Model Behaviour

Watford 5 (FIVE) - Charlton Athletic 0.

Our club used to be considered a 'model', a decent blueprint for other aspiring clubs to follow.

We are still a 'model', it's just I can't imagine there'll be any other clubs looking at this particular way of doing things and wanting to follow the lead.

Yesterday, not one person I spoke to pre game thought we would be benefiting from the supposed New Manager Bounce.

If anything, the events of the last week had made the obvious cracks in the Charlton set up develop into great yawning chasms.

The away support stayed with the team- but didn't stay with each other.

I had to delay a (really quite necessary) trip to the toilets due to a bout of pushing, shoving, raised voices and the inevitable piling in of friends to support their mates, blocking my way to the sweet relief I was needing.

Watford will never have an easier game. 

I'm sure they have to put more effort in when doing their warm down sessions at the end of training.

It's lucky for us we were playing a team who were quite ordinary on the day. 

That's it. 

They were nothing special, yet still managed to give us the biggest hiding I can recall since a rather ineffective  and non festive Boxing Day trip to West Ham back in the Premiership.

We were that bad.

Imagine if we'd been playing a team who were really on fire? 

It could have been time to start rewriting the record books.

Etheridge, the latest in our revolving door of goalkeepers had a good game. Yet we still lost FIVE - nil.

On another day, if our keeper hadn't made some decent stops, it could very easily have been nine or ten- or more.

The only goal he was at fault for was the final free kick. 

From our position behind and to the left of the goal, we called exactly where the shot was heading and where the gap was. It was a well taken strike but the door was well and truly left open.

The game was up well before then though. 

With only 20 minutes on the clock it was clear to see there was only one team in it.

The Charlton crowd split into factions. There was a very large and vocal amount of people chanting for Roland and his smoking pants to leave us alone.

Then there were those people who seem to think they have an inside knowledge, announcing that if it wasn't for him we'd be in administration.

Yeah? And?

The fact that he 'saved' us from the situation with the spivs does not mean we have to agree with everything he ever does, from now until he grows tired of his experiment. 

History has shown that just because you've been on the receiving end of a 'helpful' gesture, it doesn't mean you are indebted forever.

Charles De Gaulle, way before he had been relegated to being known as an airport to the North of Paris, was looked after by the British in London throughout the Second World War.

 It's probably not an exaggeration to say the British saved his life. 

Instead of having a feeling of "merci" towards our country for the rest of his life, he actually turned into one of our greatest thorns, not least when he was the massive party pooper, blocking our entry to the 'Common Market' as it was then.

We don't owe Roland anything. 

Each decision should be taken on it's own merits and when we can see he's not acting in the best interest of our club, or telling porkie pies, he should be told and reminded we were here way, way before he was- and we'll still be here, long after he's just a footnote in a paragraph to be read by future Addicks with a shudder.

I still believe in our club but I don't believe in the arrangement of 'football incest' Roland has set up.

Maybe Guy Luzon is an amazing coach and motivator? I've no idea. 

I do know his English is crap, (as seen on the rather appalling press conference), he has the personality of a damp towel, he knows nothing of our club or the Championship and he's not allowed to work here due to work permit issues.

- Yet Roland says he's "the best man for the job".

Imagine how devastated the fictional 20 other applicants must be feeling to be thought of as a worse prospect than Luzon?

So.

Any positives? 

The new 'Reg Dwight' stand at Watford looks quite tidy.

Johnnie Jackson made the effort to come towards the away section at the end- but even he couldn't bring himself to come nearer than the edge of the penalty area- to applaud the fans who without fail had kept with the team.

Tony Watt made it to the front row and gave away his shirt.

We can get on our high horses and snigger about Watford supporters doing a 'Mexican Wave' but it's grasping at straws.

We were rubbish, Watford won at a canter and we were lucky they didn't go for the jugular.

It's time for us to lick our wounds.

