Thing is, we've beaten and got results against some really good teams who you'd expect to be up there come may. I just hope we don't get complacent against the lesser teams such as sheffield Wednesday and millwall cos that would be dissapointing .rotherham will be a test on Saturday but a game that I almost expect us to get something from. Wolves will be a lot tougher . Very happy though. COYR
The thing that sticks out for me is that we have got points on the board against different types of opposition already this season. I don't fear anyone now and neither should this team. They've showed they can keep the ball, play counter attack, defend for their lives, score against the run of play and also create numerous chances. Roll on Tuesday.
We played poorly and won, as they say the sign of a good team. I'm not going to dwell on poor performances because I've seen enough of this squad to know they can and will be challenging for at least play offs! Man of the Match Henderson, no contest a great goalkeeping display. Oh yes deffo a pen to them when Haim fouled Deeney but the ref was unsighted. Sometimes you get them sometimes you don't. Hopefully all will be fit for Wolves on Tuesday.
A defensive effort to be proud of, judging by comments. I honestly hate smash and grab where we get an early goal then get pummelled for 90 minutes but 3 points against one of the toughest opponents we'll see at the Valley this season is a great result. It'll be tough when we have to cross the river later this season but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, the squad will be a lot more gelled by then.
Does anyone know why it was 10 minutes of added time?
I wouldn't describe it as a smash and grab or say we got pummelled for 90 minutes. Watford had their share of possession but we had our opportunities to get a second and would have done if Moussa and Harriot hadn't been so wasteful with possession.
I watched the game on PPTV. Missed the first nine minutes due to 'technical problems' and almost couldn't believe my eyes when I saw we were one goal up already. The game had me on the edge of my seat most of the time and the last 20 minutes was especially nerve-wracking. Knowing that PPTV's signal was a couple of minutes behind real time, I started to keep refreshing the Match Thread in the last 10, 15 minutes to see if they scored. Thank GOD we managed to keep the lead in the end. Solid performances from all of the back five. (Solly was class - he'd been our best player for quite a few years but I never actually got the chance to see him play before he got injured so yesterday I was really really excited to see what a great player he is) Henderson made some crucial saves to keep us in it and despite seeing Ben Hamer have a decent Premier League debut on Match of the Day, I think we have an equally good goalkeeper in Henderson and that's probably one more area we don't need to worry about too much in the future. The midfield still lacked something though and hadn't improved much since I last saw us in that first Brentford game.
Anyway, very happy we got the win. My mom asked me this morning about the final score and when I told her, she responded 'Still unbeaten aren't they? Great!' I didn't know she actually remembered that we'd never lost since August 9. I feel so proud of this team.
We got 'home' decisions with the penalty and the offside, away from home those decisions go the other way, as in Derby in the league cup...that kind of stuff happens everywhere. You know the old saying, away from home you have to score twice to get one goal.
A defensive effort to be proud of, judging by comments. I honestly hate smash and grab where we get an early goal then get pummelled for 90 minutes but 3 points against one of the toughest opponents we'll see at the Valley this season is a great result. It'll be tough when we have to cross the river later this season but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, the squad will be a lot more gelled by then.
Does anyone know why it was 10 minutes of added time?
I wouldn't describe it as a smash and grab or say we got pummelled for 90 minutes. Watford had their share of possession but we had our opportunities to get a second and would have done if Moussa and Harriot hadn't been so wasteful with possession.
Walking to the station after the game, surrounded by Watford fans, one of their guys said Garcia did not know what he was doing and should of gone for Tim Sherwood!!!! now considering their had 14 shots to our 3, and was his first game in charge.
Harsh. Was not super_horns, who sounds like a good honest fan.
My take on yesterday, having read all the posts on here, is that we have a great defence and some great attacking players, but the team still needs a bit of tinkering to make it worthy of a top 6, or even top 10, side. The jury is out on Tucedean and personally I would like to see someone else up there with Igor (whom, I have no idea - probably a loan player from somewhere but needs to be a Grant Holt type player). I'm also loathe to drop JJ, but Cousins is not a winger (either right or left) and seeing as he made the penalty & scored a screamer last month I don't believe he should be dropped - but the side is unbalanced at the moment and we generally only attack down the right as Cousins does not (probably can not) take anyone on to get crosses in. Too many times when its played to Cousins the ball is played back to JJ, onto Buyens & then usually out to Solly or Gudmonsson.
