Another huge opportunity to take all three points, another opportunity missed as Joao Pedro’s late header sent the Hornets home with a point we just couldn’t afford to gift them.
Allan Saint-Maximin gave us the lead in the second half with a brilliant strike after cutting in from the left, but we played awfully after that, failing to capitalise on the boost it should have given us and allowing Watford to come back into it.
We’ve now dropped 21 points from winning positions this season – a stat that says everything you need to know about our worrying mentality after taking the lead. We get edgy, lose all shape, all composure and seem to constantly shoot ourselves in the foot.
Elsewhere, Norwich beat Rafa Benitez’s Everton to move off the bottom of the table, meaning we are now 19th and two points from safety, with Burnley – who are now bottom – having THREE games in hand on ourselves ahead of their game with Watford next week.
Howe made three changes from last weekend’s humiliating FA Cup defeat to Cambridge, seeing Chris Wood, Paul Dummett and Jamaal Lascelles replace Jacob Murphy, Matt Ritchie and Emil Krafth.
STARTING 11: Dubravka – Trippier, Lascelles, Schar, Dummett – Shelvey, S Longstaff, Joelinton – Fraser, Wood, Saint-Maximin.
SUBS: Darlow, Gillespie, Ritchie, Lewis, Krafth, Murphy*, Almiron*, Willock, Anderson.
We pressed well early on when Watford tried to play out from back, but lacked that same urgency when we had the ball in the final third.
We had chances in the first half, with Joelinton volleying a huge wide after clipping the bar, Wood heading over a few times and Longstaff firing way over after the ball fell kindly to him on the edge of the box.
We shaded the first 45, yet we looked edgy and unorganised at the back, were easily bypassed in midfield and often left Wood too isolated up top, with us lacking any real cohesion in attack and failing to test Foster in 10 first half shots.
Longstaff looked way off the pace, Shelvey was walking a tightrope from his early yellow card and Saint-Maximin was frustrating, either losing the ball too cheaply or struggling to win his battle against Watford’s Ngakia.
On the plus side, Trippier looked the best player on the pitch and was visibly a level above the rest. Joelinton wasn’t hiding and made his presence known on and off the ball, but he should’ve come off at half time with a goal to show for it.
A huge second half awaited and it started exactly as we needed it to as Saint-Maximin pounced on a mistake, cut inside and smashed a shot past Foster to send us 1-0 up.
At this point I turned to my Dad and said ‘let’s kill this off now!’….yet we did the exact opposite. We were OK for the next 10 minutes in terms of now allowing Watford to create any openings, however the final half an hour was an absolute car crash.
Howe claimed in his post-match presser that he told the players to keep pushing in search of another. What followed was anything but, as we immediately started to look edgy, desperate and all at sea positionally all over the pitch.
King had a one on one saved by Dubravka and Sissoko looked set to equalise before blazing over a huge chance. They were our warning sings, yet we didn’t heed them.
With 87 minutes on the clock, Dummett couldn’t get there quick enough to stop Femenia’s cross and Joao Pedro somehow outjumped Lascelles to head past Dubravka.
Heads in hands all around St James’ Park, a horrible goal to concede and yet another absolute sickener.
It’s another tough to take when we were just five minutes away from come out on top in this relegation six-pointer, yet we had just one shot on target all afternoon – a shocking stat against a side who haven’t kept a clean sheet all season – and played so badly in that final half an hour that this equaliser was coming.
If we can’t beat a Watford side who arrived on the back of SEVEN straight defeats, who are we going to beat this season?
Next up, a trip to Elland Road next Saturday.
i would like Phillips knows the lge,m/u say no to Lingard
icedog(Quote)
SHARPY aye Chelsea are after his partner hes only 23
icedog(Quote)
Apparently Manure have turned down our offer to loan Jesse. And Sevilla say another club have bid for Carlos now, rumor is it’s Arsenal.
Time to move on to other targets and leave them to their silly games.
kimtoon(Quote)
How can Man Utd say no to Lingard – they’ve played him for about 7mins in total this season???.
I won’t be happy if we lose out on Carlos like. That ones went on plenty long enough, we shouldn’t have given another club a chance at him!!.
If it is Arsenal they have Gabriel at the back for them so the Brazilian connection may sway it for them – really hope not though.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I feel like players will need to be having medicals tomorrow if we want them in for the Leeds games – especially players from other leagues for work permits and such like.
I don’t feel like that’s likely to happen as things stand right now though ??.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Especially as Carlos starts for Seville tonight ??♂️
Sharpy17(Quote)
I watch Scott McTom play for Man Utd – same height & build as Sean Longstaff yet the combativeness & physicality of the 2 players are worlds apart. McTom is by no means the most gifted midfielder in the league, but his contribution to the Man Utd team is so much more than Seans, and yet like I say, very similar in size and build.
