Merry Christmas to anyone that reads this! Thanks as well for the continued support on the blog even if you just read it I do genuinely appreciate it.
After a fantastic Christmas, Boxing Day rolled around and it was time to head to The Vic for a game against a Crystal Palace side who had a new manager in Sam Allerdyce. To be honest I wasn't particularly optimistic, particularly with it being Palace a side we tend to struggle against.
A quick Christmas pint to settle the nerves then I made the trip to my seat to find the people around me also not in optimistic mood. At least it wasn't just me for once!
Our fears came to fruition from the off with Palace in control and things weren't made better when Janmaat and Behrami went off injured early on.
Palace soon took the lead through Yohan Cabaye who broke the offside trap to slot past Gomes. Things didn't get better either really and we didn't test the Palace goalkeeper. To sum up our first half performance in one word it would have to be... gutless
The one positive is that we only went in at the break 1 down. Thanks to Gomes saving a penalty from Benteke. The manner of the poor back pass that led to the penalty pretty much summed up our first half performance.
The second half was slightly better as we took the game more to Palace but in the opening parts we failed to test the keeper.
When Prödl was hauled back in the area we were given a golden chance and Troy Deeney was handed the chance to finally score his 100th Watford goal.
He made no mistake as he smashed it into the Rookery end net. Somehow we were level.
Deeney has had an up and down career at Watford not one that needs going over but he deserves to have scored his 100th goal. Although poor in recent weeks he's been central to the success the club has had.
A Wilfred Zaha dive later (shock!) and the game finished. Although Harry The Hornets afternoon wasn't over as he mockingly dived in front of Zaha. Zaha was furious and had to be calmed down by a coach.
The fact that one bloke dressed up in a costume has annoyed a lot of Palaces fanbase is quite funny and the fact it's a talking point from the game highlights what a terrible football match it was.
Watford1-1 Crystal Palace
Man of the match: Britos- was our best defender today and much improved from previous weeks
Match rating: 3/10- poor game
Pogba v Capoue- I really should look at this properly. Capoue was really poor today by the way.
Harry the hornet rating- 8/10
Next match: Spurs (H) New Year's Day at 12:30. Great! *sarcasm*
Thanks for reading!
@Adzrowe on twitter
Monday, 26 December 2016
Saturday, 17 December 2016
Manchester city 2-0 Watford Sunderland 1-0 Watford
At the start of this week I was excited ahead of going on two away days in a week. Now anyone who knows me will tell you how much I love an away game but this is Watford and they'll always find a way to let you down.
They didn't fail to this week either...
I'll start with my trip to The Etihad for the trip to Manchester City
After getting to Manchester at 1pm for an 8 o'clock kick off I saw the main attractions of Whetherspoons and some other pub. Me and my mates headed to the ground in high spirits talking of how we could add to City's misery.
It wasn't to be...
From the moment we saw the team news we knew it was going to be a challenge. Particularly with giving Sinclair his debut.
Things didn't get better when Pereyra went off either. We found ourselves 1-0 down at half time.
A late ighalo chance summed up his season when he sent a sitter over the bar. City broke and scored to make it 2-0. Ah well that's football sometimes!
We had a good trip to Manchester and knew it was unlikely we'd get anything so I went home not too bothered. By the Thursday morning I think I was too hungover to really care about the football.
I was more optimistic about the trip to Sunderland and headed north for my second long trip of the week hoping for 3 points.
Again in true Watford fashion it didn't happen.
After a first half where we created lots I said to my dad at halftime "you watch they'll score".
For once it wasn't so nice being right but after 50 minutes Sunderland were ahead through a scrappy goal. Classic Watford.
That's the way game stayed meaning it was two defeats in a week for me on my travels. I salute the rest of the fans that travelled to both games alongside myself. But for I won't be able to do this forever so I may as well try to enjoy it while I can.
