Thank Christ These Two Know Where The Goal Is
Make no mistake, this game is huge. We haven’t won at home
all season and we are playing the one team who are statistically, even worse
than we are. In addition, they are riddled with injuries. Chances like this do
not come along that often.
I’ve not been a fan of the way that Watford has been run over the last few years with managers coming and going every five minutes and a general sense of complete chaos everywhere you look. There have been dodgy partnerships with Italian clubs and there was a time not so long ago with 14 or 15 players were changing every pre-season. Things did seem to settle down have a bit last season with Javi Gracia overseeing a run to the FA Cup final, where they ultimately got completely dicked 6-0 by Manchester City. From the semi-final win onwards though, they were poor and that form has continued into the season which ultimately cost Gracia his job. Upon his departure, they swiftly gave the job back to one of the previous managers, Quique Sanchez Flores which was a bit mental because he left in terms that were not the best. The good thing is is that he still is a bit of a pound shop Roberto Mancini with his penchant for long flowing scarfs and the like..
Ralph’s press conference this week brought the news that Stuart Armstrong has a hamstring injury and will be out for a couple of weeks, which is a real shame because he had at last looked like he as going to nail down place on the side. Also injured is Sofiane Boufal who apparently stubbed his toe on a table in his house. Rumour has it that he be successfully and then made a bad scission to take on the fifth and ended up on the deck, calling Mark Hughes a twat in the process. The only surprise is that he didn’t grab the table and pull it back, earning a yellow card off of the referee.
The injury to Boufal means that we are deprived of one possible source of individual brilliance so to my mind, Moussa Djenepo has to start today even though he has not really proved anything as a starting player. I also expect middleweight boxer Michael Obafemi to stay in the team as we endeavour to find a way to put together some attacking play at home against the defence that will no doubt sit deep and challenge us to break them down.
The going today is a 5.30 kickoff as it has been selected by Sky, presumably to kill two birds with one stone and take Southampton and Watford off the list. Let’s face it, there are not many fans outside of Southampton and Watford who would actually want to watch this game. 19th against 20th live on Brand Premier League – It’s what Chairman Gao dreamed of when he bought the club… well it might be. We have too guess because no one’s ever told us. Anyway, after giving out a free scarf last time to apologise for the Leicester game, the club are continuing to apologise by offering everybody a free drink this time. Hopefully I won’t need to have drunk myself into a coma to get anything positive out of today’s game.
One of my favourite songwriters who writes very atmospheric songs says that you should always try and mention the weather in the first couple of lines as it really sets the scene. So….. It was fucking cold! The most warming news about the team selection was that Boufal’s table had not caused too much damage and he was on the bench. Djenepo did come in for Armstrong, Obafemi did keep his place and joy of joys, so did Cedric. I wonder if he’ll actually stop any crosses coming into the box this week.
So would it be a start that we had last week against Arsenal or would it be a start that we had the previous week at home to Everton. We are clearly very very nervous and this manifests itself with Hojbjerg playing a horrific pass across the back four from midfield and presenting the ball straight to Sarr who looked as amazed as anyone and drilled the a weak effort straight at McCarthy.
This lucky escape didn’t press the reset button and make us concentrate more, it just seem to make us get worse as we became paralysed, quite literally with a shocking lack of movement from everybody. We have the odd moment, usually when Djenepo gets on the ball and makes something happen and he tees up Hojbjerg to fire just over.
Over the course of the last few seasons, Saints have become particularly adept at conceding simple goals from ridiculous situations and here we go again. Watford win a very dangerous throw-in about 70 yards from our goal. This is how it works – throw in to a player who just hooks it forward. Bednarek is under the ball and it sails over him and then Stephens tries to cover and just knees it into the path of Sarr who advances and smashes it past McCarthy. Shit the bed.
From the next passage of play the ball ended up with Jack Stephens and with absolutely no one to pass to, so we just passed around between the back four and goalkeeper until someone clubbed it up the pitch to our twin midget strike force and surprise, surprise, we lost the ball. Next time, we just it about and no one moves so we keep it at the back and because there’s no point and no movement, we don’t belt it forwards and boos rained down from the stands from the Big Sam advocates. I don’t like slagging off supporters of my own club but just fuck off. What possible good is that going to do and you Muppets really do deserve to have a failing team to support as you’re part of the problem.
