Mum's in Croxley Green and the snow levels are pretty much on a par.

So why on earth then was the game postponed? Apparently we wanted to make the decision before Southampton set off yesterday afternoon?? Maybe I misunderstood but I thought we were playing the Hampshire based financially struggling Saints rather than some foreign club who had to leave over 24 hours before hand to ensure they made it for 3pm on Saturday afternoon. Crazy.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Missed Goal

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7871844.stm

Interesting the FA want answers about last night's missed goal.

Did we ever get any answers from the Football League about Reading's missed goal? Well, Atwell is still referring and Bannister is still running the line so I think the answer is no. I bet ITV get far more hassle over this than either of them ever did. In fact I think all they ever got was the following weekend off.