Golden Boys Humbled

Charlton Athletic 1 - Watford 0

I'm not trying to say there's anything remotely advantageous about having your club nickname as a nondescript creature of the sea that's famous for being 'battered', - (a haddock is highly unlikely to strike fear in anybody other than those with a seafood aversion) - but surely the 'Golden Boys' must be the campest name in the division?

The Golden Boys take the train to Charlton.

Pre game, those Watford supporters who spend time on social media had been ridiculously upbeat and confident. Apparently, the simple fact they were selling out the 3000 seats in the Jimmy Seed stand with it's excellent acoustics meant that Charlton wouldn't know what hit us.

As we know to our cost, time and time again we have saved up some of our worst and most dispiriting performances for when we have taken the largest away followings.  

Watford should have taken note.

The game started with a bang. 

Jordan Cousins caught the Watford midfield napping and slipped the ball through to Igor who nipped into the penalty area to be brought crashing to the turf by a desperate Gomes dive.

The penalty was not in dispute. Gomes received a card though many neutrals would have expected it to be red as Vetokele was denied a clear goal scoring opportunity.

Three minutes on the clock and Charlton were 1-0 up after Buyens cooly placed the penalty to the other side of Gomes despairing dive.

Watford came back almost instantly with the ridiculously easy to dislike Troy Deeney scraping the post within moments.

Watford stepped it up a gear. While never really looking like they were going to get the better of a well organised and solid defence, they made some good chances.

Much like Brighton did in our last outing they also gave a master class in duff finishing.

On ten minutes, three sides of the ground made a moving tribute to ex player and fans favourite David Whyte (Whyte, Whyte), who died at just age 43 earlier in the week. 

To their credit, a high proportion of the Watford support joined in. 

Well done to them.

Around half an hour into the game, Deeney showed Tal Ben Haim a clean pair of heels and drove into the penalty area. It looked dangerous but he waited until his control of the ball was beginning to fail before falling to the turf. On another day he'd have won himself a penalty but the referee wasn't convinced by the rather hopeful tumble.

Despite the numerous changes in management up in Hertfordshire, there is still a rather cynical and nasty side to the way Watford play. The diving, blocking runners off the ball, holding etc etc are still there when with the squad they have, they could tear up the division playing the beautiful game. 

Watford decided they were going to play ugly -an obvious tactic was to foul the 'danger man' Igor Vetokele whenever they got the chance.

The games between our two teams in recent years have often ended up with the Watford players losing their cool. It looked for a while as if it would be a certain bet that there'd be a bit of a ruck and someone would get their marching orders.

The fact that nobody did was amazing. 

A Watford player received a yellow for swinging his elbow with force and guided direction to connect with a face. How is that not a red?

It seemed very odd that Cousins received the same punishment for telling the hapless referee he'd made an horlicks of awarding a goal kick when everybody else in the ground (and watching on television) could see it was a corner.

As much as Watford huffed and puffed, they never really got going. They bossed the possession and had countless assaults on goal but the Charlton defence stood solid. 

Whenever there was a chink in the defence, Henderson was there to block the path to goal.

Henderson and Bikey were my MoM contenders. 

Both were immense.  I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of a Bikey challenge and some of the Watford players did seem rather 'anxious' to lay the ball off when he came close.

His clearing headers had power and distance.

In added on time, Charlton should have put the game to bed but some terrible player decisions and aversion to shooting only lead to losing possession and Watford haring up the other end to try yet again to break down the defensive wall.

After an eternity of added on time, the referee finally blew his whistle, we let out a deep sigh and The Valley rose as one.

The Watford support had long since stopped believing- forgetting to support their team and resorting to "Your ground's too big for you!" chanting.

Irony piled upon irony. 

This was coming from Watford, a place notorious as being one of the worst venues to watch football in the league. A ground with only three sides and the highlight being you get a decent view of the allotments.

Never mind eh?

Personally, I was extremely happy to get a result as my birthday had been the day before the game.

It may be a trick of my mind (and in all honesty I can't be bothered to look it up) but it did seem that we always got a bit of a tonking when football played a part in my birthday weekend.

I'd like to thank the Golden Boys for adding the cherry on top of my birthday cake.

