Zola: 'You can't always play fantasy football' (From Watford Observer)

I was at the game today.

Why Zola didn't bring on Deeney for Geijo at the end of the first half or earlier in the second is beyond me. As soon as Deeney came on late in the second half, the game changed - he is a commanding figure and ensured that we lost our nerves, stood up and actually had some ball retention. He is also good in defence! Exactly what we needed.

It is just a shame he was brought on so late!

Ground out the result today, looked nervous on the ball and lacked some of the flowing football that i have witnessed previously.

Vydra - tremendous. Strong, quick, clinical - if we can hold onto to him come the end of the season we will do very well indeed.

On this form I am not sure how we will fair against the stronger Prem teams (if / when we go up).

Finally great to hear "The Horns are going up!" have not heard that sung at the Vic for years and years!

We beat who we want..we beat who we want..we're Udi B team and we beat who we want!
You Horns

toonhornet wrote:
I was at the game today.

Why Zola didn't bring on Deeney for Geijo at the end of the first half or earlier in the second is beyond me. As soon as Deeney came on late in the second half, the game changed - he is a commanding figure and ensured that we lost our nerves, stood up and actually had some ball retention. He is also good in defence! Exactly what we needed.

It is just a shame he was brought on so late!

Ground out the result today, looked nervous on the ball and lacked some of the flowing football that i have witnessed previously.

Vydra - tremendous. Strong, quick, clinical - if we can hold onto to him come the end of the season we will do very well indeed.

On this form I am not sure how we will fair against the stronger Prem teams (if / when we go up).

Finally great to hear "The Horns are going up!" have not heard that sung at the Vic for years and years!

We will reinforce but for now, lets just enjoy. Our worse performance in a while but we won. Mark of a good team!

toonhornet wrote:
I was at the game today.

Why Zola didn't bring on Deeney for Geijo at the end of the first half or earlier in the second is beyond me. As soon as Deeney came on late in the second half, the game changed - he is a commanding figure and ensured that we lost our nerves, stood up and actually had some ball retention. He is also good in defence! Exactly what we needed.

It is just a shame he was brought on so late!

Ground out the result today, looked nervous on the ball and lacked some of the flowing football that i have witnessed previously.

Vydra - tremendous. Strong, quick, clinical - if we can hold onto to him come the end of the season we will do very well indeed.

On this form I am not sure how we will fair against the stronger Prem teams (if / when we go up).

Finally great to hear "The Horns are going up!" have not heard that sung at the Vic for years and years!

Obviously you don't get to many games if you haven't heard that chant for years! We've been singing it for the best part of 2 months.
I agree with you though about Deeney, however Zola will be pleased he managed to rest both Vydra and Deeney for a game in the last 3 and still come away with 9 points. He would also have wanted to see Geijo from a start.
The reality today was that Derby closed us down and it was hard for us to play our intricate passing game - credit to them. They looks better than their league position suggests although a bit lacking up front.
The most important thing is to still win when you don't play we'll and teams try to stop you playing. We did that today.

@The BestTrip2011

Check out the name! Newcastle to the Vic is too far for a Saturday!

Today it was all about the result! Yep we've played better this season but this was a big 3 points fir us as Hull and Leicester both lost! For me I think it's us vs Hull and Leicester for second spot if Cardiff don't falter and we dint carch them, otherwise if they do we can win this league! so I'm happy with winning scrappy!
Great day at the office and now we control our own destiny for promotion, there is 12 games left and if we win 10 if them we have 92 points! That will win this league!
If we win 8 and draw 1 and still loose 3 we have 87 points... Surely enough for second spot?

Not the best game. Three good chances spurned in the first half.

Player rotation?? Geijo in for Deeney...a terrible decision.

Somebody in the crowd explained to me that Geijo was a great player and all he needed was a few games to sharpen up. I think in that case GFZ and this fella are right...Play Geijo and Fernando drop Troy and Vydra and forget about promotion. I thought the defense did well...they do need to move up a bit more and Hogg showed his worth in midfield but we did miss Troy and I thought Abdi was not at his best.
But to play below par and pick up 3 points is not all bad, as for the penalty....not sure but I thought Derby were lucky with a yellow that could have been red and how did the ref miss the foul on Anya just before when it had to be a yellow and did Ward injure Almunia??