It nearly gets worse as following a free kick on the left, a cross is boomed over and no one is marking Sarr who catches it cleanly on the volley and it’s 2-0 all day long until McCarthy instinctively sticks out a leg and somehow shins it just wide. The keeper saved us again as Delafeu puts in a great ball from the right and Sarr has a tap in until McCarthy flies across and diverts it away from him.
The rest of the first half is absolutely fucking dreadful with us still in paralysed mode. The centre backs get the ball and in front of them they have JWP and Hojbjerg, neither of whom want the ball and upfront they have Ings and Obafemi looking straight at them, not on the half turn and not looking to break into any space. What the fuck are these guys coached during the week.
Half time and I’m wanting whoever coaches our attacking play when we have the ball to be sacked. I’d love to know what the fuck Dave Watson and Kelvin Davis bring to the party?
I’ve not been a fan of the way that Watford has been run over the last few years with managers coming and going every five minutes and a general sense of complete chaos everywhere you look. There have been dodgy partnerships with Italian clubs and there was a time not so long ago with 14 or 15 players were changing every pre-season. Things did seem to settle down have a bit last season with Javi Gracia overseeing a run to the FA Cup final, where they ultimately got completely dicked 6-0 by Manchester City. From the semi-final win onwards though, they were poor and that form has continued into the season which ultimately cost Gracia his job. Upon his departure, they swiftly gave the job back to one of the previous managers, Quique Sanchez Flores which was a bit mental because he left in terms that were not the best. The good thing is is that he still is a bit of a pound shop Roberto Mancini with his penchant for long flowing scarfs and the like..
Ralph’s press conference this week brought the news that Stuart Armstrong has a hamstring injury and will be out for a couple of weeks, which is a real shame because he had at last looked like he as going to nail down place on the side. Also injured is Sofiane Boufal who apparently stubbed his toe on a table in his house. Rumour has it that he be successfully and then made a bad scission to take on the fifth and ended up on the deck, calling Mark Hughes a twat in the process. The only surprise is that he didn’t grab the table and pull it back, earning a yellow card off of the referee.
The injury to Boufal means that we are deprived of one possible source of individual brilliance so to my mind, Moussa Djenepo has to start today even though he has not really proved anything as a starting player. I also expect middleweight boxer Michael Obafemi to stay in the team as we endeavour to find a way to put together some attacking play at home against the defence that will no doubt sit deep and challenge us to break them down.
The going today is a 5.30 kickoff as it has been selected by Sky, presumably to kill two birds with one stone and take Southampton and Watford off the list. Let’s face it, there are not many fans outside of Southampton and Watford who would actually want to watch this game. 19th against 20th live on Brand Premier League – It’s what Chairman Gao dreamed of when he bought the club… well it might be. We have too guess because no one’s ever told us. Anyway, after giving out a free scarf last time to apologise for the Leicester game, the club are continuing to apologise by offering everybody a free drink this time. Hopefully I won’t need to have drunk myself into a coma to get anything positive out of today’s game.
One of my favourite songwriters who writes very atmospheric songs says that you should always try and mention the weather in the first couple of lines as it really sets the scene. So….. It was fucking cold! The most warming news about the team selection was that Boufal’s table had not caused too much damage and he was on the bench. Djenepo did come in for Armstrong, Obafemi did keep his place and joy of joys, so did Cedric. I wonder if he’ll actually stop any crosses coming into the box this week.
So would it be a start that we had last week against Arsenal or would it be a start that we had the previous week at home to Everton. We are clearly very very nervous and this manifests itself with Hojbjerg playing a horrific pass across the back four from midfield and presenting the ball straight to Sarr who looked as amazed as anyone and drilled the a weak effort straight at McCarthy.
This lucky escape didn’t press the reset button and make us concentrate more, it just seem to make us get worse as we became paralysed, quite literally with a shocking lack of movement from everybody. We have the odd moment, usually when Djenepo gets on the ball and makes something happen and he tees up Hojbjerg to fire just over.
Over the course of the last few seasons, Saints have become particularly adept at conceding simple goals from ridiculous situations and here we go again. Watford win a very dangerous throw-in about 70 yards from our goal. This is how it works – throw in to a player who just hooks it forward. Bednarek is under the ball and it sails over him and then Stephens tries to cover and just knees it into the path of Sarr who advances and smashes it past McCarthy. Shit the bed.
