fbpx
Connect with us

Championship

Anthony Knockaert has had it with Watford fans bringing up his penalty miss from 11 years ago

Anthony Knockaert has had it with Watford fans bringing up his penalty miss from 11 years ago, taking to Instagram stories overnight.

The 32 year old went off on a rant after Watford fans continued to wind him up over seeing his spot kick saved during the Leicester v Watford playoff semi-final second leg back in 2013.

With the aggregate scores level, he won a spot kick for Leicester deep into stoppage time, he opted to take it himself, only to see it was saved by Hornets keeper Manuel Almunia, who then saved the follow-up, leading to the famous goal by Troy Deeney that sent Watford to Wembley.

Despite this, he did still manage to be awarded Young Player of the Year and Goal of the Season against Huddersfield Town, and finished his first season making 47 appearances and scoring nine times in all competitions.

But with the penalty having such high stakes, it will live long in the memory of both Leicester and Watford fans’ heads especially with it one of the most talked about and watched moments in English football.

He wrote on Insta:

🔥 Anthony Knockaert goes off on Watford fans trolling him for penalty miss in Leicester v Watford play-offs game pic.twitter.com/jqsPWkBnf1

— FosseHub (@FosseHub) August 4, 2024

Image

“Anthony is distraught as you would expect,” admitted Leicester manager Nigel Pearson at the time.

“I’m the first to admit it was a generous penalty decision. But to concede off the resulting penalty save is very hard to take.

“Unfortunately that’s the nature of the beast. It can be a very cruel game at times and for the players to experience that is very tough.”

“I missed a penalty for Leicester against Watford in the 2013 Championship playoffs. They then scored straight from the counter-attack and reached the final at Wembley instead of us.

In 2016, he was asked about recovering from disappointment, per FourFourTwo: “It was a bad moment for me and my family, but I also felt really bad for the supporters and the club.

“It was important to move on quickly. I felt bad on the day and for a few days afterwards, but I could have scored and then we might have ended up losing in the final against Crystal Palace anyway, so that would have been much worse.

“A week later, I was thinking about the new season. I don’t live in the past. It’s only football, and you have to put things in perspective. My life could have been a lot worse at that point. Mentally I’m someone who is very strong. You have to move on.

“I received some messages from Watford fans that weren’t very nice. The following season we beat them 3-0 and I scored. That was revenge for me. We also got promoted at the end of the season, which was an incredible feeling. You never know what will happen in the future.”

Watford trolled over their new range celebrating anniversary of Troy Deeney’s goal vs Leicester

Reflecting on his time at Leicester, he said, per the Daily Mail: “‘I loved it there but I didn’t deserve to be treated how I was last season in terms of playing games. I thought I deserved better. That is why I wanted to leave.

‘I had a very good relationship with the manager but it was hard last season. I think I was better than what I had. What I showed in Championship the year before should have meant more games to me last year.

‘I thought I had the quality to play. But he (Pearson) didn’t give me three games or four games (in a row) to show what I can show. Sometimes 15 minutes in a game, sometimes 10 minutes. But this is football.’

Knockaert was offered a four-year contract to stay but instead decided to join Standard Liege on a Bosman free transfer. Then Brighton signed him in January 2016.

He added: ‘At my age it is important to be playing. To be honest, I thought it would still be him (Pearson) this season and I thought he wouldn’t give me my chance again.’

‘In 2013, the play-off against Watford, the last minute was a nightmare for me,’ he said. ‘You can miss a penalty, that happens, but they scored just a second later. That is what hurt me. After a week I was already thinking about the next season.’

This is how Twitter users reacted as Anthony Knockaert has had it with Watford fans bringing up his penalty miss from 11 years ago…

@MattTalksSport_: 11 years on and getting rattled😂

@b1rno: DEEEEEENNNEEEEEY

@SSE_LTFC: Things we love to see

@PossiblyGeorge: Anthony Knockaert going off on Instagram because he’s sick of having the iconic 2012/2013 play-offs between Leicester v Watford finish still brought up to him to his day. Watford and Troy Deeney living off a West Coast and Dom Sheed moment and doing fk all since. Saddos 😭

@ciaran7durham: Anthony Knockaert 1 – Watford fans 0

@YorkiePuds44: Tbh he is spot on lol 😂

@SFCJoeyy_: He cooked them tbf

@IanBurt71719238: Must be depressing knowing that that’s the highlight of your modern club history.

@Icfctoby: Loool I love him man

@PaulRoc98942725: It only happened that way because you cheated you prick so you should just take it on the chin and stop crying about it 🤔

@TropicHands: He’s cookin, absolute slaughter of a statement right on knockaert

@lcfcjoss: What a man. He even dunked on their heads the season after and we got promoted 😭

@hammo05: That’s unreal😭😭

@LestahGeorge: he’s lost it hasn’t he 🤣

@Charlie230701: Didn’t expect to wake up to knockaert going in on watford 😭🤣 #bhafc

@v3leedsinfidel: How many years has it been??? 😭😭😭

@elliott20169: I mean he’s not wrong

@watford_fcnews: Unreal headloss, 11 years on

@AlexPanto21: the fact that this is real is wild

@tufcalfie: Here’s Hogg

@HellholeIsland: I assume that means it doesn’t play on his mind and he’s completely forgotten about it? 😂

@DRG1999s: Fully rumbled him 😂

@BroxbourneYids: Rent free that 😂

@rogersamways2: DEEEENEEEYYYY!!!!!

@fraserwebster12: Here’s Hogg.

@lestahciteh23: Tbf you boys do love that Deeney moment too much just for it to end in nothing

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

More in Championship