'We lacked focus in the first half' (From This Is Local London)

Have to say it is a longtime since i felt so angry at a Watford performance and particularly the managers contribution to this mess

so many times changes are made , i can understand that to a point BUT 5 for this game totally gave the initiative to struggling Charlton team , no doubt chris powell said to his team , there you go they think this will be a walk over with them making so many changes , did the trick as fired them up no end , 1st mistake Zola

then surprise surprise it is the forwards and midfielders who are changed / rested whatever you want to call it however it is our defensive which is our weak link!!

We cannot keep a flaming clean sheet !! yet still Hoban elkstrand play on , caught up with hoban in particular today , 2nd mistake Zola

then goalkeeper is injured so obvious particulary causing the second goal as he was rooted to the spot , then went down when goal went in , yet still came out for second half and guess what another cross to a free header as the useless neuton looked on and goalie stayed on his line , 3rd mistake zola

personally could not give a monkeys if we win at city , laughable as that sounds with this defence , city would have got double figures today , 3 at the back against them particulary if that awful player neuton plays will be suicide , over to you zola , your tinkering cost us massively today and after such a good result Saturday .

YOU thought we just had to turn up to beat Charlton , saturdays team with the momentum would have beat this charlton team , they not only beat us but scored 4 goals at our place , shocking day poor management and as i said i am so angry

we will NOT win FA cup we have a chance of play offs or more yet todays team showed you must play your in form best team , feel very let down today , managed to persuade a couple of floating wfc fans to attend today , they looked at me as if i was daft having witnessed that performance ,

sorry Gianfranco you have done decent so far but what on earth you were thinking today i do not know so disappointed , wish i could say a decent side beat us , they did not , think we started to beleive all the good press after saturday ?”

bigthunder wrote:
Have to say it is a longtime since i felt so angry at a Watford performance and particularly the managers contribution to this mess

so many times changes are made , i can understand that to a point BUT 5 for this game totally gave the initiative to struggling Charlton team , no doubt chris powell said to his team , there you go they think this will be a walk over with them making so many changes , did the trick as fired them up no end , 1st mistake Zola

then surprise surprise it is the forwards and midfielders who are changed / rested whatever you want to call it however it is our defensive which is our weak link!!

We cannot keep a flaming clean sheet !! yet still Hoban elkstrand play on , caught up with hoban in particular today , 2nd mistake Zola

then goalkeeper is injured so obvious particulary causing the second goal as he was rooted to the spot , then went down when goal went in , yet still came out for second half and guess what another cross to a free header as the useless neuton looked on and goalie stayed on his line , 3rd mistake zola

personally could not give a monkeys if we win at city , laughable as that sounds with this defence , city would have got double figures today , 3 at the back against them particulary if that awful player neuton plays will be suicide , over to you zola , your tinkering cost us massively today and after such a good result Saturday .

YOU thought we just had to turn up to beat Charlton , saturdays team with the momentum would have beat this charlton team , they not only beat us but scored 4 goals at our place , shocking day poor management and as i said i am so angry

we will NOT win FA cup we have a chance of play offs or more yet todays team showed you must play your in form best team , feel very let down today , managed to persuade a couple of floating wfc fans to attend today , they looked at me as if i was daft having witnessed that performance ,

sorry Gianfranco you have done decent so far but what on earth you were thinking today i do not know so disappointed , wish i could say a decent side beat us , they did not , think we started to beleive all the good press after saturday ?”

YEP

that just about said it all.

that was a seriously bad day at the office. I have said many times that we need a more robust form of defense in this league.

sorry Zola your obviously a very nice man but please learn from this debacle and dont F--K UP with the team selection again

At 69 minutes we were winning 3-2 even though we wasted the first 45 minutes
To me we lost the game as the defence was a shambles .We missed Hall big time
Hall and Neuton together do not have the commanding experienced centre half .Is Nosworthy fit enough if so it is obvious what needs to be done .Hoban really needing an experienced old pro by his side .That in my opinion is why we lost the game
The reality we are still good enough for play offs but not yet automatic promotion material
Having said this considering the turn round since June 29 Iam grateful
Bad days happen

Yep have to agree! Play your best team and go for 3 points! Bad decisions by Zola today! How did Neuton stay on that pitch with Nos on the bench! Murray see you in the pub or KFC!

not Hall and Neuton
Elkstrasnd and Neuton -too much xmas spirit

bigthunder wrote:
Have to say it is a longtime since i felt so angry at a Watford performance and particularly the managers contribution to this mess

so many times changes are made , i can understand that to a point BUT 5 for this game totally gave the initiative to struggling Charlton team , no doubt chris powell said to his team , there you go they think this will be a walk over with them making so many changes , did the trick as fired them up no end , 1st mistake Zola

then surprise surprise it is the forwards and midfielders who are changed / rested whatever you want to call it however it is our defensive which is our weak link!!

We cannot keep a flaming clean sheet !! yet still Hoban elkstrand play on , caught up with hoban in particular today , 2nd mistake Zola

then goalkeeper is injured so obvious particulary causing the second goal as he was rooted to the spot , then went down when goal went in , yet still came out for second half and guess what another cross to a free header as the useless neuton looked on and goalie stayed on his line , 3rd mistake zola

personally could not give a monkeys if we win at city , laughable as that sounds with this defence , city would have got double figures today , 3 at the back against them particulary if that awful player neuton plays will be suicide , over to you zola , your tinkering cost us massively today and after such a good result Saturday .

YOU thought we just had to turn up to beat Charlton , saturdays team with the momentum would have beat this charlton team , they not only beat us but scored 4 goals at our place , shocking day poor management and as i said i am so angry

we will NOT win FA cup we have a chance of play offs or more yet todays team showed you must play your in form best team , feel very let down today , managed to persuade a couple of floating wfc fans to attend today , they looked at me as if i was daft having witnessed that performance ,

sorry Gianfranco you have done decent so far but what on earth you were thinking today i do not know so disappointed , wish i could say a decent side beat us , they did not , think we started to beleive all the good press after saturday ?”

Agree with some of this.

Annoyed is an understatement. We did turn up like we already knew what the result would be.

With the Bristol City game cancelled, our players weren't lacking in fitness (maybe Murray by some), so why we couldn't pick near the same team that started v Brighton, heaven knows! (Barring Hall Obviously).

They are footballers, they play for the club, not work another shift after practice/match. They should have started with most of team v Brighton!

One problem I have, Mirray recently hasn't even been making match day squad, yet is planked staight into starting 11...why? Even with rotation... Why!? Bench at best.

Would have loved to See Battochio given chance, already made Seria A appearance this season, yet is rarely given a go, bizarre!

We should be focusing o playing our best team now. Vydra & Deeney are our top scorers, so if Vydra is starting to click more, drop him back down to bench, daft.

The league is our priority & if being rested for MCFC game, plain stupid. We obviously find ourselves higher than what we thought we could do this stage of season, which is great, however whilst we're in a good positive, kick on, don't just drop standards cause its Charlton.

Just disappointing after a great effort v Brighton.

Could be good time to announce Perminent deals for:

Forestieri
Erkstand
Vydra
Pudil (glad he scored)
Battochio (should play more)
Abdi
Chalobah loan

Hopefully Nos is back! Need a big lad at back to compliment Hobans skill. Need stability.

It's not all doom & gloom but seriously can't be people that either went to Brighton/watched on sky, when Watford performed fantastic, yet to concede 4 to worst Form team in Champ at Home!

Just feels like crash down to earth.

Hopefully couple players in from Udinese to keep push for playoffs.

Back go:

Beleck
Franchone
Neuton (good passing/ skill but naff man marking)
Bia
Anya (inconsistent)

Anyway Luton still suck, and we are still 6th. Pretty good for January :-)

bigthunder wrote:
Have to say it is a longtime since i felt so angry at a Watford performance and particularly the managers contribution to this mess

so many times changes are made , i can understand that to a point BUT 5 for this game totally gave the initiative to struggling Charlton team , no doubt chris powell said to his team , there you go they think this will be a walk over with them making so many changes , did the trick as fired them up no end , 1st mistake Zola

then surprise surprise it is the forwards and midfielders who are changed / rested whatever you want to call it however it is our defensive which is our weak link!!

We cannot keep a flaming clean sheet !! yet still Hoban elkstrand play on , caught up with hoban in particular today , 2nd mistake Zola

then goalkeeper is injured so obvious particulary causing the second goal as he was rooted to the spot , then went down when goal went in , yet still came out for second half and guess what another cross to a free header as the useless neuton looked on and goalie stayed on his line , 3rd mistake zola

personally could not give a monkeys if we win at city , laughable as that sounds with this defence , city would have got double figures today , 3 at the back against them particulary if that awful player neuton plays will be suicide , over to you zola , your tinkering cost us massively today and after such a good result Saturday .

YOU thought we just had to turn up to beat Charlton , saturdays team with the momentum would have beat this charlton team , they not only beat us but scored 4 goals at our place , shocking day poor management and as i said i am so angry

we will NOT win FA cup we have a chance of play offs or more yet todays team showed you must play your in form best team , feel very let down today , managed to persuade a couple of floating wfc fans to attend today , they looked at me as if i was daft having witnessed that performance ,

sorry Gianfranco you have done decent so far but what on earth you were thinking today i do not know so disappointed , wish i could say a decent side beat us , they did not , think we started to beleive all the good press after saturday ?”

Gianfranco was rotating as best he could,easy to be critical after this loss, but not very fair comment after what Gianfranco and staff have achieved thus far.

A thoroughly disappointing day at the office. Although defence got worse as match went on the performance of forestieri and geijo in first half was appalling. Forestieri has great potential but needs to grow up quickly if he is to justify place and his handball incident alone should see him dropped. Geijo did get better. But the most obvious weakness is neuton. His presence in the team is inexplicable - he can't tackle and is a liability. And what has happened to Sean Murray. But no need for the gloom expressed above. Gianfranco will sort it out. Lets get our win at man city then concentrate on league by playing best team.

We appeared to take the Charlton game as three points in the bag, in fact we were set up badly.

They got at our defenders too easily and with Hall missing and no Hogg to break up play we gave the game to Charlton. Murray looked but a shadow of the player from last year and Geijo and Fernando understandably needed the first half to build up a head of steam but they did look the business in the second half.

However if GFZ wants to blame somebody for once he needs to look no further than himself but we are still up there,just made it a little harder to catch those above us.He also needs to speak to Neuton a bit less verbal and retaliation may have helped with Mr Kettle,

Finally congratulations to the Rookery and WFC fans in general, a poor crowd and we chanted you only sing when you're winning...At least the Charlton fans sang unlike our massed librarians...and hope the hand gets better Harry.

Nos isn't as good as people are making out.... He panicks with the ball. Neuton had a bad game today but so did hoban and ekstrand so don't get on his back. It wasn't completely the defences fault.... You have to look at the complete team performance... The midfield weren't strong enough and we didn't pass the ball enough... Too much hoofing today meant Charlton could keep us in our own half after they scored there equalisers and therefore took back the initiative. If we play a weak side against man city there might be 6000 very dissapointed fans who have spent a lot of money on going to Manchester for the day only to see us look like another average championship side....which we are not so let's just enjoy Saturday and hope the rotation pays off, you just never know

Holtonian a voice of reason at last !
come on guys lets not get all fickle like them Lilywhites down the lane.
Two days ago you were all on here shouting from the roof tops about how we were the best team in the Championship and that automatic promotion was just a matter of accumalating X amount of points. One game later and its Zola this and Zola that and Neuton this and Murray that ! and we dont care about FA cup ! funny that we sold 6000 tickets in a couple of days , someone cared then. I know I still do , maybe not quite as confident with the defending but lets brush ourselves down ! wipe our bloodied nose and go again.
Or we could just keep moaning and groaning, get depressed and throw away all the good stuff we have battled so hard for .
COYH s

holtonian wrote:

bigthunder wrote:
Have to say it is a longtime since i felt so angry at a Watford performance and particularly the managers contribution to this mess

so many times changes are made , i can understand that to a point BUT 5 for this game totally gave the initiative to struggling Charlton team , no doubt chris powell said to his team , there you go they think this will be a walk over with them making so many changes , did the trick as fired them up no end , 1st mistake Zola

then surprise surprise it is the forwards and midfielders who are changed / rested whatever you want to call it however it is our defensive which is our weak link!!

We cannot keep a flaming clean sheet !! yet still Hoban elkstrand play on , caught up with hoban in particular today , 2nd mistake Zola

then goalkeeper is injured so obvious particulary causing the second goal as he was rooted to the spot , then went down when goal went in , yet still came out for second half and guess what another cross to a free header as the useless neuton looked on and goalie stayed on his line , 3rd mistake zola

personally could not give a monkeys if we win at city , laughable as that sounds with this defence , city would have got double figures today , 3 at the back against them particulary if that awful player neuton plays will be suicide , over to you zola , your tinkering cost us massively today and after such a good result Saturday .

YOU thought we just had to turn up to beat Charlton , saturdays team with the momentum would have beat this charlton team , they not only beat us but scored 4 goals at our place , shocking day poor management and as i said i am so angry

we will NOT win FA cup we have a chance of play offs or more yet todays team showed you must play your in form best team , feel very let down today , managed to persuade a couple of floating wfc fans to attend today , they looked at me as if i was daft having witnessed that performance ,

sorry Gianfranco you have done decent so far but what on earth you were thinking today i do not know so disappointed , wish i could say a decent side beat us , they did not , think we started to beleive all the good press after saturday ?”