Sharpy17(Quote)
If this follows the usual pattern Diego Carlos will announce a new contract in the next few weeks. It doesnt mean we cant go back in for him in the summer but there will probably be a higher buy-out clause and it looks like Sevilla may make the Champions League.
I think we have to move on totally from this one.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
How many of these stories are just typical journo nonsense which we get every transfer window.
The club needs new direction as it looks like these guys aren’t up to the job. It’s Jan 20th FFS!
The deals should have been finalised Jan 1st!
georgio(Quote)
georgio: it has got a million times worse with Twitter and Youtube. In about the last year there have been at least 6 youtube channels ran by fans start up. I think they have very little, if any, inside knowledge but they act like they do and put out vast amount of content.
I have clicked on a few because they come up on the Youtube algorythm. They seem like genuine enough people/fans but this all amplifies the noise. Whatever you think about the journos they do seem to have decent sources for the most part (not you, Wor Lee).
Whenever I see tweets it just seems like people wanting attention. There is an element of that on Youtube because when to get to about 100k subcribers you can basically give up your day job and live on the ad revenue.
Some also charge like a fiver a month for content. The Arsenal TV guy has hunderds of thousands doing this and makes millions from it.
Its a whole new world out there georgio with social media and some of these “influencers” who dont know their **** from their elbow are making a killing.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
Oh God now it has gone back the other way on Carlos and now we again have a chance according to Olly quoting Sky Sports. I give in making any predictions on arrivals except I think if we got Lingard that would send a message to other players that we really can stay up. Anyway, I am going to predict the team for Saturday. Longstaff out, Willock in. Joe played through an injury and had Covid so I dont think it is fair that Longstaff is picked ahead of him.
My heart will overrule my head and I will say Dummett in at CB in place of Schar. For some bizarre reason I think Eddie will stick with Lascelles. So,
Dubs
Trippier Lascelles Dummett Manquillo
Willock Shelvey Joelinton
Fraser Wood ASM
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
This Carlos deal is turning into a right circus now like!!.
Does the player want to come or is he driving for a new contract with Sevilla?!.
Are Sevilla really willing sell for anything below the release clause?!.
Ultimately we are still nowhere near signing a new player & certainly won’t have any new faces in for the Leeds game.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Arsenal have just let another player go out this month – that’s FIVE now, and yet the PL allow them to postpone games???
Sharpy17(Quote)
Getting ridiculous now. Whatever the truth is, we are not getting the players (defenders) we desperately need. I’d rather see Joelinton in defence than Lascelles… and I definitely don’t want Joelinton in defence!
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Gilly – he’s defo improved moving back into midfield, maybe moving him back to defence would see him World class!!! ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
So we’ve offered £12m to sign Lingard permanently now. I feel pretty confident we will end up signing him.
On Carlos, apparently it’s Spurs who are the London based club wanting him. If that’s the case, we should strike a deal with Spurs to avoid wasting time imo. Sell us Rodon for £15m (he’s valued at £7.5m on transfermarkt) and loan us Ali for the rest of the season.
Liverpool have also recalled Rhys Williams from Swansea – thought to allow Nat Phillips to leave permanently.
I’d sign him up too – even at £20-25m I think he’d be well worth it.
I’m sure Phillips and Rodon are both only 24, so a good investment.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Everybody seems so doom and gloom about the Leeds game. We have a few options now and also surely Eddie must realise that he cannot play slowpokes Shelvey and Longstaff together at Leeds? It has to be Willock.
Then we have the option to replace one of the CBs with Dummett and have Manquillo as left back.
And they will have had week of training with Wood who is more of a hold up striker who we havent really had since The Championship. John Gibson gave him a lot of stick today, but he has had one game FFS.
However well Leeds played against West Ham they only won by one goal and have been very inconsistent. I also think they have 9 injuries.
It is like the opposite of Cambridge and Watford where all the pundits and the fanbase were predicting wins. They all thought it would be a stroll in the park against Cambridge and a hard fought win against Watford. Is it time to go against the grain, and almost everyone associated with NUFC and predict a win?
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
Goalkeeper? He has to be better than Bernt Leno.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
I lifted some stats from a Mag article on Lingard. He has played 88 mins of PL football this season and 12 mins under Rangnick. His last start was over 2 years ago. They have royally messed this lad around and that includes the current manager, Ole and Mourinho.
He is a Manchester lad and has been at the club since he was 8. I doubt the pundits like Agbonlahor saying he would rather go to Brentford because of their location are correct with regards to Lingard. He is used to living in the north so why not swap the NW for the NE.
