28 points,& we’re up.

We looked a bit leggy and just not at it tonight. A case of after the Lord mayor's show. I will settle for another ten wins with a following draw.

Absolutely no reason to panic

Two points dropped out of a possible 33 suggests things are fine.

Barnes effort in the first minute 2 inches lower then it’s a totally different game. Bilic teams are always like that. Strong, organised, niggly, and know, and will use, every trick there is to kill time and deaden the game.

Whilst they were in front it was always going to be a tough watch.

To be fair, I haven't heard anyone panicking.

A typical Alehouse brawler game by Watford aided and abbeted by the most inept ref you'll see this season

fidelcastro wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 14, 2023 11:15 pm

To be fair, I haven't heard anyone panicking.

Spot on.....But did we even get started tonight ?......Not for me.

Royboyclaret wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 14, 2023 11:24 pm

Spot on.....But did we even get started tonight ?......Not for me.

No, but this run was never going to last forever.

Hopefully it's a blessing in disguise, as certain posters on here had become a bit Billy big ******** just lately. If it gives people more perspective and brings some down to earth a bit, then it can only be a good thing. We haven't won anything yet. Work still to do.

fidelcastro wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 14, 2023 11:29 pm

No, but this run was never going to last forever.

Hopefully it's a blessing in disguise, as certain posters on here had become a bit Billy big ******** just lately. If it gives people more perspective and brings some down to earth a bit, then it can only be a good thing. We haven't won anything yet. Work still to do.

Aye, fair enough, but still needed that so badly.

So near and yet so far.

Far from panicking, tonight has given me even more belief.

Even with a slightly off par performance, one or two injuries, a horrific goal and the ball not really bouncing for us, these boys still find a way...

Was getting bored with winning all the time anyway. Embrace the novelty of just a point.

Nothing but just a kick up the proverbial that the job ain’t done yet………….

Upwards and onwards with a magnificent season……

The unbeaten run continues and that is the main thing!
We can still go more than “ 23 undefeated”
We will still break the 100 point barrier

Do fourth officials do anything over than put the board up? Billic was on the pitch more than Breyer. 3 of their back room staff ignored the lines of the technical area and he seemed to be oblivious to it.
The referee was constantly conned by diving, time wasting and general shenanigans. Much worse than Anti Football

If carlsberg did overreactions. Everything's fine if things wasn't they would have crumbled long by now, you will get the odd wobble but we've got a good cushion with games getting scrubbed off.

hoskinsgoalatswansea wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 14, 2023 11:13 pm

Barnes effort in the first minute 2 inches lower then it’s a totally different game. Bilic teams are always like that. Strong, organised, niggly, and know, and will use, every trick there is to kill time and deaden the game.

Whilst they were in front it was always going to be a tough watch.

Two inches lower would have made no difference. The goalie would still have saved it. It was one of the best saves I've seen, just got a hand to it enough to stop it going in.

Our chance in the first couple of minutes would have meant a totally different game had it gone in. As it was, we missed it, then conceded a dreadful and unnecessary goal which meant Watford could then employ all the shithousery in the shithousery manual. We were chasing the game and our legginess after the monumental efforts of the last 3 months was increasingly exposed. For the first time this season we became ragged and increasingly devoid of ideas and I really couldn't see us scoring. In the end it was brilliant to get a point and we can reset for Saturday. Far, far more worrying than dropping a couple of points last night in a below par performance, was the injury to Beyer and how bad is it and what the hell Muric was doing for the first 45 minutes!!

Firthy wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 15, 2023 7:50 am

Two inches lower would have made no difference. The goalie would still have saved it. It was one of the best saves I've seen, just got a hand to it enough to stop it going in.

Yes, that’s true. The main point I was trying to make, but perhaps wasn’t clear, was that the first goal was crucial against opponents like these.

It really was a great save though.

We are playing a Cup Final every game. Teams are playing out of their skins to beat us and get the kudos.

Royboyclaret wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 14, 2023 11:24 pm

Spot on.....But did we even get started tonight ?......Not for me.

Yeah I thought we were excellent for the first 20 mins or so, and if that early chance had gone in it would’ve been a very different game. Final ball was a bit lacking with both Tella and Zaroury a bit out of sorts, and disappointing how we allowed them to drag us down to their level as the game went on, but we still managed to rescue a point.

PensansClaret wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 15, 2023 8:11 am

We are playing a Cup Final every game. Teams are playing out of their skins to beat us and get the kudos.

I wouldn’t go that far we are a very good side (in this division) but it’s no major scalp in terms of anybody is a massive underdog the profession nature of football that happens anyway nobody sets out to purposely lose unless corruption is involved.

Anyone going on last night thinking we only needed to turn up to win got a reality check. This is professional football and by it's nature it's unpredictable. That's a reason why it's absorbing. I can remember back to the 72/73 season, when probably our greatest second tier team lost at home one dark November afternoon to Leyton Orient (as they were then). Orient were rock bottom of the second division but they beat us 2-1. There was a lesson learnt for a youthful 20 year old, 'don't count your chickens before they hatch'. Disappointing as it was last night given a record was at stake, it was a very good point in the end.

Carwin261 wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 14, 2023 10:48 pm

28 points,& we’re up.

You think we'll need 97 points for promotion?

If you look at those ten wins we could just have easily ended up with draws against Stoke, Coventry and West Brom. Taking a draw from a game like last night is absolutely fine. This team does seem to learn when things don’t go so well and the bonus last night is that we picked up a point as well as learning a few lessons.

The main thing that annoyed me last night was that the lino bsically got Beyer injured. Even though the Watford guy was miles offside from the get go, he waited till Beyer had to awkwardly head it out for a corner before flagging, and he hurt himself landing. I know it's probably under instructions, but it boiled my **** a bit tbh.