Gianfranco was rotating as best he could,easy to be critical after this loss, but not very fair comment after what Gianfranco and staff have achieved thus far.

I agree. Absolute joke of a post that last one. To turn around and lambast Zola after the season we've had so far shows how little some of our fans know about football... and how ungrateful they are as well.

The bottom line today was that we don't have a proper number two, Fitz Hall is vital to our back line and John Eustace is still on the road to recovery - none of which is Zola's fault
and to say that he put the FA Cup before the league is laughable. Only freak players can play Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday and not be burnt out by March. If Zola played Vydra and Deeney every game, we got into the play-offs and they had nothing left, the same people whinging on here today would be moaning that he didn't rotate during the season!

To Zola: the way you've kept a massive squad happy and got them all to gel so quickly is a credit to you. We're playing some of the best, if not THE best, football that this club has ever enjoyed... and I thank you and the Pozzos for everything you've done so far - which is nothing compared to what I'm sure you'll continue to do over the coming years. Some of our 'fans' would seem to prefer it if our thieving old chairman came back to oversee a kick-and-rush team of average players. I am not one of them. Today's not the last time we'll get a below-par performance from your boys, but you've learnt from every one of them so far and the improvement in half a season has been remarkable.

Hats off to you for the work that you're doing... and long may it continue.

KeithMercer wrote:
Holtonian a voice of reason at last !
come on guys lets not get all fickle like them Lilywhites down the lane.
Two days ago you were all on here shouting from the roof tops about how we were the best team in the Championship and that automatic promotion was just a matter of accumalating X amount of points. One game later and its Zola this and Zola that and Neuton this and Murray that ! and we dont care about FA cup ! funny that we sold 6000 tickets in a couple of days , someone cared then. I know I still do , maybe not quite as confident with the defending but lets brush ourselves down ! wipe our bloodied nose and go again.
Or we could just keep moaning and groaning, get depressed and throw away all the good stuff we have battled so hard for .
COYH s

Amen brother. I don't know why these cretins don't just go and support Barcelona and be done with it.

Idiots.

Could we look at this another way?...If we go up this year, then we will be playing the Man city's of this world latter this year and I'd like to see how Vydra & Deeney will get on against city. So we lost today, we still have a game in hand and it doesn't matter where we are now, it matters where we are at the end of the season, still a long way to go yet and we are not going to win every game. look how far we have come in such a short time.

It's all been so harmonious lately but now at last you've all got something to moan about.

Sort it out you lot.

Zola is entitled to rotate and we all accept that he needs to do that and we were all saying how great it is that we have a big squad with a busy schedule blah blah blah. But now it's all 'Zola shouldn't rotate whinge whinge whinge. We should stick with the same team whinge whinge.' you wouldn't say that if he'd pulled it off would you?

He didn't get it THAT wrong today. That team, on paper, could have destroyed cardiff or hull or charlton if the mentality had been right.

Far too easy to pick out players. For the record Neuton is a decent player as is Hoban. If none of us knew what a great player Hoban is we'd be saying he looked out of his depth on the basis of that performance. But we know better.

Don't be dikkhedds. It was just a bad day at the office. Complacency. It happens. I don't like it either. I walked away very disappointed too.

Let's look at our job as supporters: as someone else has mentioned - we were QUIET. Just imagine what difference it may have made if we could sing incessantly. A few half hearted Yellow Army chants and a sad side show from Harry the Hornet who damages his hand trying desperately to drum up support. I think he does a decent job but it seems a hopeless task with these fans.

I like the fact that there is passion shown in this thread but I just wish it was better directed.

bigthunder wrote:
Have to say it is a longtime since i felt so angry at a Watford performance and particularly the managers contribution to this mess

so many times changes are made , i can understand that to a point BUT 5 for this game totally gave the initiative to struggling Charlton team , no doubt chris powell said to his team , there you go they think this will be a walk over with them making so many changes , did the trick as fired them up no end , 1st mistake Zola

then surprise surprise it is the forwards and midfielders who are changed / rested whatever you want to call it however it is our defensive which is our weak link!!

We cannot keep a flaming clean sheet !! yet still Hoban elkstrand play on , caught up with hoban in particular today , 2nd mistake Zola

then goalkeeper is injured so obvious particulary causing the second goal as he was rooted to the spot , then went down when goal went in , yet still came out for second half and guess what another cross to a free header as the useless neuton looked on and goalie stayed on his line , 3rd mistake zola

personally could not give a monkeys if we win at city , laughable as that sounds with this defence , city would have got double figures today , 3 at the back against them particulary if that awful player neuton plays will be suicide , over to you zola , your tinkering cost us massively today and after such a good result Saturday .

YOU thought we just had to turn up to beat Charlton , saturdays team with the momentum would have beat this charlton team , they not only beat us but scored 4 goals at our place , shocking day poor management and as i said i am so angry

we will NOT win FA cup we have a chance of play offs or more yet todays team showed you must play your in form best team , feel very let down today , managed to persuade a couple of floating wfc fans to attend today , they looked at me as if i was daft having witnessed that performance ,

sorry Gianfranco you have done decent so far but what on earth you were thinking today i do not know so disappointed , wish i could say a decent side beat us , they did not , think we started to beleive all the good press after saturday ?”

Blimey, chill out mate. You need to calm down a bit. We only lost 1 game!! We're still 6th! Helloooooooo?? wakey wakey, look where we were 7 months ago! You're acting like a spoilt kid throwing toys out of pram, demanding a victory every week.
Zola has made changes before and it worked, the only change he got wrong today was leaving out Hogg as we didn't have a ball winner in the middle. Hall was an enforced change and Cassetti was always going to come in for Anya. Geijo and FF are good enough to play up front in this league and it wasnt those changes that made us lose.
Also you seem to be insinuating that Hoban and Ekstrand needed to be dropped? Craziest thing I've ever heard, who's going to replace them?!

JohnnyBarnes wrote:

holtonian wrote:

bigthunder wrote:
Have to say it is a longtime since i felt so angry at a Watford performance and particularly the managers contribution to this mess

so many times changes are made , i can understand that to a point BUT 5 for this game totally gave the initiative to struggling Charlton team , no doubt chris powell said to his team , there you go they think this will be a walk over with them making so many changes , did the trick as fired them up no end , 1st mistake Zola

then surprise surprise it is the forwards and midfielders who are changed / rested whatever you want to call it however it is our defensive which is our weak link!!

We cannot keep a flaming clean sheet !! yet still Hoban elkstrand play on , caught up with hoban in particular today , 2nd mistake Zola

then goalkeeper is injured so obvious particulary causing the second goal as he was rooted to the spot , then went down when goal went in , yet still came out for second half and guess what another cross to a free header as the useless neuton looked on and goalie stayed on his line , 3rd mistake zola

personally could not give a monkeys if we win at city , laughable as that sounds with this defence , city would have got double figures today , 3 at the back against them particulary if that awful player neuton plays will be suicide , over to you zola , your tinkering cost us massively today and after such a good result Saturday .

YOU thought we just had to turn up to beat Charlton , saturdays team with the momentum would have beat this charlton team , they not only beat us but scored 4 goals at our place , shocking day poor management and as i said i am so angry

we will NOT win FA cup we have a chance of play offs or more yet todays team showed you must play your in form best team , feel very let down today , managed to persuade a couple of floating wfc fans to attend today , they looked at me as if i was daft having witnessed that performance ,

sorry Gianfranco you have done decent so far but what on earth you were thinking today i do not know so disappointed , wish i could say a decent side beat us , they did not , think we started to beleive all the good press after saturday ?”

Gianfranco was rotating as best he could,easy to be critical after this loss, but not very fair comment after what Gianfranco and staff have achieved thus far.

I agree. Absolute joke of a post that last one. To turn around and lambast Zola after the season we've had so far shows how little some of our fans know about football... and how ungrateful they are as well.

The bottom line today was that we don't have a proper number two, Fitz Hall is vital to our back line and John Eustace is still on the road to recovery - none of which is Zola's fault
and to say that he put the FA Cup before the league is laughable. Only freak players can play Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday and not be burnt out by March. If Zola played Vydra and Deeney every game, we got into the play-offs and they had nothing left, the same people whinging on here today would be moaning that he didn't rotate during the season!

To Zola: the way you've kept a massive squad happy and got them all to gel so quickly is a credit to you. We're playing some of the best, if not THE best, football that this club has ever enjoyed... and I thank you and the Pozzos for everything you've done so far - which is nothing compared to what I'm sure you'll continue to do over the coming years. Some of our 'fans' would seem to prefer it if our thieving old chairman came back to oversee a kick-and-rush team of average players. I am not one of them. Today's not the last time we'll get a below-par performance from your boys, but you've learnt from every one of them so far and the improvement in half a season has been remarkable.

Hats off to you for the work that you're doing... and long may it continue.

agree Johnny barnes you legend

Dr Johnny Fever wrote:
Could we look at this another way?...If we go up this year, then we will be playing the Man city's of this world latter this year and I'd like to see how Vydra & Deeney will get on against city. So we lost today, we still have a game in hand and it doesn't matter where we are now, it matters where we are at the end of the season, still a long way to go yet and we are not going to win every game. look how far we have come in such a short time.

well said

Stoney77 wrote:

bigthunder wrote:
Have to say it is a longtime since i felt so angry at a Watford performance and particularly the managers contribution to this mess

so many times changes are made , i can understand that to a point BUT 5 for this game totally gave the initiative to struggling Charlton team , no doubt chris powell said to his team , there you go they think this will be a walk over with them making so many changes , did the trick as fired them up no end , 1st mistake Zola

then surprise surprise it is the forwards and midfielders who are changed / rested whatever you want to call it however it is our defensive which is our weak link!!

We cannot keep a flaming clean sheet !! yet still Hoban elkstrand play on , caught up with hoban in particular today , 2nd mistake Zola

then goalkeeper is injured so obvious particulary causing the second goal as he was rooted to the spot , then went down when goal went in , yet still came out for second half and guess what another cross to a free header as the useless neuton looked on and goalie stayed on his line , 3rd mistake zola

personally could not give a monkeys if we win at city , laughable as that sounds with this defence , city would have got double figures today , 3 at the back against them particulary if that awful player neuton plays will be suicide , over to you zola , your tinkering cost us massively today and after such a good result Saturday .

YOU thought we just had to turn up to beat Charlton , saturdays team with the momentum would have beat this charlton team , they not only beat us but scored 4 goals at our place , shocking day poor management and as i said i am so angry

we will NOT win FA cup we have a chance of play offs or more yet todays team showed you must play your in form best team , feel very let down today , managed to persuade a couple of floating wfc fans to attend today , they looked at me as if i was daft having witnessed that performance ,

sorry Gianfranco you have done decent so far but what on earth you were thinking today i do not know so disappointed , wish i could say a decent side beat us , they did not , think we started to beleive all the good press after saturday ?”

Blimey, chill out mate. You need to calm down a bit. We only lost 1 game!! We're still 6th! Helloooooooo?? wakey wakey, look where we were 7 months ago! You're acting like a spoilt kid throwing toys out of pram, demanding a victory every week.
Zola has made changes before and it worked, the only change he got wrong today was leaving out Hogg as we didn't have a ball winner in the middle. Hall was an enforced change and Cassetti was always going to come in for Anya. Geijo and FF are good enough to play up front in this league and it wasnt those changes that made us lose.
Also you seem to be insinuating that Hoban and Ekstrand needed to be dropped? Craziest thing I've ever heard, who's going to replace them?!

stoney you're right: Hogg was missed in midfield. I was happy to see him rested but would've been happier to see Eustace return in his place. Presume still unfit. A bit of leadership needed today.

A poor performance today, lacked desire and did not compete for the ball like we normally do. Looked like a lot of the players had their minds on next weeks game, a big stage for them and did not want to get injured today. Still thing we have a squad good enough to make the playoffs with the addition of another experienced keeper.

bigthunder wrote:
Have to say it is a longtime since i felt so angry at a Watford performance and particularly the managers contribution to this mess

so many times changes are made , i can understand that to a point BUT 5 for this game totally gave the initiative to struggling Charlton team , no doubt chris powell said to his team , there you go they think this will be a walk over with them making so many changes , did the trick as fired them up no end , 1st mistake Zola

then surprise surprise it is the forwards and midfielders who are changed / rested whatever you want to call it however it is our defensive which is our weak link!!

We cannot keep a flaming clean sheet !! yet still Hoban elkstrand play on , caught up with hoban in particular today , 2nd mistake Zola

then goalkeeper is injured so obvious particulary causing the second goal as he was rooted to the spot , then went down when goal went in , yet still came out for second half and guess what another cross to a free header as the useless neuton looked on and goalie stayed on his line , 3rd mistake zola

personally could not give a monkeys if we win at city , laughable as that sounds with this defence , city would have got double figures today , 3 at the back against them particulary if that awful player neuton plays will be suicide , over to you zola , your tinkering cost us massively today and after such a good result Saturday .

YOU thought we just had to turn up to beat Charlton , saturdays team with the momentum would have beat this charlton team , they not only beat us but scored 4 goals at our place , shocking day poor management and as i said i am so angry

we will NOT win FA cup we have a chance of play offs or more yet todays team showed you must play your in form best team , feel very let down today , managed to persuade a couple of floating wfc fans to attend today , they looked at me as if i was daft having witnessed that performance ,

sorry Gianfranco you have done decent so far but what on earth you were thinking today i do not know so disappointed , wish i could say a decent side beat us , they did not , think we started to beleive all the good press after saturday ?”

