BFTG - Watford (H)

[P!ssed Off]

McCleary better but still a shadow of last season.

McCleary had his marker on the floor about 5 times. Presented Blackman with a tap-in.
Not sure what more you can ask from a winger.

Played some good through balls to Gunter as well.

Gunter-McCleary showed that on their day, they are the best flank in the league.

[RG7Fan]

Best performance in a long time. Fantastic crowd reception for the team when the came out for the warm up.

Cox had a shocker.
Obita seems to have lost all confidence in trying to have a go at getting past someone.
Blackman was anonymous for most of the first half.
Cooper at the end as a striker was comical - he looked totally lost, but genius as he could have nabbed a header. I would have subbed Cox off though.

Hector had a superb game, as did Gunter - especially compared with recent woeful performances.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

From the outside looking in I can't see anything other than a relegation fight, and I am not sure we will survive.

[CountryRoyal]

Didn't go to the game, nor watched it - completely forgot tbh (shit fan blah blah), but 0-1 Watford > 0 - 1 Charlton.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

Acceptable level of intensity – got the ball out wide far more than of late, played with some tempo.

Appalling at dead balls – from predictable corners to frankly risible free kicks in good positions.

Murray worked really hard. Blackman not as ineffective as some report on here, and a considerable improvement over HRK. Cox had a poor day. McCleary looked dangerous second half. Norwood stop/start.

Back four largely solid – Hector especially. Agree that McCleary played Williams into right old trouble and so triggered their goal, but any of the other players could have tracked back.

There’s a long way to go, but that was not the bloodless capitulation we’ve seen at times. Still, can’t beat 10 men at home and you have to consider the real possibility of August starting with a berth in League 1.

[arthurfondrelli]

We've played worse this year and won games.

We seemed to revert to a more direct style of getting the ball out to wingers and getting the ball in the box which is nice to see.

Watford score with their only chance of the half and we couldn't quite create enough to get one back.

Defence looked sturdy at times which is unusual for us. Thought Williams was improved in centre mid, as was Norwood. Obita is better at left back and McCleary was showing glimpses of his old best.

Murray and Blackman weren't firing and Cox went missing at times I thought.

[St. Brynjar]

First game in a few months. Bloody hell if you're seeing positives there I hate to imagine how bad the peformances have been recently. We were average in the first half, poor in the second. Watford fully deserved the points.

Feds - 6 - Wasn't his distribution meant to be awesome? Didn't seem it today.
Gunter - 7 - Decent. Bombed forward well.
Pearce - 6 - Didn't notice him much.
Hector - 5 - Terrified of the football. One or two good challenges but surely we need better defenders if we want to keep a clean sheet once in a while.
Obita - 6 - Did okay, attacked well.
Blackman - 6 - Bags of confidence. Probably too much. Should have scored.
Norwood - 6 - Ran the game in the first half, faded in the second.
Williams - 5 - Too negative.
McCleary - 6 - Gave their full backs a torrid time but didn't do much defensive work.
Cox - 5 - He played?
Murray - 5 - Wasteful, dived too much for my liking.

Not the worst start for Clarke but hopefully not a sign of times to come.

[Ian Royal]

Thought we played very well until the goal, after which we played utterly woefully

This.

Thought it was obvious that up until they scored they were pretty open - once they scored they just put all their men behind the ball and sat deep, hence we couldn't hit them on the counter but had to try and pass our way through them which we're always rubbish at. It's not rocket science.

This. Watford went from pushing forward to barely having even one player enter our half after they scored.
Attempts to pass through them not helped by our fans lack of patience and demands to just shoot or lump it forward.

[winchester_royal]

Yes, and obviously a more open game suits us, but that doesn't change the fact that (as per) we had no idea how to break down a deep defence.

I saw plenty to suggest Clarke will be an excellent manager for us, and no blame lies with him for today IMO, but there is plenty to work on. Which is good as it means potential is there.

Genuinely looking forward to going down to Brighton now - first time I've been able to say that about a Reading game for a long time.

[Royal Ginger]

I thought it was a good game for Clarke to see the team because almost everyone played exactly the way we have come to expect them to all at the same time which is in itself quite odd ie -

Gunter and McCleary are very clearly at their best when overlapping with each other.
Williams is the only player in the middle of the park who seems to find space to run into but lacks end product
Norwood is our best passer but won't move with the ball
Blackman thinks he's better than he is
Cox does the running/sliding/tackling of 10 men but isn't overly creative
Obita is surprisingly good at left back but can't beat his man or cross a ball

As for his tactics, not bad for his first crack. As has been mentioned we had some very good periods of intense pressure where at times it felt like when we score rather than if. With the bench available and his lack of squad knowledge i'm not sure what else he could have done to pick the team up after the goal. It was clearly a mental issue not a squad shape one. He did make a couple of bold moves that i liked in making Pearce captain and bringing Cooper on as a striker

Considering they brought so many fans with them the Watford lot really didn't make much noise. It's not often an away tea gets out-shouted at the Mad Stad.

[Ian Royal]

McCleary better but still a shadow of last season.

McCleary had his marker on the floor about 5 times. Presented Blackman with a tap-in.
Not sure what more you can ask from a winger.

Played some good through balls to Gunter as well.

Gunter-McCleary showed that on their day, they are the best flank in the league.

I thought his end product was lacking on the whole. His shot was uncharacteristically lacking in conviction and whilst Blackman should have scored that chance I thought McCleary could have served up better balls from some of his other good positions particularly one early first half. And I think last seasons McCleary would have not just beaten the fullback a few times but annhilated him and served up several goals.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

Considering they brought so many fans with them the Watford lot really didn't make much noise. It's not often an away tea gets out-shouted at the Mad Stad.[/quote]

Bit harsh. They were pretty lively.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Wow some harsh critics on here. Were it not for some woeful finishing in front of goal we could have won it. Some nice overlapping runs at times, better tempo & much better defensively I thought.