I currently am on the A1 just a few miles from Leeds but have a good 3 hours left of my journey. According to the Sat Nav anyway.
What we do for football ay!
But in truth on away days it's always a good laugh regardless of the result.
Up the Watford- here's to many more hopefully more successful away days in 2017!
You 'Orns!
Manchester city 2-0 Watford
Sunderland 1-0 Watford
Man of the week: Amrabat
Capoue v Pogba- Capoue was horrific today so I'll say they are both as overrated as each other!
Miles covered: 875
@Adzrowe on Twitter
They didn't fail to this week either...
I'll start with my trip to The Etihad for the trip to Manchester City
After getting to Manchester at 1pm for an 8 o'clock kick off I saw the main attractions of Whetherspoons and some other pub. Me and my mates headed to the ground in high spirits talking of how we could add to City's misery.
It wasn't to be...
From the moment we saw the team news we knew it was going to be a challenge. Particularly with giving Sinclair his debut.
Things didn't get better when Pereyra went off either. We found ourselves 1-0 down at half time.
A late ighalo chance summed up his season when he sent a sitter over the bar. City broke and scored to make it 2-0. Ah well that's football sometimes!
We had a good trip to Manchester and knew it was unlikely we'd get anything so I went home not too bothered. By the Thursday morning I think I was too hungover to really care about the football.
I was more optimistic about the trip to Sunderland and headed north for my second long trip of the week hoping for 3 points.
Again in true Watford fashion it didn't happen.
After a first half where we created lots I said to my dad at halftime "you watch they'll score".
For once it wasn't so nice being right but after 50 minutes Sunderland were ahead through a scrappy goal. Classic Watford.
That's the way game stayed meaning it was two defeats in a week for me on my travels. I salute the rest of the fans that travelled to both games alongside myself. But for I won't be able to do this forever so I may as well try to enjoy it while I can.
I currently am on the A1 just a few miles from Leeds but have a good 3 hours left of my journey. According to the Sat Nav anyway.
What we do for football ay!
But in truth on away days it's always a good laugh regardless of the result.
Up the Watford- here's to many more hopefully more successful away days in 2017!
You 'Orns!
Manchester city 2-0 Watford
Sunderland 1-0 Watford
Man of the week: Amrabat
Capoue v Pogba- Capoue was horrific today so I'll say they are both as overrated as each other!
Miles covered: 875
@Adzrowe on Twitter
Sunday, 4 December 2016
West Brom 3-1 Watford
I write this on the train home from Nottingham where I've just watched my mates team Peterborough concede a last minute goal against Notts County to draw 2-2 meaning a reply will decide their 2nd round FA Cup tie. A great game for the neutral but a complete sucker punch for The Posh, who coincidentally were done by a ref, sounds all too familiar for me being a Watford fan!
Now back to our game, I would rant on about the result but I really don't have time or energy to be honest.
West brom did play well in the opening 45 but it was two sloppy goals to concede from our perspective. It's about time we learnt to defend set pieces!
However we did play a lot better in the second half and potentially if we took our chances we could have taken a draw. As it was we didn't and we were beat. Still 10th in the league though so no need to panic just yet!
I thought there should've been 3 red cards yesterday, one for Pereyra and one each for McLean and Rondon for The Baggies. I'm sure The FA will take a look at the incident though.
I'll finish this relatively short post on a sad note. Unfortunately life long Watford fan Ray Batchelor died on the way home from the match with what looks like a cardiac arrest. As someone who witnessed the polices effort to revive him they deserve credit for everything they did to try to save him.
Whatever the score everyone should return home from a football match.
Ray was well liked by many Watford fans and I'm sure he'll be dearly missed by many.
There'll be a minutes applause for Ray on the 81st minute next week against Everton so please pass on to anyone you may know attending the game.
Perspective...