Point Gained

Watford 1 - Charlton Athletic 1

Celebratory smoke bomb after Yann's goal

There is nobody you dislike more than somebody who you used to really admire, only for them to let you down.

Many people who normally seem quite placid and carefree suddenly turn into the most vitriolic wounded animals, filled with hate when the subject of their previous partner crops up, especially if they feel 'wronged' by their ex beau.

In this respect, I have a massive problem with Watford and Gianfranco Zola.

I really dislike Chelsea. 
When I say really, I mean *really*. 

I'm not sure where this irrational hatred comes from.
 I just cannot remember a time when it wasn't there. 
Perhaps it comes from my grandparents who were season ticket holders at Leeds United through the late 60's and early 70's, during a period when Leeds and Chelsea were constantly at each others throats? 

Whatever the history, Chelsea and me just don't get on.

For a few seasons though, I not only suspended my dislike, I actually enjoyed seeing Chelsea and found myself purring with delight at some of their play.

The reason?

Gianfranco Zola.
I adored him. Truly one of the greatest players ever to play in our country. 

Watford?
I've been let down by them too.

Not so long ago, Watford were a club I know I'd have supported if I'd grown up in Hertfordshire. 
They had a pretty good academy and brought through some exciting local youngsters who made it to the first team. 
I remember Graham Taylor insisting that all his players lived within a few miles of Vicarage Road and were involved in grassroots projects to benefit the local community.
I was impressed. 

Today, Watford are everything I despise about modern football. 
Foreign owned with very little 'local' influence and a method of play that while looking attractive to home support, has cheating so far ingrained it makes me really dislike what football has become.

Gianfranco Zola has managed to harness all the aspects of the Italian game I find most repellent and transfer them to Hertfordshire. 
The diving, the waving of imaginary cards when 'winning' free kicks, the kicking out off the ball, the gamesmanship etc etc. just leave me shaking my head and wishing for those older, less 'win at all cost' days.

The fact that at the end of the game, many Watford fans booed the ref because in general, he hadn't fallen for the diving and rolling speaks volumes for how normalised the cheating has become at Watford.

The day started with a bang, meeting Hungry Ted at Euston before popping up to Spoons on Watford High Street.

The RoD on tour were already there, tucking into liquid lunches with gusto. We also met up with Rob from The Wrong Side Of The Thames who was excellent company, not least because of his clear love of a beer.

As ever, I was convinced we were going to be on the receiving end of a pasting, and announced I'd consider a draw a decent result.

Last season, Watford were a bit of a surprise with their (Udinese B) squad playing possession heavy football, then utilising swift attacking breaks, usually leading to Forestieri running onto a ball and doing a Tom Daly to win a free kick in a dangerous position. 

This season, we all know what to expect.

Something must have gone wrong though as at half time, not only had Charlton kept the score at 0-0 but were trouncing Watford in the possession stats. The BBC had Charlton keeping the ball over 70% of the time!

Watford looked dangerous but their final ball was woeful. 

The two talking points of the first half both happened up at the other end so they may as well have been on the moon. 
Some ants wearing red and yellow shirts seemed to clash while waiting for a corner, the home support erupted and the referee got involved.

Watford wanted the referee to believe Church had thrown a punch. He may well have done, I couldn't see, but the referee obviously didn't believe it so Church was left to carry on with just a yellow card to his name.

The other incident had Charlton poking the ball home, only for a flag to be raised.

Vicarage Road was more or less full. I couldn't see many gaps, other than the third side of the ground that has been a building site for the last few years.

Despite the home support having turned up in numbers, they really, really didn't get behind their team.

I'm not pretending the Charlton home support is anything wonderful as I know we can be somewhat timid at times but compared to Watford's yesterday, we are like a seething mass of Galatasary supporters!

Perhaps there's a hangover from last season?
If their bunch of foreign mercenaries had got their act together at Wembley to beat a clearly inferior Palace side, they'd have been at Old Trafford yesterday, instead of at home to Charlton.