From the next passage of play the ball ended up with Jack Stephens and with absolutely no one to pass to, so we just passed around between the back four and goalkeeper until someone clubbed it up the pitch to our twin midget strike force and surprise, surprise, we lost the ball. Next time, we just it about and no one moves so we keep it at the back and because there’s no point and no movement, we don’t belt it forwards and boos rained down from the stands from the Big Sam advocates. I don’t like slagging off supporters of my own club but just fuck off. What possible good is that going to do and you Muppets really do deserve to have a failing team to support as you’re part of the problem.
It nearly gets worse as following a free kick on the left, a cross is boomed over and no one is marking Sarr who catches it cleanly on the volley and it’s 2-0 all day long until McCarthy instinctively sticks out a leg and somehow shins it just wide. The keeper saved us again as Delafeu puts in a great ball from the right and Sarr has a tap in until McCarthy flies across and diverts it away from him.
The rest of the first half is absolutely fucking dreadful with us still in paralysed mode. The centre backs get the ball and in front of them they have JWP and Hojbjerg, neither of whom want the ball and upfront they have Ings and Obafemi looking straight at them, not on the half turn and not looking to break into any space. What the fuck are these guys coached during the week.
Half time and I’m wanting whoever coaches our attacking play when we have the ball to be sacked. I’d love to know what the fuck Dave Watson and Kelvin Davis bring to the party?
So, a game of two halves or the same old shit? The latter to start with as Sarr is allowed
to cut in and fire just over the bar. We
aren’t getting anywhere and it’s double change time on the hour with Redmond
and Obafemi being replaced with Boufal and Long. Redmond throws a bit of a strop as he goes
off - come on then Nathan – tell me why
you don’t deserve to go off as you’ve not exactly done much.
Boufal immediately gets on the ball and skins Fermina, the Watford right back. This of course pulls players out of position as they have to challenge him and you can instantly see that Watford aren’t sitting there comfortably any more with us playing everything in front of them. They start panicking at the back and Doucoure knocks it back to Foster who decides to do that not very sensible thing and try and take it round Danny Ings. Down they go in a heap and Forster gets very very lucky as the referee somehow manages to give a free-kick against Ings for not very much. Not even reviewed by VAR despite huge claims for a penalty… ok then.
Boufal is absolutely taking the piss of the left hand side of the Watford defence and plays a 1-2 with Ings before driving to the by-line and pulling it back for Shane Long who has a free shot from about the same position where Djenepo had one from against Arsenal. Instead of putting it wide however, Long manages to mis-hit it and scoop it up in the air allowing Foster the tip it onto the bar. It is ridiculous how we manage to not score from the positions that we get ourselves into.
Cedric, who has been playing like a complete bell end, gets away down the right and has a chance to deliver one of his phenomenal crosses but instead of that he delivers the normal cross which is kind of and ankle height skimmer and Djenepo goes over and we get the on edifying spectacle of the crowd chanting for VAR. Fuck off. They do check this one even though it’s never a penalty in a million years.
It turns out to be more or less Cedric’s last contribution and off he goes to be replaced by Yan Valery. Valery immediately swaps passes with JWP before JWP delivers an absolute brute of the cross from deep on the right hand side, curling in behind the defence. Ings stretches for it and knoks it back into the middle and Shane Long must score… nope - this time he manages to scuff it along the ground and it gets cleared off the line. I can’t even be bothered to get angry anymore.
Boufal is still tearing Fermina a new arsehole out on the left hand side and he skips round the hapless fall back again before over-hitting the cross. It’s retrieved by Djenepo who takes on and skins Holebas, getting to the byline again and sets up another chance from within the 6 yard box and this time Ings takes a touch and lashes it into the roof of the net. 1-1 and thank fuck for that.
From our next attack, Hojbjerg picks up the ball in the centre of midfield and gets clipped but the referee allows him to run on and on and he gets to the edge of the box before he is hauled down by Capoue. Free kick in prime JWP territory. Up steps JWP and I know where he’s aiming, everyone in the ground knows where he’s aiming and Ben Foster knows where is aiming. Bang, over the wall and though Foster gets a touch, it rips into the near top corner. Fucking get in.
