Monthly Archives: December 2017

30th December 2017- Premier League, Watford 1 Swansea City 2

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clips of Jon Marks BBC 3CR commentary Goals: 1

Watford Observer

Relive Watford v Swansea City: Hornets bottle another victory to somehow lose at home to Swans

Watford again pay price for failing to kill a game in Swansea City defeat

‘We made enough chances to win’ says Watford head coach Marco Silva after Swansea City defeat

‘I didn’t see much of a foul’ says Marco Silva of Molla Wague’s disallowed header

Watford vs Swansea City ratings: Hornets defenders struggle as Swans mount late comeback

Watford vs Swansea City: Defeat hard to take for Ben Watson after missed chances

Swansea City staged a remarkable late fightback to beat Watford and give Carlos Carvalhal victory in his first game in charge of the Welsh side, lifting them off the bottom of the table.

Goals from Jordan Ayew and Luciano Narsingh saw Swansea stage a dramatic late comeback to earn a 2-1 win at Watford and move off the bottom of the Premier League table.

For Watford, this was a chastening defeat. Ahead in the match from the 10th minute after André Carrillo headed home, it appeared that they were cruising to victory. But Marco Silva’s men should have known that appearances can be deceptive. They seemed sure that a second goal would eventually arrive, but never actually scored it and have now given up more points from a winning position this season than any other club in the Premier League.

For f***’s sake…

It is difficult to put into words how I felt after the game. It had been incredibly frustrating as Watford were so much better than their opponents who showed little in the way of threat. But the longer the game stayed at 1-0, the more likely it appeared that Swansea would leave Vicarage Road with at least a point. It had been incredibly dull for most of the ninety minutes and Pete’s observation that the second half appeared as if it was being played at London Colney summed it up perfectly. There was no sense of urgency or pressing to get a second goal and it cost us dearly.

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26th December 2017- Premier League, Watford 2 Leicester City 1

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clips of Jon Marks BBC 3CR commentary Goals: 1 2

Watford Observer

Watford v Leicester City live: Kasper Schmeichel own goal adds to Molla Wague goal as Hornets come from behind to beat Foxes

Watford come from behind to beat Leicester City and end six-game winless run

Marco Silva believes Watford showed ‘great character’ in Leicester City win

Heurelho Gomes singled out for praise by Watford head coach Marco Silva after saves in Leicester City win

Watford fans’ view: Hornets looking back to their best in Leicester City win

Heurelho Gomes relieved after helping Watford to Leicester City win

Watford v Leicester City ratings: Heurelho Gomes, Molla Wague and Andre Carrillo superb in Hornets’ comeback victory

Ben Watson delighted to seize Watford chance after ‘tough’ 18 months out of the side

Watford boss Marco Silva says he was never worried about their bad form, as they beat Leicester City to end a six-game winless run.

Watford picked up a first win in seven games after coming from behind to earn a 2-1 victory over Leicester at Vicarage Road on Boxing Day.

Watford have bemoaned their misfortune in recent weeks but here Marco Silva’s team were grateful for the unwitting assistance of Kasper Schmeichel as they fought back from a deficit to end a miserable series of results. The Leicester City goalkeeper turned a cross by Abdoulaye Doucouré into his own net in the 65th minute to complete Watford’s comeback after Molla Wagué had negated Riyad Mahrez’s opening goal for the visitors.

Yes, Swansea on Saturday looked a winnable fixture, maybe, but the gentle descent in our recent run from the forgivable through the slightly unfortunate to the downright appalling hadn’t left us banking on anything much.

After a lovely Christmas day with the family, it was off to Vicarage Road to see if we could arrest the recent slump. The Boxing Day game is one of the first that I look for when the fixtures come out. I always look forward to them, even if they rarely give us anything to cheer (I am still smarting from the injury time goal by Kirk Stephens in 1979).

After four defeats on the bounce, Watford returned to winning ways on a tense Boxing Day afternoon at The Vic.

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23rd December 2017- Premier League, Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Watford 0

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Watford Observer

Brighton vs Watford: Pascal Gross condemns Hornets to fourth Premier League loss on the spin

Watford beaten at Brighton & Hove Albion to suffer fourth straight defeat

Watford boss Marco Silva gives his view on the 1-0 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion

Watford boss rubbishes talk of any link between a downturn in results since Everton approach

Brighton vs Watford ratings: A day to forget as Hornets suffer fourth straight Premier League loss

Pascal Gross struck the winner as Brighton earned their first Premier League victory in eight games – on the day Seagulls defender Connor Goldson played his first competitive game since heart surgery.

Brighton’s first goal from open play in over 10 hours of Premier League football was enough to earn a 1-0 victory against Watford at the Amex Stadium on Saturday.

Sleigh bells were jingling and nerves were jangling but Brighton clung on to earn three precious points. Their first win in eight games means they are now in mid-table, five points clear of the drop. It is a position that could quickly change and, once again, the narrow margin of victory did not allow for a sense of comfort to spread over the home supporters. But there were more than enough positives for fans and club alike to believe things are moving in the right direction.

