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Match Of The Day a few quick thoughts

Only 6 games on Match Of The Day which should mean a decent Match Of The Day 2 Tonight and if you’re lucky (basically if I have time) then you may even get a bonus edition Tomorrow

I watched both the Everton v Arsenal and Crystal Palace vs Leicester games in full so you can read those views here:

http://realfootballman.com/2016/03/20/crystal-palace-vs-leicester-a-few-quick-thoughts/

http://realfootballman.com/2016/03/19/everton-vs-arsenal-a-few-quick-thoughts/

    That left 4 other games and there was still a few stories that came out of those. Namely West Ham’s failure to move up into 4th place for at least 24 hours. A draw that in reality feels like a loss. They will of course point to the fact that Chelsea were given a Get Out Of Jail Free Card in the form of a Penalty in the 89th MinuteYes Michail Antonio’s challenge on Ruben Loftus-Cheek was clumsy but more importantly it was outside the box. Maybe it’s difficult for the Referee to make the correct call in real time like that when it’s so close to the line but that will come as no comfort to Slaven Bilic and his West Ham side. With Chelsea’s season all but finished there were a fair few players going through the motions and it was West Ham who created the best chances and looked the more likely to win the game
    But there failure to close out each half without conceding may come back to haunt them, a missed opportunity at Stamford Bridge yesterday for The Hammers
    West Brom vs Norwich seemed even from the highlights as a pretty tepid watch. A solitary shot on target between the two sides but Norwich won’t care too much as it was that shot on target which gave them the lead and more importantly an absolutely vital win.
    That was their first win in 11 matches and fans of both Newcastle and Sunderland won’t have enjoyed that result, that makes the Tyne-Wear Derby even larger in magnitude now as the loser of that game will be cast further adrift
    I had a feeling in my preview of this game that Norwich may get something from this with West Brom’s securing safety for another season thanks to their previous run of form you had a feeling that they may put the brake on and Yesterday they did exactly that.
    I don’t think Tony Pulis is going to allow that for the next 7 matches and it was quite apparent that he knew that was exactly what happened Yesterday as he said in his press conference that none of his players came away from that game with any real credit. A fair assessment in my point of view
    Watford still haven’t quite got over the line, that’s now 4 games without a win and 3 defeats in a row. They probably only need one more win but there may be some concern for Quique Sanchez Flores that the momentum has all but slipped away I think the fact that they had such a good first half of the season has no doubt helped them and certainly made the last 2 months of the season less tense than they could have been
    You can also point to the fact that the goals have dried up, it’s now just an average of 1 per game with Odion Igahlo seemingly forgetting where the net is at the moment. It’s still be a decent season for Watford and not forgetting they are in the F.A. Cup Semi Final, they’ll be fine but it certainly has been a season of two halves
    As for their opponents Stoke, they keep their hopes of snatching a Europa League place alive with a win at Vicarage Road. After losing to fellow chasers Southampton they bounced back in the best possible way with a win.
    On top for most of the game they did let Watford back in the game late on when Troy Deeney scored but they had enough in them to see the game out and come away with all 3 points
    While as for Swansea vs Aston Villa – obviously on last for a reason I had the misfortune of also watching this one in full but couldn’t even find 250 words to write about the gameSwansea move a step closer to safety, one more win will do it for them and the decision to bring Francesco Guidolin in to work along side Alan Curtis looks an inspired one. The question now is will Guidolin stay on next season
    As for Aston Villa they are down, I don’t care about the mathematics they are done. The question now is will Remi Garde stay on next season. I don’t think he’ll be making that decision, I reckon he’ll be sacked.

 

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