An omen fulfilled
Report by Fred Riley
What can you say about the McAlpine stadium? Nice-looking, good facilities,
nice meat pies, but damn-all atmosphere. An intimidating arena it's not,
and the curiously silent Huddersfield fans didn't help.
The teams came out on to the pitch to a deafening rendition of the theme
tune from "The Omen" (I kid you not) which quite successfully drowned out
any crowd noise there might have been. We started with what appeared to be
a fairly balanced though defensive line-up, with Gibbs, Kennedy, Palmer,
Millen, and Yates in defence, Smart, Micah, and Johnno in midfield, and
Ngonge and Smart leading the forward line.
So, 5-3-2, or at least that's how it appeared to me, leaving us light in
midfield against some pretty hard grafters in the Huddersfield side. Still,
we started off fairly brightly and controlled the game for the first fifteen
minutes or so without achieving any penetration. Huddersfield, though, had two
good chances, both falling to the ex-Hornet Wayne Allison, a tall, chunky
donkey of a centre-forward. In the first he got through one-on-one with
Alec around the penalty spot, and only some tenacious (and very careful)
tackling by one of our defenders (can't remember who) managed to clear the
danger. For the second he completely outjumped the defence and had a clear
header which looped over the bar but which really should have been on
target. Alec also had to make a routine but smart save from a sharp shot
from another of their forwards from his right.
The omens were not good - even though we'd had most of the play they'd had
three chances, and every time they came forward they looked dangerous. The
breakthrough came from a routine defensive situation on the right side of
the penalty area, just outside the six-yard box. Their attacker was backing
into Millen, but there appeared to be no danger when suddenly he managed to
turn Millen, gain a half-yard of space, and plant a simple shot just inside
the post. Millen clasped his head in his hands, and rightly so - he knew
he'd f***ed up in a standard situation and effectively given a goal away.
It was all downhill from there. We had a brief flurry of activity as we
sought to get back on terms, but Huddersfield asserted an iron grip on
midfield allowing them to mount more attacks, usually down the wings. A
number of times their wingers got to the byline, only to fluff the cross,
much to our relief. For our part, we had little in the way of attacking
ideas. The few corners we had went to the far post for Kennedy to head back
into goal, and all failed miserably. Whenever we went forward, instead of
piling down to the byline and putting in fast, hard crosses, our
midfielders would get to the corner of the area and send in routine high
balls which the chunky Huddersfield defenders routinely cleared.
After all the Huddersfield domination, the second goal had a sickening
inevitability. They gained a free kick about ten yards outside the right
corner of our area, floated it over to the left hand side, and there was
Allison rising easily above our defence to plant a firm header in the net,
with Alec having no chance. A simple, well-taken goal, but one which should
never have happened as we had three defenders who were at least as tall as
Allison, and it was nothing more than a standard free-kick routine. Bad
defending, pure and simple. The Huddersfield fans finally found their
voice, and their chants of "Easy! Easy!" were no more than a reflection of
the horrible truth.
We did have one chance in the first half. I think it was Smart who ran down
the right to the byline and put in a wicked low hard cross which Wright
connected with and which was very well saved by their goalie. A few minutes
later the half-time whistle went, much to my relief.
As for the second half, there's not much that can be said. We had a brief
but fruitless flurry of activity in the first few minutes, then the game
settled down into a 'holding pattern' for Huddersfield. They were happy to
dominate the midfield and push up in defence and wait for any opportunity
that might come their way. They took no risks, and frankly didn't need to,
as our midfield and attack never threatened the defence's composure.
Of course, it was highly frustrating for the couple of hundred travelling
'Orns as our (naive?) attackers were continually being caught offside by a
well-marshalled defence pushing up, and in the end we were reduced to
ironically cheering every offside decision and bellowing "OFFSIDE!" every
time the ball came forward. In truth, though, such an offside trap is
asking to be beaten, particularly by pacy players like Ngonge, and the fact
that we didn't spring it once is a sad testament to our lack of imagination.
We had one half-chance in the second half. The ball came into the area and
found Micah in space on the left about fifteen yards out, but his shot was
blocked by a crowd of defenders before it got to the line, and that was it.
Huddersfield had a couple more chances, including one shot from the right
which brought a terrific save from Alec, but in truth they were happy to
play the game out, and in the end they were taking the piss by knocking it
about in midfield leaving our lot chasing vainly after the ball.
I missed the last five minutes as I left early to avoid the rush, but also
because I just couldn't take the pain any more. We'd been comprehensively
outplayed in all areas of the field, and if not for the heroics of Alec
would have (and should have, in truth) lost by four or five goals - he was the
only player to come out of this performance with any credit.