The second half couldn't have started better from a Charlton perspective. 
 Wilson was brought down by a rather needless sliding challenge. A clearer penalty you couldn't wish to witness yet the Watford players all waved their hands as if Wilson had dived and the referee had been conned.

hmmm.

Yann stepped up, and calmly blasted the penalty into the roof of the net.
 It was the turn of the away end to erupt. 

The rest of the half was Watford trying to equalise, with one eye on trying to fool the officials (natch).

Watford got the goal they deserved when Hamer couldn't hold onto a long shot and the ball fell kindly for Pudil to poke home into the unguarded net.

Watford had a few chances to score a winner but the defence held firm. When they didn't Watford gave a masterclass in wasting good opportunities by blasting over the bar or choosing the wrong pass.

Johnnie Jackson could have won it for Charlton when a ball evaded everyone, coming in from the left, and he ghosted in at the far post.
Just the kind of chance he'd have gobbled up 9 times out of 10 but this time he sliced wildly.

The game ended with Watford feeling disappointed but Charlton considering it a a worthwhile point.

We all met up back in Spoons, to hear next weeks opponents Millwall had been turned over 5-1, at home.

giggle.

Hungry Ted, Rob and myself headed back to Euston to pop into one of our friend Al's favourite pubs, the Mable.

We bumped into some Millwall fans and I couldn't resist asking if they'd had a good afternoon.

Eventually, traditional kebab in hand, i sauntered home in time to fall asleep with the soporific MOTD pundits.

A top day out.

Yeeeeeeessssss!!!

Watford 3 - Charlton Athletic 4

I'm often reminded just how little I know.

On New Years Eve, a brief chat with a Charlton supporting neighbour had me pontificating sage like, (on the back of a defeat to Ipswich and a draw against Derby).

"I don't know why I'm bothering to go to Watford.
We are going to get over run in midfield and I really can't see where our goals are going to come from".

Hmm.

We didn't just score, we scored 5, (though one was chalked off for an invisible infringement from our end of the ground).

As has been highlighted elsewhere, Watford have changed from being a team famous for a rather agricultural approach in the way they hoofed the ball forward and clattered opponents with their elbows and shoulders.
Their current mode of playing the game is certainly slightly more easy on the eye but totally despicable and absolutely everything I despise about the modern game.

Watford are lucky to have some fantastically skilled and pacey players on loan to them.
These players should have had me purring with admiration while also feeling a touch jealous that we hadn't managed a similar link up with Italian club Udinese and others.

As it was, I felt proud to be following a team who while being no angels, certainly don't use trying to cheat as a way of beating their opponents.

Forestieri got sent off for 'slipping' (HAHAHAHAHA) in the penalty box at The Valley.
He has learned nothing in the intervening months.

If he tried to stay on his feet he'd be a world beater.
Unfortunately, his way of playing was to push the ball into space, run onto it and hope he got 'touched' so that as those idiots on MOTD would say, he'd be 'entitled' to go down.

No he wouldn't.

It's cheating and completely anti football.

If it had just been Forestieri who wanted to stretch the rules, it might have been almost acceptable but unfortunately there were incidents all over the pitch.

I lost count of how many times players in yellow fell to the floor, holding their face after challenges were made.

I loved Zola as a player.
I've always really disliked Chelsea but I was able to see through the veil of distrust to admire his honest skill and endeavour.

This makes it all the more distasteful to witness Watford's current tactics.
He's obviously coaching the team to cheat.

Shame.

Sometimes events were so amateurish in their execution, I almost forgot to be angry.

Step forward number 5, (Neuron?) who walked into the back of Fuller, then threw himself to the floor, attempting to get him sent off.

The same cheating basket was touched so minimally around chest height, yet fell to the floor as if he had been shot, holding his face.

His mum must be so proud.

The game itself was one where we went behind according to the script I'd predicted, then equalised, then went ahead, then lost it a bit and went behind before finally Captain Jackson sent the Addicks behind the goal into raptures with a powerful header.

Due to the dubious tactics employed by Watford, it felt so sweet to give them a beating.