There are still eight minutes to go plus all the time that will be added on for what Watford were wasting before we scored. Of course now all the pressure is coming from Watford and we stand firm just about but of course there are alarms. A corner, cleared, another corner, half cleared, head tennis and pinball and right at the end, the ball is up in the air and pinging around the penalty area and Andre Gray has a free volley from the penalty spot and smashes it about a foot wide. Fucking hell.
Boufal immediately gets on the ball and skins Fermina, the Watford right back. This of course pulls players out of position as they have to challenge him and you can instantly see that Watford aren’t sitting there comfortably any more with us playing everything in front of them. They start panicking at the back and Doucoure knocks it back to Foster who decides to do that not very sensible thing and try and take it round Danny Ings. Down they go in a heap and Forster gets very very lucky as the referee somehow manages to give a free-kick against Ings for not very much. Not even reviewed by VAR despite huge claims for a penalty… ok then.
Boufal is absolutely taking the piss of the left hand side of the Watford defence and plays a 1-2 with Ings before driving to the by-line and pulling it back for Shane Long who has a free shot from about the same position where Djenepo had one from against Arsenal. Instead of putting it wide however, Long manages to mis-hit it and scoop it up in the air allowing Foster the tip it onto the bar. It is ridiculous how we manage to not score from the positions that we get ourselves into.
Cedric, who has been playing like a complete bell end, gets away down the right and has a chance to deliver one of his phenomenal crosses but instead of that he delivers the normal cross which is kind of and ankle height skimmer and Djenepo goes over and we get the on edifying spectacle of the crowd chanting for VAR. Fuck off. They do check this one even though it’s never a penalty in a million years.
It turns out to be more or less Cedric’s last contribution and off he goes to be replaced by Yan Valery. Valery immediately swaps passes with JWP before JWP delivers an absolute brute of the cross from deep on the right hand side, curling in behind the defence. Ings stretches for it and knoks it back into the middle and Shane Long must score… nope - this time he manages to scuff it along the ground and it gets cleared off the line. I can’t even be bothered to get angry anymore.
Boufal is still tearing Fermina a new arsehole out on the left hand side and he skips round the hapless fall back again before over-hitting the cross. It’s retrieved by Djenepo who takes on and skins Holebas, getting to the byline again and sets up another chance from within the 6 yard box and this time Ings takes a touch and lashes it into the roof of the net. 1-1 and thank fuck for that.
From our next attack, Hojbjerg picks up the ball in the centre of midfield and gets clipped but the referee allows him to run on and on and he gets to the edge of the box before he is hauled down by Capoue. Free kick in prime JWP territory. Up steps JWP and I know where he’s aiming, everyone in the ground knows where he’s aiming and Ben Foster knows where is aiming. Bang, over the wall and though Foster gets a touch, it rips into the near top corner. Fucking get in.
There are still eight minutes to go plus all the time that will be added on for what Watford were wasting before we scored. Of course now all the pressure is coming from Watford and we stand firm just about but of course there are alarms. A corner, cleared, another corner, half cleared, head tennis and pinball and right at the end, the ball is up in the air and pinging around the penalty area and Andre Gray has a free volley from the penalty spot and smashes it about a foot wide. Fucking hell.
Thank fuck for that. I’ve got nothing else to say really
apart from thank fuck for that. Relief more
than celebration.
That second half was exactly how we should be playing against the weaker teams at home. Just go for it and give the ball to the guys who can make the difference in the final third. Swarm all over the opposition and put them under pressure and most of the time, because they are shit and near the bottom of the league for a reason, they will crack.
The first half was as bad as the first half against Everton with everybody completely static and everything being played in front of the Watford back 10. So easy to defend against. It all changed with the introduction of Boufal who every time you got the ball, beat the first defender which meant the second one had to come out which created gaps in behind for the other players to exploit. As I said a couple weeks ago, we don’t really have any idea how to attack against a packed defence so we have to rely on individual brilliance and today it came from Boufal and in the second half of it came from Djenepo. This is the same Djenepo who was absolutely dreadful in the first half and I don’t think anybody would have been complaining if he had been substituted. It was a bit of a surprise to see Redmond replaced but he had been dreadful and to be honest, he has been pretty poor all season. It was still however, quite a brave move by Ralph to take off the player who could be seen as the most senior of our wide players. Still, the fact that Redders had a wobbler and then watched his replacement change the game is also a good lesson in humility. The other sub that came on of course with Shane Long and despite missing an absolute sitter, he made a difference as well giving us some sort of physical presence upfront. Middleweight Boxer Obafemi looked well out of his depth today.
