Watford away match thread

[Numero Uno]

2 minutes ago, CardiffRed said:

What? Very strange post.

Brilliant from Manning, 3 wins from 3, when was the last time we did that anyone? 

The important part for me isn’t 3 from 3, it’s the fact that we went from a win against Sunderland where we were second best for most of the game to a win against Hull where they were still the better side overall to a win at a strong side where we controlled the game from start to finish. The upturn in performance is what we need and what he has delivered over the three games.

Points scoring on here is daft. Enjoying the improvement and the results going hand in hand isn’t.

[littlered]

3 minutes ago, REDOXO said:

Got a link?

Original video was deleted but someone has the clip saved

 

 

[REDOXO]

13 minutes ago, PhilC said:

Such a shame OTIB in fighting has made its way in to the match day thread...

It is. Everyone can have a nice evening and look forwArd to a drive up to Birmingham. But nope some have to be miserable! 

Edited December 26, 2023 by REDOXO

[REDOXO]

2 minutes ago, littlered said:

Original video was deleted but someone has the clip saved

 

 

Rockstar!

[CardiffRed]

3 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

The important part for me isn’t 3 from 3, it’s the fact that we went from a win against Sunderland where we were second best for most of the game to a win against Hull where they were still the better side overall to a win at a strong side where we controlled the game from start to finish. The upturn in performance is what we need and what he has delivered over the three games.

Points scoring on here is daft. Enjoying the improvement and the results going hand in hand isn’t.

I could see exactly what he was trying to do from the second game - and we did it in spells up until past 3 games, really good to see. 

[Northern Red]

Who let the Dog out....

[Davefevs]

23 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

With respect (and I do rate you as a poster) this sounds like arse-covering on your part. 

If we take your explanation on face value then what is the reason for Manning producing our best non-possession-dominant performance in years then?

What was Nige doing so wrong, tactically or otherwise, that he could not achieve similar heights in 2.5 years?

FWIW I don't accept your explanation and find it rather arrogant that you think you identified problems with Mannings first three games, coincidentally he identified the same issues. You suggested the solutions (don't change things too fast) Manning agreed, and magically we are better. 

Maybe @Harry who saw the positive signs early doors, was right all along!

I tend to agree with Silvio on how we’ve played.  It’s not revisionism.  I don’t know the reasons, the issues identified, the solutions found.  That’s one for LM.

We have played differently though (in each game pretty much).  We get sucked into reflecting on results not how we played.  Have we forgotten Sunderland?  Yes, because we just see a “W” in the result column.

in every game so far, I’ve seen pros  and cons - @Harry tended to focus on the +’s..  Today was really minimal cons, a kinda complete performance, probably as complete as we are gonna get away from home.  My cons today were not being clinical and really putting Watford to the sword.  That’s a con I can live with it.

I thought Hull was very good too, more longer spells of dominance.  We didn’t deserve to be 2-1 down.

The pros and cons in other games have meant mixed performances and results.

If those two performances are the culmination of tweaks over the previous 7 games then I’m delighted.

FWIW, there are obvious outstanding individual performances today, but today was a game where Vyner did exactly what I wanted him to do…stay switched on all game, especially in a game where we were on the front foot so much.  Well done Zak.

[Silvio Dante]

5 minutes ago, littlered said:

Original video was deleted but someone has the clip saved

 

 

They should have kept that up! 
 

It’s an easy criticism of Manning to do the “Chat GPT” stuff so a clip like that showing personality is golddust!

[Ska Junkie]

Big question, is this just excellent form and confidence or are we becoming the real deal?

Obviously, we all hope it's the latter, especially with January on the horizon.

U REDS

[Davefevs]

15 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

The last podcast

Ta, I’m sure it’ll get mentioned tomorrow…I’m on FBC.

[One Team]

9 minutes ago, littlered said:

Bit of disagreement on X on whether he's saying 'You don't fxxxing bounce when we're losing' or 'I'll fxxxing bounce when we do something'. Either way they've taken the video down and reposted an edited version - but not before someone saved a clip of it of course! 

Interesting! I thought he said he wasn’t ******* bouncing. And fair play if he doesn’t TBH, that was the GJ era. The fist pumping is Manning’s early trade mark.

2 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

They should have kept that up! 
 

It’s an easy criticism of Manning to do the “Chat GPT” stuff so a clip like that showing personality is golddust!

Yep I agree Silvio. I’ve been very critical of his robotic style, it’s good to see him show some passion and personality. 

[Davefevs]

10 minutes ago, littlered said:

Bit of disagreement on X on whether he's saying 'You don't fxxxing bounce when we're losing' or 'I'll fxxxing bounce when we do something'. Either way they've taken the video down and reposted an edited version - but not before someone saved a clip of it of course! 

Good, because I effing hate “bounce around”.  It’s cringe imho.

Rather we had something new / original for LM himself.

[bexhill reds]

11 minutes ago, 2015 said:

Anyone else think today Joe Williams was absolutely fantastic. My MOTM today although there were plenty of contenders.

Fair play to Liam. These last 2 games I think we've looked very good.

He's had his detractors in the past and he's had fits and starts, but I would say that that was his best 90 minute performance for the club. Always in and amongst it, be it intercepting, tackling or generally disrupting Watford's flow. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

Just now, One Team said:

Interesting! I thought he said he wasn’t ******* bouncing. And fair play if he doesn’t TBH, that was the GJ era. The fist pumping is Manning’s early trade mark.

GJ did the fist pump too tbh.

When we won, the single rather than several but GJ certainly did the fist pump.

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

I thoroughly enjoyed the stream today, not least because I didn’t have to listen to that joker near the middle of the Dolman shouting “Get into ‘em!”, “Move!” and “Forward!” In strict rotation.