Yeah, this is a pretty reasonable reaction. It's not like we're in the play-offs, playing great football, 1000x better than last year? We had an off day, end of. We missed Hall, that's for sure. Can't blame Zola's selection of FF and Geijo as one scored, the other got an assist and won a pen. Hogg's exclusion is the only selection I'd question, but we don't know the circumstances. We aren't going to win every game this season, I think a few people got ahead of themselves before today. Anyone can beat anyone in the championship and so it proved today. On another day Vydra's goal would've counted and we wouldn't be complaining (as much, anyway).

Sorry for the rant.

Free transfers that would add steel to our squad and experience.

Craig Gordon GK

John Mensah CDM

Gianluca Zambrotta LWB

Mikael Silvestre CB LB

Asier Del Horno LB

Owen Hargreaves CDM

Cristiano Zanetti CAM

Royston Drenthe LM

Tom De Mul RM

James McFadden CAM

Harry Kewell CAM

John Carew CF

What do you think guys?

I have never criticized Zola until now but I will today! (To err is to be human) I also became aware of the below shortly before the match today. Guidolin is the Udinese head coach has apparently had enough, is depressed and wants to move ‘upstairs’!

http://www.football-
italia.net/28776/gui
dolin-hints-zola-sur
prise - It says amongst other things;

“The rumour is that Zola will take over as Udinese Coach, because the former Chelsea star is already working for the Pozzo family. They own both Udinese and Watford”.

If there is any truth in this it is beside the point, the real issue here is neither Zola, the club, the players and fans need such a distraction at this critical time in the season! I suppose what I am saying is I wish Mr Guidolin would keep his thoughts to himself and not mention either Zola or Watford, especially in public or to the Press or TV!

If Zola still thinks his five changes to the team (50% of the outfield players ) then he has learnt nothing from today and that is worrying Unless of course he has (but cannot admit he screwed up) Man’s pride and all that!

It is generally accepted in all circles of football “You do not change a winning team (unless you are forced too)! A winning team is high on confidence and adrenalin (Zola broke a winning team strong on confidence by making wholesale changes in effect he fielded a completely different team!

There is no way today’s team could have performed as well as the team that played against Brighton! Would Ferguson have done that (had he been in Zola’s position)?

I sincerely hope the FA Cup ( A distraction to Watford at this moment in time) nor Udinese had anything to do with the decision to make a wholesale change today. We lost three precious points which could be paramount at the end of the season.

This Watford team can be sensational and that is down to Zola. This team can get into the Premier League (the richest league in the world)! The Premier League is much more financially lucrative than the Italian league by a mile!

Next season the new contract starts and ‘mega money kicks in’ to the Premier League. £64 million in parachute payments alone plus TV and league participation makes Watford’s promotion worth around £120 million, and that is just for getting promotion. (Not that we want to burden the players with this on their backs!

The truth is and here is a major problem (for the Pozzo’s) it is not Udinese or Granada that is the future it is Watford both geographically and potentially the richest jewel in the Pozzo’s crown!

I believe Watford can still get promoted either automatically or by the playoffs in this season, today we have lost our ‘game in hand advantage’ by losing three points. The stakes are high. Sincerely hope everybody involved understands this!

Zola made a mistake today (for whatever reason) if he acknowledged this to the fans and players it would be I think a good thing. If not then so be it! We move on irrespective!

Forza Watford!

All the criticism is pathetic. Cassetti was always going to come in and Hall's absence was enforced. The two replacements up front cut the opposition apart at will. Hogg does need a rest now and again or what is the point of having a squad. 5 changes is not as dramatic as it sounds.
The Murray choice was strange but he has shown that his attitude is not a patch on our new recruits.
The issue was rank bad defending.Nosworthy may have done better but he has had his share of nightmare games also.
I was also angry with the way Yeates gave the ball away after we had just gone 3 - 2 up in the build up to their equaliser.
There were just too many poor performances but to pin the blame on Zola after all he has achieved is totally wrong. It was a bad day at the office so move on.

Zola will have learned a lot from today but there is nothing to be gained from him admitting that he got his selection wrong. All that would achieve would be to undermine the confidence of the players brought into the starting line-up. The most important lesson is not to play without a holding midfielder. Zola will know this, without having to admit it publicly. As for the 'major problem' the Pozzos have about prioritising Watford above Udinese and Granada, the idea that Watford are a problem is complete tosh. With the riches on offer in the Premier League next year, there is no doubt that Watford will be the jewel in the crown of the Pozzo business empire if we get promoted. And that is one reason why they won't be subverting their business plan by moving Zola back to Italy mod-season when we have a sniff of going up.

surreyhorn wrote:
All the criticism is pathetic. Cassetti was always going to come in and Hall's absence was enforced. The two replacements up front cut the opposition apart at will. Hogg does need a rest now and again or what is the point of having a squad. 5 changes is not as dramatic as it sounds.
The Murray choice was strange but he has shown that his attitude is not a patch on our new recruits.
The issue was rank bad defending.Nosworthy may have done better but he has had his share of nightmare games also.
I was also angry with the way Yeates gave the ball away after we had just gone 3 - 2 up in the build up to their equaliser.
There were just too many poor performances but to pin the blame on Zola after all he has achieved is totally wrong. It was a bad day at the office so move on.

Five changes from one game to another of outfield players is as dramatic as it gets. Its no good pretending its otherwise! Take of those rose coloured spectacles.

The only flaw during the Brighton game was the Almunia Hob-ban event, not only was that not dealt with, the defence was weakened. the substitution of two strikers with another worked but whats the point of scoring three goals if the defence concedes four at home?

The defence at brighton was outstanding in the last 75 minutes today it was hopeless against a much lesser side than Brighton.

BarryEndean wrote:
Zola will have learned a lot from today but there is nothing to be gained from him admitting that he got his selection wrong. All that would achieve would be to undermine the confidence of the players brought into the starting line-up. The most important lesson is not to play without a holding midfielder. Zola will know this, without having to admit it publicly. As for the 'major problem' the Pozzos have about prioritising Watford above Udinese and Granada, the idea that Watford are a problem is complete tosh. With the riches on offer in the Premier League next year, there is no doubt that Watford will be the jewel in the crown of the Pozzo business empire if we get promoted. And that is one reason why they won't be subverting their business plan by moving Zola back to Italy mod-season when we have a sniff of going up.

The problem with supporters like you is you settle for anything after the dross of previous seasons, just because Zola has done well so far does not make him immune from criticism that's how Dictators are made. The fans keeping him 'grounded' is not a bad thing!

The main thrust of my argument was the Udinese head coach (not just anyone) upping the anti! You failed to mention this. If the Pozzos are so 'au fait' with the Watford project shouldn't they keep control of the what the Udinese Head coach says to the press? especially if it impacts on the Watford team.

Bottom line is the Defence was appalling today against one of the weaker teams conceding four goals at home, that's not to be brushed over lightly!

Its hard to find a balance on this site, either the fans are scathing as per previous managers or go over the top with 'our manager is god syndrome'!

Balance is the objective. Something went very wrong today! In all successful enterprises there should be an inquiry as to the reason for such a poor performance, the British way of papering over the cracks and 'moving on' is not the answer which appears to be what you are advocating.

RogerUK
congratulations for winning this weeks biggest Numpty award !
Come back when you have something positive to say ! until then get back to the bowls club and BORE OFF !!!

Why are we referring to it as '5 changes'? Hall was forced, or did you want him to play injured? Many named Anya as the weak link vs Brighton and Cassetti is the better player and surely strengthening your starting XI is no bad thing? Plus the two strikers had great games. People expecting Vydra to play every game are kidding themselves. He's only recently come back from a long term knee injury, it's good to give him a rest now and again.

Seems like some people want us to lose so they have an excuse to criticize players/management.

KeithMercer wrote:
RogerUK
congratulations for winning this weeks biggest Numpty award !
Come back when you have something positive to say ! until then get back to the bowls club and BORE OFF !!!

Thank you Keith. Have to agree. Sorry Rodge, you're dull.

WatfordTalk wrote:
Why are we referring to it as '5 changes'? Hall was forced, or did you want him to play injured? Many named Anya as the weak link vs Brighton and Cassetti is the better player and surely strengthening your starting XI is no bad thing? Plus the two strikers had great games. People expecting Vydra to play every game are kidding themselves. He's only recently come back from a long term knee injury, it's good to give him a rest now and again.

Seems like some people want us to lose so they have an excuse to criticize players/management.

Agree. Nothing wrong with any of those changes. Just lacked a leader on the pitch.

As I said earlier, that Watford team could have demolished ANY champshp team today. It wasn't about selection. It was just a bad day.

rogeruk wrote:

BarryEndean wrote:
Zola will have learned a lot from today but there is nothing to be gained from him admitting that he got his selection wrong. All that would achieve would be to undermine the confidence of the players brought into the starting line-up. The most important lesson is not to play without a holding midfielder. Zola will know this, without having to admit it publicly. As for the 'major problem' the Pozzos have about prioritising Watford above Udinese and Granada, the idea that Watford are a problem is complete tosh. With the riches on offer in the Premier League next year, there is no doubt that Watford will be the jewel in the crown of the Pozzo business empire if we get promoted. And that is one reason why they won't be subverting their business plan by moving Zola back to Italy mod-season when we have a sniff of going up.

The problem with supporters like you is you settle for anything after the dross of previous seasons, just because Zola has done well so far does not make him immune from criticism that's how Dictators are made. The fans keeping him 'grounded' is not a bad thing!

The main thrust of my argument was the Udinese head coach (not just anyone) upping the anti! You failed to mention this. If the Pozzos are so 'au fait' with the Watford project shouldn't they keep control of the what the Udinese Head coach says to the press? especially if it impacts on the Watford team.

Bottom line is the Defence was appalling today against one of the weaker teams conceding four goals at home, that's not to be brushed over lightly!

Its hard to find a balance on this site, either the fans are scathing as per previous managers or go over the top with 'our manager is god syndrome'!

Balance is the objective. Something went very wrong today! In all successful enterprises there should be an inquiry as to the reason for such a poor performance, the British way of papering over the cracks and 'moving on' is not the answer which appears to be what you are advocating.

Roger UK, the problem with supporters like you is that you contradict yourself. No one is immune from criticism but why would the most grounded manager in the league need a bore like you to keep him grounded.
The defence was indeed appalling today but that didn't have anything to do with his changes.I have far more confidence in him sorting it out on the training ground than your demand for a public inquiry. Hoban has been excellent until today when he was very poor. That doesn't make him a bad player and he will learn from it.If you don't like 'moving on ' try 'get over it',

The frustration is that we have just thrown away 3 points from one of our easier games. On recent form I believed we still had a 20% chance of catching the top 2 despite their points lead. We can beat anyone in this league when at our best. We can't afford to throw away points like we did yesterday.

GZ mentions F&G played well so the 5 changes made no difference. What about Neuton & Murray? Neuton is not only poor defender but he drains the confidence of those around him. I have seen him have the odd good moment but never a good game. Murray should be nowhere near the 1st team at the moment, but to replace a ball winning defensive midfielder with him was pure folly.

Love the Pozzos, love GZ, but today was a really poor team selection.

Mickey Quinn, not so thin wrote:
The frustration is that we have just thrown away 3 points from one of our easier games. On recent form I believed we still had a 20% chance of catching the top 2 despite their points lead. We can beat anyone in this league when at our best. We can't afford to throw away points like we did yesterday.

GZ mentions F&G played well so the 5 changes made no difference. What about Neuton & Murray? Neuton is not only poor defender but he drains the confidence of those around him. I have seen him have the odd good moment but never a good game. Murray should be nowhere near the 1st team at the moment, but to replace a ball winning defensive midfielder with him was pure folly.

Love the Pozzos, love GZ, but today was a really poor team selection.

....and on a day with a big BH gate and the prospect of selling the new watford style to a number of occasional or new supporters.....

KeithMercer wrote:
RogerUK
congratulations for winning this weeks biggest Numpty award !
Come back when you have something positive to say ! until then get back to the bowls club and BORE OFF !!!

You were a big fan of Dyche against the Pozzos' and Zola when they came in.

You have turned full circle, just a sheep who chases the pack using chav words like numpty who listens to people like you?

Unofficial, but still looks pozzotive. Players to go back: neuton, franchome and beleck.

Players to cone in: zielinski (gk) badu (dmf) and centre back who's name I don't remember.

Also there are plenty of decent free transfers about but don't hold your breath on those as we are competing for signatures against top European clubs.

On the whole though it looks like we are getting players in where we need the cover most.

As for yesterday, as I warned u lot the focus wasn't entirely there, its happened so many times in football it fails to surprise me.

We are still at work in progress. If u want to see a complete team win every week go support man u.

Get over this result people and pray that almunias injury won't keep him out of the city game!

Thank heavens for the common sense prevailing on this story, at least. We lost. We played like a team that expected to win. It will be dealt with, I'm sure. To suggest that the managerial situation at Udinese has turned GFZ's head is hilarious. And, even if it had, it's hardly going to make him care less about team selection. What an insult to the man that observation is!

