Category Archives: January

28th January 2023- Championship, Middlesbrough 2 Watford 0

Attendance: 25,469

BBC Sport: Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough side leapfrogged Watford and moved up to third in the Championship table by winning the meeting of two play-off hopefuls.

Sky Sports: First-half goals from Chuba Akpom and Marcus Forss enabled Boro to bounce back in impressive fashion following last weekend’s North East derby defeat by Sunderland.

Fran’s Watford Blog: The travelling fans who were still in the stand at the end of the game offered sympathetic support to the players when they came over to applaud us, but that didn’t mask the fact that it had been a poor performance.  There had been a promising spell midway through the first half and a very good start to the second, but Middlesbrough were on top for most of the game, were incredibly dangerous when they attacked and, once they scored the second goal, the Hornets never looked like getting back in the game.

21st January 2023- Championship, Watford 1 Rotherham United 1

WFC.Net Goal Commentary: 1

Attendance: 18,911

BBC Sport: Watford were left to rue a host of missed chances as they were held to a draw by Rotherham. Mario Gaspar hit the outside of the post early on for the hosts, before Shane Ferguson gave the Millers the lead as he blasted in from close range. Vakoun Bayo grazed the Rotherham bar soon after, while Matheus Martins also struck the upright for the promotion-chasing Hornets shortly after the restart.

Sky Sports: Joao Ferreira rescued a point for Watford in a 1-1 draw with Rotherham but the result did little to help their automatic promotion chances. In addition to Ferreira’s superb equaliser from 20 yards, which cancelled out Shane Ferguson’s first-half opener, Watford clipped the visitors’ woodwork on two occasions on what proved to be a frustrating afternoon for the Vicarage Road crowd.

BHappy: Rotherham aren’t dirty or particularly defensive, but they are strong and organised and, frankly, bigger than us.  With new, young signings and promising youngsters and that we are relatively lightweight…  Choudhury, stamping all over the midfield once again, and Sierralta stand out for their ability to give some back but Koné, whilst he has a good touch and the nous to spot and execute a long range pass isn’t nearly robust enough.  We get bullied once again, as we have far too often this season;  there’s a lack of physical presence up front in particular, where we simply don’t have a target for a direct ball and aren’t clever enough in trying to play through, but also in midfield despite Hamza’s best efforts.

Fran’s Watford Blog: At half time, Richard Johnson was talking about the week that the Academy players have had with the appearances in the FA Cup, the Youth Cup win against Everton and the league appearances including Adeyemo’s tremendous goal against Blackpool.  One thing that he didn’t mention was an event that the under 15s attended on Monday at which Eve Kugler, a child Holocaust survivor, spoke of her experiences during the rise of Nazi Germany.  I was lucky enough to be invited to join them.  Eve kindly spent her 92nd birthday talking to the group.  Her story was both chilling and very moving.  It is wonderful that the club educate the youngsters in this history and encourage them to learn about different communities.

14th January 2023- Championship, Watford 2 Blackpool 0

WFC.Net Goal Commentary: 1  2

Attendance: 19,679

Official site: Watford fans inside The Vic marked the GT Matchday by paying tribute to the club’s greatest ever manager before kick-off, raising their scarves aloft as the teams walked out onto the pitch, while all in attendance honoured the late Gianluca Vialli with a minute’s applause.

BBC Sport: Teenage substitute Tobi Adeyemo helped send Watford up to third in the Championship with his first senior goal in a win against strugglers Blackpool.

Sky Sports: The striker, 17, looked as stunned as he was elated to have found the net in the 72nd minute – just four minutes after replacing Vakoun Bayo for his first taste of league action. 

BHappy: His celebration is magnificent, and mirrors the response in the stands – pure joy to start with, he has the armspan of an albatross.  Then giddy disbelief as he clutches his fingers to his scalp before being mobbed, youth team colleague Jack Grieves first on the scene from his touchline warm-up.  The youngster’s popularity is evident from the reaction of his teammates, who make a bee-line for the mob in the corner.