RIP Ray
You 'Orns
West Brom 3-1 Watford
Man of the match: Amrabat
Away day rating: 5/10
Pogba v Capoue: Same as last week
@Adzrowe on Twitter
Next match: Everton (H)
Now back to our game, I would rant on about the result but I really don't have time or energy to be honest.
West brom did play well in the opening 45 but it was two sloppy goals to concede from our perspective. It's about time we learnt to defend set pieces!
However we did play a lot better in the second half and potentially if we took our chances we could have taken a draw. As it was we didn't and we were beat. Still 10th in the league though so no need to panic just yet!
I thought there should've been 3 red cards yesterday, one for Pereyra and one each for McLean and Rondon for The Baggies. I'm sure The FA will take a look at the incident though.
I'll finish this relatively short post on a sad note. Unfortunately life long Watford fan Ray Batchelor died on the way home from the match with what looks like a cardiac arrest. As someone who witnessed the polices effort to revive him they deserve credit for everything they did to try to save him.
Whatever the score everyone should return home from a football match.
Ray was well liked by many Watford fans and I'm sure he'll be dearly missed by many.
There'll be a minutes applause for Ray on the 81st minute next week against Everton so please pass on to anyone you may know attending the game.
Perspective...
RIP Ray
You 'Orns
West Brom 3-1 Watford
Man of the match: Amrabat
Away day rating: 5/10
Pogba v Capoue: Same as last week
@Adzrowe on Twitter
Next match: Everton (H)
Friday, 25 November 2016
Why the Pozzo family don't deserve their media reputation
I had to write this for uni so I thought I would share it here too
The Pozzo family have come under heavy criticism on many
different occasions since they took over Watford in 2012. Many of the
mainstream news outlets give a very one sided, uneducated opinion about The
Hornets owners and the positive things the family have done for Watford are
never given any media attention.
The Pozzo’s succeeded Laurence Bassini as owners of The
Hornets in 2012 and have taken the club to the heights of the Premier League already
in their first four years in Hertfordshire. Before the Italian’s took over
Watford were a club with an owner who got into severe financial trouble and didn’t
treat Watford as a football club, instead treating it like his toy. I am almost
certain had Gino Pozzo not invested in the club then we would have gone into
financial difficulties and we would be a team much like Charlton who are in disarray
on and off the pitch.
Even from their first season The Pozzo’s have come under
media scrutiny due to the amount of loan signings that they brought in from
their other clubs Udinese and Granada. Watford had 17 loan signings in their
first season and Sean Dyche was sacked without being given a chance. Yet The
Hornets made the play off final and narrowly missed out on making the Premier
League in the owners first season. However, the only story the national press
were interested in was the loan players we had brought in, not that a team who
were mid table no bodies missing out narrowly on the Premier League.
Since that day at Wembley, The Pozzos have massively
improved the facilities at Vicarage Road and the training ground investing a
lot of money into the clubs infustructure for the future. They have taken us to
the Premier League and an FA Cup Semi Final. Yet the Pozzos reputation is all
about sacking managers and financial altercations that have since proved
nothing to do with them. They deserve a lot of praise of how far they have
taken the club and they will only take us further in my opinion. They said they’d
get us into Europe and I’m sure that one day we will play there.
Yes the Pozzo’s haven’t helped themselves with the amount of
managers we have had but the thing that is forgotten is the amount of success they’ve
brought to the club. A lot of the media nonsense about the manager situation is
over hyped too with many leaving the club rather than being dismissed (e.g.
Oscar Garcia and Bepe Sannino) However, the biggest media criticism which is
totally unfair is the fact Quqiue Sanchez Flores was dismissed, yes his first
half of the season was good but in the second half of the season if any team
went on the same appalling run we did then their managers would’ve also been
shown the door. They’ve brought in a man who has so far steered us to 8th
in the Premier League and has every chance to keep us there.
In an era where owners are ruining football clubs and taking
them to the ground, isn’t it time the media gave the Pozzo’s the credit they
deserve?