Bottom line. This team doesn't need both Hogg and Eustace in the same side. But it needs one of them. Also, I too agree that keepers do NOT make good leader. They are in the wrong place on the pitch, for starters. So, in the absence of JE and (for now FH) who WOULD you make captain?

We learn. We move on. I stated after the Brighton game that thoughts of automatic promotion are unrealistic. Thoughts of the play-offs are most definitely realistic. There will be a bun fight for the fifth/sixth spot. Probably around 7 teams or so in contention for that. And Palace will stumble if they get raided in Janaury. For once, that is something we do NOT have to wory about. Address the flaws, by all means, but some of the comments aimed at our manager our ludicrous.

He had made this amount of changes several times this season. Most of the time it has worked.

surreyhorn wrote:

rogeruk wrote:

BarryEndean wrote:
Zola will have learned a lot from today but there is nothing to be gained from him admitting that he got his selection wrong. All that would achieve would be to undermine the confidence of the players brought into the starting line-up. The most important lesson is not to play without a holding midfielder. Zola will know this, without having to admit it publicly. As for the 'major problem' the Pozzos have about prioritising Watford above Udinese and Granada, the idea that Watford are a problem is complete tosh. With the riches on offer in the Premier League next year, there is no doubt that Watford will be the jewel in the crown of the Pozzo business empire if we get promoted. And that is one reason why they won't be subverting their business plan by moving Zola back to Italy mod-season when we have a sniff of going up.

The problem with supporters like you is you settle for anything after the dross of previous seasons, just because Zola has done well so far does not make him immune from criticism that's how Dictators are made. The fans keeping him 'grounded' is not a bad thing!

The main thrust of my argument was the Udinese head coach (not just anyone) upping the anti! You failed to mention this. If the Pozzos are so 'au fait' with the Watford project shouldn't they keep control of the what the Udinese Head coach says to the press? especially if it impacts on the Watford team.

Bottom line is the Defence was appalling today against one of the weaker teams conceding four goals at home, that's not to be brushed over lightly!

Its hard to find a balance on this site, either the fans are scathing as per previous managers or go over the top with 'our manager is god syndrome'!

Balance is the objective. Something went very wrong today! In all successful enterprises there should be an inquiry as to the reason for such a poor performance, the British way of papering over the cracks and 'moving on' is not the answer which appears to be what you are advocating.

Roger UK, the problem with supporters like you is that you contradict yourself. No one is immune from criticism but why would the most grounded manager in the league need a bore like you to keep him grounded.
The defence was indeed appalling today but that didn't have anything to do with his changes.I have far more confidence in him sorting it out on the training ground than your demand for a public inquiry. Hoban has been excellent until today when he was very poor. That doesn't make him a bad player and he will learn from it.If you don't like 'moving on ' try 'get over it',

There is no contradiction in my post nor do you have the nous to name any!

I never said Hoban was a bad player nor did I ask for a public inquiry, so don’t put words in my mouth, it’s that or you can’t read or understand English!

Even though I explained weakness of the moving on brigade, being a fully paid up member of the move on brigade, you come back with a boring repetition of ‘move on and get over it’! You are absolutely hopeless!

You do not reply to any of my points because you can’t, ignoring them with a boring repetition of what you said earlier.

You have no idea how to answer other peoples’ opinions with facts or reasoned argument your only retort is to resort to your Chav tribal insults. Pathetic!

mellow yellow wrote:
Thank heavens for the common sense prevailing on this story, at least. We lost. We played like a team that expected to win. It will be dealt with, I'm sure. To suggest that the managerial situation at Udinese has turned GFZ's head is hilarious. And, even if it had, it's hardly going to make him care less about team selection. What an insult to the man that observation is!

Bottom line. This team doesn't need both Hogg and Eustace in the same side. But it needs one of them. Also, I too agree that keepers do NOT make good leader. They are in the wrong place on the pitch, for starters. So, in the absence of JE and (for now FH) who WOULD you make captain?

We learn. We move on. I stated after the Brighton game that thoughts of automatic promotion are unrealistic. Thoughts of the play-offs are most definitely realistic. There will be a bun fight for the fifth/sixth spot. Probably around 7 teams or so in contention for that. And Palace will stumble if they get raided in Janaury. For once, that is something we do NOT have to wory about. Address the flaws, by all means, but some of the comments aimed at our manager our ludicrous.

He had made this amount of changes several times this season. Most of the time it has worked.

that's a good post.

Bush Hornet wrote:

KeithMercer wrote:
RogerUK
congratulations for winning this weeks biggest Numpty award !
Come back when you have something positive to say ! until then get back to the bowls club and BORE OFF !!!

Thank you Keith. Have to agree. Sorry Rodge, you're dull.

Its nothing to do with being positive, whilst the majority of you were moaning about the removal of the Pozzos and the poor early results I was the positive one.

In life 'moving on' is a euphemism for screwing up and not sorting it out!

Many of you have blind faith and that is not good. There was a big 'screw up today Sheeple supporters can't deal with it! they can't deal with reality.

Just because five changes worked before doesn't mean they will work now.

Every moment in time is different and people screw up because they hate change. Remember the SAS motto "He who changes wins"

Before the Sheeple come back with the real SAS motto, what I have said is under the word Humour!

Mellow, in answer to your question about captains in the absence of Eustace: I think Cassetti with all his experience would be a good captain. And Geijo perhaps. (I was impressed with AG, he drops deep and shows a good understanding.)

GKs don't normally make good captains because of their position. But I understand why Almunia can be a good captain. He's a strong character and I like to see him initiate a counter-attack and encourage players to go for it from the back. But yesterday it weren't happening for him. I think he was cold.

I really hope Eustace plays and fits in. He is a born leader.

Boys, boys, calm down. We lost and it could cost us but we're always going to lose the odd game here and there in this learning curve that's ongoing right now. We're Watford fans so be nice to each other and let the manager sort out the problems. My feeling is that he's got a slightly better handle on things that we do.

rogeruk wrote:

Bush Hornet wrote:

KeithMercer wrote:
RogerUK
congratulations for winning this weeks biggest Numpty award !
Come back when you have something positive to say ! until then get back to the bowls club and BORE OFF !!!

Thank you Keith. Have to agree. Sorry Rodge, you're dull.

Its nothing to do with being positive, whilst the majority of you were moaning about the removal of the Pozzos and the poor early results I was the positive one.

In life 'moving on' is a euphemism for screwing up and not sorting it out!

Many of you have blind faith and that is not good. There was a big 'screw up today Sheeple supporters can't deal with it! they can't deal with reality.

Just because five changes worked before doesn't mean they will work now.

Every moment in time is different and people screw up because they hate change. Remember the SAS motto "He who changes wins"

Before the Sheeple come back with the real SAS motto, what I have said is under the word Humour!

I'm struggling to get your point here but I think there's almost an inspirational team talk to us fans. It's a bit jumbley. So you're saying change is good, but changes are bad? Hmmm. I'm going to stroke my beard and ponder.

SAHornet wrote:
Boys, boys, calm down. We lost and it could cost us but we're always going to lose the odd game here and there in this learning curve that's ongoing right now. We're Watford fans so be nice to each other and let the manager sort out the problems. My feeling is that he's got a slightly better handle on things that we do.

the boy overseas has a sense of perspective. We lost 4-3. Not good but it could have been 4-0. Or 8-0 if we were Villa.

1 good thing to come out of a very poor defeat, is it at lasts brings an end to the boring love in on here! Finally some disagreement and banter! Hope we don't make fools of our selfs in Manchester ! Fans that is ..

For all these numptys on here Neuton is a class player..a very good footballer who is highly rated all over the world and we have him...he has been out for 6 weeks with an injury and played a fine 45 mins at Brighton against a side that play football.....He has to get used to the other side of the championship when people just wanna kick and punch and pull you. Yes he was not great yesterday but he needed a leader alongside him like Hall as Esksrtand was poor and Tommie is a kid. And as for that list of players availabe on free transfers there is a reason they are on free transfer....too old....not good enough.. looking for pay days.....it wont and shouldnt happen.

I have been increasingly impressed with GFZ but everyone makes mistakes and his on Tues cost us 3 points. Charlton's defence was nothing to writye home about and that was clear from the start. So why the hell wasn't Vydra playing until the last 8 minutes? He revels in those situations. He's unstoppable. Why didn't him and Deeney play from the kick-off? The one forced change was Fitz Hall so why wasn't Nosworthy brought in?

It's all very well to say that the squad is so large that it makes team selection difficult but we're 5 months down the road now and (I thought) we were pretty much there in selecting the best team. Why change it?

What we needed was to kill them off in the first half and then bring on some of the others on.

Sorry GFZ, your fault.

rogeruk wrote:
I have never criticized Zola until now but I will today! (To err is to be human) I also became aware of the below shortly before the match today. Guidolin is the Udinese head coach has apparently had enough, is depressed and wants to move ‘upstairs’!

http://www.football-

italia.net/28776/gui

dolin-hints-zola-sur

prise - It says amongst other things;

“The rumour is that Zola will take over as Udinese Coach, because the former Chelsea star is already working for the Pozzo family. They own both Udinese and Watford”.

If there is any truth in this it is beside the point, the real issue here is neither Zola, the club, the players and fans need such a distraction at this critical time in the season! I suppose what I am saying is I wish Mr Guidolin would keep his thoughts to himself and not mention either Zola or Watford, especially in public or to the Press or TV!

If Zola still thinks his five changes to the team (50% of the outfield players ) then he has learnt nothing from today and that is worrying Unless of course he has (but cannot admit he screwed up) Man’s pride and all that!

It is generally accepted in all circles of football “You do not change a winning team (unless you are forced too)! A winning team is high on confidence and adrenalin (Zola broke a winning team strong on confidence by making wholesale changes in effect he fielded a completely different team!

There is no way today’s team could have performed as well as the team that played against Brighton! Would Ferguson have done that (had he been in Zola’s position)?

I sincerely hope the FA Cup ( A distraction to Watford at this moment in time) nor Udinese had anything to do with the decision to make a wholesale change today. We lost three precious points which could be paramount at the end of the season.

This Watford team can be sensational and that is down to Zola. This team can get into the Premier League (the richest league in the world)! The Premier League is much more financially lucrative than the Italian league by a mile!

Next season the new contract starts and ‘mega money kicks in’ to the Premier League. £64 million in parachute payments alone plus TV and league participation makes Watford’s promotion worth around £120 million, and that is just for getting promotion. (Not that we want to burden the players with this on their backs!

The truth is and here is a major problem (for the Pozzo’s) it is not Udinese or Granada that is the future it is Watford both geographically and potentially the richest jewel in the Pozzo’s crown!

I believe Watford can still get promoted either automatically or by the playoffs in this season, today we have lost our ‘game in hand advantage’ by losing three points. The stakes are high. Sincerely hope everybody involved understands this!

Zola made a mistake today (for whatever reason) if he acknowledged this to the fans and players it would be I think a good thing. If not then so be it! We move on irrespective!

Forza Watford!

Just a note from an Udinese&WFC fan. Guidolin is maybe the most correct, humble and honest manager we have in Italy (just as Zola is in England) and NEVER mentioned WFC or Zola with the press. The rumours abound, but they're just rumours and speculations.

Eastsussexhornet wrote:
I have been increasingly impressed with GFZ but everyone makes mistakes and his on Tues cost us 3 points. Charlton's defence was nothing to writye home about and that was clear from the start. So why the hell wasn't Vydra playing until the last 8 minutes? He revels in those situations. He's unstoppable. Why didn't him and Deeney play from the kick-off? The one forced change was Fitz Hall so why wasn't Nosworthy brought in?

It's all very well to say that the squad is so large that it makes team selection difficult but we're 5 months down the road now and (I thought) we were pretty much there in selecting the best team. Why change it?

What we needed was to kill them off in the first half and then bring on some of the others on.

Sorry GFZ, your fault.

nah. Resting Vydra wasn't the problem. Just a bad day. Please see above posts and ignore the ranty ones

Still as disappointed today as I was yesterday. No rant but I've said it before, we find it difficult, almost impossible, to keep a clean sheet. Don't like to mention it but look at Cardiff. How many points clear are they ? To concede four goals at home to Charlton is not acceptable, scoring three is fine !!!

rogeruk wrote:

surreyhorn wrote:

rogeruk wrote:

BarryEndean wrote: Zola will have learned a lot from today but there is nothing to be gained from him admitting that he got his selection wrong. All that would achieve would be to undermine the confidence of the players brought into the starting line-up. The most important lesson is not to play without a holding midfielder. Zola will know this, without having to admit it publicly. As for the 'major problem' the Pozzos have about prioritising Watford above Udinese and Granada, the idea that Watford are a problem is complete tosh. With the riches on offer in the Premier League next year, there is no doubt that Watford will be the jewel in the crown of the Pozzo business empire if we get promoted. And that is one reason why they won't be subverting their business plan by moving Zola back to Italy mod-season when we have a sniff of going up.

The problem with supporters like you is you settle for anything after the dross of previous seasons, just because Zola has done well so far does not make him immune from criticism that's how Dictators are made. The fans keeping him 'grounded' is not a bad thing! The main thrust of my argument was the Udinese head coach (not just anyone) upping the anti! You failed to mention this. If the Pozzos are so 'au fait' with the Watford project shouldn't they keep control of the what the Udinese Head coach says to the press? especially if it impacts on the Watford team. Bottom line is the Defence was appalling today against one of the weaker teams conceding four goals at home, that's not to be brushed over lightly! Its hard to find a balance on this site, either the fans are scathing as per previous managers or go over the top with 'our manager is god syndrome'! Balance is the objective. Something went very wrong today! In all successful enterprises there should be an inquiry as to the reason for such a poor performance, the British way of papering over the cracks and 'moving on' is not the answer which appears to be what you are advocating.