Fran’s Watford Blog: As if a goal from a 17 year-old making his league debut wasn’t pleasing enough, he scored it in the 72nd minute on the GT matchday.  I am sure that the great man was celebrating with the rest of us. 

7th January 2023- FA Cup Third Round, Reading 2 Watford 0

No programme was produced for the game.
Attendance: 7,954

BBC Sport: Goals from Kelvin Abrefa and Shane Long were enough to beat a below-par Watford side and earn Reading a place in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Fran’s Watford Blog: Before kick-off there was a minute’s applause in memory of Gianluca Vialli, whose tragically early death was announced this week.  The players also wore black armbands as a mark of respect for a man that was admired and loved throughout English (and Italian) football.

2nd January 2023- Championship, Norwich City 0 Watford 1

WFC.Net goal commentary: 1

Attendance: 26,587

BBC Sport: Vakoun Bayo’s late breakaway goal earned victory for Watford and left managerless Norwich City pondering a dismal home run which has now seen them win just once in nine Championship matches at Carrow Road.

Sky Sports: A careless loss of possession in midfield proved fatal for the hosts as Sarr broke clear on the left before squaring for the unmarked Bayo to sidefoot home from inside the six-yard box.

BHappy: This is far from a perfect performance.  But by god it’s inspiring stuff, as if we’ve saved up three games’ worth of bloody-mindedness and spent all our chips on a big blow out in Norfolk.  The game itself is wide open, frantic and breathless;  as such it suits down to the ground certain players who might have been exposed in a tighter encounter where one mistake might make the difference.

Fran’s Watford blog: The home side had a great chance to equalise with a shot from Nuñez that was deflected just wide.  Then, from a corner, Pukki had a shot that was just wide of the target.  Having scored so late, we didn’t think that we would have too long to hang on until the fourth official indicated that there was 9 minutes of added time.  Norwich had a great chance to salvage a point when Sara won a free-kick in a dangerous position.  He took it himself and his effort was close, bouncing off the far post.  The final whistle went to much merriment in the away end.  After the last couple of games, it was so lovely seeing the players celebrating with beaming smiles and shirts being thrown into the crowd.

25th January 2022- Roy Hodgson is appointed Manager

Official site: The ex-England national team boss is joined by his trusted assistant Ray Lewington, who managed the Hornets so admirably from 2002 until 2005.

BBC Sport: The club have not announced the length of Hodgson’s contract.

Sky Sports: All parties will assess Hodgson’s future at Watford at the end of the current campaign.

The wonderful football cartoonist David Squires featured Roy’s return in his weekly Guardian strip.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2022/feb/01/david-squires-on-sexy-beast-roy-hodgson-reboot-watford-job

24th January 2022- Claudio Ranieri sacked

Official site club statement

Sky Sports: Ranieri has failed to turn around the team’s fortunes since being appointed in October, with the Hornets dropping into the Premier League relegation zone for the first time this season after Friday’s 3-0 home defeat to fellow strugglers Norwich.

Watford Observer: The embarrassing loss was the final straw for club chiefs, who had become increasingly concerned about the Italian’s record, which ends with just two wins and a draw from 14 games in all competitions.

21st January 2022- Premier League, Watford 0 Norwich City 3

Watford Observer: Moussa Sissoko has issued a rallying cry to Watford supporters ahead of this evening’s game against Norwich City.

Attendance: 20,782

BBC Sport: Josh Sargent’s first Premier League goals capped a “crazy couple of weeks” as the new father helped Norwich City to a crucial victory over 10-man Watford which moved them out of the relegation zone for the first time this season.

Sky Sports: Watford manager Claudio Ranieri was in need of a spark, but there would be an 11-minute stoppage due to floodlight failure to further frustrate the hosts’ attempts to respond. After the lengthy stoppage, it was Norwich who doubled their lead as Sargent rose above Hassane Kamara to give the Canaries daylight (74).