Its a shame, as we are just 1 or 2 players away from a very good side but it needs to be addressed otherwise games like yesterday will turn into 3-1 defeats.
On the positive side - Bikey is fast becoming my POTY, solid in the air (what about those 2 powerful headers in the first half!) & good on the floor (unhurried & hard to shake off the ball) and if Igor can have a big man to play off then we have a star in the making.
Never a penalty for Deeney in my opinion, think he was looking for it as the safer bet then trusting his finishing, combine that with the Ref failing to give Gomes a red card because it was so early in the game and i think it is incorrect to say we got any game changing help from the Referee.
We actually won fair and square, even if Watford dominated, luck was not a huge factor yesterday at all.
Lady Luck in the sense that the Deeney penalty appeal would have been given 60% of the time because he got the wrong side of TBH and there was slight contact. Plus we relied on their strikers (13 in 5 games before yesterday) not being clinical.
Until this season since we have been back in the championship, the away side have always taken one or two chances which has cost us dear.
Maybe the new pitch also helps that you won't get the uneven bounce for our keeper and defenders to be wary of.
A defensive effort to be proud of, judging by comments. I honestly hate smash and grab where we get an early goal then get pummelled for 90 minutes but 3 points against one of the toughest opponents we'll see at the Valley this season is a great result. It'll be tough when we have to cross the river later this season but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, the squad will be a lot more gelled by then.
Does anyone know why it was 10 minutes of added time?
It did seem a very long time. The 4th official only put up 6 mins. I don't know why the ref added an extra 4 mins. The ref did seem to be intent on leveling things up after the first half.
Didn't feel that the lead was seriously under threat. In past seasons, there was panic in the team and you would have kittens when defending a lead. Yesterday the defence was rock solid. They kept on playing and defending as they had for the majority of the game. The experience and class of Bikey and Ben Haim was key for this. Henderson was also having a storming game. The attacking substitutions helped although Moussa and Harriots were somewhat all over the shop with their decision making.
A defensive effort to be proud of, judging by comments. I honestly hate smash and grab where we get an early goal then get pummelled for 90 minutes but 3 points against one of the toughest opponents we'll see at the Valley this season is a great result. It'll be tough when we have to cross the river later this season but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, the squad will be a lot more gelled by then.
Does anyone know why it was 10 minutes of added time?
It did seem a very long time. The 4th official only put up 6 mins. I don't know why the ref added an extra 4 mins. The ref did seem to be intent on leveling things up after the first half.
Didn't feel that the lead was seriously under threat. In past seasons, there was panic in the team and you would have kittens when defending a lead. Yesterday the defence was rock solid. They kept on playing and defending as they had for the majority of the game. The experience and class of Bikey and Ben Haim was key for this. Henderson was also having a storming game. The attacking substitutions helped although Moussa and Harriots were somewhat all over the shop with their decision making.
It was six minutes of added time at the end of the 90, and 4 at the end of the 40 - so 10 minutes total.
There were a couple of injuries that took a while (Gomes, their defender and Igor down for ages after a collision, TBH incident in our box with Deeney), plus we were time wasting as usual so I reckon that's why so much was given.
Clearly there is a very strong consensus about yesterday's game. All I will add is to say that 12 points from a very difficult set of opening fixtures (and i include Brentford in that) is way beyond my wildest dreams. The owner, the Board, the head coach, the staff and all the players deserve our thanks AND SUPPORT for what they are doing. If we can keep up the performance levels when we start playing teams struggling a bit we might even end up challenging for at least the play-offs - and I hope by then some of the lost fans will be back to fill those spaces in the stands.
Never a penalty for Deeney in my opinion, think he was looking for it as the safer bet then trusting his finishing, combine that with the Ref failing to give Gomes a red card because it was so early in the game and i think it is incorrect to say we got any game changing help from the Referee.
