Watford 2-0 West Ham Utd (19/11/17)

Relive every moment of every first team game since the beginning of the 2005/06 season. Our archive of matchday threads originally posted in the General Discussion Forum.

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trevshead10may1980
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by trevshead10may1980 »

Reid did absolutely no defending for their second goal.
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by kayahammer »

We're doing what all relegation teams do.

No pressing. Instead, stand off, give them plenty of space and now pressure, keep shape until they score.

No urgency. Instead, knocking around the back four until it goes long.

Get good chances. Instead of tucking them away the ball somehow contrives to stay out the net.

Chance of a counter attack? Instead, put foot on ball and wait until all their players are behind it, then knock it around the back four before it goes long.

Giving up before the end. 8 minutes of injury time and we continue doing all the above.

Feeling flatter than our play.
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by Beavis Danzig »

Humbug wrote:We've got better quality players than a lot of other clubs but imho Slav has not squeezed the best out of them and I think they don't have much faith in his tactical capabilities or game plan.
Humbug wrote:It won't matter how well Moyes (or any other top manager) is good with fitness, tactics, organisation. If you have a section of the squad half-heartedly playing for our club with eyes elsewhere, we will fail.
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by SXreject »

As above

Reid was to blame for the second he was too far away from him and allowed him all the space on his left foot. It looked like he didn't have a clue where on the pitch he was. :shock:
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by The Old Mile End »

I thought we looked fitter from the start and despite going behind, finished the first half on top.

Second half was bit different though, we seemed to hit the wall around the hour mark and kept going, but were a bit short from then on.

However, despite some overall improvement, we are team that has got used to losing. We are a defence that has got used to conceding, and we a forward line that is used to not scoring. These habits will take some time to break.

Carroll looked a lot fitter, I haven’t seen him run around so much in a long while. However, his discipline is atrocious. He is so easily wound up and it would have been no surprise if he was booked for the first foul (7 seconds) and sent off for the blatant trip towards the end of the first half.

Arnie had probably his best game, but missed an absolute sitter. He did seem to make a meal of his injury though - perhaps he wanted to come off by then.

Due to whatever availability reasons, this team was not one for scoring. Both Ayew and Hernandez were missed. Perhaps now that the management have had a look at Sakho, they won’t pick him again (didn’t seem to put too much effort in for me).

There’s a long way to go, and it will take some time to get this lot into shape.

Good effort by the captain though – I don’t think anyone can honestly say Noble was not one of the fitter players out there.

Can’t fault the team effort – but we are fairly easy pickings at the moment. In this type of setup there isn’t room for individual flair – hence why Lanzini was so quiet for most of the game. If he survives with us, he’ll be a better team player for it. He’ll need to get used to some changes first though.

A lot of work still to do.
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by Colours never run »

Reid messed up the original headed clearance and smacked it back in to the middle of the pitch when he had time to aim it away from the centre out wide. I didn't find him too much at fault after that by ushering the player towards the by like rather than allow him to cut inside. It left the player with limited options and an a tougher angle to shoot however it's Hart that takes over the reigns and makes a rifht hash of the attempted stop with it fumbling through his fingers fairly central to the goal. He should never have been beaten from that take effort going through him like it did.

Special mention for the Ref ignoring a clear handball though, f*** knows what he was watching as the movement of the ball was clear it hit a hand to control it. Not that it's the first time the Refs are overlooking blatant decisions that should be going our way but we're used to it now.

The first I blame 3 players in the box failing to deal with the ball, Cresswell, Obiang and Ogbonna all playing musical statues offering very little.

I thought the manager specialises in defensive work? Watford could have scored at least double today if they were more ruthless.
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by pezza20 »

I thought Watford players were a disgrace last night too - falling over at the slightest touch like they'd been shot, but pulling off niggly fouls in our half to break the game up whilst they all got back in position. We never do that, perhaps time to be a bit cute and pull the same stunts. I think at one point Carroll was kicked three times in a row and got nothing, yet when he tugged the bloke's shirt he fell backwards like someone had punched him ...Mariner was a fool too, if it wasn't in our half he didn't get the book out.
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by Colours never run »

Not that I'm defending our bookings but the fact they ended up with just the 1 booking to our 4 says it all.

Mariner has long been a ****er to us.
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by prophet:marginal »

pezza20 wrote:I thought Watford players were a disgrace last night too - falling over at the slightest touch like they'd been shot, but pulling off niggly fouls in our half to break the game up whilst they all got back in position. We never do that, perhaps time to be a bit cute and pull the same stunts. I think at one point Carroll was kicked three times in a row and got nothing, yet when he tugged the bloke's shirt he fell backwards like someone had punched him ...Mariner was a fool too, if it wasn't in our half he didn't get the book out.
I think that you have a point, but that also that there may be something a bit 'chicken and egg' about it.

Looked at another way, I imagine that Watford were coached to expect Andy Elbows getting a start, so that they'd want to send an early message to the ref that they weren't going to let him wrestle his way to dominating their backline.