Roger UK, the problem with supporters like you is that you contradict yourself. No one is immune from criticism but why would the most grounded manager in the league need a bore like you to keep him grounded. The defence was indeed appalling today but that didn't have anything to do with his changes.I have far more confidence in him sorting it out on the training ground than your demand for a public inquiry. Hoban has been excellent until today when he was very poor. That doesn't make him a bad player and he will learn from it.If you don't like 'moving on ' try 'get over it',

There is no contradiction in my post nor do you have the nous to name any! I never said Hoban was a bad player nor did I ask for a public inquiry, so don’t put words in my mouth, it’s that or you can’t read or understand English! Even though I explained weakness of the moving on brigade, being a fully paid up member of the move on brigade, you come back with a boring repetition of ‘move on and get over it’! You are absolutely hopeless! You do not reply to any of my points because you can’t, ignoring them with a boring repetition of what you said earlier. You have no idea how to answer other peoples’ opinions with facts or reasoned argument your only retort is to resort to your Chav tribal insults. Pathetic!

First post 'there should be an inquiry as to the reason for such a poor performance' second post 'Nor did I ask for a public enquiry' = contradiction.

Hope this is not too complicated for you !!

It was a bad day at the office, Hoban was an example of this and contributed to a poor defensive display.They are all learning.
What's the point in banging on about it.

Bush Hornet wrote:

Eastsussexhornet wrote:
I have been increasingly impressed with GFZ but everyone makes mistakes and his on Tues cost us 3 points. Charlton's defence was nothing to writye home about and that was clear from the start. So why the hell wasn't Vydra playing until the last 8 minutes? He revels in those situations. He's unstoppable. Why didn't him and Deeney play from the kick-off? The one forced change was Fitz Hall so why wasn't Nosworthy brought in?

It's all very well to say that the squad is so large that it makes team selection difficult but we're 5 months down the road now and (I thought) we were pretty much there in selecting the best team. Why change it?

What we needed was to kill them off in the first half and then bring on some of the others on.

Sorry GFZ, your fault.

nah. Resting Vydra wasn't the problem. Just a bad day. Please see above posts and ignore the ranty ones

a bad day not helped by playing Murray out of the blue, no defensively minded midfield player, and Neuton, who may be "class" but can't defend and looks like he doesn't want to spoil his beautifully blow-dried bonce by heading the ball.....

Bush Hornet wrote:

rogeruk wrote:

Bush Hornet wrote:

KeithMercer wrote:
RogerUK
congratulations for winning this weeks biggest Numpty award !
Come back when you have something positive to say ! until then get back to the bowls club and BORE OFF !!!

Thank you Keith. Have to agree. Sorry Rodge, you're dull.

Its nothing to do with being positive, whilst the majority of you were moaning about the removal of the Pozzos and the poor early results I was the positive one.

In life 'moving on' is a euphemism for screwing up and not sorting it out!

Many of you have blind faith and that is not good. There was a big 'screw up today Sheeple supporters can't deal with it! they can't deal with reality.

Just because five changes worked before doesn't mean they will work now.

Every moment in time is different and people screw up because they hate change. Remember the SAS motto "He who changes wins"

Before the Sheeple come back with the real SAS motto, what I have said is under the word Humour!

I'm struggling to get your point here but I think there's almost an inspirational team talk to us fans. It's a bit jumbley. So you're saying change is good, but changes are bad? Hmmm. I'm going to stroke my beard and ponder.

Open your mind (or in modern day parlance (Think outside the box) which used to be known as parallel thinking before everything got dumbed down to reach the LCD (lowest common denominator).

Changes are bad in a situation for example when five changes were used before and were successful thus assuming five changes will always be good.

It’s like the weather you need to change your clothes according to what the weather is and not what the weather is what you think it will be! OK so far?

The majority of people hate change, people crave stability but actually this is the first rule of disappointment. You have to live life and as it changes you have to adapt and change with it in order to succeed, most people can’t handle this and therefore follow managers or politicians blindly because they won’t have to think for themselves!

Nobody mortal can control time because time is constantly changing, every micro second everything changes and we need to take account of this and make our decisions accordingly.

Another example if you invest in company shares and assume the management policy appertaining in the past which bought profits will automatically bring profit today is a false thought because circumstances will have changed, possibly the policy of before could be very harmful in the present environment.

Therefore in order to be successful and more successful than others you must be able to change to meet the different situations (Fergie is a great master of this and why he has been successful for a hundred years).
Whilst I cannot challenge Zola’s reputation as a great player or as a good manager I can challenge his reasoning and psychology.

I am disappointed he said after the result, five changes worked before and should have been OK therefore this is not a reason for the bad result and is no excuse.

I disagree, the circumstances were different this time; team the weather the situation everything has changed.

Whilst he outgunned Poyet with his strategy he didn't succeed against Powell because as he himself recognized the first 45 minutes we gave to Charlton surely that is down to the five outfield changes, furthermore it’s obvious Hoban (good young player he is) is stressed the signs were there in the Brighton game and manifested themselves even more in yesterday’s game! He is only 18 a Centre Half and playing in the upper reaches of the championship it’s very demanding, nobody can expect the same level of consistency at that age. Had Zola taken that into account?

If Zola magnificent player and good motivator he undoubtedly is can increase his ability to out think every manager by using the philosophy I am advocating, he could then become a world class manager like Jose Mourinho or Alex Ferguson. Check out what Pep Guardiola said on his first speech to his players on becoming manager more or less what I am advocating.

Problem with the sheeple on here is they think I am questioning the now ‘god like Zola’ check out the Brighton Argus the Brighton sheeple have turned in a few days from Poyet the worst manager in the championship to now he is the best manager in the championship. Honestly what good are these sheeple’s comments? Are they helpful? No! Do they follow with Blind loyalty? Yes!

I am a great fan of Zola’s in fact I want him to be the best Watford manager ever and put himself into the history books alongside the other two managers I have mentioned, he can do it but not with sheeple supporters who blindly follow him and fear to question his screw-ups.

Constructive criticism is more positive than blind loyalty and adoration and what irks me more is this ‘X’ factor crap ‘move on’, which is the ultimate recipe for disaster as has proved time and time again.

This will probably go above the sheeple’s heads I honestly don’t care! You can only do so much before accepting some people are a lost cause and just can't be helped!

surreyhorn wrote:

rogeruk wrote:

surreyhorn wrote:

rogeruk wrote:

BarryEndean wrote: Zola will have learned a lot from today but there is nothing to be gained from him admitting that he got his selection wrong. All that would achieve would be to undermine the confidence of the players brought into the starting line-up. The most important lesson is not to play without a holding midfielder. Zola will know this, without having to admit it publicly. As for the 'major problem' the Pozzos have about prioritising Watford above Udinese and Granada, the idea that Watford are a problem is complete tosh. With the riches on offer in the Premier League next year, there is no doubt that Watford will be the jewel in the crown of the Pozzo business empire if we get promoted. And that is one reason why they won't be subverting their business plan by moving Zola back to Italy mod-season when we have a sniff of going up.

The problem with supporters like you is you settle for anything after the dross of previous seasons, just because Zola has done well so far does not make him immune from criticism that's how Dictators are made. The fans keeping him 'grounded' is not a bad thing! The main thrust of my argument was the Udinese head coach (not just anyone) upping the anti! You failed to mention this. If the Pozzos are so 'au fait' with the Watford project shouldn't they keep control of the what the Udinese Head coach says to the press? especially if it impacts on the Watford team. Bottom line is the Defence was appalling today against one of the weaker teams conceding four goals at home, that's not to be brushed over lightly! Its hard to find a balance on this site, either the fans are scathing as per previous managers or go over the top with 'our manager is god syndrome'! Balance is the objective. Something went very wrong today! In all successful enterprises there should be an inquiry as to the reason for such a poor performance, the British way of papering over the cracks and 'moving on' is not the answer which appears to be what you are advocating.

Roger UK, the problem with supporters like you is that you contradict yourself. No one is immune from criticism but why would the most grounded manager in the league need a bore like you to keep him grounded. The defence was indeed appalling today but that didn't have anything to do with his changes.I have far more confidence in him sorting it out on the training ground than your demand for a public inquiry. Hoban has been excellent until today when he was very poor. That doesn't make him a bad player and he will learn from it.If you don't like 'moving on ' try 'get over it',

There is no contradiction in my post nor do you have the nous to name any! I never said Hoban was a bad player nor did I ask for a public inquiry, so don’t put words in my mouth, it’s that or you can’t read or understand English! Even though I explained weakness of the moving on brigade, being a fully paid up member of the move on brigade, you come back with a boring repetition of ‘move on and get over it’! You are absolutely hopeless! You do not reply to any of my points because you can’t, ignoring them with a boring repetition of what you said earlier. You have no idea how to answer other peoples’ opinions with facts or reasoned argument your only retort is to resort to your Chav tribal insults. Pathetic!

First post 'there should be an inquiry as to the reason for such a poor performance' second post 'Nor did I ask for a public enquiry' = contradiction.

Hope this is not too complicated for you !!

It was a bad day at the office, Hoban was an example of this and contributed to a poor defensive display.They are all learning.
What's the point in banging on about it.

I said inquiry you said public inquiry, this is the third time of correcting you. Just how dumb are you?

There is no contradiction it is you with your addled brain that has a manufactured the contradiction!

rogeruk wrote:

Bush Hornet wrote:

rogeruk wrote:

Bush Hornet wrote:

KeithMercer wrote:
RogerUK
congratulations for winning this weeks biggest Numpty award !
Come back when you have something positive to say ! until then get back to the bowls club and BORE OFF !!!

Thank you Keith. Have to agree. Sorry Rodge, you're dull.

Its nothing to do with being positive, whilst the majority of you were moaning about the removal of the Pozzos and the poor early results I was the positive one.

In life 'moving on' is a euphemism for screwing up and not sorting it out!

Many of you have blind faith and that is not good. There was a big 'screw up today Sheeple supporters can't deal with it! they can't deal with reality.

Just because five changes worked before doesn't mean they will work now.

Every moment in time is different and people screw up because they hate change. Remember the SAS motto "He who changes wins"

Before the Sheeple come back with the real SAS motto, what I have said is under the word Humour!

I'm struggling to get your point here but I think there's almost an inspirational team talk to us fans. It's a bit jumbley. So you're saying change is good, but changes are bad? Hmmm. I'm going to stroke my beard and ponder.

Open your mind (or in modern day parlance (Think outside the box) which used to be known as parallel thinking before everything got dumbed down to reach the LCD (lowest common denominator).

Changes are bad in a situation for example when five changes were used before and were successful thus assuming five changes will always be good.

It’s like the weather you need to change your clothes according to what the weather is and not what the weather is what you think it will be! OK so far?

The majority of people hate change, people crave stability but actually this is the first rule of disappointment. You have to live life and as it changes you have to adapt and change with it in order to succeed, most people can’t handle this and therefore follow managers or politicians blindly because they won’t have to think for themselves!

Nobody mortal can control time because time is constantly changing, every micro second everything changes and we need to take account of this and make our decisions accordingly.

Another example if you invest in company shares and assume the management policy appertaining in the past which bought profits will automatically bring profit today is a false thought because circumstances will have changed, possibly the policy of before could be very harmful in the present environment.

Therefore in order to be successful and more successful than others you must be able to change to meet the different situations (Fergie is a great master of this and why he has been successful for a hundred years).
Whilst I cannot challenge Zola’s reputation as a great player or as a good manager I can challenge his reasoning and psychology.

I am disappointed he said after the result, five changes worked before and should have been OK therefore this is not a reason for the bad result and is no excuse.

I disagree, the circumstances were different this time; team the weather the situation everything has changed.

Whilst he outgunned Poyet with his strategy he didn't succeed against Powell because as he himself recognized the first 45 minutes we gave to Charlton surely that is down to the five outfield changes, furthermore it’s obvious Hoban (good young player he is) is stressed the signs were there in the Brighton game and manifested themselves even more in yesterday’s game! He is only 18 a Centre Half and playing in the upper reaches of the championship it’s very demanding, nobody can expect the same level of consistency at that age. Had Zola taken that into account?

If Zola magnificent player and good motivator he undoubtedly is can increase his ability to out think every manager by using the philosophy I am advocating, he could then become a world class manager like Jose Mourinho or Alex Ferguson. Check out what Pep Guardiola said on his first speech to his players on becoming manager more or less what I am advocating.

Problem with the sheeple on here is they think I am questioning the now ‘god like Zola’ check out the Brighton Argus the Brighton sheeple have turned in a few days from Poyet the worst manager in the championship to now he is the best manager in the championship. Honestly what good are these sheeple’s comments? Are they helpful? No! Do they follow with Blind loyalty? Yes!

I am a great fan of Zola’s in fact I want him to be the best Watford manager ever and put himself into the history books alongside the other two managers I have mentioned, he can do it but not with sheeple supporters who blindly follow him and fear to question his screw-ups.

Constructive criticism is more positive than blind loyalty and adoration and what irks me more is this ‘X’ factor crap ‘move on’, which is the ultimate recipe for disaster as has proved time and time again.