Thank goodness we are away next.

Geeze I apologise about my spelling lol typing on my iPhone after a few lagers is hard!

Chris the Vic wrote:
Not the best game. Three good chances spurned in the first half.

Player rotation?? Geijo in for Deeney...a terrible decision.

Somebody in the crowd explained to me that Geijo was a great player and all he needed was a few games to sharpen up. I think in that case GFZ and this fella are right...Play Geijo and Fernando drop Troy and Vydra and forget about promotion. I thought the defense did well...they do need to move up a bit more and Hogg showed his worth in midfield but we did miss Troy and I thought Abdi was not at his best.
But to play below par and pick up 3 points is not all bad, as for the penalty....not sure but I thought Derby were lucky with a yellow that could have been red and how did the ref miss the foul on Anya just before when it had to be a yellow and did Ward injure Almunia??

Thank goodness we are away next.

Geijo is a great player and linked well with Vydra. He offers more than Deeney and to have the choice between the two is great.

DuffmanWFC wrote:
Today it was all about the result! Yep we've played better this season but this was a big 3 points fir us as Hull and Leicester both lost! For me I think it's us vs Hull and Leicester for second spot if Cardiff don't falter and we dint carch them, otherwise if they do we can win this league! so I'm happy with winning scrappy!
Great day at the office and now we control our own destiny for promotion, there is 12 games left and if we win 10 if them we have 92 points! That will win this league!
If we win 8 and draw 1 and still loose 3 we have 87 points... Surely enough for second spot?

Fatty Quinn will beg to differ..!;-) but I agree.

pete50 wrote:

Chris the Vic wrote:
Not the best game. Three good chances spurned in the first half.

Player rotation?? Geijo in for Deeney...a terrible decision.

Somebody in the crowd explained to me that Geijo was a great player and all he needed was a few games to sharpen up. I think in that case GFZ and this fella are right...Play Geijo and Fernando drop Troy and Vydra and forget about promotion. I thought the defense did well...they do need to move up a bit more and Hogg showed his worth in midfield but we did miss Troy and I thought Abdi was not at his best.
But to play below par and pick up 3 points is not all bad, as for the penalty....not sure but I thought Derby were lucky with a yellow that could have been red and how did the ref miss the foul on Anya just before when it had to be a yellow and did Ward injure Almunia??

Thank goodness we are away next.

Geijo is a great player and linked well with Vydra. He offers more than Deeney and to have the choice between the two is great.

Well said Pete.

But Chris. Well I agree that Abdi wasn't as good as he normally is but if you can't see Geijo's quality then I'm glad you had someone near you to explain.

At times he looked a little rusty and perhaps short of confidence towards the end but for crying out loud Chris he made the first goal and linked up well considering how little game time he's had. I'm glad Zola stuck with him for longer, that's called man management.

It was right for Deeney to rest and Geijo to play!
We got the points and we have a great squad! The fact that we have real strength in depth is what will see us over the line! No Hall, Hoban or Eustace and Deeney on the bench!
We are in the part of the season where there is mainly a game on the Saturday and only a few midweek matches unlike our recent three games in a week! So now we have got over the most congested part of the season without any major injury issues is a result! We will have Hall and Hoban back for selection soon which will add to the quality of the match day 18 :-)
Any news on Almunia? I did feel that I wished we had got another goalie on loan whilst we had the chance? I hope it's not serious?

DuffmanWFC wrote:
It was right for Deeney to rest and Geijo to play!
We got the points and we have a great squad! The fact that we have real strength in depth is what will see us over the line! No Hall, Hoban or Eustace and Deeney on the bench!
We are in the part of the season where there is mainly a game on the Saturday and only a few midweek matches unlike our recent three games in a week! So now we have got over the most congested part of the season without any major injury issues is a result! We will have Hall and Hoban back for selection soon which will add to the quality of the match day 18 :-)
Any news on Almunia? I did feel that I wished we had got another goalie on loan whilst we had the chance? I hope it's not serious?

Loan market is open, so no concerns if its needed.