Leave your thoughts below…
Sunday, 20 November 2016
Watford v Leicester
What a difference a couple of weeks makes as Watford saw off champions Leicester City at Vicarage Road yesterday (Saturday).
To be honest I was apprehensive about yesterdays game following the 6-1 drubbing at Anfield a couple of weeks ago. But once two o'clock came around and after a few pre match pints my optimism was back as I headed to my seat bang on 3 o'clock.
Its a good job I wasn't 30 seconds late!
A fast start was needed to get the fans onside and a fast start is exactly what happened. After The Foxes kicked off Watford won the ball back and within 33 seconds Etienne Capoue sent Vicarage Road into raptures. What. A. Start.
All credit to Mazzari because whatever had been said over the international break clearly had the desired effect because every single one of the boys in yellow looked up for a battle.
Roberto Pereyra seemed to have more freedom yesterday and boy his second in a Watford shirt was something special. His curling wonder strike sent many of the fans in my area into shock as it flew in to the net. Britos was voted Man Of The Match but for me it was the Argentine who deserved it.
Forgetting his goal, everything that was good in attack stemmed from the little magician, he nutmegged both Danny Drinkwater and Danny Simpson in the first half. He oozes class when he is given the freedom he needs in the team, with this in mind I would make no changes for the game against Stoke next Sunday just so Pereyra can work his magic.
The only blemish on a magnificent day for The Hornets was that it could've been more comfortable than we made it. Miguel Britos gave away a silly penalty after he fouled Vardy but from then on he didn't put a foot wrong. Mahrez duly converted. We didn't really look like conceding in the second half and Gomes really had nothing to do all day.
Sebastian Prödl was again a rock at the back and we look much more secure in defence when the Austrian is there.
A battle and a passionate display from The Hornets which ultimately was more than worthy for the 3 points that were picked up yesterday. We are two points better off than we were at this point last season and bar a few blips against Burnley and Liverpool we've looked solid under Mazzari.
The next couple of fixtures against Stoke (Next Sunday) and a trip to The Hawthorns to face West Brom (3rd December) are very favourable for The Hornets and this is a good chance to cement our place in the top half of the Premier League heading into the Christmas period.
Little old Watford 8th in the Premier League.
You 'Orns!
Watford 2-1 Leicester City
Man Of The Match: Pereyra (Britos officially received it)
Match rating- 7/10- drab in parts but a fantastic battle by both teams.
Capoue v Pogba- 6 (5 goals 1 assists) for Capoue and 2 (1 goal, 1 assist) for the 89 million pound midfielder
@Adzrowe on twitter
To be honest I was apprehensive about yesterdays game following the 6-1 drubbing at Anfield a couple of weeks ago. But once two o'clock came around and after a few pre match pints my optimism was back as I headed to my seat bang on 3 o'clock.
Its a good job I wasn't 30 seconds late!
A fast start was needed to get the fans onside and a fast start is exactly what happened. After The Foxes kicked off Watford won the ball back and within 33 seconds Etienne Capoue sent Vicarage Road into raptures. What. A. Start.
All credit to Mazzari because whatever had been said over the international break clearly had the desired effect because every single one of the boys in yellow looked up for a battle.
Roberto Pereyra seemed to have more freedom yesterday and boy his second in a Watford shirt was something special. His curling wonder strike sent many of the fans in my area into shock as it flew in to the net. Britos was voted Man Of The Match but for me it was the Argentine who deserved it.
Forgetting his goal, everything that was good in attack stemmed from the little magician, he nutmegged both Danny Drinkwater and Danny Simpson in the first half. He oozes class when he is given the freedom he needs in the team, with this in mind I would make no changes for the game against Stoke next Sunday just so Pereyra can work his magic.
The only blemish on a magnificent day for The Hornets was that it could've been more comfortable than we made it. Miguel Britos gave away a silly penalty after he fouled Vardy but from then on he didn't put a foot wrong. Mahrez duly converted. We didn't really look like conceding in the second half and Gomes really had nothing to do all day.
