http://www.omnifootball.co.uk All the best football blogs in one place Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:45:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/misquoting-aristotle-watford-0-peterborough-united-1/ http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/misquoting-aristotle-watford-0-peterborough-united-1/#comments Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:59:00 +0000 HornBlogger tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7267441901563504237.post-4495861300483685868
It is much said that all you need to survive in this division is to find three teams worse than you. For much of the season we've been comfortably above that threshold. But suddenly form, cohesion and the ability to shoot seem to have deserted us at just the wrong moment, which means a league meeting with Rochdale in the near future doesn't seem to be quite such an unlikely prospect as it was after those fine Tuesday night wins in early February.

I wouldn't usually quote Aristotle but his 'The whole is greater than the sum of its parts' comment applies to this Watford team, only in reverse at the moment. If I consider each player individually I come to the conclusion that we've got enough quality to easily survive in the Championship. Loach, not the finished article yet but capable of making brilliant saves, who should be protected in his more vulnerable moments by the sheer brute force of DeMerit and Taylor in front of him. Mariappa, when he isn't suffering a crisis of confidence, quietly effective at the back and useful going forward. Lloydinho doing the same on the other flank, the Watford player you'd want beside you in the trenches. Tom and Angela, too quick and clever for most in this division. Eustace and Cowie, not in anything like the league of our loanees but always willing to try, always running. H and Graham, the perfect make up of centre forwards, tall enough to win headers but skillful enough to not just rely simply on nodding in crosses. Then add in a supporting cast of Hodson, Jenkins, Harley and Hoskins.

It sounds like a decent enough team. But put them all together and it isn't working. The man responsible for them needs to start coming out publicly with some home truths. I'm sure he is doing this in the dressing room. But to constantly remind us about sticking together is beginning to stick in the throat in the same way Aidy's 'Show your colours' and 'Who are we-Watford' did at the end of the 07/08 season. It sounds as if we're being at least partly blamed for what's going on. What we witnessed yesterday wasn't good enough and Malky needs to come out and say that so we know he is seeing what we see. Not to do so risks the likelihood of more rather than less booing. It also might give the players the kick up the backside they need to start playing as a team again and avoid a trip to Spotland in 2010/11.

]]> http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/misquoting-aristotle-watford-0-peterborough-united-1/feed/ 0 http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/watford-v-peterborough-united-previously/ http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/watford-v-peterborough-united-previously/#comments Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:18:00 +0000 HornBlogger tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7267441901563504237.post-3201612338479133539
Our last meeting at the Vic was in the Southern Area Semi FInal of the Associate Members Cup when we went down 0-1 in February 1997. Five months before that we'd met them in the 'new' Divsion Two and drawn 0-0. This season we gave their ex-manager Mark Cooper his one and only success when we went down 2-1 at London Road just before Christmas.

Peterborough are currently bottom of the division with 27 points from 35 games. They are yet to win on their travels this season and have only managed four draws in their 17 away games. On Tuesday night they beat Sheffield United 1-0.

They have no ex-Horns on their playing staff currently, but a mutual friend is Aidy Boothroyd who lined up for the Posh in our meetings in the 96/97 season.

It goes without saying we need a win today. Without wishing to turn this blog into some Mystic Meg type site I vaguely recall dreaming on Thursday night that we'd lose today. Going by my record with the Swansea match I hope I did.

]]> http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/watford-v-peterborough-united-previously/feed/ 0 http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/uneventful-watford-0-swansea-city-1/ http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/uneventful-watford-0-swansea-city-1/#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:20:00 +0000 HornBlogger tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7267441901563504237.post-4678782984952142690
I think this has to be looked at in the context that Swansea are doing rather well. Lets concentrate on Peterborough and Ipswich, both of whom won tonight and neither of whom will be easy. Both are must wins if we want to stay away from that 22nd spot.

]]> http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/uneventful-watford-0-swansea-city-1/feed/ 0 http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/moons/ http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/moons/#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:27:00 +0000 HornBlogger tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7267441901563504237.post-5600027159973643715 http://www.watfordfc.com/page/NewsDetail/0,,10400~1988685,00.html

Tommy Mooney is making his debut as a summariser on BBC 3CR tonight. Could Malky name him as one of the seven on the bench just in case we are struggling for goals and need a bit of aggression?

I think there should be a few Mooney chants during quiet moments tonight.

If the point of it is to make people sign up for Watford World it's a good idea as for the first time in a while I'm considering it.

]]> http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/moons/feed/ 0 http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/watford-v-swansea-city-previously-again/ http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/watford-v-swansea-city-previously-again/#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:24:00 +0000 HornBlogger tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7267441901563504237.post-22599273791565923 previously.

Swansea are now 4th with 56 points. On their travels they've won 6, drawn 7 and lost 4. On Saturday they went down 1-0 to Nottingham Forest conceding in injury time. Before that they won 1-0 at home to Peterborough and 1-0 away at Derby.

