You've answered your own 'bog-standard' response by acknowledging there's a balance to be struck (for the likes of Welbeck, Sarr & Chalobah). Chalobah did come on, as did a previous/potential game changer in Deulofeu. Success did well when he came on - could have done better, could have been a lot worse. There is no way such an important player & goal threat from last season as Deulofeu is 100% fit after playing a part in just 2(?) pre-season games. He would've been ideal to play off Gray today but even someone who started pre-season late like Pereyra (who also had 64 minutes in his legs from midweek) started in front of him. And just because Welbeck & Sarr stayed on the bench doesn't mean they would've done any better, we'll never know. As for Deeney being the only player not available - just because players are said to be available doesn't mean they're fully match fit - Deeney playing with a knee injury for the first three games a case in point, and we have no idea how some of those who played against Coventry recovered to be able to play today. Welbeck played his first 90 minutes since October 4 2018 in midweek following two sub appearances against Everton & West Ham. My guess is he was only ever coming on if we were losing going into the final 15-20 minutes. The same for Sarr. He's still settling into a new club, new language, new league, no pre-season etc. etc. He looked awful at times against Coventry. He struggled against Mason in the first half and could barely run with the ball unchallenged for the most part, often kicking the ball too far ahead of himself to be of any use, while his crossing was shocking and he cut a pretty frustrated figure when things went wrong of his own doing. Being up there today is all part of settling in and, like Welbeck, he may have been used if we were behind late on. It may even come down to personal match ups as to who comes on, something identified when the opposition is scouted/studied beforehand. I don't know that but they're my opinions with hindsight.
This man would certainly grace a Silvikrin advert. Ideally, washing all that under a tropical waterfall. https://images.app.goo.gl/XdLHby9zp7BtMhTc9
If I worked for the club I definitely wouldn't be reading the knee-jerk reactions on here. As it is I barely skim through the threads any more because there's so little thought out posting going on. We're either the worst team ever or should be challenging for Europe, all dependent on if we win or not. No middle ground whatsoever. If we don't sign the right player it's because we didn't go in for him or didn't offer enough. Maybe, just maybe, we're not attractive to the next level of player needed to progress? There is no big picture by the majority of posters, we're simply **** or amazing. Yet I'm the delusional one? Okay.
Firstly, that was a horrible horrible football match. We were far better against West Ham, they just had the likes of Anderson, Haller, and Lanzini to actually punish us. Abdoulaye Doucouré what has happened to you? For me, the game was CRYING out for width, I just don't get the style anymore. When Hughes or Pereyra picked up the ball in their wide AM positions, Femenia or Janmaat weren't overlapping. When Femenia or Janmaat picked up the ball, Hughes or Pereyra weren't (because they're slow and not wingers) getting past them either. We were just playing back into the middle and losing it if a through ball to Gray didn't stick. I thought it was scarily obvious that a centre-back had to be sacrificed for Deuolofeu, flat back four, Sarr on for Pereyra and go wide. Let AD, TC & WH be the engine in the middle. I'm not a footballing expert but I really can't see the flaw in that? But okay cool let's look past that, Chalobah and Success come for whatever Gracia's reasons were. I'll trust he's not a total buffoon and something was actually wrong with the wingers on the bench hence the call. He does that, THEN takes Gray off and leaves us with a back five when chasing the game!? He should've taken off a centre back there and let Success & Deulofeu whip some balls in for Gray to scramble in. Just absolutely baffling decision making. I saw the fight in the Everton & West Ham game. None today, got a feeling players belief in Javi is waning. Holebas total omission for "tactical" reasons can't have gone down well. Welbeck & Sarr unused can't have gone down well. Stinks like a relegation ship right now. No idea what I would do though. Give a new manager the international break, hope Arsenal & City don't batter us and ruin any confidence in the new manager before he has a chance. Bring the manager in now, give him international break AND the two toughies as free hits to scout and experiment before easing it in with the Swansea cup game. Or let Javi sleepwalk his way through those two fixtures then sack him with an almost guaranteed one point after six? Tough, tough call for Gino, if he gives Javi the Arsenal game and he wins that would be a plot twist and a half! Either way, we're bottom with the worst goal difference in the league, fifth-worst in the country and one of eight teams out of 92 to have not won a game yet. One of them being Bolton.. Glad I'm not in charge right now.
I saw it live with my own eyes from ******* 1000000 rows up and couldn't BELIEVE VAR missed it. Made me think I was going crazy. But it can rule out a goal for an offside shoulder. Absolute farce and nobody is responsible for it?
He’ll be praised for following the party line on decisions involving Watford. I thought everyone knew the score on this by now? Some still in denial or unaware I see.
And your “analysis” is simply reverse engineering tenuous reasons why Gracia makes odd selections and substitutions. Sarr isn’t fit because he missed pre-season on internationals (but Pereyra is fine having done the same thing). Delefeou can’t possibly be fit after only playing half our pre-season games (yet ignoring the fact he played all 3 opening games which obviously develops fitness above someone like Kabasele who has seen little action). You accuse others of lacking thought but then just post a bunch of pointless guesses of your own.
Well if a 21 year old isn't fully fit after 2/3 weeks of training then should we be worried about his general fitness ? I thought Sarr was ok against Coventry - least showed some pace and forward thinking ! Fair enough about Welbeck but he came on at Everton 2 weeks ago ... Has one full 90 minutes knackered him ?
