VectisSaint

Who said anything about the 2nd half? We went 2 up after 20 minutes which is when Watford started playing and exposing us down the flanks. We actually had 2 on target 2nd half, 4 off.

Really not sure why improving our goal difference needs to be a target. Unlikely we are going to get better than Leeds or Leicester, the two teams we can actually do something about (because we have to play them). Winning 1-0 is just as good as winning 4-0. Seems to me that it was because we continued to look for goals after we went 2 up Saturday gave Watford the opportunity (once their defenders woke up) to get at us and get the panic stations going when they attacked. We should to.some extent have shut up shop and consolidated rather than go for goals.

Made one glaring mistake, but made amends immediately which launched an attack (may have been the Fraser one but not sure). Not his greatest fan but he did actually make a difference when he came on and of course his corner did lead to the goal. Surprised Stephens stayed on when Bednarek came on, Doddsy called it on the commentary, Stephens had been struggling with what looked like cramp just before the substitution, maybe they thought he would be less damaging in MF rather than CB.

Not when the ball was kicked, he had come back from an offside position (or at least slowed his run so that the defenders went passed him) and looked from the replays that he had got it right, but it was close.

Predictable shoehorn twaddle from the usual suspects, ignoring the bigger issues of leaving out Stuey and playing Brookes.

Thought Larios was closer than that

Maybe top, but we were 2nd back in January

Given the ref gave a free kick for it you would expect that to be the case. But we will never know.

Never did Georgie Best (or Frank Worthington) any harm 😉 To be frank I don't think the 'length' of Mara's hair is the problem, hence the references to Valderama.

To be fair if he was 'watching' on Sky, he may well have missed it, I did plus about 20 minutes more. What I couldn't fathom was that through their break the score and time were updating. Then when the visuals came back the sound went (which was a mixed blessing given the commentator kept mixing up Aribo and KWP (How?) and liked playing the game of 'name the last player to have the ball instead of the current player' (which is actually quite difficult to do). Perhaps they watch the game on a delayed feed. Never any apology or mention of the technical difficulties, Sky made themselves look rank amateurs last night. KWP spent a lot of time in midfield last night (at least the bits I saw), playing the role Manning played earlier in the season and Stephens has done quite effectively too, KWP was certainly not playing the standard LB role (and once or twice briefly swapped sides with Bree).

Beds wasn't concussed but he was in serious strife v Ipswich, possibly hangover from that (yes I know he played at Blackburn). Anyway Stephens and Bednarek are pretty much interchangeable. Only real issues tonight are no Stuey and Brooks on right presumably meaning AA on left

We had no right to expect anything better than a distant 3rd, based on where we were at the start of the season. Leeds and Leicester were much better than us in the PL (9 and 6 points better respectively). At the moment they have widened that gap a little, but not a huge amount. The problem for us is that Ipswich "came from nowhere" and have proved that it is no fluke, they built a good Championship side last season in League One. Yet we still have the chance to beat them (in the play-offs) assuming they finish 3rd. But we will only win the play-offs if we rediscover some form in the last 7 games, unlike today's dismal display.

So that's a no to Manning then.

What a dreadful performance. Russball was not the problem today, just a complete lack of effort or ambition or energy from several of our players. Looked like they had given up before we started. Brooks in particular was absolute shite, which is unusual, KWP wasn't great (again), THB was off the boil. Rothwell was a waste of space, Aribo looked asleep. Downes was doing so much work, but a lot of it wasn't coming off with passes getting cut out. Our passing was sloppy, lethargic. We badly missed Stuey today with his driving runs. There was still so much to play for, especially with results going out way, we should be going all out to get as.many points as possible to build confidence for the playoffs, and even to ensure 4th place (because it is not ensured at the moment, though WBA dropping 2 points has helped). Only the second game this season we haven't scored, still we kept a clean sheet so at least we won't get the 'we concede too many' trope trotted out here (although I wouldn't be surprised to see it trotted out anyway). What a waste of an afternoon enduring that.

I know, I got that wrong, realised when I watched the highlights, but didn't have any posts to correct it. I don't think I really need to explain about their first, if you don't understand then that's your problem not mine.