DuffmanWFC wrote:
Today it was all about the result! Yep we've played better this season but this was a big 3 points fir us as Hull and Leicester both lost! For me I think it's us vs Hull and Leicester for second spot if Cardiff don't falter and we dint carch them, otherwise if they do we can win this league! so I'm happy with winning scrappy!
Great day at the office and now we control our own destiny for promotion, there is 12 games left and if we win 10 if them we have 92 points! That will win this league!
If we win 8 and draw 1 and still loose 3 we have 87 points... Surely enough for second spot?

Wouldn't worry about Leicester, 1 point from their last 3 league games and a lot of games for them to fit in now. We win 7 more we will get 2nd. Think we can do better though and capitalise on a Cardiff wobble. I can sense fatty Mcpie sweating from here!

Ronny oh Ronny Ronny wrote:

DuffmanWFC wrote:
Today it was all about the result! Yep we've played better this season but this was a big 3 points fir us as Hull and Leicester both lost! For me I think it's us vs Hull and Leicester for second spot if Cardiff don't falter and we dint carch them, otherwise if they do we can win this league! so I'm happy with winning scrappy!
Great day at the office and now we control our own destiny for promotion, there is 12 games left and if we win 10 if them we have 92 points! That will win this league!
If we win 8 and draw 1 and still loose 3 we have 87 points... Surely enough for second spot?

Wouldn't worry about Leicester, 1 point from their last 3 league games and a lot of games for them to fit in now. We win 7 more we will get 2nd. Think we can do better though and capitalise on a Cardiff wobble. I can sense fatty Mcpie sweating from here!

Fatty Mcpie Sweating....UM I thought it was just raining

I enjoyed the game and thought Vydra was excellent today. He had to go it alone sometimes because understandably he and Geijo don't play off each other quite as well as he and Deeney.
I appreciate Geijo is a little rusty but overall I was a bit disappointed with him, however I think it made sense to give him a game and rest Deeney.

I don't understand how the ref gave the penalty, these days they allow ( wrongly in my view) all sorts of holding, pushing etc to carry on in the area so why on this occasion he
decided to to call foul is beyond me.

We missed a few chances and weren't at our best but who cares, well done lads and well done the
supporters, attendance over 14000 at
long last

cliff46 wrote:
I enjoyed the game and thought Vydra was excellent today. He had to go it alone sometimes because understandably he and Geijo don't play off each other quite as well as he and Deeney.
I appreciate Geijo is a little rusty but overall I was a bit disappointed with him, however I think it made sense to give him a game and rest Deeney.

I don't understand how the ref gave the penalty, these days they allow ( wrongly in my view) all sorts of holding, pushing etc to carry on in the area so why on this occasion he
decided to to call foul is beyond me.

We missed a few chances and weren't at our best but who cares, well done lads and well done the
supporters, attendance over 14000 at
long last

Cliff, watched the penalty 10 times now, never in a million years.
Derby made a decent it's of it, but we were not at full tilt.
Geijo is classy but seems a little flaky at times. Maybe unfair to judge him as he's never had a real run. Having said all that, what luxuries we have sitting on the bench.
A good solid win, glad when that whistle went mind!

Geijo is not as effective as Deeney and his work rate is less. However, he may sharpen up if he gets 15/20 minutes at the end of a game.
The main thing was we won, despite the avarage 2nd half. We do need to find a Plan B for those teams that put pressure on our midfield, as we won't always come out with 3 points.

Ah the fabled plan B! You mean return to Hoof?
I wonder when we played kick and hope what our plan b was? To revert to sexy football?
Thing is I look at the table, and I think the overall plan is working well, and if there is a plan B surely they sit on the bench?
So many questions

i soz. got spoopled at the Vicarage and currently drinked out in a place called Harrow . is posh you know. ya reet COYH

toonhornet wrote:
I was at the game today.

Why Zola didn't bring on Deeney for Geijo at the end of the first half or earlier in the second is beyond me. As soon as Deeney came on late in the second half, the game changed - he is a commanding figure and ensured that we lost our nerves, stood up and actually had some ball retention. He is also good in defence! Exactly what we needed.

It is just a shame he was brought on so late!

Ground out the result today, looked nervous on the ball and lacked some of the flowing football that i have witnessed previously.