In fact, they needn't have bothered, because he, of course, seemed incapable of challenging fairly from the get-go. They showed on tv Moyes' response to a young player lying with a facial injury in the first minute. A picture perhaps speaking a 1000 words.

After that, the dye was cast; we were the dirty team, in the eyes of the home fans and players and the ref went along with it.

The problem for us, of course, was that their levels of simulation were only part of their game plan. They were fitter and better coached than us. It was a team vs a mess.

Only one winner.
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by thejackhammer »

The player Carroll fouled is 27.

He was an idiot but don’t make him sound even more like a thug by saying he injured a ‘young player’
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by The Sherriff »

Two seasons ago Obiang couldn’t get near a starting birth, for good reason. Another abject performance whereby his mistake resulted in a goal. Not as bad as Brighton but a liability none the less.

Our midfield would struggle in the championship.

Surprise, surprise - another team targeting our RB.

That we have to bring Sakho on says it all about this squad, it’s depth and choices.

On average we have one of the oldest squads in the league .... no wonder we don’t run as far as others.

Costly misses which would have undoubtably changed the game but ultimately the result was fair.

Plenty more days like these to come this season, it’s a **** squad, get used to it.
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by prophet:marginal »

My mistake; he was making a debut.

I think the point is still a fair one. It was a shocking challenge.
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by Second Ball »

I think the fact that Reid played shows how stuffed we are. The bloke had flown to New Zealand, played a crunch and difficult game then had to fly to Peru which, because there are no direct flights from NZ had to go via Argentina. Once there they had Peruvian fans holding a riot all night, the Peruvian airforce did a fly by at 6am and then play a game where he was the mainstay in a defence where the opposition had 78% possession and won comfortably he then flew the other half of the world, landing the day before the game.

I'm surprised the bloke didn't just go to sleep in the goalmouth.
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by westham,eggyandchips »

trevshead10may1980 wrote:Reid did absolutely no defending for their second goal.
He was rubbish and has been all season.

He wasn't alone though. Noble, Carroll and Obiang were also terrible. Lanzini probably had his worst game for us and Arnautovic is fast become an enigma that has nothing or very little to offer.

Relegation has become reality after that performance. :thdn:
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by thejackhammer »

prophet:marginal wrote:My mistake; he was making a debut.

I think the point is still a fair one. It was a shocking challenge.
Sorry Proph, it’s just a frustrating time for all of us.
It was shocking but something just seems worse if it was a youngster.
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by szola »

pezza20 wrote:I think at one point Carroll was kicked three times in a row and got nothing, yet when he tugged the bloke's shirt he fell backwards like someone had punched him ....
Carroll is an imbecile. When you are kicked, and there is no way you can score or assist, you don't need to lose the ball. For all his heroics, we both lost the ball and he got a yellow. Even an U21 player should know what to decide in that situation.

We, once again, failed to limit the opposition, by sitting too deep.

Gone are the days when we can run at them at speed. We don't have any. And apart from Lanzini, we can't pass the ball to anyone with the hope that it'll eventually end of in the attacking third.

We can cross our fingers and hope that we can face both Millwall and Sheffield Utd next season.
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by Hugh Jargon »

Carroll should be an assett both on and off the pitch. When fit he should be our main man. He is being singled out a bit. The whole team was utterly **** yesterday.
We are toxic from top to bottom. Now we have turned on the board so viciously we need to know that we are contributing now. Part of the problem.

I'm all for it. I'm prepared to follow my team all the way down the league's. Start again. And see us come back. The only positive in all of this is the owner's are being exposed for what they are.
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by hammers92 »

I actually thought Carroll’s 6 second challenge was a red, lucky boy
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by aaronhammer »

Yesterday at times was as bad as anything under Slav, that said as much as I didn’t want him and do not have faith in him, I’m not going to throw Moyes under the bus as it was his first game - it shows again though that the players need to shoulder a lot of blame.

As poor as we were, we did fashion 4 very good chances, and but for some great goalkeeping it could’ve been a different story, but that doesn’t excuse the rest of the performance which was poor. There was a 10 minute spell in the 2nd half and Watford were playing with us, passing it in our box at will.

It was great to hear the anti board songs get going, enjoyed the if you all hate Brady clap your hands! When I met my Watford mates after the game outside the ground, the first thing one of them said to me was “your fans aren’t very happy are they” - so good that it was heard around the ground and also has been picked up by the media.

It is important to note that we did also back the team with chants too, most Sack The Board chants were followed with Bubbles or West Ham Till I Die, and I think the players recognised that as most of them did clap us at the end. Apart from Andy Carroll - strange that...
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Re: Watford v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by Aceface »

In Reid's defence he covered 24,000 miles and about a million time zones in the international break - in a well managed club there's no way he should have been playing.

That he made a mistake towards the end of the 90 minutes shouldn't be a surprise - it would be a surprise if he didn't.

There was a really good article about exactly what that entails here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41860130" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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