Sebastian Prödl was again a rock at the back and we look much more secure in defence when the Austrian is there.
A battle and a passionate display from The Hornets which ultimately was more than worthy for the 3 points that were picked up yesterday. We are two points better off than we were at this point last season and bar a few blips against Burnley and Liverpool we've looked solid under Mazzari.
The next couple of fixtures against Stoke (Next Sunday) and a trip to The Hawthorns to face West Brom (3rd December) are very favourable for The Hornets and this is a good chance to cement our place in the top half of the Premier League heading into the Christmas period.
Little old Watford 8th in the Premier League.
You 'Orns!
Watford 2-1 Leicester City
Man Of The Match: Pereyra (Britos officially received it)
Match rating- 7/10- drab in parts but a fantastic battle by both teams.
Capoue v Pogba- 6 (5 goals 1 assists) for Capoue and 2 (1 goal, 1 assist) for the 89 million pound midfielder
@Adzrowe on twitter
Monday, 7 November 2016
Liverpool 6-1 Watford
Ahh football the only sport where you can travel 5 hours with hope get smashed 6-1 but still come home relatively happy!
Firstly I want to apologise for the lack of content on here in the past few weeks- I've had quite a few assignments so they unfortunately won (unlike Watford)
With Watford not playing Saturday I decided to take a trip to Peterborough to watch their FA Cup tie against Chesham. With my mate from Uni being a massive Posh fan It was a nice chance to sample what he watches week in week out. The less said about the game the better as it was dreadful and it left me saying "I'll never moan about Watford ever again"
Its fair to say that statement lasted less than 24 hours!
After an early start and a delayed train I had a feeling that it wouldn't be our day but as a football you have to remain optimistic so I spent the entire 5 hour journey trying to convince my mates we were going to take something from the game.
After the nicest chips with curry sauce and a cheap pint we found ourselves in the stand as the teams came out with the delusional optimism in the air as "You'll Never Walk Alone" was belted out by the home faithful.
Liverpool were quicker, stronger and faster than us and they raced into a 3-0 lead in the first half. Not that I saw the 3rd goal I had gone down for an early half time pint. Fuming at half time- I was having a rant before I was rudely interrupted to say that I wasn't allowed to moan as I hadn't followed Watford when we were terrible. After drawing out some poignant results from the past including a 3-1 defeat to Preston in 2011 the conversation came to an abrupt end.
The second half didn't get much better but do you know what it was enjoyable to cheer when we got a corner and sing "sexy football" after a string of passes- to say we were making the best out of a bad situation was an understatement. At least we fans made a good account of ourselves!
The game finished 6-1 and we trundled back to the train station laughing at what had just happened (its all we could do!)
All in all a decent away day, good company and a few beers. As for the performance well that doesn't matter.
You 'Orns!
Peterborough 2-1 Chesham United
Liverpool 6-1 Watford
Man Of The Match (Watford)- Amrabat- gives his all and looked genuinely sorry for what happened.
Away day rating- 7/10- surprisingly a very good day out despite the terrible result
Pogba v Capoue- Who even cares anymore?
@adzrowe on twitter
Firstly I want to apologise for the lack of content on here in the past few weeks- I've had quite a few assignments so they unfortunately won (unlike Watford)
With Watford not playing Saturday I decided to take a trip to Peterborough to watch their FA Cup tie against Chesham. With my mate from Uni being a massive Posh fan It was a nice chance to sample what he watches week in week out. The less said about the game the better as it was dreadful and it left me saying "I'll never moan about Watford ever again"
Its fair to say that statement lasted less than 24 hours!
After an early start and a delayed train I had a feeling that it wouldn't be our day but as a football you have to remain optimistic so I spent the entire 5 hour journey trying to convince my mates we were going to take something from the game.