Vydra - tremendous. Strong, quick, clinical - if we can hold onto to him come the end of the season we will do very well indeed.

On this form I am not sure how we will fair against the stronger Prem teams (if / when we go up).

Finally great to hear "The Horns are going up!" have not heard that sung at the Vic for years and years!

He didn't bring troy on because he didn't bloody have to!!!!
I don't know if you noticed but we actually won today!! yeah we won ugly but hey ho (intended) we still won didn't we!
sometimes i find our so called "fans" embarrassing, you wouldn't have known we'd moved into the automatic promotion positions from our silent masses today...
I bet you were one of our so called fans that sat on their hands all match and only cheered when they heard the lut@n result. It really is depressing at the vic lately, it should be rocking but if we're not 4-0 nil up after 11seconds then people start getting tetchy, which is crazy as none of us thought we'd be where we are 6 months ago....


WHY OH WHY CAN'T OUR "FANS" JUST BE HAPPY FOR ONCE


WE'RE BLEEDING SECOND PEOPLE, IT'S TOTALLY IN OUR HANDS... Cheer the f#@k up
JEEEZ

For me we don't need a plan B!
If we just carry on playing the way we have we will win 7/8 out of the 12 games left for certain! And if we improve our play and rip open teams like we have when we play extremely well we are capable of winning all 12!
We have some recovery time now and I expect Vydra and Deeney to start the next game! I'm looking at the fixture list and Wolves away is so winnable, so is Wednesday at home and Blackpool too! For me after these three games we may see ourselves starting to pull away from Hull, Leicester and Palace!
This season is getting more exciting by the week, lets keep it up Zola!
Yellloooowwwwss!
The Orns are going up! The Orns are going up!

jalvin wrote:

toonhornet wrote:
I was at the game today.

Why Zola didn't bring on Deeney for Geijo at the end of the first half or earlier in the second is beyond me. As soon as Deeney came on late in the second half, the game changed - he is a commanding figure and ensured that we lost our nerves, stood up and actually had some ball retention. He is also good in defence! Exactly what we needed.

It is just a shame he was brought on so late!

Ground out the result today, looked nervous on the ball and lacked some of the flowing football that i have witnessed previously.

Vydra - tremendous. Strong, quick, clinical - if we can hold onto to him come the end of the season we will do very well indeed.

On this form I am not sure how we will fair against the stronger Prem teams (if / when we go up).

Finally great to hear "The Horns are going up!" have not heard that sung at the Vic for years and years!

He didn't bring troy on because he didn't bloody have to!!!!
I don't know if you noticed but we actually won today!! yeah we won ugly but hey ho (intended) we still won didn't we!
sometimes i find our so called "fans" embarrassing, you wouldn't have known we'd moved into the automatic promotion positions from our silent masses today...
I bet you were one of our so called fans that sat on their hands all match and only cheered when they heard the lut@n result. It really is depressing at the vic lately, it should be rocking but if we're not 4-0 nil up after 11seconds then people start getting tetchy, which is crazy as none of us thought we'd be where we are 6 months ago....


WHY OH WHY CAN'T OUR "FANS" JUST BE HAPPY FOR ONCE


WE'RE BLEEDING SECOND PEOPLE, IT'S TOTALLY IN OUR HANDS... Cheer the f#@k up
JEEEZ

I wouldn't say it was silent.

We've still got a way to go but well done to the singers, esp Lutondown and Boosey who printed out and distributed some lyrics for new songs.

The main vocal negative for me was hearing the call for Deeney immediately after Geijo's fluffed attempt. Doesn't help the player who's not had much game time.

Lets just enjoy this ride. There's no need for negativity. Sing your hearts out for the lads. They thoroughly deserve it.

I'm not saying it's quiet at the Vic but It's the only ground that doesn't need an announcement for a minutes silence!

It was one of those games we would have thrown away in the past... and not comparable to Palace who ripped us to bits in the second half, in the way we too are capable of. This was Derby. A neat, tight team, but nothing more. And we could have blown this game. We pulled the ball back when a shot was a better option, we shot when a pass was the better option. We didn't really click too well... but we won. And that's a massive result, becuase, as others have pointed out, when you can grind out results... that's the sign of a dominant team.