Watching it live, I thought that Deeney had made the most of a fairly innocuous challenge from TBH. Having seen it again on the Football League Show this morning, it looked a clear pen. We got lucky, but we deserved the luck for the hard, battling defensive display.
I watched the game on PPTV. Missed the first nine minutes due to 'technical problems' and almost couldn't believe my eyes when I saw we were one goal up already. The game had me on the edge of my seat most of the time and the last 20 minutes was especially nerve-wracking. Knowing that PPTV's signal was a couple of minutes behind real time, I started to keep refreshing the Match Thread in the last 10, 15 minutes to see if they scored. Thank GOD we managed to keep the lead in the end. Solid performances from all of the back five. (Solly was class - he'd been our best player for quite a few years but I never actually got the chance to see him play before he got injured so yesterday I was really really excited to see what a great player he is) Henderson made some crucial saves to keep us in it and despite seeing Ben Hamer have a decent Premier League debut on Match of the Day, I think we have an equally good goalkeeper in Henderson and that's probably one more area we don't need to worry about too much in the future. The midfield still lacked something though and hadn't improved much since I last saw us in that first Brentford game.
Anyway, very happy we got the win. My mom asked me this morning about the final score and when I told her, she responded 'Still unbeaten aren't they? Great!' I didn't know she actually remembered that we'd never lost since August 9. I feel so proud of this team.
SO pleased you were able to see the match and a win, to boot ! You are def my favourite " foreign correspondent" Charlton wise ! It's almost impossible to believe that you have never seen our team play in the flesh !
Special plaudits to your Mum for her Charlton knowledge too, bless her.
Any chance of starting a new Supporters' Group in your country ?
Really enthused by these results we're getting at home - all against teams you'd expect to be up there at the end. I know its endless, but watching the Football League show with Eddie Howe praising Kermogant's partnership and him setting up 2 good chances in the highlights, I can't help but think we've cocked up letting him go, as George was our only real weak-link really. Hopefully Bulot makes and impact on the left, if so - just need that 2nd striker and we could be dreaming.
All this talk about Tucudean is quite confusing really; I can understand those who are a little underwhelmed with him so far - and I've found myself getting pretty frustrated with him too.
The reason it's confusing though is he played absolutely superbly against Derby in the first 45; the lad has it in his locker, and he's shown it. I really do think he's built in the Kermogant mould and, if he could show some of that skill and determination in every match then we'd have a real gem.
Very happy to witness a win on my return to the Valley. Lots of positives, especially another blistering start and early goal, the team looking a much stronger unit than in recent times, a first clean sheet. Also maybe, just maybe, we're turning the Valley back into a fortress again rather than merely handing over three points with the barest of whimpers.
But in the euphoria of victory it's easy to blot out what might have been. I just watched the highlights and in truth we were bloody lucky not to concede. Would BBB and a lot of Lifers have been so positive about our defensive qualities if Deeney hadn't had an attack of spongefoot after JJ got caught in possession, or the ref had evened up the penalty count, or their "goal" hadn't been marginally offside (which wasn't at all clear to me at the time or on the highlights), or Henderson (really pleased for him) hadn't made 3 or 4 excellent saves? At several times during the match I thought that it made for quite uncomfortable viewing as we constantly gave away possession and back the yellow wave came at us again. But a win's a win, especially against a pretty strong team, and I'd have absolutely taken a gritty 1-0 before the game. COYR!
Never a penalty for Deeney in my opinion, think he was looking for it as the safer bet then trusting his finishing, combine that with the Ref failing to give Gomes a red card because it was so early in the game and i think it is incorrect to say we got any game changing help from the Referee.
Watching it live, I thought that Deeney had made the most of a fairly innocuous challenge from TBH. Having seen it again on the Football League Show this morning, it looked a clear pen. We got lucky, but we deserved the luck for the hard, battling defensive display.
Agree to disagree, after watching on stream and the couple of replays during the game, i think Deeney felt Ben Haim coming so decided lets take the penalty, our luck was the Ref not falling for it as many Refs probably would have, if i was a Watford fan i would have been fuming with Deeney over that decision rather then taking the chance to have a go on goal.