I loved the fact that the two attitudes on display had ended up with, in my opinion, the 'right' one prevailing.

In general, our players looked to stay on their feet.
Fuller could have gone down 3 times in one move but didn't, then laid on the perfect cross for a goal.

Pritchard was being clattered but he didn't lie down and cry.

It was ironic that after all the Nancyboy rolling around on the floor claiming elbows and palms in the face from the Italian softies, it was our own Lawrie Wilson who had to go off with a broken nose!

It took rather a long time to get home from Watford.
Transport was working fine, it was just that we all felt it necessary to ease our dry throats in Watford town centre and later Euston.

Thanks for a grand day out Crispy, Jim, Rod & Al.
Thanks too to the Charlton team.
A day to remember.

One final note of thanks must go to the referee, Trevor Kettle.
We've not had the best of relationships but yesterday, though he did fall for a few episodes straight from the RADA handbook, he was generally no worse than any other referee we've had and much better than most.

I really didn't expect to be saying that!

Happy New Year to all Addicks and others.

Gutted

Charlton Athletic 1 - Watford 2

Just home.

Walked past all the gloating 'fake London' Watford fans with their cheery faces and bright eyes.

In all honesty, tonight would have been the very best type of away victory for them.

Winning away, with just 10 men, is the kind of game you remember at the end of the season as one of your highlights.

The fact that Watford were battered for the majority of the game wouldn't matter one jot.

The scoreline is everything in these situations.

Charlton started strongly and it came as quite a shock to go 1- 0 down.

A rather unnecessary corner was given away and while Charlton supporters were moaning about the kick being taken from outside the arc, it was whipped in and a combination of wayward marking and flukey rebounds ended up with the ball in Ben Hamer's net.

Hoban was credited with the final touch.

Travesty!

Charlton came back and carried on as before, sending mostly one way traffic towards the Watford goal.

The expected equaliser finally came when Fuller ran onto a slide rule pass and tucked the ball away.
He never really looked like missing.

Just before Half Time there was the critical moment in the game.

Forestieri made the most appalling attempt at winning a penalty.
 His dive was so blatant it gave referee Mike Dean no choice but to issue a yellow card.
I'd forgotten he'd already received one for not retreating 10 yards at a free kick so it was an early bath for him.

This gave the Watford supporters a feeling of persecution.
They couldn't see how justified the decision was from their end and booed the officials.

In the second half, it was one way traffic again.
Watford barely got a sniff of a chance.

Referee Dean probably felt his dismissal of the Watford Tom Daley was enough for Charlton and gave us absolutely nothing throughout the second half.

The winning goal, when it came, was an absolute peach.

Watford were never going to score from open play.
Luckily for them they didn't need to.

Leon Cort gave away a foul and one of those 'wonder goal' free kicks was curled around the wall, leaving Hamer stranded.

Oddly, a few moments later, exactly the same kind of challenge occurred up at the other end, inside the penalty area this time, yet Mike Dean just waved play on.
The Charlton players were incensed.

We hear plenty about consistency with decisions.
This was yet another time when things just didn't fall for us this season.

Every single attack Charlton made, (and there were many), was blocked in the Italian fashion by holding down the forward and pushing the runner.
Very skilful when done well, which often it was -but there were also many times when it was just an assault.

BWP was put through on goal and he had 3 defenders tugging and pulling at him.
He did really well to stay on his feet but being pulled back so sharply meant his eventual shot went high and wide.
It looked the most obvious free kick in the world.

Yet it wasn't given.

 I was hugging my knees with the score at 1-1 due to the missed chances.
Surely we couldn't be so far and away the better side yet have to settle for a draw?

As it turned out, it was worse than that.

Fair play to Watford.
They had so few forays on goal, yet scored 2.

Charlton played well for most of the game but just needed that tiny little bit of luck to get what was deserved.

We can all criticise the referee but despite his odd decisions, especially in the last 20 minutes, it was down to our players to get the ball into the net.

Which they failed to do.

Sometimes football is a real sickener isn't it?