I was quite glad when Almunia went off today. I have no worries with Bond, despite his inexperience, and CANNOT stand goalkeepers as captains. It's the worst place to be a captain from. Hope he's not too badly injured, but I hope Zola keeps the captain at central defence or central midfield from now on.

Also, a lot of negative comments behind me regarding Anya. Sometimes, like Chalobah, they do daft things in the hope that it comes off, but their presence and imagination are quite important. I'm not a massive fan of Anya, but the lad tries and does have a deft touch... so why spend the entire game slating him?? Beyond me.

An average game, by our standards. A good result. Made great by what happened around us in the table. Now, Wolves to get in Cardiff faces and....

Oh, and the penalty? Never. The Derby fans didn't react at all. Always a sign.

JohnnyHornet wrote:

Ronny oh Ronny Ronny wrote:

DuffmanWFC wrote:
Today it was all about the result! Yep we've played better this season but this was a big 3 points fir us as Hull and Leicester both lost! For me I think it's us vs Hull and Leicester for second spot if Cardiff don't falter and we dint carch them, otherwise if they do we can win this league! so I'm happy with winning scrappy!
Great day at the office and now we control our own destiny for promotion, there is 12 games left and if we win 10 if them we have 92 points! That will win this league!
If we win 8 and draw 1 and still loose 3 we have 87 points... Surely enough for second spot?

Wouldn't worry about Leicester, 1 point from their last 3 league games and a lot of games for them to fit in now. We win 7 more we will get 2nd. Think we can do better though and capitalise on a Cardiff wobble. I can sense fatty Mcpie sweating from here!

Fatty Mcpie Sweating....UM I thought it was just raining

You can smell the fear from SA, coming off the fat tw*t in waves. He's got to be making kaka in his unterhosen as he sees us getting closer and closer. I just love it. COME ON YOU WOLVES !

jalvin wrote:

toonhornet wrote:
I was at the game today.

Why Zola didn't bring on Deeney for Geijo at the end of the first half or earlier in the second is beyond me. As soon as Deeney came on late in the second half, the game changed - he is a commanding figure and ensured that we lost our nerves, stood up and actually had some ball retention. He is also good in defence! Exactly what we needed.

It is just a shame he was brought on so late!

Ground out the result today, looked nervous on the ball and lacked some of the flowing football that i have witnessed previously.

Vydra - tremendous. Strong, quick, clinical - if we can hold onto to him come the end of the season we will do very well indeed.

On this form I am not sure how we will fair against the stronger Prem teams (if / when we go up).

Finally great to hear "The Horns are going up!" have not heard that sung at the Vic for years and years!

He didn't bring troy on because he didn't bloody have to!!!!
I don't know if you noticed but we actually won today!! yeah we won ugly but hey ho (intended) we still won didn't we!
sometimes i find our so called "fans" embarrassing, you wouldn't have known we'd moved into the automatic promotion positions from our silent masses today...
I bet you were one of our so called fans that sat on their hands all match and only cheered when they heard the lut@n result. It really is depressing at the vic lately, it should be rocking but if we're not 4-0 nil up after 11seconds then people start getting tetchy, which is crazy as none of us thought we'd be where we are 6 months ago....


WHY OH WHY CAN'T OUR "FANS" JUST BE HAPPY FOR ONCE


WE'RE BLEEDING SECOND PEOPLE, IT'S TOTALLY IN OUR HANDS... Cheer the f#@k up
JEEEZ

Brilliant passion jalvin...love it. Thought that you were Mr. Bottom for a while there. Keep rocking, pal.

lutondown wrote:

DuffmanWFC wrote:
Today it was all about the result! Yep we've played better this season but this was a big 3 points fir us as Hull and Leicester both lost! For me I think it's us vs Hull and Leicester for second spot if Cardiff don't falter and we dint carch them, otherwise if they do we can win this league! so I'm happy with winning scrappy!
Great day at the office and now we control our own destiny for promotion, there is 12 games left and if we win 10 if them we have 92 points! That will win this league!
If we win 8 and draw 1 and still loose 3 we have 87 points... Surely enough for second spot?

Fatty Quinn will beg to differ..!;-) but I agree.

