Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
ricardo

Ricardo's report v Watford

Recommended Posts

I won''t bore you with number of times I''ve strolled up to CR

for the first game of the season with more hope than expectation but it''s

certainly more than I care to recall. It was a nice afternoon for football and

after last weeks disappointment I wasn''t at all surprised to see Alex Tetty and

Lafferty among the starters.

It was a strange sort of opening to the game as City immediately conceded a

needless free kick in a dangerous position. Thankfully Ruddy held a low shot

and set City on the attack down the right only for Redmond

to collapse in a heap, seemingly felled by a punch. We all cheered wildly as

Mr. Tierney flashed as early a red card as you are ever likely to see and it

was advantage City. It was no surprise that City went on to dominate possession

and with Tetty and Johno we had a solid base for everything to flow through to

Wes and the forwards.

Watford defended stoutly as City found it hard to

convert their dominance into chances. Turner headed over and Redmond

blazed wildly when handily placed but it was all a little untidy in the final

third. Lafferty looked a real handful and has quick feet for a big man. He

showed up nicely in one run on the left where he tricked his way past three

tackles only to be felled on the edge of the box. The resulting freekick

drifted into the side netting in another example of Redmonds

frustrating wastefulness.

Johno almost broke the deadlock when his strong shot from 20 yards was only

just deflected a foot wide with the keeper scrambling. The opening goal was a long

time coming but when it did it was a thing of beauty.Laffers and Wes combined

well in the box before the ball was laid back to Johno who swept the ball high

over the keeper and into the far top corner. Relief all round because the

frustration was certainly beginning to show. Now City began to cut Watford

apart at will, Johno could have had another with a powerful rising drive and

Laffers, Wes and Grabban all had chances to increase the lead. Fortunately for

the Hornets the halftime whistle went just as they were starting to look really

groggy.

From the off we saw Watford trying to get their passing

game going and Ruddy was called into action with a good block. City quickly

regained the initiative and in a sweeping move involving Johno, Wes and Whits,

Lafferty was only inches away from converting a low cross into the six yard

box. There was some good stuff on show now and although playing against ten men

makes it difficult to judge, City were definitely looking a class above Watford.

On the hour the game was made safe as first Grabben lobbed a beauty over the

keeper after prolonged City pressure. Then Wes robbed a Watford

defender and swift movement left Tetty with a clear opening from just outside

the area. His powerful grass cutter arrowed inside the post giving Gomes no

chance. It was game over and we then saw a flurry of substitutions from both

side which upset the flow of the game for while. Wes, Laffers and Tetty

departed to great applause and O''Neil, Bennett

and Fer came on.

When things settled normal service was resumed as City made chance after

chance. The Watford defence somehow survived this

pressure but in truth there was far too much wasteful play for my liking. Fer

slotted back in like he''d never been away as City strode through the Hornets defence

at will.We could easily have had six or seven goals today had we been a bit

sharper up front. Redmond twice, Whits, Fer and Grabben all missed acceptable

openings although Johno, was a shade unlucky when his diving header in injury

time was deflected for a corner.

It could and should have been more but I suppose it''s churlish to grumble at a

three goal victory. MOM for me was Johno closely followed by Alex Tetty and Wes

and with a special mention to Kyle Lafferty who I predict will become a big

favourite at CR. He has a great physical presence and it''s something we have

lacked since Holty''s departure.

All things considered, Ricardo is massively encouraged by today''s performance.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Cheers Ricardo, good stuff.

Watford fans online were saying it was a red card as well, even joking that Redmond was lucky to stay on the pitch after running into Ekstrand''s elbow.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Sorry about the blurb top and bottom. I''ve been having problems posting. Either the site or my browser playing up.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Couldn''t go today as my tomatoes needed harvesting, so thanks for this report. Glad it was a positive opening home game, pleased to see Grabban score and always pleasantly surprised to hear Johnson played well.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Sums it up really, a dull pedestrian performance but a good day out. At least it''s a nice evening to be in the pub chatting to real fans after all the plastics have gone home.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Couldn''t go today as my tomatoes needed harvesting, so thanks for this report. Glad it was a positive opening home game, pleased to see Grabban score and always pleasantly surprised to hear Johnson played well

bumper crop this year as well

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Bor Bor Bor"]Couldn''t go today as my tomatoes needed harvesting, so thanks for this report. Glad it was a positive opening home game, pleased to see Grabban score and always pleasantly surprised to hear Johnson played well.[/quote]Cheaper to buy tomatoes than grow them. I''m surprised you haven''t found a more profitable crop Bor.[;)]

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Thanks Ricardo, and I am not surprised to hear how good BJ''s performance was, just what we need in this league and he will be crucial for us this season.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="ricardo"]Sorry about the blurb top and bottom. I''ve been having problems posting. Either the site or my browser playing up.
[/quote]

 

That''s good. I was wondering what the '' Normal 0 - Microsoft/Internet/Explorer 4 '' scoreline was doing up there.......[;)]

 

Good report as usual by the way.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Have a look at the BBC match report. There is no way in hell we only had 62% possession! Watford barely touched the ball the whole game! It must have been closer to 80%

On a side note from that, yes it''s a league below and yes we had an extra man, but I haven''t seen us keep the ball that well or pass that incisively for ages!

It appears for about the 14th season in a row our opening day performance was a cursed mess that you can''t read anything into regarding our chances this season.

We look so much more confident, motivated, fitter and more technically sound than the last two years.

Can''t wait for Tuesday now, although, I''d take a 8-0 humping if it meant we won on Saturday instead :P

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...