For those that joined over the summer, I don’t know much about football. I am not quite at the level of a kitten pawing at a screen, wondering how such sorcery is achieved in the human world, but I’m not far off. You should look to others if you want in-depth tactical analysis.
Instead, I prefer to focus on the view from the Itchen North corner, and the sort of experience that was had. There have been a few positive changes. Not only has Sfcsim nabbed the seat next to me, but there are also a trio of new lads in front of us who seem to be up for singing. We got a few things going. Could be a decent opportunity to invent a few new songs as well.
Saw a Sikh mate of mine in the Rockstone. He and his crew have all got season tickets for Itchen North too. We’re the international wing of the stadium.
Watford’s fans, to be fair, weren’t terrible. They were in good voice while they had the lead, although they need to work on their songs more than we do. Remember how “der der der der, Graziano” was sung to the tune of “fucking useless”? Well these geniuses sing “Watford FC” to the tune of “you’re fucking shit!”, something the Itchen North dutifully reminded the Hornets every time they fired it up.
They predictably lost their voice after we equalised, only really piping up after the goal was ruled offside.
My lone madman moment in the crowd was singing “you dirty northern bastards”, which raised some chuckles and one other singer. Never took off though.
The North car partk was closed off afterward, but didn’t notice any trouble on my way out of the game. We did have one moment when people in Itchen North craned their necks around, usually a sign that’s something is kicking off near one of the executive boxes. Dunno what all that was about.
On the game itself, I’m encouraged, especially with Redmond getting a debut goal. We should really have secured our first opening home day win of the season since 1988, but we were in part unlucky, part careless and part fighting against the ref. Love the new signings. Don’t really care if Cedric has just won the EUROS. We looked a lot better after Pied came on. Redmond was impressive throughout. Neither JWP or Stevo had good games. Much of Watford’s limited attacking threat came gifted via sloppiness. Maya’s mistake could have cost us the game.
Think we need a couple more players this window. Goatboy and both his mates said the same thing at the pub afterward. “He has got one in him every game”. If we want to improve, defensive cover is an area we need to look at urgently.
We didn’t lose, and demonstrated much to suggest that we can win some games. The second half performance is going to worry a few defences if it’s replicated. The rub of the green won’t always be as bad as it was yesterday, altthough fair play to Watford’s keeper. He kept them in the game at times.
Good start to the season. Looking forward to see more of the Puel age.
Think we will be fine.