No, 8-1-3 might be enough after yesterdays results. Would depend whether the C, L & H results were in the 8 or the 3 !! If in the 8, definitely enough, if in the 3, probably not enough !

Massive win yesterday given the other results, losing our keeper, phantom penalty etc but we hung on reasonably comfortably.

Need an emergency loan if Almunia is going to miss more than 1 or 2 games.

A result ground out, although lets face it had we finished the chances we had in the first half the game would have been finished. It wasnt and they were professional enough to go on and win the game.
The Vic is still quiet, although it feels as though its starting to move in the right direction. On tuesday night i was stood up the whole game and stood with good people that wanted to sing. Then i return to my seat at The Vic and im among boring, quiet look down their nose type. Suddenly my self conscious feeling returns.
We really need this Unreserved seating area, then i can be among like minded people who want to sing and create noise for our team.
Great day bring on Wolves.

SAHornet wrote:

jalvin wrote:

toonhornet wrote: I was at the game today. Why Zola didn't bring on Deeney for Geijo at the end of the first half or earlier in the second is beyond me. As soon as Deeney came on late in the second half, the game changed - he is a commanding figure and ensured that we lost our nerves, stood up and actually had some ball retention. He is also good in defence! Exactly what we needed. It is just a shame he was brought on so late! Ground out the result today, looked nervous on the ball and lacked some of the flowing football that i have witnessed previously. Vydra - tremendous. Strong, quick, clinical - if we can hold onto to him come the end of the season we will do very well indeed. On this form I am not sure how we will fair against the stronger Prem teams (if / when we go up). Finally great to hear "The Horns are going up!" have not heard that sung at the Vic for years and years!

He didn't bring troy on because he didn't bloody have to!!!! I don't know if you noticed but we actually won today!! yeah we won ugly but hey ho (intended) we still won didn't we! sometimes i find our so called "fans" embarrassing, you wouldn't have known we'd moved into the automatic promotion positions from our silent masses today... I bet you were one of our so called fans that sat on their hands all match and only cheered when they heard the lut@n result. It really is depressing at the vic lately, it should be rocking but if we're not 4-0 nil up after 11seconds then people start getting tetchy, which is crazy as none of us thought we'd be where we are 6 months ago.... WHY OH WHY CAN'T OUR "FANS" JUST BE HAPPY FOR ONCE WE'RE BLEEDING SECOND PEOPLE, IT'S TOTALLY IN OUR HANDS... Cheer the f#@k up JEEEZ

Brilliant passion jalvin...love it. Thought that you were Mr. Bottom for a while there. Keep rocking, pal.

I think Jalvin is one of our Academy players Too !?!?

Great passion Jamie Calvin ?

Holly68 wrote:

SAHornet wrote:

jalvin wrote:

toonhornet wrote: I was at the game today. Why Zola didn't bring on Deeney for Geijo at the end of the first half or earlier in the second is beyond me. As soon as Deeney came on late in the second half, the game changed - he is a commanding figure and ensured that we lost our nerves, stood up and actually had some ball retention. He is also good in defence! Exactly what we needed. It is just a shame he was brought on so late! Ground out the result today, looked nervous on the ball and lacked some of the flowing football that i have witnessed previously. Vydra - tremendous. Strong, quick, clinical - if we can hold onto to him come the end of the season we will do very well indeed. On this form I am not sure how we will fair against the stronger Prem teams (if / when we go up). Finally great to hear "The Horns are going up!" have not heard that sung at the Vic for years and years!

He didn't bring troy on because he didn't bloody have to!!!! I don't know if you noticed but we actually won today!! yeah we won ugly but hey ho (intended) we still won didn't we! sometimes i find our so called "fans" embarrassing, you wouldn't have known we'd moved into the automatic promotion positions from our silent masses today... I bet you were one of our so called fans that sat on their hands all match and only cheered when they heard the lut@n result. It really is depressing at the vic lately, it should be rocking but if we're not 4-0 nil up after 11seconds then people start getting tetchy, which is crazy as none of us thought we'd be where we are 6 months ago.... WHY OH WHY CAN'T OUR "FANS" JUST BE HAPPY FOR ONCE WE'RE BLEEDING SECOND PEOPLE, IT'S TOTALLY IN OUR HANDS... Cheer the f#@k up JEEEZ

Brilliant passion jalvin...love it. Thought that you were Mr. Bottom for a while there. Keep rocking, pal.

