SHA Small Heath Alliance

Blues winger Patrick Roberts speaks after their 2-1 win over Watford.

[www.bbc.co.uk]

Attackingly. Dig it.

Played ok but not as influential as in other more recent games.

They knew that right hand side was a major threat of ours, and nullified it quite well.

I was impressed with Watford given their league position.

I thought he played well again. He’s not going to tear every defence a new wotsit but he remained a threat without quite having the impact of previous games.

I was impressed with Watford too. A few mentioned how good they are in pre match threads and I thought they were overstating it. I still think that but they were better than I thought they’d be. Lots of good, but inconsistent teams in our division. Gonna be a thrill ride.

Not saying he played poorly, he more or less said in the interview he didn’t quite provide that threat quite as much last night. He’s been really prominent in other games. Always liked him as a player.

On BOS it would have been interesting how it would have looked with Iwata last night as I think Watford have some real attacking weapons and were especially threatening down that side. In that respect i thought BOS supported very well and got in behind a few times.

I don’t agree we were ‘much the better side’ as the manager claimed first half, somewhat better because it was pretty close fought throughout. If they sharpen up their defending they’re going to win a lot of games, and their position and performance was a reminder what a hard league it is (despite people often saying it’s poor, which it most certainly isn’t).

I’m with you Newblue. A very even, very good game. Having said that they should have been down to ten men in the first half. The fella should have had two yellows even if you don't consider the tackle on Paik a red.

I remain unconvinced by Samuel. He was OK. Probably would improve with a run of games.

He doesn’t seem to have that defenders ‘feel’ for the danger behind him, either you get that through playing more or you don’t get it, but full backs need it. Cochrane looked vulnerable at times last year to it, made me wonder if he’d be exposed more but he’s been very consistent and consistently good this year. Well played him.

That was a bad tackle. Didn’t realise how high he had caught Paik at first but it was very reckless. I think Standfield got booked for a shirt pull as well.

Ref was shit for both teams all night. Both he and the Kop linesman missed the most blatant shirt pull on Roberts in added time in the corner, followed a minute later by what looked like a blatant foul by Koumas in the opposite corner.

newblue

He doesn’t seem to have that defenders ‘feel’ for the danger behind him, either you get that through playing more or you don’t get it, but full backs need it. Cochrane looked vulnerable at times last year to it, made me wonder if he’d be exposed more but he’s been very consistent and consistently good this year. Well played him.

That was a bad tackle. Didn’t realise how high he had caught Paik at first but it was very reckless. I think Standfield got booked for a shirt pull as well.

That looked a piss-poor tackle at the time - although I haven't seen it again.

The ref could have booked a few more Watford players, he was pretty lenient - which I'm generally ok with, as long as they are consistent. Then ironically he went a bit mad toward the end and started chucking the card about a bit as though he was rushing to get his quota in.

There was only really one bad tackle in the match.

Generally, I think that was a bloody good win. Watford were very decent, plenty of pace and power about them. We played well for a good spell either side of half-time and butchered a couple of chances to finish the game off - but then dug in when we needed to. I could have easily seen Watford getting another after they scored but we hung together well.

That performance pleased me more than stuffing goals past teams like Norwich and Portsmouth in many ways.

I thought the ref was ok actually - apart from the straight red he should have given - he was consistent - he/they also missed a blatant handball on the edge of our box by Keshi in late injury time, which would have given them a very dangerous free kick at the death - instead we were able to run up field with the ball and kill the game off. If he was cack, it was equally for both sides.

Don’t think I quite agree with with that though I’ve just pointed up a couple of bad errors. I don’t expect refs to get everything right, and it was pretty feisty at times last night. Thought he mostly let it play out and handled a couple of flashpoints quite well (eg the Stansfield pushing contest first half where Stansfield and the Watford player could have both had a booking).

Watching on tv - it was studs up and caught Paik flush on the inside of his kneecap, with force as well - a really bad challenge. Luckily for us Paik had his weight on the other knee. He should have walked - 100% for me.

Super Hans

Ref was shit for both teams all night. Both he and the Kop linesman missed the most blatant shirt pull on Roberts in added time in the corner, followed a minute later by what looked like a blatant foul by Koumas in the opposite corner.

I thought he was generally ok - as I said, a bit fussy later on.

The Kop side lino was a different matter. He gave Watford an absolutely wank free kick for the guy going down in installments having not been touched, then ignored far more obvious fouling on Roberts. Now he WAS shite.

The Watford players seemed to be complaining to the ref after the final whistle. Maybe it was just frustration. 3 minutes in extra was a pleasant surprise even if we played 5.