Never a penalty for Deeney in my opinion, think he was looking for it as the safer bet then trusting his finishing, combine that with the Ref failing to give Gomes a red card because it was so early in the game and i think it is incorrect to say we got any game changing help from the Referee.
Watching it live, I thought that Deeney had made the most of a fairly innocuous challenge from TBH. Having seen it again on the Football League Show this morning, it looked a clear pen. We got lucky, but we deserved the luck for the hard, battling defensive display.
Agree to disagree, after watching on stream and the couple of replays during the game, i think Deeney felt Ben Haim coming so decided lets take the penalty, our luck was the Ref not falling for it as many Refs probably would have, if i was a Watford fan i would have been fuming with Deeney over that decision rather then taking the chance to have a go on goal.
I think it was one of those that could easily have gone against us. if you look at vetokele's penalty, he started to do down before Gomez touched him, fortunately the ref did not interpret Deane in the same way. Any way rightly or wrongly we got away with it.
Here we go... Interesting you would point him out for criticism rather than Moussa who lost the ball about 5 times. What exactly did Harriott do wrong? Watched on TV and he got singled out for praise by the commentators for being sensible with possession.
Because I have a history of slagging Harriot off don't I?
Talk me through his run and "shot" when Moussa was completely free to his left. The several blind alleys he ran up and his need to perform a variety of step overs when a simple pass will do.
He has no football brain at all.
Him and Moussa were equally culpable in the last 5 mins.
Moussa wasn't free, he had a player in front of him. Harriott had every right to have a shot and did well to make space to do so.
Oh right, the classic stepover criticism. Good one.
He ran the ball into the corner as he should. He gave the ball away once. Moussa had BP smashing his water bottle on the floor - twice. So why would you pick out Harriott?
"He has no football brain at all" does sound like you have a history of slagging him off.
Here we go... Interesting you would point him out for criticism rather than Moussa who lost the ball about 5 times. What exactly did Harriott do wrong? Watched on TV and he got singled out for praise by the commentators for being sensible with possession.
Lol watched on tv
I live in Hong Kong. It's a bastard of a commute.
Actually being there I have the advantage of being able to see most of what was going on. Not just where the camera goes.
You seem to be basing your argument on some praise from the commentators.
For what its worth, I really hoped Harriot would push on after his form at the end of last season. He hasn't and is regressing.
Come on Clem...he lives in Hong Kong. Just say Solly.
Very happy to witness a win on my return to the Valley. Lots of positives, especially another blistering start and early goal, the team looking a much stronger unit than in recent times, a first clean sheet. Also maybe, just maybe, we're turning the Valley back into a fortress again rather than merely handing over three points with the barest of whimpers.
But in the euphoria of victory it's easy to blot out what might have been. I just watched the highlights and in truth we were bloody lucky not to concede. Would BBB and a lot of Lifers have been so positive about our defensive qualities if Deeney hadn't had an attack of spongefoot after JJ got caught in possession, or the ref had evened up the penalty count, or their "goal" hadn't been marginally offside (which wasn't at all clear to me at the time or on the highlights), or Henderson (really pleased for him) hadn't made 3 or 4 excellent saves? At several times during the match I thought that it made for quite uncomfortable viewing as we constantly gave away possession and back the yellow wave came at us again. But a win's a win, especially against a pretty strong team, and I'd have absolutely taken a gritty 1-0 before the game. COYR!
The offside Watford goal was offside - it was right in front of us and I had a linesman's view. You cannot get the vibe of the game from TV highlights, surely, you being there yesterday you can see the huge bias TV put on the game. As an example of defending, our back four were the best I've seen for many years and had we not lost the Icelandic lad the game would possibly have been more balanced. We are 1-2 players short of something exciting, the new lad Bulot may be nearing the final piece in the jigsaw. We can score goals, we can defend and we can dig in when required - of course we won't defend that well every game but I actually said to my lad near the end that we would only lose a goal to a deflected shot, we defended that well.
Comments
I cannot remember too many injures so just for the usual stuff?
You guys certainly stopped the threat of Vydra.