BHappy: There was an edginess about the atmosphere at Vicarage Road, not abetted by the fact that plenty will have planned to arrive in plenty of time for a 7.45 kick off and instead arrived very early for 8 (and the magnificent GT scarf display which Norwich, oddly given the cold, were the first visitors on such an occasion not to really join in with).  But expectation too (yes, extraordinary).  We’re not very good at that really, traditionally, winning when we’re expected to but we’ve done well enough against the Canaries in recent years and reports from Norfolk suggested that the eye-catching win over Everton wasn’t borne of some great about-turn in form on Norwich’s part.  They were still pretty awful.  Nonetheless, as the flares warmed our cheeks and the fireworks went off and the yellow smoke dissipated (all of which adornment feels rather desperate in hindsight, though it would of course been a glorious opener to a fine evening if we had won) we were all hoping for an early goal to settle the nerves.

Fran’s Watford Blog: So, half-way through the season and we have dropped into the relegation zone for the first time. We have been on a downward trajectory for some time, despite some decent performances against the better teams, which makes it very hard to see us recovering from this.  The frustrating thing is that we have the talent in the team, but there didn’t appear to be enough fight today.  It has to be said that each of the Norwich goals came from individual mistakes and there was a horrible irony in the fact that Norwich only had two shots on target but scored three goals.  To survive at this level, we have to cut out the mistakes and start getting results against the poorer teams in the division.  We seem to be incapable of doing that.

15th January 2022- Premier League, Newcastle United 1 Watford 1

Attendance: 52,223

BBC Sport: Watford earned a vital late point in their Premier League survival bid as Joao Pedro’s headed equaliser kept them clear of the bottom three and denied hosts Newcastle a much-needed win.

Sky Sports: The 20-year-old popped up in the 88th minute to nod home from a fine Kiko Femenia cross to cancel out Allan Saint-Maximin’s early second-half strike – the Magpies have now dropped 21 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season.

BHappy: Perhaps reflecting that we look like a side that hasn’t won in a long time.  On top of the unfamiliarity of three new senior players there’s a tentativeness borne of thinking about things rather too much.  This was evident in much of our attacking play, even in a vastly improved second half (accommodated, it must be conceded, by Newcastle’s own caution in sitting back at one goal up).  So many of those counters were just a little bit of cockiness away from bearing fruit, King and Sissoko in particular overthinking what should have been straightforward finishes.

Fran’s Watford Blog: Just when the Hornets looked to have run out of time, they grabbed an equaliser.  Femenía played a one-two with Hernandez before putting in a lovely cross, João Pedro rose to meet it and beat Dúbravka to send the travelling Hornets wild.  At that altitude, we really should have conserved our energy, but it was a goal to gladden our hearts and well worth the energetic celebration.  There was four minutes of added time and there looked to be only one winner but, despite the action mostly being in the Newcastle half, the nearest the Hornets came to a winner was from a corner that went straight to Dúbravka.

8th January 2022- FA Cup Third Round, Leicester City 4 Watford 1

WFC.net Jon Marks goal commentary: 1

Attendance: 25,710

BBC Sport: FA Cup holders Leicester City made an impressive start to their defence of the trophy as the much-changed Foxes swept aside fellow shadow side Watford.

Sky Sports: The lights went out for a short period early in the second half as the Foxes led 3-1, and Pedro hit the bar soon after the restart, but the hosts finished the stronger.

BHappy: On the pitch, Daniel Bachmann – whose good days aren’t nearly reliably frequent enough – pulled out a couple of smart saves but the second of those saw a kind rebound fall to Albrighton to complete the scoring.  At the other end, Cucho spent the last fifteen minutes scampering around after scraps.  His persistence saw him through on goal in the dying minutes, a lack of confidence borne of however many defeats on the hop now meant that he didn’t apply a finish that would have been automatic and instinctive in happier times.  The contrast with Leicester’s kids, who were visibly growing in confidence in the light of their experience, couldn’t have been starker.

Fran’s Watford Blog: Of the lads making their debuts, it was hard to rate Forde and Conteh as they came on so late, but I thought that James Morris acquitted himself well.  I hope that he gets more first team opportunities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021%E2%80%9322_FA_Cup