Watford (h) – The Review

Well we’re on course to smash those Crystal Palace losers and take the record outright for the most Premier League era relegations. Up yours Eagles!

That we always now look a poor midfield pass away from being swamped. We got to see it after 76 seconds this week.

Erm… well it’s lovely to have Super Mario back. The game had gone by the time he arrived but he’s another returnee we can at least pin our hopes on.

Drmic made sure he was in the right place at the right time in order to be hilariously hoofed off the pitch by Kabasele, alas to no avail.

A further blow to the club’s finances awaits with compensation claims for injuries caused by people falling off their seats when substitutions were made in the 62nd minute. But in all seriousness there’s only so much he can do with what he’s working with right now, the big mistakes were out on the pitch.

The effort to get out there early and support the players in the warm up was noticeable despite the rank weather, and is a welcome addition which the players can only appreciate. How they respond to booing is a whole other can or worms that I’m not going to open here. There was a good crowd response to the disastrous start but the second goal killed things off.

We’re only 4 points adrift with two thirds of the season still to go but it’s hard to not assume right now that this is going one way. Michael Bailey speaking on the radio before the game described the “muscle memory” that we have as a fan-base having witnessed a fair few relegations in recent times – we know how it starts, how it looks and feels. It’s something we’re going to have to make peace with. If the plan is to keep the faith and “do a Burnley”, which seems sensible to me, we’ll have to take our joy where we can find it along the way.