That second half was exactly how we should be playing against the weaker teams at home. Just go for it and give the ball to the guys who can make the difference in the final third. Swarm all over the opposition and put them under pressure and most of the time, because they are shit and near the bottom of the league for a reason, they will crack.
The first half was as bad as the first half against Everton with everybody completely static and everything being played in front of the Watford back 10. So easy to defend against. It all changed with the introduction of Boufal who every time you got the ball, beat the first defender which meant the second one had to come out which created gaps in behind for the other players to exploit. As I said a couple weeks ago, we don’t really have any idea how to attack against a packed defence so we have to rely on individual brilliance and today it came from Boufal and in the second half of it came from Djenepo. This is the same Djenepo who was absolutely dreadful in the first half and I don’t think anybody would have been complaining if he had been substituted. It was a bit of a surprise to see Redmond replaced but he had been dreadful and to be honest, he has been pretty poor all season. It was still however, quite a brave move by Ralph to take off the player who could be seen as the most senior of our wide players. Still, the fact that Redders had a wobbler and then watched his replacement change the game is also a good lesson in humility. The other sub that came on of course with Shane Long and despite missing an absolute sitter, he made a difference as well giving us some sort of physical presence upfront. Middleweight Boxer Obafemi looked well out of his depth today.
Yeah another goal for Danny Ings and wasn’t it great to once again see a JWP free kick hit the top corner. I find it amazing that it is bloody obvious where he is going to put it but goalkeepers don’t seem to be able to keep it out. On first viewing and bearing in mind I sit behind that goal, I thought Foster had kept it out but it whipped away and beat him. JWP had a strange game in that he started very well, went right off the boil and then came to life again for the last 15 minutes. He will be on the pitch as much as possible though simply for his ability in these situations and no one else from midfield is going to score.
As I write I’m hearing that there was a handball by Djenepo in the build up to the first goal and VAR has admitted that it missed it. Well there we go Watford and cry me a fucking river. Absolutely hilarious when you bear in mind the Doucouré punched goal against us a couple of years ago. The difference is that one was an accident and the other was deliberate cheating.
Defensively the central defenders did okay. Yes, Stephens could’ve done better with the goal we conceded but overall they did what they had to do pretty well and McCarthy come to the party when it was needed.
I have to say that I was not impressed by the complete lack of football knowledge by some of the people in St Mary’s in that first half today. No one had anyone to pass to so consequently we had to keep going back to the goalkeeper and out of the full works. Booing the players really fucking helps doesn’t it. Dickheads. The central midfielders didn’t want the ball and the strikers weren’t prepared to come off of their markers and we just stood square on so the only possible pass you had was straight to them and all they were going to be able to do was pass it back to the static midfielders. It’s called pass and move for a fucking reason. If you don’t move then the pass can’t happen.
At half-time I was ready to just relegate us and in fact we didn’t look like a team that would even survive relegation from the championship. It was that bad but for the second week running I found myself very impressed with Ralph’s reading of the game as it went on and the substitutions. Even the introduction of Yan Valery for the last 10 minutes in place of the once again dreadful Cedric, seemed to give us more balance with our attacking play and better defensive cover on that right hand side. I really would like to see Cedric put in the fucking bin for Wednesday and I hope the club sign a replacement on January 1st so we can get him out the door for a fee. About a tenner should do it.
I think it’s reached the stage where we have to find a place for both our maverick wingers the starting line-up and there is an opportunity to do this on Wednesday with maybe Obafemi dropping out, Redmond going to play up with Ings and Boufal coming in on the left. He has been brilliant as a substitute though so maybe Ralph will want to keep him for that.
Ralph spoke in his interview after the game about a huge weight being lifted from our shoulders. For once we have backed up a decent performance with a win. Alright, it wasn’t the prettiest but the result was more important than anything. In a similar way, we have to back up this win with another one on Wednesday at home to Norwich. Play with urgency and tempo and attacking intent from the first whistle and we’ll do it. Not everything is fixed with this win because as I said at the start, Watford are the only team in this league who are statistically worse than us but winning this game will hopefully be bigger than just the three points that we won this afternoon. It will hopefully show the players that they are capable of winning home games against the teams around us and this season, that might just be enough.
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