Watford 1 Blackburn Rovers 0 (26/10/2024)

Yesterday at 07:52 AM

1-  “How I am” has been very much a function of when you ask me over the last few weeks.

Contributing to this to no small extent have been our undulating results and, to a slightly lesser extent, form. There’s always a recency bias in football of course, a tendency to over-interpret and to be excessively swayed by the last couple of games but in as much as football dictates our mood (a lot), it’s been good week/bad week since the start of September, such has been the nature of our form.

This has most definitely been a Bad Week.  There are Luton fans at work.  One was graceful enough to give me until Sunday morning before making contact,  another chased me down first thing on Monday morning.  Another, the worst, merely sneered in passing.  Tuesday itself wasn’t a good day at all in any case so I didn’t watch the Leeds game, opting instead for a more reliable source of rejuvenation.  That we evidently gave a better account of ourselves is perhaps no surprise;  our three “defeat with honour” away performances have come against our most capable opponents.

Defeat nonetheless, extending a forlorn away run.  And so the concern as we head south for an early kick off for the second Saturday in succession is once again whether it’s the home form that will break first.

2- And yet.  The M1 is busy, but doesn’t hold us up.  When we get to the ground there are polite men handing out samples of very decent pizza in the GT upper concourse.  All the ordering point in the Rookery are functioning, in contrast to a fortnight earlier.  There’s even a giant floater raised over the Rookery at kick-off, a reminder of times gone by…  it’s always a minor concern as the thing is raised above our heads that we’re volunteered collaborators in delivering a message that we know nothing about, but the 1881 have long since earned our trust on that score and this one is championing Tom at a point in time when, one suspects, such will have been particularly gratefully received.  Other reminders of times gone by come in the greeting of two erstwhile fearless booterers… John Eustace, a fine, fine captain for many years, now in charge of the opposition and Paul Robinson, still the only player I’ve seen score with a tackle, making a most welcome return as part of our own coaching staff.

Blackburn’s record is very similar to our own, home form sullied only by the dropping of two points (midweek to West Brom), with only three points garnered away from home.  Nailed on home banker then, surely, which doesn’t stop Rovers doing what every side with half a brain does by putting us under pressure early on.  The degree to which this “conceding early goals” thing is structural vs psychological makes no difference to an opponent; just go for the vulnerable bit and see what happens.  A top side may try to overwhelm you early doors in any case, but with a run of games coming up against more moderate opposition, one hopes that all it’ll take to persuade teams to be a little more circumspect is a sucker punch, someone being caught on the hop by going too bold, too early.  We live in hope.

In the meantime, here we are again.  It could and perhaps should have been disastrous;  had this obstinate, physical Rovers side gone ahead in their opening flurry a much more frustrating and ultimately, potentially, less profitable afternoon would surely have ensued. There wasn’t much in it.  Daniel Bachmann’s biggest challenge is certainly psychological, since whenever his form wavers or events call his capabilities into question he tenses up, too desperate to redeem any perceived failings, and thus makes a domino tumble of catastrophes more likely.  A clean sheet here, albeit against a side who proved far more blunt than the early threat suggested, will do him no harm but nobody will have missed his repeating the trick of mystifyingly pushing a cross-shot out towards the penalty spot to exacerbate this early chaos.  Dominic Hyam seized upon the chance, TV replays betraying how very close we were to going behind as the shot came off the crossbar and bounced behind the line but not behind enough.  Makhtar Gueye’s first header was pushed out by Bachmann, his second as the ball came back in sent narrowly wide under the attention of Mattie Pollock.

3- Gueye proved a combative opponent, his duel with Francisco Sierralta leaving craters in the turf and nearby buildings in ruins.  Sierralta picked up a yellow after half an hour after losing his rag and upping the ante in one particular confrontation but ultimately emerged victorious as Gueye was replaced on the hour.  No small achievement on a yellow card, that, and worth noting that despite Angelo Ogbonna’s absence for six to eight weeks being a significant loss, Sierralta’s return is well timed given that his own form is as good as it’s been since the early partnership with William Troost-Ekong that proved a bedrock to our promotion in 2021.  Gueye, meanwhile, struck an increasingly angry and frustrated figure reflecting, no doubt, his failure to record a League goal for his new club as yet.  A weapon, nonetheless.

Having survived that early flurry we established a foothold.  Which… paints an inaccurate picture of the game, our opponents and our own fortitude.  There was never much of a game to establish a foothold in for one thing, less a well structured football match than a pile of loose rubble.  Rovers themselves appeared to have oversold their own attacking threat through this opening period (ably assisted by the League table – though in fairness fans of Norwich, Preston and Luton might justifiably hold similar reservations about our own League position as a marker of quality) and whilst we did improve in that we progressed from being under the cosh we didn’t create an awful lot.