This was a very worrying performance. Huddersfield are an efficient and
competent side, but one destined for mid-table obscurity, and to be
defeated by them so easily is a dark omen which Taylor had better take on
board pretty damn quickly. The humiliation by Wolves has been written off
by others as defeat by a promotion side (a view which I don't share), but
to be wiped off the park by a workaday side like Huddersfield should ring
very loud alarm bells in the Watford management. Sort it out, Taylor.
Questions
Report by Ian Lay
I have never been one to question Graham Taylor. I believe, have always
believed in fact, that he knows what he is doing. Last night rather
changed that view.
Why, when you are 2-0 down by half time, do you wait until the last minute
of normal time to bring on a substitute and then one who has only scored one
goal for Watford since he has been at the club?
I'm not criticising Alon Hazan. He came on when he was asked. But what I
cannot fathom is that when we have looked so unimaginative for so long in a
game, that when we have not had any players (apart from Wright) who was willing
to take other players on, we don’t bring on a player who can run at
defenders and is capable of getting goals. Who am I talking about? Gifton
Noel-Williams, of course.
Now I would be the first to admit that Gifton had flattered to deceive on
many occasions. But it cannot be denied that he has come off the bench
before and turned a game. One of the most memorable examples of this is
when he scored against Chesterfield last year. So why isn't he getting a
chance? I think he will very soon. And I probably understand why he hasn't
already.
GT is trying to make a partnership of Smart and Ngonge. Any partnership
doesn't come after a couple of games, it needs to grow over time. But I
believe that GT has made an error in trying for this partnership in the
first place. Gifton is talented young player. We should be giving him
every opportunity we can. He should be playing up front with Ngonge and
they should be forming a partnership.
I have seen nothing in Smart to make me feel he is any better than the
strikers we had last year. In fact from what I have seen of Wright he looks
a better player than Smart. So what's going on? Answer.... dunno.
We have lost the last two games now because of poor defending. And it would
be easy to blame the defence for everything. But that would be unfair.
People have commented that we need better defenders. That might be true,
but more importantly we need a side that is going to create chances, and not
leave the defence under constant pressure.
At Bristol City we played against a pretty good strike force. But the
defence by all accounts played well. Why? Because the rest of the team
were doing their jobs. They were taking the pressure off them and creating
chances and scoring goals. The best form of defence is attack. That was
the way GT approached football the last time he was at Vicarage Road. That
is the way we should be approaching it now.
As for the game itself.... well, I'll spare you the details as Fred Riley has
already detailed the "highlights" from a Watford perspective in about two
lines.
Huddersfield were simply much better than us. But they are not quite
promotion material. They beat us 2-0, when they should have buried us
beyond sight. If they had been playing a half decent team they would have
struggled. But they have potential. They have a strike force that can
trouble defences. And if they stay clear of injuries to key players then
they might well sneak into the play-offs. They certainly have a better
chance than us at the moment.
Hardly anyone came out of the game with any credit. Hyde and Johnson worked
hard in the midfield but really had few options wide with Kennedy still
looking shadow of the player from last season and Gibbs, though trying his
best, is not a true wing-back - though he has showed on a number of occasions
over the last twelve months that he can get effective crosses in. Nigel had a
reasonable game, but is more suited to a right back spot in a 4-4-2
formation than a wing back in a 5-3-2 formation.
Chamberlain made a couple of very good saves but is still reluctant to come
off his line sometimes to punch or catch the ball.
The one person who did catch my eye was Nick Wright. Maybe because it was
his debut, but he did seem to have a spring in his boots that the others
didn't. He made a couple of nice runs and was unlucky not to score but for
a brilliant block by the Huddersfield keeper. Basically no-one really deserved the man of the match award, but I gave it
to Wright because he did seem to stand out in a very poor performance.
So. Back to the drawing board I think, Mr. Taylor. If we don’t get a good
result against QPR then people are going to get restless.
One last thing....
Most of the time we moan at our wingers swinging in high balls into the area
which the opposition keeper can get easily. Last night we had a keeper who
is known to be dodgy in the air. But did we try and test him with some high
balls? No. It wasn’t until about ten minutes from the end that one cross
went near the keeper and he punched pathetically. So bad that it nearly
dropped for Hyde to have a shot.
If supporters know about a keeper’s downfalls, then the manager of the team
should definitely know. Why did we not put more pressure on the keeper?
Why did we not test him more?
I haven’t got answers to these questions. I wonder if anyone at the club
has got them?
See also: Huddersfield Net