This will probably go above the sheeple’s heads I honestly don’t care! You can only do so much before accepting some people are a lost cause and just can't be helped!

Too much pseudo business speak to address here which amounts to nonsense, so I'm going to have to go back to earlier comment of 'dull'.

jasonwatford wrote:
For all these numptys on here Neuton is a class player..a very good footballer who is highly rated all over the world and we have him...he has been out for 6 weeks with an injury and played a fine 45 mins at Brighton against a side that play football.....He has to get used to the other side of the championship when people just wanna kick and punch and pull you. Yes he was not great yesterday but he needed a leader alongside him like Hall as Esksrtand was poor and Tommie is a kid. And as for that list of players availabe on free transfers there is a reason they are on free transfer....too old....not good enough.. looking for pay days.....it wont and shouldnt happen.

I agree he is a decent player but is not suited for the championship and all over the world,not sure charlton would even want him,especially after yesterday.

top teams do not have a best 11 they have the best squad.wigan were complaining they could not compete because of the size and quality of man u`s squad that allowed fergie to make 5 changes. stop moaning you have short memories we are building and progressing as a squad.

Mickey Quinn, not so thin wrote:

Bush Hornet wrote:

Eastsussexhornet wrote:
I have been increasingly impressed with GFZ but everyone makes mistakes and his on Tues cost us 3 points. Charlton's defence was nothing to writye home about and that was clear from the start. So why the hell wasn't Vydra playing until the last 8 minutes? He revels in those situations. He's unstoppable. Why didn't him and Deeney play from the kick-off? The one forced change was Fitz Hall so why wasn't Nosworthy brought in?

It's all very well to say that the squad is so large that it makes team selection difficult but we're 5 months down the road now and (I thought) we were pretty much there in selecting the best team. Why change it?

What we needed was to kill them off in the first half and then bring on some of the others on.

Sorry GFZ, your fault.

nah. Resting Vydra wasn't the problem. Just a bad day. Please see above posts and ignore the ranty ones

a bad day not helped by playing Murray out of the blue, no defensively minded midfield player, and Neuton, who may be "class" but can't defend and looks like he doesn't want to spoil his beautifully blow-dried bonce by heading the ball.....

Just spat my tea laughing at that! I too am very jealous of Neutons hair but not his defensive abilities !

Bush Hornet wrote:

rogeruk wrote:

Bush Hornet wrote:

rogeruk wrote:

Bush Hornet wrote:

KeithMercer wrote:
RogerUK
congratulations for winning this weeks biggest Numpty award !
Come back when you have something positive to say ! until then get back to the bowls club and BORE OFF !!!

Thank you Keith. Have to agree. Sorry Rodge, you're dull.

Its nothing to do with being positive, whilst the majority of you were moaning about the removal of the Pozzos and the poor early results I was the positive one.

In life 'moving on' is a euphemism for screwing up and not sorting it out!

Many of you have blind faith and that is not good. There was a big 'screw up today Sheeple supporters can't deal with it! they can't deal with reality.

Just because five changes worked before doesn't mean they will work now.

Every moment in time is different and people screw up because they hate change. Remember the SAS motto "He who changes wins"

Before the Sheeple come back with the real SAS motto, what I have said is under the word Humour!

I'm struggling to get your point here but I think there's almost an inspirational team talk to us fans. It's a bit jumbley. So you're saying change is good, but changes are bad? Hmmm. I'm going to stroke my beard and ponder.

Open your mind (or in modern day parlance (Think outside the box) which used to be known as parallel thinking before everything got dumbed down to reach the LCD (lowest common denominator).

Changes are bad in a situation for example when five changes were used before and were successful thus assuming five changes will always be good.

It’s like the weather you need to change your clothes according to what the weather is and not what the weather is what you think it will be! OK so far?

The majority of people hate change, people crave stability but actually this is the first rule of disappointment. You have to live life and as it changes you have to adapt and change with it in order to succeed, most people can’t handle this and therefore follow managers or politicians blindly because they won’t have to think for themselves!

Nobody mortal can control time because time is constantly changing, every micro second everything changes and we need to take account of this and make our decisions accordingly.

Another example if you invest in company shares and assume the management policy appertaining in the past which bought profits will automatically bring profit today is a false thought because circumstances will have changed, possibly the policy of before could be very harmful in the present environment.

Therefore in order to be successful and more successful than others you must be able to change to meet the different situations (Fergie is a great master of this and why he has been successful for a hundred years).
Whilst I cannot challenge Zola’s reputation as a great player or as a good manager I can challenge his reasoning and psychology.

I am disappointed he said after the result, five changes worked before and should have been OK therefore this is not a reason for the bad result and is no excuse.

I disagree, the circumstances were different this time; team the weather the situation everything has changed.

Whilst he outgunned Poyet with his strategy he didn't succeed against Powell because as he himself recognized the first 45 minutes we gave to Charlton surely that is down to the five outfield changes, furthermore it’s obvious Hoban (good young player he is) is stressed the signs were there in the Brighton game and manifested themselves even more in yesterday’s game! He is only 18 a Centre Half and playing in the upper reaches of the championship it’s very demanding, nobody can expect the same level of consistency at that age. Had Zola taken that into account?

If Zola magnificent player and good motivator he undoubtedly is can increase his ability to out think every manager by using the philosophy I am advocating, he could then become a world class manager like Jose Mourinho or Alex Ferguson. Check out what Pep Guardiola said on his first speech to his players on becoming manager more or less what I am advocating.

Problem with the sheeple on here is they think I am questioning the now ‘god like Zola’ check out the Brighton Argus the Brighton sheeple have turned in a few days from Poyet the worst manager in the championship to now he is the best manager in the championship. Honestly what good are these sheeple’s comments? Are they helpful? No! Do they follow with Blind loyalty? Yes!

I am a great fan of Zola’s in fact I want him to be the best Watford manager ever and put himself into the history books alongside the other two managers I have mentioned, he can do it but not with sheeple supporters who blindly follow him and fear to question his screw-ups.

Constructive criticism is more positive than blind loyalty and adoration and what irks me more is this ‘X’ factor crap ‘move on’, which is the ultimate recipe for disaster as has proved time and time again.

This will probably go above the sheeple’s heads I honestly don’t care! You can only do so much before accepting some people are a lost cause and just can't be helped!

Too much pseudo business speak to address here which amounts to nonsense, so I'm going to have to go back to earlier comment of 'dull'.

You and your ilk have an inborn inability to comprehend anything outside of your parochial world in which you live.

People who can't handle the ability to concentrate on reading something longer than 30 seconds because they get bored are categorized as a demographic catered to by the Sun and Daily Star!

Paradoxically you feel able to post your inane comments on something way above your level of understanding on the psychology of football.

To think people like you are given the vote!

JohnnyBarnes wrote:

KeithMercer wrote:
Holtonian a voice of reason at last !
come on guys lets not get all fickle like them Lilywhites down the lane.
Two days ago you were all on here shouting from the roof tops about how we were the best team in the Championship and that automatic promotion was just a matter of accumalating X amount of points. One game later and its Zola this and Zola that and Neuton this and Murray that ! and we dont care about FA cup ! funny that we sold 6000 tickets in a couple of days , someone cared then. I know I still do , maybe not quite as confident with the defending but lets brush ourselves down ! wipe our bloodied nose and go again.
Or we could just keep moaning and groaning, get depressed and throw away all the good stuff we have battled so hard for .
COYH s

Amen brother. I don't know why these cretins don't just go and support Barcelona and be done with it.

Idiots.

What the hell are you going about?!? It was disappointing yesterday and people are expressing that! The past is the past we can only comment on the game and it was poor! whats the problem with doing that?

Well all I can say is hindsight is a great thing. I'm sure GZ and the players will all sit down and watch this match again, to see what went wrong. As for playing this player or that player, GZ see's them on the training ground and know how they are coming along and if he thinks they are good and should be in the team. thats fine by me, I'll still to player manager on the kids x'box. (which I'm crap at). have a happy new year one and all.

rogeruk wrote:

surreyhorn wrote:

rogeruk wrote:

BarryEndean wrote:
Zola will have learned a lot from today but there is nothing to be gained from him admitting that he got his selection wrong. All that would achieve would be to undermine the confidence of the players brought into the starting line-up. The most important lesson is not to play without a holding midfielder. Zola will know this, without having to admit it publicly. As for the 'major problem' the Pozzos have about prioritising Watford above Udinese and Granada, the idea that Watford are a problem is complete tosh. With the riches on offer in the Premier League next year, there is no doubt that Watford will be the jewel in the crown of the Pozzo business empire if we get promoted. And that is one reason why they won't be subverting their business plan by moving Zola back to Italy mod-season when we have a sniff of going up.

The problem with supporters like you is you settle for anything after the dross of previous seasons, just because Zola has done well so far does not make him immune from criticism that's how Dictators are made. The fans keeping him 'grounded' is not a bad thing!

The main thrust of my argument was the Udinese head coach (not just anyone) upping the anti! You failed to mention this. If the Pozzos are so 'au fait' with the Watford project shouldn't they keep control of the what the Udinese Head coach says to the press? especially if it impacts on the Watford team.

Bottom line is the Defence was appalling today against one of the weaker teams conceding four goals at home, that's not to be brushed over lightly!

Its hard to find a balance on this site, either the fans are scathing as per previous managers or go over the top with 'our manager is god syndrome'!

Balance is the objective. Something went very wrong today! In all successful enterprises there should be an inquiry as to the reason for such a poor performance, the British way of papering over the cracks and 'moving on' is not the answer which appears to be what you are advocating.

Roger UK, the problem with supporters like you is that you contradict yourself. No one is immune from criticism but why would the most grounded manager in the league need a bore like you to keep him grounded.
The defence was indeed appalling today but that didn't have anything to do with his changes.I have far more confidence in him sorting it out on the training ground than your demand for a public inquiry. Hoban has been excellent until today when he was very poor. That doesn't make him a bad player and he will learn from it.If you don't like 'moving on ' try 'get over it',

There is no contradiction in my post nor do you have the nous to name any!

I never said Hoban was a bad player nor did I ask for a public inquiry, so don’t put words in my mouth, it’s that or you can’t read or understand English!

Even though I explained weakness of the moving on brigade, being a fully paid up member of the move on brigade, you come back with a boring repetition of ‘move on and get over it’! You are absolutely hopeless!

You do not reply to any of my points because you can’t, ignoring them with a boring repetition of what you said earlier.

You have no idea how to answer other peoples’ opinions with facts or reasoned argument your only retort is to resort to your Chav tribal insults. Pathetic!

Bang on Roger, why cant we criticise a bad performance and bad managerial decicisons?

My take on yesterday :

Zola : I personally wouldn't have made 5 changes unless forced. However if i needed to change things I would have put Nosworthy in for Hall, Cassetti in for Anya, Battochio in for Hogg if Hogg needed a rest, so 3 changes.

Alumunia : decent game and could do little to stop 4 goals however if we'd of had someone on posts to defend corners then the 1st and 4th goals would've been cleared off the line. I don't like zonal marking

Neuton : Technically gifted, but struggles to deal with physical and intensity of championship. I see him as a David Luiz type and maybe a future midfielder, too risky at the back

Ekstrand : was our best defender yesterday, but more comfortable on the right or left side of back three, not as the leader in middle

Hoban : looked nervous without the influence of Hall alongside him, not his best game but hopefully will recover

Chalobah : flashes of brilliance but held the ball a second too long and was closed down quickly which was part of Charltons game plan to bulky him off the ball and no doubt will be other teams game plan in future

Murray : off the pace, is not fit enough for championship football, needs games and focus, loan him to get him ready for future, I am worried about his long term future

Abdi : moments of class but didn't look 100% fit after Saturdays knock. Great Penalty

Pudil : one of his better games, pleased he scored, would love to see him go outside the full back as nearly always cuts inside

Cassetti : some good balls in, consistent without pulling up trees

Foresteri : I'm a fan but 1st half was awful, played for himself rather than the team, 2 nd half improved and looked more comfortable near the end. Great ball for third goal but should've buried chance at beginning of 2nd half.

Geijo : outstanding, oooozed class, had to drop deep in 1st half to get the ball, second half played further forward, deserved his goal, the best first touch of any Watford striker for years, quality and lots more to come from him. Next season I expect Geijo and Vydra to be regular front two

Vydra and Deeney didn't have enough time to make much of a difference, albeit offside goal for Vydra

Yeates didn't touch the ball for first 10 minutes after coming on.

Yes we missed Hall and Hogg for their defensive work, yes the manager tried to be clever and rotate, no problem with that, it's just the replacements could IMO been chosen better

Chris Powell got his tactics right, Fuller was a handful for our defence with his flick ons, Charlton were poor defensively but competed for every ball in midfield and final third which was our downfall

Lets hope we learn from this, GFZ is a lovely guy and sometimes as a manager you do have to be ruthless, you can't keep everyone happy, so hopefully every league game from now on will be picking his strongest team and strongest bench available.

The crowd looked bigger than 14,200, was disappointed it wasn't over 15,000, so the new stands waits for a bit longer !!!

Looking forward to a good day out Saturday, not too bothered if we don't win, expect Bond to be in goal, team I guess will be :

Bond
Hoban
Nosworthy
Ekstrand
Chalobah
Hogg
Abdi
Cassetti
Pupil
Vydra
Geijo

Bench :
Bonhom
Deeney
FF
Doyley
Anya
Battochio
Yeates

I can understand many supporters feelings of being let down by this performance, particularly after the Brighton result. But hey, it's only one match in 46.