After the nicest chips with curry sauce and a cheap pint we found ourselves in the stand as the teams came out with the delusional optimism in the air as "You'll Never Walk Alone" was belted out by the home faithful.
Liverpool were quicker, stronger and faster than us and they raced into a 3-0 lead in the first half. Not that I saw the 3rd goal I had gone down for an early half time pint. Fuming at half time- I was having a rant before I was rudely interrupted to say that I wasn't allowed to moan as I hadn't followed Watford when we were terrible. After drawing out some poignant results from the past including a 3-1 defeat to Preston in 2011 the conversation came to an abrupt end.
The second half didn't get much better but do you know what it was enjoyable to cheer when we got a corner and sing "sexy football" after a string of passes- to say we were making the best out of a bad situation was an understatement. At least we fans made a good account of ourselves!
The game finished 6-1 and we trundled back to the train station laughing at what had just happened (its all we could do!)
All in all a decent away day, good company and a few beers. As for the performance well that doesn't matter.
You 'Orns!
Peterborough 2-1 Chesham United
Liverpool 6-1 Watford
Man Of The Match (Watford)- Amrabat- gives his all and looked genuinely sorry for what happened.
Away day rating- 7/10- surprisingly a very good day out despite the terrible result
Pogba v Capoue- Who even cares anymore?
@adzrowe on twitter
Sunday, 23 October 2016
Swansea 0-0 Watford- my post match thoughts
If you're not going to score in a game than it is imperative that you don't concede, thats exactly what The Hornets did Saturday when they took a valuable point away from the Liberty Stadium.
Unfortunately I didn't get to watch the match, I was at work so this post will more be about the result than the performance. However from what I have been told it was very similar to Boro last week minus the smash and grab winner.
Personally I think its an absolutely fantastic point and one that I am sure 90% of Watford fans would've taken before the game. Bob Bradley's first home game meant that players and fans alike would be up for the game and would've seen having us at home as a decent way to get their first win since the opening day.
The fact we've kept back to back clean sheets impresses me greatly, a few weeks back I thought we looked very suspect in defence and may find ourselves struggling for points. However we look relatively solid and by all accounts the back 3 were excellent yesterday. All Mazzari needs to do now is to find an attacking balance to go with it so we can extend our unbeaten run.
I've kept this short because as stated at the top I can't really comment on something I haven't seen, but things are definitely looking up. Looking at the league table and to see our club in 9th is remarkable and we have a great chance to move higher when we play Hull City next Saturday, a side who on their last away league game shipped 6 to Bournemouth.
9th in the league, onwards and upwards
You 'Orns!!
Capoue v Pogba- both players had games to forget this weekend so it remains 5-1 to Capoue (4 goals, 1 assist)
@adzrowe on twitter
Unfortunately I didn't get to watch the match, I was at work so this post will more be about the result than the performance. However from what I have been told it was very similar to Boro last week minus the smash and grab winner.
Personally I think its an absolutely fantastic point and one that I am sure 90% of Watford fans would've taken before the game. Bob Bradley's first home game meant that players and fans alike would be up for the game and would've seen having us at home as a decent way to get their first win since the opening day.
The fact we've kept back to back clean sheets impresses me greatly, a few weeks back I thought we looked very suspect in defence and may find ourselves struggling for points. However we look relatively solid and by all accounts the back 3 were excellent yesterday. All Mazzari needs to do now is to find an attacking balance to go with it so we can extend our unbeaten run.
I've kept this short because as stated at the top I can't really comment on something I haven't seen, but things are definitely looking up. Looking at the league table and to see our club in 9th is remarkable and we have a great chance to move higher when we play Hull City next Saturday, a side who on their last away league game shipped 6 to Bournemouth.
9th in the league, onwards and upwards
You 'Orns!!
Capoue v Pogba- both players had games to forget this weekend so it remains 5-1 to Capoue (4 goals, 1 assist)
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