Month: January 2001

20th January 2001- New Division One, Watford 1 Fulham 3

GT on passing the landmark of 1000 games as a manager.

Think back to the start of the season, when we could look at our forthcoming opponents without fear, when even our fellow Premiership casualties didn’t appear to offer a serious challenge. Our squad was as strong as any in the division, more complete and more experienced than the one that had been promoted. All we needed were performances to match. On Saturday morning, those thoughts were finally laid to rest. Fulham are better than us, better than everyone else. Of course, the league table already provides a fairly clear indication of that…but it’s beyond doubt now.

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13th January 2001- New Division One, Sheffield United 0 Watford 1

BSAD report: Regardless of what happens during the rest of the season, nobody’ll remember this one. You don’t get points for memories, anyway – all that matters is that we sneaked a victory in a match that never really got going until the final fifteen minutes.

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6th January 2001- FA Cup Third Round, Watford 1 Everton 2

Everton staged a dramatic late rally to stun Watford and snatch an FA Cup third round victory in injury time at Vicarage Road.

In many ways, this was like an out-takes video from last season, and it was equally lacking in amusement value.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000%E2%80%9301_FA_Cup

2nd January 2001- New Division One, Watford 3 Wimbledon 1

At first glance, you could reasonably say that we’ve waited for two miserable months for a performance like this. Personally, I’d argue that we’ve been waiting for it all season.

So, back to basics – a cold January evening, a 36-year-old goalkeeper who cost one-squillionth as much as his deputy, and some changes in personnel since I last watched the Horns. Steve Palmer and Michel Ngonge have been Frankensteinly morphed together to produce Carlton Palmer, whose all-round Mr Tickle aspects were at their very best last night.

We had shape. And purpose. The central midfield of Carlton Palmer and Allan Nielsen scrapped away tirelessly and destructively, and when they got the ball they fed the wings or the the forwards rather than just passing the ball to them.

More games from 2nd January at https://oldwatford.com/tag/jan2