GFZ is entitled to make a few misjudgements as he and his team
guide us to the promised land.

I do agree with the comments about Neuton, who may be a class footballer but he looks completely at sea in this league. Murray probably needs a spell on loan with a Div 1 team, where he can get some game time. He looked woefully off the pace and contributed very little.

After the mess we were left in from Ashcroft/Gimpson/and the Bankrupt we should all be truely grateful to the Pozzo's and GFZ for getting us in our current position. Dreamland football and financial stability.

Happy New Year Guys and thankyou for everything you've done to put us in this enviable position.

Holly68 wrote:
My take on yesterday :

Zola : I personally wouldn't have made 5 changes unless forced. However if i needed to change things I would have put Nosworthy in for Hall, Cassetti in for Anya, Battochio in for Hogg if Hogg needed a rest, so 3 changes.

Alumunia : decent game and could do little to stop 4 goals however if we'd of had someone on posts to defend corners then the 1st and 4th goals would've been cleared off the line. I don't like zonal marking

Neuton : Technically gifted, but struggles to deal with physical and intensity of championship. I see him as a David Luiz type and maybe a future midfielder, too risky at the back

Ekstrand : was our best defender yesterday, but more comfortable on the right or left side of back three, not as the leader in middle

Hoban : looked nervous without the influence of Hall alongside him, not his best game but hopefully will recover

Chalobah : flashes of brilliance but held the ball a second too long and was closed down quickly which was part of Charltons game plan to bulky him off the ball and no doubt will be other teams game plan in future

Murray : off the pace, is not fit enough for championship football, needs games and focus, loan him to get him ready for future, I am worried about his long term future

Abdi : moments of class but didn't look 100% fit after Saturdays knock. Great Penalty

Pudil : one of his better games, pleased he scored, would love to see him go outside the full back as nearly always cuts inside

Cassetti : some good balls in, consistent without pulling up trees

Foresteri : I'm a fan but 1st half was awful, played for himself rather than the team, 2 nd half improved and looked more comfortable near the end. Great ball for third goal but should've buried chance at beginning of 2nd half.

Geijo : outstanding, oooozed class, had to drop deep in 1st half to get the ball, second half played further forward, deserved his goal, the best first touch of any Watford striker for years, quality and lots more to come from him. Next season I expect Geijo and Vydra to be regular front two

Vydra and Deeney didn't have enough time to make much of a difference, albeit offside goal for Vydra

Yeates didn't touch the ball for first 10 minutes after coming on.

Yes we missed Hall and Hogg for their defensive work, yes the manager tried to be clever and rotate, no problem with that, it's just the replacements could IMO been chosen better

Chris Powell got his tactics right, Fuller was a handful for our defence with his flick ons, Charlton were poor defensively but competed for every ball in midfield and final third which was our downfall

Lets hope we learn from this, GFZ is a lovely guy and sometimes as a manager you do have to be ruthless, you can't keep everyone happy, so hopefully every league game from now on will be picking his strongest team and strongest bench available.

The crowd looked bigger than 14,200, was disappointed it wasn't over 15,000, so the new stands waits for a bit longer !!!

Looking forward to a good day out Saturday, not too bothered if we don't win, expect Bond to be in goal, team I guess will be :

Bond
Hoban
Nosworthy
Ekstrand
Chalobah
Hogg
Abdi
Cassetti
Pupil
Vydra
Geijo

Bench :
Bonhom
Deeney
FF
Doyley
Anya
Battochio
Yeates

Agree with Holly . Found a couple of selections perplexing to say the least , but my main worry is Hoban ,who has played fantastic up until now , but is a youngster and is facing "burn out" ( ie like Hodson , Loach , Jenkins did previously). Can't understand why either Nosworthy or Doyley weren't used ( both fit although not match fit). Whilst Murray is bursting to play , it was unfair to put him in, and expect anything other than what we got....he needs games and probably that means a loan out. I too don't like zonal marking ( or no men on the posts) and to be honest we look vunerable everytime the ball comes into our box in the air. Hall wins his fair share but can't do it all .Problem is , it has been a problem ALL season , and still we don't seem to be able to sort it out. Forrestieri " does what he likes" ...a managers nightmare ..one minute brilliant , but plays too much for himself and when his head drops he might as well be substituted . The "Messi" tag is way off as his finishing is poor and doesn't always look for the best pass to a teammate ( and he can't use his left foot, causing him to turn back often ) . He's young , hopefully he'll learn , but he wouldn't start in my strongest line-up.I've wondered why we've not had an experienced back-up keeper to challenge Almunia ...Bond will be good but he won't replace Manuel unless , like this Saturday , he misses the game due to injury.
Overall , a reality check , with where we are .That's not to say we won't get to the play-offs as our "fire-power " will maybe see us win enough games..especially on the counter attack but we have the second worse defensive record in the top nine ( only Leeds who we beat 6-1 are worse) and that needs addressing asap. NO need to panic yet , but we don't want many more days like yesterday .

Holly68 wrote:
My take on yesterday :

Zola : I personally wouldn't have made 5 changes unless forced. However if i needed to change things I would have put Nosworthy in for Hall, Cassetti in for Anya, Battochio in for Hogg if Hogg needed a rest, so 3 changes.

Alumunia : decent game and could do little to stop 4 goals however if we'd of had someone on posts to defend corners then the 1st and 4th goals would've been cleared off the line. I don't like zonal marking

Neuton : Technically gifted, but struggles to deal with physical and intensity of championship. I see him as a David Luiz type and maybe a future midfielder, too risky at the back

Ekstrand : was our best defender yesterday, but more comfortable on the right or left side of back three, not as the leader in middle

Hoban : looked nervous without the influence of Hall alongside him, not his best game but hopefully will recover

Chalobah : flashes of brilliance but held the ball a second too long and was closed down quickly which was part of Charltons game plan to bulky him off the ball and no doubt will be other teams game plan in future

Murray : off the pace, is not fit enough for championship football, needs games and focus, loan him to get him ready for future, I am worried about his long term future

Abdi : moments of class but didn't look 100% fit after Saturdays knock. Great Penalty

Pudil : one of his better games, pleased he scored, would love to see him go outside the full back as nearly always cuts inside

Cassetti : some good balls in, consistent without pulling up trees

Foresteri : I'm a fan but 1st half was awful, played for himself rather than the team, 2 nd half improved and looked more comfortable near the end. Great ball for third goal but should've buried chance at beginning of 2nd half.

Geijo : outstanding, oooozed class, had to drop deep in 1st half to get the ball, second half played further forward, deserved his goal, the best first touch of any Watford striker for years, quality and lots more to come from him. Next season I expect Geijo and Vydra to be regular front two

Vydra and Deeney didn't have enough time to make much of a difference, albeit offside goal for Vydra

Yeates didn't touch the ball for first 10 minutes after coming on.

Yes we missed Hall and Hogg for their defensive work, yes the manager tried to be clever and rotate, no problem with that, it's just the replacements could IMO been chosen better

Chris Powell got his tactics right, Fuller was a handful for our defence with his flick ons, Charlton were poor defensively but competed for every ball in midfield and final third which was our downfall

Lets hope we learn from this, GFZ is a lovely guy and sometimes as a manager you do have to be ruthless, you can't keep everyone happy, so hopefully every league game from now on will be picking his strongest team and strongest bench available.

The crowd looked bigger than 14,200, was disappointed it wasn't over 15,000, so the new stands waits for a bit longer !!!

Looking forward to a good day out Saturday, not too bothered if we don't win, expect Bond to be in goal, team I guess will be :

Bond
Hoban
Nosworthy
Ekstrand
Chalobah
Hogg
Abdi
Cassetti
Pupil
Vydra
Geijo

Bench :
Bonhom
Deeney
FF
Doyley
Anya
Battochio
Yeates

Agree with Holly . Found a couple of selections perplexing to say the least , but my main worry is Hoban ,who has played fantastic up until now , but is a youngster and is facing "burn out" ( ie like Hodson , Loach , Jenkins did previously). Can't understand why either Nosworthy or Doyley weren't used ( both fit although not match fit). Whilst Murray is bursting to play , it was unfair to put him in, and expect anything other than what we got....he needs games and probably that means a loan out. I too don't like zonal marking ( or no men on the posts) and to be honest we look vunerable everytime the ball comes into our box in the air. Hall wins his fair share but can't do it all .Problem is , it has been a problem ALL season , and still we don't seem to be able to sort it out. Forrestieri " does what he likes" ...a managers nightmare ..one minute brilliant , but plays too much for himself and when his head drops he might as well be substituted . The "Messi" tag is way off as his finishing is poor and doesn't always look for the best pass to a teammate ( and he can't use his left foot, causing him to turn back often ) . He's young , hopefully he'll learn , but he wouldn't start in my strongest line-up.I've wondered why we've not had an experienced back-up keeper to challenge Almunia ...Bond will be good but he won't replace Manuel unless , like this Saturday , he misses the game due to injury.
Overall , a reality check , with where we are .That's not to say we won't get to the play-offs as our "fire-power " will maybe see us win enough games..especially on the counter attack but we have the second worse defensive record in the top nine ( only Leeds who we beat 6-1 are worse) and that needs addressing asap. NO need to panic yet , but we don't want many more days like yesterday .

hornet88 wrote:
Nos isn't as good as people are making out.... He panicks with the ball. Neuton had a bad game today but so did hoban and ekstrand so don't get on his back. It wasn't completely the defences fault.... You have to look at the complete team performance... The midfield weren't strong enough and we didn't pass the ball enough... Too much hoofing today meant Charlton could keep us in our own half after they scored there equalisers and therefore took back the initiative. If we play a weak side against man city there might be 6000 very dissapointed fans who have spent a lot of money on going to Manchester for the day only to see us look like another average championship side....which we are not so let's just enjoy Saturday and hope the rotation pays off, you just never know

Some good points here. I think we need to recall some previous home games to put this into context. Let's take Barnsley as an example. Ended up winning 4-1 but for long periods in the first half penned into own half. Same in other games - we seem to play in bursts that suddenly subside. We then struggle to get effective counter play. All this is reflected in our average home record.

The difference yesterday was that the defence was very poor - failing in the basics (reminded me of Derby away).
Given Fitz Hall's recent injury record we will have to make a quick call on the likely effectiveness of Nos. If that looks doubtful maybe another loan will be sensible ( we have to sign some of the present crop first!). I also think that TH could suffer 'first season syndrome'
and may at some stage benefit from a break - we tend to forget he is only 18.

Great to see so many posts, many interesting views, nobody has mentioned or given credit to Chris Powell and Charlton as much as it hurts.Gianfranco had faith in the starting eleven saturday, most days that side would have taken 3 points, but it was not our day. The club has had some rubbish owners and poor managers over the past few years. We in the past have squandered cash on many hopeless buys. Now we have been so lucky to have a brilliant set up. So in 2013 we should make the Vic a fortress, with sides hating the thought of a visit to us.Once we generated sound for support in the days of 3rd and 4th division, crowds of 15 to 20 thousand attending.

Holly68 wrote:
My take on yesterday :

Zola : I personally wouldn't have made 5 changes unless forced. However if i needed to change things I would have put Nosworthy in for Hall, Cassetti in for Anya, Battochio in for Hogg if Hogg needed a rest, so 3 changes.

Alumunia : decent game and could do little to stop 4 goals however if we'd of had someone on posts to defend corners then the 1st and 4th goals would've been cleared off the line. I don't like zonal marking

Neuton : Technically gifted, but struggles to deal with physical and intensity of championship. I see him as a David Luiz type and maybe a future midfielder, too risky at the back

Ekstrand : was our best defender yesterday, but more comfortable on the right or left side of back three, not as the leader in middle

Hoban : looked nervous without the influence of Hall alongside him, not his best game but hopefully will recover

Chalobah : flashes of brilliance but held the ball a second too long and was closed down quickly which was part of Charltons game plan to bulky him off the ball and no doubt will be other teams game plan in future

Murray : off the pace, is not fit enough for championship football, needs games and focus, loan him to get him ready for future, I am worried about his long term future

Abdi : moments of class but didn't look 100% fit after Saturdays knock. Great Penalty

Pudil : one of his better games, pleased he scored, would love to see him go outside the full back as nearly always cuts inside

Cassetti : some good balls in, consistent without pulling up trees

Foresteri : I'm a fan but 1st half was awful, played for himself rather than the team, 2 nd half improved and looked more comfortable near the end. Great ball for third goal but should've buried chance at beginning of 2nd half.

Geijo : outstanding, oooozed class, had to drop deep in 1st half to get the ball, second half played further forward, deserved his goal, the best first touch of any Watford striker for years, quality and lots more to come from him. Next season I expect Geijo and Vydra to be regular front two

Vydra and Deeney didn't have enough time to make much of a difference, albeit offside goal for Vydra

Yeates didn't touch the ball for first 10 minutes after coming on.

Yes we missed Hall and Hogg for their defensive work, yes the manager tried to be clever and rotate, no problem with that, it's just the replacements could IMO been chosen better

Chris Powell got his tactics right, Fuller was a handful for our defence with his flick ons, Charlton were poor defensively but competed for every ball in midfield and final third which was our downfall

Lets hope we learn from this, GFZ is a lovely guy and sometimes as a manager you do have to be ruthless, you can't keep everyone happy, so hopefully every league game from now on will be picking his strongest team and strongest bench available.