Why would anyone panic?

Not at our best, but this is only to be expected from time to time given that we play a very demanding high-press game and cover a lot of ground at a fast pace. Also, take into account the lads only had a couple of days rest since Preston.

You start to panic, if this is the right word, when you see zero commitment to the cause, match after match, not a slight bump in the road. There will be a few more before the end of the season, and this is only to be expected. It was a hard-earned point last night. The lads never gave up. Panic? Most of us came off the Turf full of pride for their 'never say die' attitude. UTC!

dibraidio wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 15, 2023 8:54 am

You think we'll need 97 points for promotion?

I think we will need 84 points, so another 5 wins from 15 games.
Should be doable without any panic

Either Boro or Sheff Utd will lose ground tonight unless it's a draw and then there's been no damage done anyway.
Luton will do well to win at PNE, I'd expect a bit of a backlash after the pasting we gave them.

We knew games like last night would come along, There'll be a few more before the end of the season.
It's how we react is the key and last night showed what we're made of.

Poor performance last night by the standards we've set, however we could still have won that, their keeper produced a couple of top drawer saves at key moments.

Psychology in football is strange the manner of how we gained that point means we'll head to Luton on a high.

And we rarely turn in 2 poor displays on the bounce.

Every point we collect just makes the task for the rest all the more difficult.

Can't be certain exactly how many points will secure promotion, but I'd be confident another 20 will seal the deal, probably need a few more to claim the title mind you.

2 defeats in 31 games.
Highest scorers in the country I think.
Scored in 28 successive matches.

Since the Blackpool game way back in August when we had only 6 points from 5 games, we've amassed 63 points out of a possible 78 just let that stat sink in.

That is astonishing.

Boro beat Sheffield tonight and we have gained a point on them, absolutely no panic here

evensteadiereddie wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 15, 2023 9:22 am

Either Boro or Sheff Utd will lose ground tonight unless it's a draw and then there's been no damage done anyway.
Luton will do well to win at PNE, I'd expect a bit of a backlash after the pasting we gave them.

Add to that we’re another round of fixtures for the other teams to gain ground chalked off.

A win would have been great, but a draw isn’t the end of the world and under every outcome tonight there’s an upside.

The difference between this season and last is enormous. Thanks to VK our expectations now have become almost unreal. W 10 D1 and undefeated from our last 11 games is unbelievable yet we are disappointed because we had an off day and still managed a draw despite a howler form Muric, a very physical and defensive display from a team that was in the Premier League last season and a ref who let them get away with a lot. I'm taking the positives from last night in the determination we showed right up to the final whistle to get a result. We have doggedness and determination as well as skill which a lot of teams seem to lack these days.

I'm trying not to panic but Sunderland gained 2 points on us last night and are now just 21 behind us. This is not for the faint-hearted.

Worth noting that we drew five of the last 16 in the 2015/16 season, and that was with Brighton and Middlesbrough right behind/ahead of us.

Nobody seemed to be panicking then, and this time we're 17 points ahead. Hopefully that alleviates any fears...

Rileybobs wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 15, 2023 11:13 am

I'm trying not to panic but Sunderland gained 2 points on us last night and are now just 21 behind us. This is not for the faint-hearted.

Nice one Rbobs

Ric_C wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 15, 2023 9:03 am

The main thing that annoyed me last night was that the lino bsically got Beyer injured. Even though the Watford guy was miles offside from the get go, he waited till Beyer had to awkwardly head it out for a corner before flagging, and he hurt himself landing. I know it's probably under instructions, but it boiled my **** a bit tbh.

What "boils my **** a bit" is listening to the same old voices around me screaming offside the second the ball is kicked and then telling the linesman he is not doing his job properly when he waits - as per the current laws. I may well hate the new offside rule (like most people) but this constant yelling at him as if he is incompetent is annoying.

We have now won as many points as Blackburn got in the whole of last season. With 15 games in hand.

TopCat wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 15, 2023 9:07 am

I think we will need 84 points, so another 5 wins from 15 games.
Should be doable without any panic

We’ve averaged just shy of 2.23 points per game so far. To get promoted (not win the Championship) we would need to average about 1 point per game in the remaining games. We are not going to drop that much form. 83 pts should be enough. If we only averaged one per game Boro would still need to average what we have so far. The bookies have us at 1/150 to fail promotion. Why are people saying don’t panic? There is absolutely no chance we will fail. The only competition is for the actual Championship. And don’t forget after tonight even if Boro win at Sheff they will still be 15 behind and we will have a game in hand.

hoskinsgoalatswansea wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 14, 2023 11:13 pm

Barnes effort in the first minute 2 inches lower then it’s a totally different game. Bilic teams are always like that. Strong, organised, niggly, and know, and will use, every trick there is to kill time and deaden the game.

Whilst they were in front it was always going to be a tough watch.

It was on target, the keeper tipped it onto the bar

Firthy wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 15, 2023 11:08 am

The difference between this season and last is enormous. Thanks to VK our expectations now have become almost unreal. W 10 D1 and undefeated from our last 11 games is unbelievable yet we are disappointed because we had an off day and still managed a draw despite a howler form Muric, a very physical and defensive display from a team that was in the Premier League last season and a ref who let them get away with a lot. I'm taking the positives from last night in the determination we showed right up to the final whistle to get a result. We have doggedness and determination as well as skill which a lot of teams seem to lack these days.

We've come from behind that often that I'm surprised folks are surprised when it happens now.

Shows we've got plenty of spirit in the camp to battle until the final whistle even when things aren't going well.

There is still time to beat that record!

2 Bee Holed wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 15, 2023 7:06 pm

It was on target, the keeper tipped it onto the bar

I meant if it goes in by any means, but I wasn’t clear.