Hector / McCleary MOTM for me. Thought Williams was anonymous & Norwood's set pieces were crap but hard to be annoyed. They looked up for it, they were fighting and the goals will come.

You could see they were gaining confidence as the game went on.

Lets face it, you don't go from being as shit as we were to top 6 material when the manager has had 1-2 sessions with them & they are low on confidence.

Lots to be happy about & onto the next one now. Absolutely zero chance of promotion so at least no pressure in that respect. Really hoping we get some points on the board soon though & I feel we can't afford to lose on Boxing Day.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Considering they brought so many fans with them the Watford lot really didn't make much noise. It's not often an away tea gets out-shouted at the Mad Stad.

Bit harsh. They were pretty lively.[/quote]

Not harsh at all. They were crap I thought. Didn't even sing until the 2nd half.

[marlowuk]

The pain continues!! Once again we dominate possession and have more attempts on goal and more corners than the opposition and we end up losing! I really don't think any one player (or group of players) is to blame. All the players showed some good touches at times and all had some dire moments.

I was prepared to forgive the opening season blues. After all we had so many good players injured - particularly McCleary and Williams. But we managed to get some decent results with the youngsters and a makeshift team so the future looked bright-ish! Well we have McCleary and Williams back now and the results are far far worse. What do we do now? Pin our hopes on the returns of Jem and Ferdinand?

I thought we controlled the first half and Murray should have scored in the first minute by using his head rather than his feet to direct a high ball. We continued to squander chances. Watford looked surprisingly vulnerable but we missed chance after chance. They did look dangerous on the counter though but we looked more solid in defence. Pearce was given the captain's arm band in place of Gunter and I think he is a more natural leader although he is so slow and does make mistakes at the back.

Although Watford were down to 10 men they started the second half more brightly in my view! But we weathered that 10-15 minute storm and from then on it was all Reading as Watford defended in numbers. I'm not sure how they scored but Abdi was given all the time and space in the world to power his shot past Feds who stood no chance. McCleary has been blamed for losing the ball but the defence had time to cover this.

In short we are low in confidence and Clarke's big task is to restore that. It won't be easy if we continue to spurn chances and lose matches like this one.

As for the Watford support - it was louder than our fans and certainly noisier than at any other match I have seen this season at the Mad Stad!!

[madstadblues]

I really have no idea what peoples expectations are based on. FIFA or football manager or Man City. I thought we played well against a team that is top of the table (not sure if that's based on consistency, skill, mgt, players etc). We are only 1 or 2 players short of turning these close games into wins. Coming out of potential adminstration, mental Russian ownership, punching above our weight, selling players year on year we are where we are which reflects our recent history. Unfortunately, I think we get confused in this world of instant gratification versus things that take time (years) to develop.

[Basingstoke Royal]

Gunter, McCleary and Hector were our best players today.
Some good, some bad from Obita and Norwood.
Pearce was decently solid.
Cox and Williams were quiet.
Murray and Blackman were dire.

Tactics after going a goal down were woeful. Hopefully Clarke has learnt quickly that Obita needs a winger to overlap, he can't take a man on. Blackman up front was a poor move. Cooper upfront was schoolboy football.

Our squad is two positions short of top 6 quality. We need a decent striker, Murray is rubbish, anyone that still hasn't worked that out is daft as a brush. We also need a left winger, Blackman's not good enough to start.

I thought Murray was one of the better players today. Worked tirelessly, won headers and held the ball up well.

2 players in January - defenders have to be the priority. Left back and centre back.

[3points]

Like other games this year, we weren't bad, but we weren't good either. Bad mistake from McCleary for the goal - left people out of position.

Can't see why Watford are pushing at the top of the table. Thought they were decidedly average even when they had 11 men on the pitch. Couldn't work out their formation at all in the first half.

McCleary looks to have lost a yard of pace, but Gunter played better with him in front of him. Williams runs into too many blind alleys, doesn't look up or play the simple ball. There were a number of times when he could have slid a ball into Murray or Blackman to run into but he either never saw the pass or over hit it.

Obita poor going forward today and Cox's touch was crap as well. Not sure why Blackman went up front. Thought he was more effective when playing on the wing. His chance was a lot harder than people think. McCleary blasted the ball across the face of the goal and Blackman was always struggling to get there due to the pace on the ball.

Defence looked more aggressive today. Attcked the ball a lot more, even Gunter. Hector had a decent match. He makes the odd mistake but I think he generally does many more good things than bad.

Federici was playing for the cameras today with his hollywood dives and saves. One was going wide and the second he could have stood up and caught it was so close to him. His kicking and distribution was slow and inaccurate. Gomes was kicking it much further than Feds.

We still should have got something out of that game. I really expected Watford to be better than they were. Vydra has good movement but Deeley looked pretty average. Bassong is a complete lump. How did he ever play Premier League football?

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Bit harsh. They were pretty lively.

Not harsh at all. They were crap I thought. Didn't even sing until the 2nd half.

From my end of the stadium they were the loudest and liveliest of the season

[Pandoras Box]

Few observations.
For a counter attack Federici needs to distribute the ball far more quickly.
Murray needs to learn the offside rule and spend less time looking for the foul.
When all of the most dangerous moves came from McCleary on the right why keep pumping the ball to Obita who never beats his man on the left side.
Midfield far too lightweight.

Considering they brought so many fans with them the Watford lot really didn't make much noise. It's not often an away tea gets out-shouted at the Mad Stad.

Fvcking ludicrous . Completely deluded Y26 drivel.