I think Jalvin is one of our Academy players Too !?!?

Great passion Jamie Calvin ?

Speculation, Holly?

Ha haaa, you couldn't be any further off!!!! I've been going to the vic for around 34 years and it's quieter now than it ever has been, granted there are a few pockets of noisy fans but the bulk of the rookery is silent, people actually look at you as if you're mad when you try to start songs off.
And when people started getting on geijo's back and singing deeney's name yesterday you could clearly see it upset him, and poor Harry h just gives up trying with his drum.
There really needs to be a change at home games, and I really like the idea of unreserved seating in the north stand, or maybe one or two blocks in the rookery could be pay on the day/unreserved. then all the noisy fans could go and sit there and create a bit of an atmosphere. The team deserves better the way they are playing, it's no wonder we do better at away games these days eh!?

Boosey wrote:
I'm not saying it's quiet at the Vic but It's the only ground that doesn't need an announcement for a minutes silence!

Like!!

jalvin wrote:

toonhornet wrote:
I was at the game today.

Why Zola didn't bring on Deeney for Geijo at the end of the first half or earlier in the second is beyond me. As soon as Deeney came on late in the second half, the game changed - he is a commanding figure and ensured that we lost our nerves, stood up and actually had some ball retention. He is also good in defence! Exactly what we needed.

It is just a shame he was brought on so late!

Ground out the result today, looked nervous on the ball and lacked some of the flowing football that i have witnessed previously.

Vydra - tremendous. Strong, quick, clinical - if we can hold onto to him come the end of the season we will do very well indeed.

On this form I am not sure how we will fair against the stronger Prem teams (if / when we go up).

Finally great to hear "The Horns are going up!" have not heard that sung at the Vic for years and years!

He didn't bring troy on because he didn't bloody have to!!!!
I don't know if you noticed but we actually won today!! yeah we won ugly but hey ho (intended) we still won didn't we!
sometimes i find our so called "fans" embarrassing, you wouldn't have known we'd moved into the automatic promotion positions from our silent masses today...
I bet you were one of our so called fans that sat on their hands all match and only cheered when they heard the lut@n result. It really is depressing at the vic lately, it should be rocking but if we're not 4-0 nil up after 11seconds then people start getting tetchy, which is crazy as none of us thought we'd be where we are 6 months ago....


WHY OH WHY CAN'T OUR "FANS" JUST BE HAPPY FOR ONCE


WE'RE BLEEDING SECOND PEOPLE, IT'S TOTALLY IN OUR HANDS... Cheer the f#@k up
JEEEZ

jalvin - toonhornet should be congratulated on making the 600 mile return trip from Newcastle and not given such a hard time.

Why are there so many aggressive posts on here - are we not supposed to have an opinion - I thought that was intention of this site?
Bit more humour and less aggression would be good!

Boosey wrote:
I'm not saying it's quiet at the Vic but It's the only ground that doesn't need an announcement for a minutes silence!

LOL

Chris the Vic wrote:
Not the best game. Three good chances spurned in the first half.

Player rotation?? Geijo in for Deeney...a terrible decision.

Somebody in the crowd explained to me that Geijo was a great player and all he needed was a few games to sharpen up. I think in that case GFZ and this fella are right...Play Geijo and Fernando drop Troy and Vydra and forget about promotion. I thought the defense did well...they do need to move up a bit more and Hogg showed his worth in midfield but we did miss Troy and I thought Abdi was not at his best.
But to play below par and pick up 3 points is not all bad, as for the penalty....not sure but I thought Derby were lucky with a yellow that could have been red and how did the ref miss the foul on Anya just before when it had to be a yellow and did Ward injure Almunia??

Thank goodness we are away next.

Could not diasgree more. For 30 minutes Geijo was brilliant. He won many headers and played in runners with clever flicks. In the second half he faded but by then we had reverted to 5-3-2 and were unable to get any sustained midfield possession. It was a mirror image of the Palace second half. Just saw an interview with Steve Bruce bemoaning the need for 5 games in 13 days and the impact on performance. We have won three in a week and rested Troy and Matej. Maybe GF knows something after all ?!