Our last visit to Brighton was memorable for all the right reasons. After taking the lead in the first half, the game had been a bit of a slog, before Vydra’s injury time goal sent us all away happy. It having been the lunchtime game, we retired to a lovely pub and, after spending the preceding couple of hours in the garden anxiously checking phones, we interrupted a quiet afternoon by erupting in joy as last minute goals confirmed our promotion.

A miserable day on the South coast just before Christmas meant Watford succumbed to their fourth consecutive defeat.

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16th December 2017- Premier League, Watford 1 Huddersfield Town 4

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clips of Jon Marks BBC 3CR commentary Goal: 1

Watford Observer

RELIVE – Watford humbled by Huddersfield in Vicarage Road shocker

Troy Deeney sees red Watford crash to abysmal defeat to Huddersfield Town

Watford vs Huddersfield Town: David Wagner delighted with “extraordinary” Premier League win

Marco Silva admits Watford’s Huddersfield Town humbling was worst performance under him

Watford’s Marco Silva declines to comment on Troy Deeney after another indiscretion

Watford vs Huddersfield Town ratings: Jose Holebas and Troy Deeney worst offenders in shambolic Premier League display

Huddersfield Town boss David Wagner said his side are halfway to Premier League survival after their 4-1 win at Watford.

Aaron Mooy scored twice as Huddersfield thrashed Watford 4-1 with both sides finishing with 10 men amid controversy at Vicarage Road.

For Huddersfield Town, this was proof that football has a tendency to reward the teams who never give up. They had gone 738 minutes without a goal in all competitions on the road, but they are no longer weighed down by that unfortunate statistic.

It’s not always Huddersfield, but it does tend to be Huddersfield quite a lot. The notorious end-of-season calamity under Beppe Sannino was worse than this, except that it probably mattered less. Then there was an incongruous defeat in West Yorkshire during our promotion season when Miguel Layún got rinsed on his debut and promotion felt less than a done deal. And then there was this one almost exactly seventeen years ago; the nadir of the collapse of GT’s last season afforded appropriate disdain by my co-editor who had the good sense not to come up from Hastings on this occasion. Him and a good number of others, the nominal and now traditional 20k gate including a good number present in Season Ticket but not in body.

If the first Huddersfield goal had been scrappy, the second was a horror show. The Watford defence appeared to stop playing as Holebas allowed Quaner to escape and deliver a low cross which flew across the goal to Mooy who had the easy task of tapping it home. In the Rookery, we were looking at each other in disbelief at what we had just seen.

Sorry there has been a error, why on earth would you want to relive that. Enjoy your Sunday, forget about that performance please.

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12th December 2017- Premier League, Crystal Palace 2 Watford 1

clips of Jon Marks BBC 3CR commentary Goal: 1

Watford Observer

RELIVE – Crystal Palace vs Watford: James McArthur strikes at the death as Eagles stun Hornets late on

Watford pay price for failure to score second goal as Crystal Palace claim dramatic victory

Watford boss blames failure to score more than once after shock Crystal Palace defeat

Crystal Palace vs Watford ratings: Daryl Janmaat and Richarlison on song as Hornets slump to Premier League loss

Watford boss Marco Silva looking for ruthlessness from players after Cyrstal Palace loss

Manager Roy Hodgson said Crystal Palace’s problems are far from over despite two late goals in a dramatic win over Watford moving them out of the Premier League relegation zone for the first time this season.

Crystal Palace moved off the bottom and out of the Premier League relegation zone with a sensational late rally to see off 10-man Watford 2-1 at Selhurst Park.

Now Crystal Palace have hope. How could they not when after spluttering in arrears for almost the entire match, blunted and diminished by an imposing Watford team, they still plucked an improbable win from the jaws of defeat?

The game started brilliantly for the Hornets as Richarlison crossed for Janmaat to head home to give the visitors the lead in the third minute. The Dutchman threatened the Palace goal again soon after, but his cross was too close to Speroni. Watford looked sure to score their second on 10 minutes after Carrillo found Richarlison, but the shot was headed off the line by Tomkins.

The phrase ‘a game of two halves’ could not be more appropriate for what followed. Palace began to pin Watford back straight from the restart.

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9th December 2017- Premier League, Burnley 1 Watford 0

Watford Observer

Burnley v Watford live blog: Hornets beaten after Zeegelaar first-half red card at Turf Moor

Marvin Zeegelaar sent off as Watford are beaten at Burnley

Burnley boss Sean Dyche queries offside calls in victory over former club Watford

Watford boss Marco Silva labels Marvin Zeegelaar’s red card at Burnley a ‘harsh decision’

Christian Kabasele says Watford must ‘find a solution’ to break down teams like Burnley

Burnley v Watford ratings: Christian Kabasele on form but few other plus points from Clarets defeat

Watford head coach Marco Silva said Marvin Zeegelaar’s red card was “harsh, harsh, harsh, harsh”, after Scott Arfield’s first-half goal gave Burnley victory over the Hornets.

Burnley 1-0 Watford: Scott Arfield scores after Marvin Zeegelaar red

If revenge is a dish best served cold, a snowy Turf Moor was an ideal location. Sean Dyche began a managerial career of underappreciated overachievement in charge of Watford against Burnley

As I walked towards the ground, I was amazed to see someone setting up a stall selling Burnley/Watford half-and-half scarves. Who on earth did he think would buy one?

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