Reminiscent of the Barnsley game this - the 'break' will not have done us any good at all because the players have not been able to train and by the sounds of it some of them have been ill. Add that to the fact that some may not be available at all, and it is far from ideal. We will no doubt field whoever we can and no doubt give it our best shot, but it is difficult to be too optimistic. Offer me a point now and I would snatch your hand off.
Tonight's game really needs to be seen as an opportunity to kick start the last part of our season by getting the players match fit and hopefully bringing back some of our longer term injured. Any expectation of points needs to be parked in the unrealistic bucket. I will be happy if we put in a decent performance, don't pick up any injuries or red cards and give ourselves a springboard for the remaining games, many of which we will need to win.
However, football's a funny game and if a point comes our way, you won't find me complaining!
Deffo be happy to just take a point now and go to bed.
My twisted logic is hoping 2 things: The players that start will be so relaxed that all thoughts of stress will not materialise; they will find themselves happy , but bemused at full time as they shrug their shoulders in the dressing room following a 2-0 victory that felt like a wet spring walk in the park.
Watford will be up for this game and desperate to win it as Brentford are breathing down their neck. Watford are on a high after beating Cardiff on their ground last weekend. Watford are 10 points adrift of Norwich who are sitting quite comfortably at the top of the Championship table with a better goal difference than the chasing pack.
We got caught out by conceding two early goals when we played Watford away back in December 2020. On that day we had problems defending a number of crosses being whipped in by them from our right flank. We need to avoid giving away free kicks just outside the 18 yard box and directly in front of goal. Watford have a free kick specialist in the shape of Adam Masina.
If we are able to keep a clean sheet up to half time we will have done well. However, I'm not sure we should be bursting a gut by trying to beat Watford. PW will have a list of matches that we can win. Watford may not be on that list. Who knows? A clean sheet at full time against an in form side would be brilliant. As already has been mentioned football is ''a funny game''.
Glenn I think Grattons a striker Millers expect big things of Hull a midfielder I think just think what a buzz they’ll get just being on the bench for a Championship game will hold them in good stead Most Millers fans don’t seem to be expecting much tonight so hopefully we might get a surprise?!
Unfortunately, going as predicted. We're not playing badly, they are just a different class. Poor defending for a couple of their goals and I suspect Johansson might have done better with the third. It's damage limitation now but other results are going our way so we're not losing ground on Coventry or Derby.
I wonder if someone has the bottle to ask Karanka if he still thinks Rotherham were seeking an advantage? ******!
I didnt expect much but that wasnt what we needed goal difference is so important it is like an extra point, I assume Blackman is playing because Johannson isnt fit because if it isn't that then warne needs shooting. Two of those goals he could have come for the cross, silly mistake by Crooks for the 2nd goal. That defence looks very poor they have no confidence in that keeper, hope we keep it at 4 or less, very poor so far, we can't use the covid induced break as an excuse in the next two games we need points in them. Bowyer will turn Birmingham around now so our hope is Coventry or Derby. we should have had a penalty though
These games involve such fine margins. If you're levels drop by 5% the impact is massive. Unfortunately we look like what we are - a bunch of players who havent trained together for a couple of weeks. Against a very good side like these are, you arent going to get away with it. Damage limitation now. On the plus side the other two teams around us playing tonight are both losing 2-0.
Thank God that's over. You can see some of our lads were dead on their feet. In the end 4-1 feels not too bad. Looking at that I worry about Saturday. Rooney and Karanka etc should watch a DVD of that game and then think again about whether this covid outbreak has helped us. It has clearly done us a lot of damage. Watford have some terrific players by the way. Difficult to judge because we were miles off, but you can see why they are second.
If Johansson is fit, he must, must, must start ahead of Blackman. I know players were out of shape, but the defence visibly have no confidence in Blackman and I agree with Derby that Johansson would probably have done better with their 3rd and 4th goals.
On the plus side, Freddie really has found his mojo. Great goal and a lovely bit of Brazilian skill just before he went off.
Another classic bit of Les Payne commentary when talking about local derbies. Who do Oxford play in a derby? Cambridge?!!
Even the sky commentator said that Blackman is rooted to the floor, he never comes for a cross, shame about the penalty miss and about Derby coming back but it is all about us really, we need 18 points from 13 games that is a big ask, Coventry, Wycombe, Birmingham, QPR are all must win games, then we have to scrape two more wins from somewhere, Blackburn, Bristol are the obvious ones maybe a point from Boro or Luton can't see us getting anything at Brentford or Barnsley. I think we will go down but I hope we beat 42 points so at least we can say we did better than last time
We had an obligation to get the most competitive team possible on the pitch and compete as hard as we could. I believe that we did just that. We had our moments and did our best, but in truth we were miles off the pace for obvious reasons and I certainly had the feeling that if Watford had absolutely needed to score six they could have done. That is about it as far as I am concerned. I wouldn't read more into it than that.
My concern is that it is going to take a rapid improvement in general fitness and sharpness for us to be more competitive in our next outing, which is now only three days away. Watford was always going to be tough regardless, but Bristol City is a match that I would be optimistic we could take something from all things being equal. Their form in the last few weeks hasn't been great.