I have watched Man U under Rangick and they have been terrible but have scraped 4 wins. I have no idea how but it keeps them in the mix for Europe and even top 4. Obviously they would not want to send Lingard to rivals so that rules out Spurs and West Ham.
The only explanation for the lack of playing time for Lingard I can come up with is twofold. He is competing in the same positions as superstars like Ronaldo, Cavani and to a lesser extent Bruno Fernandez who have to start but are hard to cram into the same team. Then there are their other academy products who are younger and have bigger reputations. They see Rashford and Greenwood as the future. This leaves Lingard out in the cold and he knows it.
The only problem I see is our league position which makes it hard to structure a deal (I am stating the obvious). But does he really want to sit on the bench for another 6 months? Fernandez has been in a huff all season because Ronaldo takes up his positions and CR7 himself went into a proper strop when he was subbed the other night. Rangnick is forced to play these players so Jesse is the odd man out.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
We are being linked with more defenders, but is that a surprise? Put all of our current CBs together and their fees dont even come to a Miguel Almiron. I might be off a little bit here but I bet not by much.
Dummett – local lad, who the journos always said his best position would be CB. He is 30.
Clark – didnt we get him from Villa for like 3m to help in the Championship. Now 32.
Lascelles – double deal with Darlow from Forest for about 6 mil.
Schar – something like 5 mil with not many more interested.
Fernandez – I think was about 5 mil or less from Swansea as they had just been relegated.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
Apparently Watford have had 2 bids for Nat Phillips rejected – how many bids have we made for a player who would be a better fit than most CBs we’ve been making bids on so far ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Well another dissapointing week transfer wise. Lets hope they’re right when they say all the movement is in the last ten days. For us to have a very good chance of staying up we need another striker, two centre backs, a left and a creative midfielder. A tall order and probably unlikely but that would almost certainly keep us up.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu: I think if we get 1 more CB we can shuffle the defense and make it a lot better. Dummett, Manquillo and Lewis being available will help. Eddie has to realise that Lascelles is shyte though and Schar is not much better.
We need at the very least another CB, midfielder and striker. I still have more faith in Willock than most but we are still short in MF even if he regains form.
3 in might be enough. That would mean 5 1st teamers in total, plus Dummett and Willock.
So that is almost a whole new team.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
Also I see Howe has confirmed they are off to Jeddah for a warm weather training camp. Hopefully new players can get there too and have a good couple of weeks training ahead of Everton. I have written leeds off. I am actually going to the match but don’t expect to be there past 70 mins.
Stuart79(Quote)
RIP Meatloaf. Does anybody know what his real name was?
I know:
Cliff Richards was Harry Webb
Michael Caine was Maurice Micklewhite, and
Elton John was Reg Dwight
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
RIP – He’s gone, gone gone!
Stuart79(Quote)
Meatloaf -Michael Lee Aday RIP
StanHardy(Quote)
Bat out of Hell was a brilliant and now underappreciated album though.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
You took the words right out of my mouth.
Stuart79(Quote)
?
Sharpy17(Quote)
I know there is a ‘winter break’ coming up but I hope the PL force some of these postponed games through in that time. The likes of Burnley are 4 games behind the rest of the league – it’s safe to say they’ve had their winter break already.
Sharpy17(Quote)
RIP Meatloaf
kimtoon(Quote)
Eric
Lulu Marie Mcdonald Mclaughlin
Cilla Black Priscilla White
John Wayne Marion Morrison
David Bowie David Jones
kimtoon(Quote)
getting really sick of this Lingard/Carlo transfer ****,its on,its off,its onits off does your bloody head in.
jabba suing toon for calling him names when he has in the contract that they would not bad mouth him wants 10mil,what the fs kind of man is he 😈 😈
icedog(Quote)
RIP Meatloaf. Marvin Lee Aday ( not Michael as someone said) a real talent. Seen pictures of him in a Toon shirt today on local news from some years back!
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Ice – me too mate, it’s all becoming a bit of a circus now like innit ?.
On Jabba, I saw that too mate, I should have got something similar when I got wed ???
Sharpy17(Quote)
Kimtoon: you missed Norma Jean Baker
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
I will state the obvious – any result except a draw in Watford against Norwich is bad for us.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
There’s some 53 year old man jogging around the pitch at Vicarage Road. The Stewards arent even intervening. Oh, it’s Mike Dean.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
Norwich winning and out the bottom three. ?
Gilly Toon(Quote)
And to think people had them dead and gone Gilly. They are putting up a good fight unlike us.
kimtoon(Quote)
I know. When I watch them, I see a team fighting. When I watch us, I just cringe. ??
Gilly Toon(Quote)
New thread up now, folks!
https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2022/01/21/leeds-a-pre-match-thoughts-team-news-possible-line-ups-prediction/
Olly Hawkins(Quote)