I had a dream on Saturday night that we'd win 4-0. I'm tempted to put a bet on although the game was played in front of the old Vicarage Road terrace and Luther scored one of our goals so it might have been a retro dream.

]]> http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/watford-v-swansea-city-previously-again/feed/ 0 http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/6-out-of-9-derby-county-2-watford-0/ http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/6-out-of-9-derby-county-2-watford-0/#comments Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:00:00 +0000 HornBlogger tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7267441901563504237.post-48964237441715095 ]]> http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/6-out-of-9-derby-county-2-watford-0/feed/ 0 http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/derby-county-v-watford-previously/ http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/derby-county-v-watford-previously/#comments Sat, 06 Mar 2010 09:26:00 +0000 HornBlogger tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7267441901563504237.post-3868930749309256490
Last time at Pride Park we went down 1-0 to a late Rob Hulse goal. On the last day of the season they came to the Vic and we won 3-1, however they visited again earlier this season and beat us 1-0.

Derby are currently 16th with 39 points, the same as us but we do have two games in hand over them. They've won 9 of their home games this season, drawing just once and losing 7.

We've not won away since the unlikely victory over Middlesborough on October 17th. Lets hope we can change that today.

]]> http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/03/derby-county-v-watford-previously/feed/ 0 http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/02/enough-of-the-foreplay-watford-1-newcastle-united-2/ http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/02/enough-of-the-foreplay-watford-1-newcastle-united-2/#comments Sat, 27 Feb 2010 23:59:00 +0000 HornBlogger tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7267441901563504237.post-7993006225629839278
The officials might as well have taken to the pitch in black and white stripes rather than bright orange. They clearly favoured the big team, looked like they were on first name terms with their players and gave them free kicks every time they fell over. Any similar 'light' challenge on a Watford player went unpunished and we only got something if the foul was particularly nasty. With offsides the linesman on the Rous side ignored most things in the first half but gave everything in the second.

The opposition only really created four chances all afternoon but scored two of them. However, I've no doubt had we managed to get back into the game early enough they would've easily managed to conjure up some more. Its true to say we had the majority of the possession but they seemed content to allow us to pass it between ourselves without ever looking threatening until it was too late.

Sometimes I feel Malky's Watford believe that games are decided on the amount of passes completed rather than goals scored. So often we seem to have the opportunity to break but elect to the hold the ball up, wait for opponents and team mates to catch up and then pass the ball sideways, allowing any advantage we had to disappear.

"Get stuck in" the bloke behind me shouted, for once making perfect sense. "Yeah" said another bloke "enough of the foreplay, just stick it in". Its easy to say in a game against the league leaders and probably not as simple to do, but it applies to all our games this season. Sometimes we'd be much more effective if we just had a shot rather than trying to create the perfect goal.

As a tactic to try and beat a team that can probably create chances at will, scoring late in the game to set up a grandstand finish is probably as good as any. Unfortunately we left it slightly too late. We only managed one more attack after it was 2-1. Had Hoskins scored his goal a few minutes earlier an unlikely point might have been on.

For the record Williamson was booed but didn't get quite the amount of abuse expected. He didn't celebrate either of their goals and even seemed to fall out with his fellow defenders over our goal. Maybe they thought he was letting us score.

All in all an afternoon to forget. I look forward to things returning to normal against Derby next week.

]]> http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/02/enough-of-the-foreplay-watford-1-newcastle-united-2/feed/ 0 http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/02/watford-v-newcastle-united-previously/ http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/02/watford-v-newcastle-united-previously/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:02:00 +0000 HornBlogger tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7267441901563504237.post-3623982878931837212
Back in early December we lost 2-0 in a closely fought game at St.James'. The 'Toon last visited us on the final day of the Premiership season in 2006/7 when we bid goodbye to the top flight with a 1-1 draw. Marlon King equalised with a penalty for us.

Newcastle are currently top with 66 points from 32 games. Their away record for this season is won 6, drawn 5, lost 4. The losses were at Blackpool, Scunny, Forest and Derby. In their last away match they drew 1-1 with Swansea. Last Saturday they beat Preston 3-0 at home.

Hopefully Mike Williamson will decide that he is fit enough to face us given that last time he was involved in a Hornets fixture he self-diagnosed he wasn't up to the job thus forcing a move to Pompey. What a shame he managed to escape instead of Smudger. He's told the Newcastle website that he'll put his goodwill to one side for the afternoon. I'm sure we'll all do the same.

]]> http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/02/watford-v-newcastle-united-previously/feed/ 0 http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/02/oconnor-banned/ http://www.omnifootball.co.uk/2010/02/oconnor-banned/#comments Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:02:00 +0000 HornBlogger tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7267441901563504237.post-7603779052187196276 http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/5022936.Irons_midfielder_banned_for_Cleverley_reaction/?ref=mr

Turns out I was wrong. O'Connor has been banned for three games as well. Nigel Adkins rather went down in my estimation when he tried to make out that O'Connor had simply been pushing Cleverley away. Good that justice has been done.

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