[SecretSam]

[One Team]

3 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

GJ did the fist pump too tbh.

When we won, the single rather than several but GJ certainly did the fist pump.

Fair play mate I don’t recall that. 

[IAmNick]

1 minute ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

I thoroughly enjoyed the stream today, not least because I didn’t have to listen to that joker near the middle of the Dolman shouting “Get into ‘em!”, “Move!” and “Forward!” In strict rotation.

One of these came and sat behind me in the Lansdown for the first half on Friday, fortunately he then wasn't there for the second. It honestly ruined the half for me, added bonus he joined in with every song but got all the words wrong.

[Mr Popodopolous]

3 minutes ago, One Team said:

Fair play mate I don’t recall that. 

Yeah, when coming down the tunnel when we won by the Atyeo end there was always a build up of cheers then GJ would punch the air.

Granted I maybe used a slightly incorrect terminology with the term fist pump.

[Burt_]

17 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

The important part for me isn’t 3 from 3, it’s the fact that we went from a win against Sunderland where we were second best for most of the game to a win against Hull where they were still the better side overall to a win at a strong side where we controlled the game from start to finish. The upturn in performance is what we need and what he has delivered over the three games.

Points scoring on here is daft. Enjoying the improvement and the results going hand in hand isn’t.

Couldn't agree more.  Am glad to see that there are people who are able to appreciate a result whilst accepting that we didn't necessarily play well. 

As you say, the fact that performances have begun to improve game on game is really encouraging.  Let's hope it continues!!

[WessexPest]

Well that were bloody lovely. While the kids were all tearing into their presents (We do it a day late in my house) the only gift I wanted was three points. Nice to see Watford were in a festive mood giving us an own goal.

That’s the best all-round performance I’ve see from us since at least WBA in the cup last year. Funny how things change, when I looked at our festive fixture list after that frustrating night at Ewood, I didn’t see us picking up a point in our next three games.

OTIB

[Red Ferret]

Quite enjoyed how strong we were down the left hand side today. Mehmeti and Pring often overlapping each other created quite a bit of confusion for their right back. Mehmeti/Pring seem to have a good understanding 

[Porto Red]

The clip is still up on the official Facebook page. He says, "No, I'll start f*cking bouncing when we do something".

https://fb.watch/paS4f0dPvr/

[clunes]

1 point away from the playoffs, however Boro in 14th are just 3 points off the playoffs.
Crazily tight as per usual and I think the top 4 are so far ahead that all the chasing pack are competing for 5th and 6th. Will be an interesting 2nd half of the season 

[SecretSam]

1 minute ago, Red Ferret said:

Quite enjoyed how strong we were down the left hand side today. Mehmeti and Pring often overlapping each other created quite a bit of confusion for their right back. Mehmeti/Pring seem to have a good understanding 

Yeah, it was noticeable how Watford changed thongs at half time, leading to their goal. 

Cracking result and performance, at times the lads tore Watford apart. Some lovely stuff.

[Davefevs]

18 minutes ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

I thoroughly enjoyed the stream today, not least because I didn’t have to listen to that joker near the middle of the Dolman shouting “Get into ‘em!”, “Move!” and “Forward!” In strict rotation.

I have RTV sub, but watched the first 44 mins on soccer 10 stream - as I like to hear what the opposition commentators make of us.  They were good today (co-comm was Tommy Smith, their old winger), pretty complimentary.  Was refreshing.

Yep, that bloke who sits too near to the comms at home, needs moving on,

[SomeRandomBristolian]

Brilliant performance today. 3 wins in 3 and just outside the playoffs. Liam has really got going now. Onto Birmingham. You Reds!! 

[cityal]

4 minutes ago, SecretSam said:

Yeah, it was noticeable how Watford changed thongs at half time, leading to their goal. 

Cracking result and performance, at times the lads tore Watford apart. Some lovely stuff.

Might explain their poor performance if they were wearing a poor choice of undergarment for championship football.

Also spellcheck has betrayed your usual conversations there @SecretSam

[Kid in the Riot]

7 minutes ago, SecretSam said:

Yeah, it was noticeable how Watford changed thongs at half time

Must admit that didn't come across when I was watching Robins TV. 

[BrizzleRed]

1 hour ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

I don't know how anyone else saw it but I saw it as he came in and didn't really know what he had here or who we were. I think his perception of us was maybe skewed by our two games against Oxford this season. 

There was also a bad feeling around the club following the previous events. 

But he came in and immediately changed our style to one that didn't suit our players. His style was control possession, control the game etc etc. 

He realised that wasn't working so he took us back to a more familiar style which plays to our strengths. Today we had 41% possession for example. 

I've always said he needed to enhance upon how we were playing, not rip it up and start again and I'm glad he quickly learned from that mistake. 

 

 

 

Don’t see anything wrong with this post at all WSM, though it still managed to land some stupid facepalm emojis, though one was totally unsurprising, considering their posts recently.

Like you and many others, I was incandescent when Nige was sacked, but said the new man deserves a clean slate, as it wasn’t him who did the sacking.  Early on, I had concerns he may be a one trick pony, for the same reason as you commented.  He came in and immediately changed our playing style to something we were completely unsuited to.  

The fact he’s realised the error and has taken us back to more like our game under NP, but with some tweaks to make us more forward thinking and dangerous around the opposition’s box is great and gives me a lot of confidence that he can be flexible and pragmatic, which can only be good for us.

Fair play to LM and today is easily his most impressive result so far, so I’m feeling far more optimistic than when he joined us.  

Today was a massive Christmas bonus for us and it’s a real shame there are still idiots attempting childish points scoring, just like we had under LJ.