Oracledave wrote:

Chris the Vic wrote:
Not the best game. Three good chances spurned in the first half.

Player rotation?? Geijo in for Deeney...a terrible decision.

Somebody in the crowd explained to me that Geijo was a great player and all he needed was a few games to sharpen up. I think in that case GFZ and this fella are right...Play Geijo and Fernando drop Troy and Vydra and forget about promotion. I thought the defense did well...they do need to move up a bit more and Hogg showed his worth in midfield but we did miss Troy and I thought Abdi was not at his best.
But to play below par and pick up 3 points is not all bad, as for the penalty....not sure but I thought Derby were lucky with a yellow that could have been red and how did the ref miss the foul on Anya just before when it had to be a yellow and did Ward injure Almunia??

Thank goodness we are away next.

Could not diasgree more. For 30 minutes Geijo was brilliant. He won many headers and played in runners with clever flicks. In the second half he faded but by then we had reverted to 5-3-2 and were unable to get any sustained midfield possession. It was a mirror image of the Palace second half. Just saw an interview with Steve Bruce bemoaning the need for 5 games in 13 days and the impact on performance. We have won three in a week and rested Troy and Matej. Maybe GF knows something after all ?!

Great post Dave, perhaps Geijo would be better suited to the Prem?
And I think GFZ knows best, our table position endorses that?

mellow yellow wrote:
It was one of those games we would have thrown away in the past... and not comparable to Palace who ripped us to bits in the second half, in the way we too are capable of. This was Derby. A neat, tight team, but nothing more. And we could have blown this game. We pulled the ball back when a shot was a better option, we shot when a pass was the better option. We didn't really click too well... but we won. And that's a massive result, becuase, as others have pointed out, when you can grind out results... that's the sign of a dominant team.

I was quite glad when Almunia went off today. I have no worries with Bond, despite his inexperience, and CANNOT stand goalkeepers as captains. It's the worst place to be a captain from. Hope he's not too badly injured, but I hope Zola keeps the captain at central defence or central midfield from now on.

Also, a lot of negative comments behind me regarding Anya. Sometimes, like Chalobah, they do daft things in the hope that it comes off, but their presence and imagination are quite important. I'm not a massive fan of Anya, but the lad tries and does have a deft touch... so why spend the entire game slating him?? Beyond me.

An average game, by our standards. A good result. Made great by what happened around us in the table. Now, Wolves to get in Cardiff faces and....

Anya has come in and played very well at Brum and Ipswich but I think that he is far more effective on the right.
With Cassetti playing out of his skin it would be unwise to mess about with that side of the pitch.

I take a close look at the bench nowadays ... for once it's nice to see the quality that ISN'T in the starting line-up!

I know teams push up on us in the second half when they are invariably behind: but I CAN'T understand why we can't just hold onto the ball and just pass it around??? At the moment we give it back as soon as we get it and the pressure's immediately back on us.

Geijo won't be ay his best until he gets a few games under his belt, he lacks match fitness. I think the Hogg substitution did the trick it shored up the middle of the pitch where we began to struggle second half.

Have total faith in GFZ's rotation, it will pay didvidends over the run in. He could perhaps become the fastest legend in Watford's golden history.

Play-Off Pete wrote:
I take a close look at the bench nowadays ... for once it's nice to see the quality that ISN'T in the starting line-up!

I know teams push up on us in the second half when they are invariably behind: but I CAN'T understand why we can't just hold onto the ball and just pass it around??? At the moment we give it back as soon as we get it and the pressure's immediately back on us.

A good question Pete. I think one of the problems is the three central defenders. When we get pressure the usual wing backs (both of whom are defenders by nature) funnel back making the effective shape 5-3-2. We are then outnumbered in midfield without the wide options. On Saturday GFZ sacrificed a striker for the extra body in midfield and that worked to an extent. Personally I would like to revert to 4-4-1-1 in these circumstances but seems GFZ prefers the Italian system of funnelling back and allowing the opposition unapposed possession in their own half. Ok if your backline is rock solid. Not sure ours is. Suspect there will be more of this in final 12 games.