The crowd looked bigger than 14,200, was disappointed it wasn't over 15,000, so the new stands waits for a bit longer !!!

Looking forward to a good day out Saturday, not too bothered if we don't win, expect Bond to be in goal, team I guess will be :

Bond
Hoban
Nosworthy
Ekstrand
Chalobah
Hogg
Abdi
Cassetti
Pupil
Vydra
Geijo

Bench :
Bonhom
Deeney
FF
Doyley
Anya
Battochio
Yeates

completely agree !

rogeruk wrote:

Bush Hornet wrote:

rogeruk wrote:

Bush Hornet wrote:

rogeruk wrote:

Bush Hornet wrote:

KeithMercer wrote:
RogerUK
congratulations for winning this weeks biggest Numpty award !
Come back when you have something positive to say ! until then get back to the bowls club and BORE OFF !!!

Thank you Keith. Have to agree. Sorry Rodge, you're dull.

Its nothing to do with being positive, whilst the majority of you were moaning about the removal of the Pozzos and the poor early results I was the positive one.

In life 'moving on' is a euphemism for screwing up and not sorting it out!

Many of you have blind faith and that is not good. There was a big 'screw up today Sheeple supporters can't deal with it! they can't deal with reality.

Just because five changes worked before doesn't mean they will work now.

Every moment in time is different and people screw up because they hate change. Remember the SAS motto "He who changes wins"

Before the Sheeple come back with the real SAS motto, what I have said is under the word Humour!

I'm struggling to get your point here but I think there's almost an inspirational team talk to us fans. It's a bit jumbley. So you're saying change is good, but changes are bad? Hmmm. I'm going to stroke my beard and ponder.

Open your mind (or in modern day parlance (Think outside the box) which used to be known as parallel thinking before everything got dumbed down to reach the LCD (lowest common denominator).

Changes are bad in a situation for example when five changes were used before and were successful thus assuming five changes will always be good.

It’s like the weather you need to change your clothes according to what the weather is and not what the weather is what you think it will be! OK so far?

The majority of people hate change, people crave stability but actually this is the first rule of disappointment. You have to live life and as it changes you have to adapt and change with it in order to succeed, most people can’t handle this and therefore follow managers or politicians blindly because they won’t have to think for themselves!

Nobody mortal can control time because time is constantly changing, every micro second everything changes and we need to take account of this and make our decisions accordingly.

Another example if you invest in company shares and assume the management policy appertaining in the past which bought profits will automatically bring profit today is a false thought because circumstances will have changed, possibly the policy of before could be very harmful in the present environment.

Therefore in order to be successful and more successful than others you must be able to change to meet the different situations (Fergie is a great master of this and why he has been successful for a hundred years).
Whilst I cannot challenge Zola’s reputation as a great player or as a good manager I can challenge his reasoning and psychology.

I am disappointed he said after the result, five changes worked before and should have been OK therefore this is not a reason for the bad result and is no excuse.

I disagree, the circumstances were different this time; team the weather the situation everything has changed.

Whilst he outgunned Poyet with his strategy he didn't succeed against Powell because as he himself recognized the first 45 minutes we gave to Charlton surely that is down to the five outfield changes, furthermore it’s obvious Hoban (good young player he is) is stressed the signs were there in the Brighton game and manifested themselves even more in yesterday’s game! He is only 18 a Centre Half and playing in the upper reaches of the championship it’s very demanding, nobody can expect the same level of consistency at that age. Had Zola taken that into account?

If Zola magnificent player and good motivator he undoubtedly is can increase his ability to out think every manager by using the philosophy I am advocating, he could then become a world class manager like Jose Mourinho or Alex Ferguson. Check out what Pep Guardiola said on his first speech to his players on becoming manager more or less what I am advocating.

Problem with the sheeple on here is they think I am questioning the now ‘god like Zola’ check out the Brighton Argus the Brighton sheeple have turned in a few days from Poyet the worst manager in the championship to now he is the best manager in the championship. Honestly what good are these sheeple’s comments? Are they helpful? No! Do they follow with Blind loyalty? Yes!

I am a great fan of Zola’s in fact I want him to be the best Watford manager ever and put himself into the history books alongside the other two managers I have mentioned, he can do it but not with sheeple supporters who blindly follow him and fear to question his screw-ups.

Constructive criticism is more positive than blind loyalty and adoration and what irks me more is this ‘X’ factor crap ‘move on’, which is the ultimate recipe for disaster as has proved time and time again.

This will probably go above the sheeple’s heads I honestly don’t care! You can only do so much before accepting some people are a lost cause and just can't be helped!

Too much pseudo business speak to address here which amounts to nonsense, so I'm going to have to go back to earlier comment of 'dull'.

You and your ilk have an inborn inability to comprehend anything outside of your parochial world in which you live.

People who can't handle the ability to concentrate on reading something longer than 30 seconds because they get bored are categorized as a demographic catered to by the Sun and Daily Star!

Paradoxically you feel able to post your inane comments on something way above your level of understanding on the psychology of football.

To think people like you are given the vote!

Unfortunately some posts are just waffle. I don't need to concentrate for 30 seconds to work that out.

Hey fellas chill pills all round.

It was not good to watch but we are 6th.

Tend to agree with Holly's synopsis of performances.

Zola made changes but not sure the dropping of Hogg when Bauben and Eustace are not available and with Hall out was sensible.

GFZ seems a very honest guy but I think with Neuton on his way back, as with Fernando and the inexplicable choice of Murray left us struggling. GFZ blamed the defence but I think he got it wrong, However he gets more right than wrong .

As for loan players one game goes wrong and we need more loan players, why not just leave well alone Hall, Hogg and Eustace may well all be available for the next league game and that should see us OK. and not sure that Almunia was fully fit.

rogeruk wrote:

surreyhorn wrote:

rogeruk wrote:

surreyhorn wrote:

rogeruk wrote:

BarryEndean wrote: Zola will have learned a lot from today but there is nothing to be gained from him admitting that he got his selection wrong. All that would achieve would be to undermine the confidence of the players brought into the starting line-up. The most important lesson is not to play without a holding midfielder. Zola will know this, without having to admit it publicly. As for the 'major problem' the Pozzos have about prioritising Watford above Udinese and Granada, the idea that Watford are a problem is complete tosh. With the riches on offer in the Premier League next year, there is no doubt that Watford will be the jewel in the crown of the Pozzo business empire if we get promoted. And that is one reason why they won't be subverting their business plan by moving Zola back to Italy mod-season when we have a sniff of going up.

The problem with supporters like you is you settle for anything after the dross of previous seasons, just because Zola has done well so far does not make him immune from criticism that's how Dictators are made. The fans keeping him 'grounded' is not a bad thing! The main thrust of my argument was the Udinese head coach (not just anyone) upping the anti! You failed to mention this. If the Pozzos are so 'au fait' with the Watford project shouldn't they keep control of the what the Udinese Head coach says to the press? especially if it impacts on the Watford team. Bottom line is the Defence was appalling today against one of the weaker teams conceding four goals at home, that's not to be brushed over lightly! Its hard to find a balance on this site, either the fans are scathing as per previous managers or go over the top with 'our manager is god syndrome'! Balance is the objective. Something went very wrong today! In all successful enterprises there should be an inquiry as to the reason for such a poor performance, the British way of papering over the cracks and 'moving on' is not the answer which appears to be what you are advocating.

Roger UK, the problem with supporters like you is that you contradict yourself. No one is immune from criticism but why would the most grounded manager in the league need a bore like you to keep him grounded. The defence was indeed appalling today but that didn't have anything to do with his changes.I have far more confidence in him sorting it out on the training ground than your demand for a public inquiry. Hoban has been excellent until today when he was very poor. That doesn't make him a bad player and he will learn from it.If you don't like 'moving on ' try 'get over it',

There is no contradiction in my post nor do you have the nous to name any! I never said Hoban was a bad player nor did I ask for a public inquiry, so don’t put words in my mouth, it’s that or you can’t read or understand English! Even though I explained weakness of the moving on brigade, being a fully paid up member of the move on brigade, you come back with a boring repetition of ‘move on and get over it’! You are absolutely hopeless! You do not reply to any of my points because you can’t, ignoring them with a boring repetition of what you said earlier. You have no idea how to answer other peoples’ opinions with facts or reasoned argument your only retort is to resort to your Chav tribal insults. Pathetic!

First post 'there should be an inquiry as to the reason for such a poor performance' second post 'Nor did I ask for a public enquiry' = contradiction. Hope this is not too complicated for you !! It was a bad day at the office, Hoban was an example of this and contributed to a poor defensive display.They are all learning. What's the point in banging on about it.

I said inquiry you said public inquiry, this is the third time of correcting you. Just how dumb are you? There is no contradiction it is you with your addled brain that has a manufactured the contradiction!

Talking about a reasoned argument and then referring to people as chavs, Sun readers, questioning their right to vote etc = contradiction.
It's obvious he will have an inquest on the performance so let him get on with it.Have infinitely more confidence in him getting it right, than reading your pseudo intellectual theories on the stock market and the SAS.The majority don't go over the top when we win but don't go to the other extreme when we lose.This doesn't make us sheep.
The problems yesterday were obvious so I am not going to waste any more time responding to your inane drivel. Look forward to joining up with the flock in Manchester as I did in Bristol and Brighton. Baaaaa

rogeruk wrote:

KeithMercer wrote:
RogerUK
congratulations for winning this weeks biggest Numpty award !
Come back when you have something positive to say ! until then get back to the bowls club and BORE OFF !!!

You were a big fan of Dyche against the Pozzos' and Zola when they came in.

You have turned full circle, just a sheep who chases the pack using chav words like numpty who listens to people like you?

Roger I really dont want to get into one with you as your not worth the time or effort !!
but please get your facts right !!
I was never a fan of Dychey and have always been more than 100% behind the takeover, the Pozzos and GFZ. So you must be confusing me with someone else, maybe Bushy Tales ?.
Now Bore off !!

I think Powell would have been delighted to see both Vydra and Deeney not on the Watford team sheet. The Charlton tactics to press high up on us worked with always Almunia throwing the ball out to players who were always under pressure. The lack of a holding midfielder was equally odd baring in mind the inexperience (Hoban) and frail nature (Nueton) of the back three, Ekstrand found filling Halls boots impossible - it meant no one was defending the defence which is what Hogg does so well.

For me Vydra's pace would have forced Charlton to sit deeper as the threat of the ball over the top would have terrified them and we lacked Deeneys physicality. Geijo was indeed very good in the second half but in the first he failed to come to the ball too many times where Deeney would have bought us time and composure on the ball.

But what a diference a year makes I thought the football that we tried to play was still great and if we lose by the odd goal then I'd rather lose 3-4 than 0-1 (yes of course I would like to win 3-2 or 3-0 but this cant always happen)

I would love Zola to have a plan B formation to accomodate Forestieri and Vydra together as they are both great players and to ensure that the core of the side is solid.

We lost but I still feel like I woke up on the Chrstmas day and unwrapped a football club shaped present, probably made by Carlsberg.

And well done those who waited to applaud Chris Powell - a top bloke doing a good job.

COYH

Going back to Zola's point about the changes not being to blame I pretty much agree. The problems were, firstly. lack of leadership, particularly at the back. Ekstrand,Neuton & Hoban are good players but not natural leaders. I wouldn't say Almunia was a leader either. Secondly, some of the players had clearly beleived all the hype about how good they are.... absolutely fatal, and weren't ready for a physical battle.

Hacked off yesterday.Lot more mellow now. Agree I found some of the changes puzzling..would certainly have preferred to see Eustace or Battochio in for Hogg..but the management team see who's flying and who's not in training .
On a positive,it was good to see Geijo reproducing the form I've seen on multiple video clips...he surely has a part to play. I have also long thought there has to be a credible plan B that has MV and FF in the same eleven- it doesn't seem right always having one of these major talents on the bench.
Small gripe that not many have expressed here. I fear the reason for Hoban having a wobble(apart from obvious absence of Onesize) is lack of faith in Almunia behind him. The penalty incident at Brighton is one example but there were others before and after the own goal yesterday. Hate to say it but there were shades of Loach last season. Lets hope it was just down to MA getting a knock.
Also Charlton had done their homework. Abdi makes us tick but he was never given a second. Multiple unpunished fouls eventually reduced his impact and he was subbed. Better get used to it..there is some serious talent in our team and not many teams will sit back and admire our skills. Most days though our quality will win thru.

The game started with a few dubious tackles from Charlton and when they were not penalised that set the trend for the rest of the game. In a nutshell we were bullied out of that game. I thought Almunia, Murray and Hoban had lost a bit of confidence on the day, Hogg was definately missed and FF had an awful first 45 minutes, apart from the defensive mistakes we were still value for money, easy to criticise after the event but overall very happy with the progress made so far. Going back to Murray I'm sure he must read these columns, he also knows where he has gone wrong. I am sure Zola has put the arm round his shoulder and had a chat but I believe the next time he plays he wants to hear the crowd on his side again. If there is a chance for him to play Saturday, it will be the perfect platform for him to regain what we saw of him last season. P.S. Still believe we will get the draw.

Having played professional sport for twenty years myself, I always found maintaining a winning team was the most successful strategy for results and confidence. Was it all GZ's decision or possibly the Sports Scientist as well???