Deeney will usually be lively and Anya's pace is a threat but doesn't always deliver.
I'm not going to dwell on poor performances because I've seen enough of this squad to know they can and will be challenging for at least play offs!
Man of the Match Henderson, no contest a great goalkeeping display.
Oh yes deffo a pen to them when Haim fouled Deeney but the ref was unsighted. Sometimes you get them sometimes you don't. Hopefully all will be fit for Wolves on Tuesday.
Anyway, very happy we got the win. My mom asked me this morning about the final score and when I told her, she responded 'Still unbeaten aren't they? Great!' I didn't know she actually remembered that we'd never lost since August 9. I feel so proud of this team.
You know the old saying, away from home you have to score twice to get one goal.
Harsh. Was not super_horns, who sounds like a good honest fan.
the team still needs a bit of tinkering to make it worthy of a top 6, or even top 10, side. The jury is out on Tucedean and personally I would like to see someone else up there with Igor (whom, I have no idea - probably a loan player from somewhere but needs to be a Grant Holt type player). I'm also loathe to drop JJ, but Cousins is not a winger (either right or left) and seeing as he made the penalty & scored a screamer last month I don't believe he should be dropped - but the side is unbalanced at the moment and we generally only attack down the right as Cousins does not (probably can not) take anyone on to get crosses in. Too many times when its played to Cousins the ball is played back to JJ, onto Buyens & then usually out to Solly or Gudmonsson.
Its a shame, as we are just 1 or 2 players away from a very good side but it needs to be addressed otherwise games like yesterday will turn into 3-1 defeats.
On the positive side - Bikey is fast becoming my POTY, solid in the air (what about those 2 powerful headers in the first half!) & good on the floor (unhurried & hard to shake off the ball) and if Igor can have a big man to play off then we have a star in the making.
not being clinical.
Until this season since we have been back in the championship, the away side have always taken one or two chances which has cost us dear.
Maybe the new pitch also helps that you won't get the uneven bounce for our keeper and defenders to be wary of.
Didn't feel that the lead was seriously under threat. In past seasons, there was panic in the team and you would have kittens when defending a lead. Yesterday the defence was rock solid. They kept on playing and defending as they had for the majority of the game. The experience and class of Bikey and Ben Haim was key for this. Henderson was also having a storming game. The attacking substitutions helped although Moussa and Harriots were somewhat all over the shop with their decision making.
There were a couple of injuries that took a while (Gomes, their defender and Igor down for ages after a collision, TBH incident in our box with Deeney), plus we were time wasting as usual so I reckon that's why so much was given.
Special plaudits to your Mum for her Charlton knowledge too, bless her.
Any chance of starting a new Supporters' Group in your country ?
The reason it's confusing though is he played absolutely superbly against Derby in the first 45; the lad has it in his locker, and he's shown it. I really do think he's built in the Kermogant mould and, if he could show some of that skill and determination in every match then we'd have a real gem.
But in the euphoria of victory it's easy to blot out what might have been. I just watched the highlights and in truth we were bloody lucky not to concede. Would BBB and a lot of Lifers have been so positive about our defensive qualities if Deeney hadn't had an attack of spongefoot after JJ got caught in possession, or the ref had evened up the penalty count, or their "goal" hadn't been marginally offside (which wasn't at all clear to me at the time or on the highlights), or Henderson (really pleased for him) hadn't made 3 or 4 excellent saves? At several times during the match I thought that it made for quite uncomfortable viewing as we constantly gave away possession and back the yellow wave came at us again. But a win's a win, especially against a pretty strong team, and I'd have absolutely taken a gritty 1-0 before the game. COYR!
You cannot get the vibe of the game from TV highlights, surely, you being there yesterday you can see the huge bias TV put on the game.
As an example of defending, our back four were the best I've seen for many years and had we not lost the Icelandic lad the game would possibly have been more balanced.
We are 1-2 players short of something exciting, the new lad Bulot may be nearing the final piece in the jigsaw.
We can score goals, we can defend and we can dig in when required - of course we won't defend that well every game but I actually said to my lad near the end that we would only lose a goal to a deflected shot, we defended that well.