Comfortably our best chance came from a glorious attack instigated when Giorgi sprung Festy down the right flank.  A force for good throughout, Ebosele screamed along the face of the Sir Elton John Stand before dropping a tremendous cross to the far post where Kwadwo Baah was setting himself up, only to horribly miscue from a good position and send a decent chance badly wide.  This incident aside, this was a big improvement on Baah’s start at Preston, for instance, but he still looks like a good player playing out of position.  If runs like this develop his ability to lead the line we’ll benefit, but otherwise we simply trade a vibrant, potent winger for a halfway-adequate striker.

4- The second period opened with a flurry of yellow cards that characterised a disruptively fussy display from referee Darren England.  After Larouci had been felled without censure, Giorgi picked up a harsh yellow for an aggressive retributory tackle, Kayembe followed for his protests and Baah shortly after for shooting after the referee’s whistle curtailed the opportunity through an offside call.  Blackburn were physical rather than dirty but, in the character of their head coach, trod the fine line between the two…  England seemed prepared to indulge them this, but applied a zero-tolerance approach to our own frustrations.  Kayembe seemed the likeliest to succumb to a second yellow, courting disaster with one late, retaliatory shove after the ball had gone, our occasional indiscipline rearing its head again.

I was expecting his number as the board went up;  instead we saw the start of the process that would ultimately win us a tight game and leaving us once again deserving of that narrow victory.  Tom’s nailed his colours to a particular formation, guiding recruitment towards three at the back in particular but it’s good to see some tactical flexibility particularly when, as here, it’s effective.

Bayo for Ince, who had made limited inroads in attack but did what was once Tom’s on-field role of calming everything the hell down after the early excitement, was the first change with Giorgi dropping back into a deeper midfield role and Baah released to the flank with all the enthusiasm of a puppy being finally taken out for a walk.  Bayo, still Daughter 2’s biggest grumble, has this aggravating knack of putting in a performance one game in four or so, just as his biggest detractors (see above) expect to see the back of him.  Whilst more from Bayo is clearly needed, the infrequency of these high spots doesn’t mean one shouldn’t enjoy them when they come along.  His half hour here was a tour de force, characterised by a hitherto unsuggested penchant for brutality in winning flick-ons, seemingly incorporating a running rather than standing jump.  These were popular and effective in setting a more bullish tone.

But with a breakthrough still yet to be forthcoming the key switch ten minutes later saw a blameless Pollock replaced by Rocco Vata, Sema also on for Larouci in a more orthodox switch.  Vata and Baah now played either side of Bayo with Sissoko anchoring a three-man midfield in front of a four-man back line.  The penalty would follow minutes later, borne of Baah’s increased potency on the flank, but we would look hugely more potent for the remainder.

John Eustace would protest the penalty after the game, but whilst Rovers were unlucky not to have scored early on and can thus can be forgiven for counting themselves unfortunate on balance, he’s kidding himself.  Baah’s cross was spooned upwards, Bayo attacked the loose ball with his head and Ryan Hedges’ hands were up around his ears.  It wasn’t a deliberate infringement in that he wasn’t trying to punch the thing, but you can’t wave your arms around like that and object when they get in the way of the ball.

There followed what seemed an anxious delay in the absence of regular penalty taker Dele-Bashiru with a prolonged conference on the touchline seeming to involve Giorgi refusing the offer before Festy appeared to claim responsibility by marching back towards the penalty area in determined fashion with ball under arm.  A surprise then when Kayembe claimed the kick, only to be delayed further as England stayed in character by objecting to the ball rolling off the centre of the spot.  We feared the worst as Kayembe started his run up some twenty minutes after the award of the kick, but these concerns proved unfounded as the penalty was all but perfect, firmly into the side netting.  Goalkeeper Pears would have done well to get within a foot of it, even if he’d dived the right way.

5- “His head’s f***ing massive…” rattled around Vicarage Road.  This wasn’t quite “it”…  Vata enjoyed a lively cameo, and Blackburn had opportunities to salvage a point.  For the most part however it was akin to trading blows with a lumbering ogre.  Perhaps an ogre particularly fond of set pieces… in any case, thence came the biggest threat, but as with avoiding an ogre’s swings of a club (though I can’t profess to first hand experience of this) you’re fine as long as you’re paying attention.  Our vulnerability from set pieces didn’t evidence itself and the final whistle blew to no small relief.

 And so the pendulum swings the other way and we can enjoy this week in the almost certainly misguided hope that this resilience, this ability to grind out results and to find a winning goal from our array of fun attacking things can translate into away form.  

At least until Hillsborough next Saturday.  See you there.

Yooorns.

Bachmann 2, *Ebosele 4*, Larouci 2, Pollock 3, Sierralta 4, Porteous 3, Sissoko 3, Kayembe 3, Ince 3, Chakvetadze 4, Baah 3

Subs: Bayo (for Ince, 59) 4, Vata (for Pollock, 64) 3, Sema (for Larouci , 64) 3, Andrews (for Baah, 84) NA, Doumbia, Louza, Morris, Tikvić, Bond