Utter piffle. A player is either fit, meaning he’s ready to play anything between 60 and 90 minutes as required, or he isn’t, in which case he shouldn’t be in the matchday squad. You can’t have some halfway house of ‘not match fit’ with players on the bench who are not going to play. I also think you have been unduly harsh regarding the performances of those who played against Coventry, purely to support your argument. Of course the manager is free to choose who he likes in the team but don’t pretend it’s because all the others are ‘not match fit’ or not in good enough form.
Pawson needs sacking for that, or at least a fine. We all know there are no recriminations for officials not doing their jobs properly though.
Can someone please tell Javi, his goalkeeper and central defenders are playing long ball, while his midfield and forward line are playing tippy tappy football. In this moment, I believe our players are definitely not singing from the same hymn sheet
The midfield were tippy tappy yesterday because... a) Deeney wasn't there for the hoof ball which misses the midfield entirely. b) Delefoo didn't start as he's the only one that tries to drive towards the goal with the ball to shoot. Cleverley cant, Hughes cant, Doucs cant, Pereyra maybe once or twice in half a season if he can be bothered. c) Don't think we had a forward line worth talking about yesterday because of b). Looking forward to Sarr playing to improve b) and c)
Yesterday, the subs that came on should have been game changing subs to push on and win the game. The way the game was going everybody could see what was needed and Gracia did the opposite by bringing on like for like players and it having a small effect on the outcome. The subs played fine, but it’s the lack of initiative shown that for me is the final straw. We need to win games to survive not scrape ‘decent points away’. It was a winnable game, Newcastle were not bad, but we had game changers on the bench that could have come on and took us to the next level to win the game. That team was no where near our best and for Javi to make out we went there and set up for the win is a stone cold lie. He set up to stop the rot and not lose. We are a better team than that and even if Welbeck & Sarr aren’t ready even for a small 20 minute cameo, which is absolute tosh by the way, we had the options to replace them on the bench with other game ready players. Our team doesn’t have an identity at the moment. The only plan I could see yesterday was ‘if we play with more defenders we concede less goals, simples’. What about going forward? No width, go through the middle and hoof to Gray. If that’s the order of service this season then 1 he deserves the boot and 2 Gino is an idiot for putting up with it.
We would draw with Sheff Utd after an improved, but flawed display on the back of heavy losses to Arsenal, Wolved and City and be told, "there are no easy games in this league. Sheffield Utd are fighting for points as much as us. We aren't entitled to beat them." Then we can settle back, content with our 2 points from 8 matches, realising just how far we've come.
In normal circumstances a point away is usually decent. Newcastle are never all that strong but can be intimidating on their own patch. The two away performances have been acceptable. Only one legal goal conceded which is good. At home we’ve been an absolute horror show. Already Brighton have shown they are still a sack of sh1t, yet they destroyed us. We were so off the pace, and I said at the time that result will haunt Gracia for a long time. We were just not ready for the season and you have to lay the blame for that with Gracia. Now we’re are looking at the real possibility of only 1 point from 7 games. Is any manager going to survive a run like that? I just can’t see it.
It seems to me that after early-season criticism refs are being very cautious about using VAR to overturn decisions. Only major errors now seem to count, not technical illegalities like Newcastle's accidental handball. A pragmatic ignoring of the rules which I would welcome if it hadn't worked against Watford.
The 'performance' against BHA was unfathomable. Sometimes one match can pollute a team or player for a long time and in some cases for all time. Two instances in tennis Guillermo Coria choked the Roland Garros final against Gaston Gaudio in 2004. He was never the same again. To this day I don't suppose Gaudio knows how he won. Tsitsipas has hardly won a match since losing an epic against Wawrinka at Roland Garros this spring. I'm sure he'll recover but it does stay with you and the manner of our capitulation on the first day was hugely worrying. Anyone can lose,we know that but to be so under prepared and complacent,as Foster admitted,is deeply concerning. I simply do not believe Javi can correct this and from what many have said,nor it seems do the players.
Mine isn't analysis, it's guesswork just like anyone else on here. But I'm trying to understand why certain decisions have been made rather than just lash out with an emotive reaction. Whoever was saying before 3pm on Saturday Gracia was picking a team because he must know he's getting sacked or is gobsmacked at a different system being played despite the failings of the previous matches are apparently straight thinking individuals. All I've tried to set out is why certain individuals haven't played rather than why some did. I agree some of it contradicts but as we both say, it's guesswork. I didn't mean Delefeou isn't just not match fit, I think he's carrying an injury. So playing time, as you suggest, in that regard wouldn't necessarily mean getting fitter but could/would make it worse. For what its worth, Delefeou has played 45, 78, 73, 0, then 9 minutes. I think that's being managed. Pereyra played 45 then 90 minutes before missing the game vs. West Ham through injury. Then had 64 minutes before another 90. Played 1 and a half, injured for 1, played 1 and two thirds. In total, Delefeou 205 minutes, Pereyra 288 minutes. That's why I think the former is being looked after with the latter also but to a lesser extent because my opinion (guess!) is Delefeou has an injury while Pereyra is about general fitness and conditioning. I think Sarr is getting little game time right now due to what I said previously and also because of that horrible modern phrase, integration. I don't fully agree with it but then I've never been in his situation so I'll take it for what it seems (I know, more guessing!) Kabasele had an 'easy' night against Coventry but yes, it goes against what I set out elsewhere. I do also think it's easier (NOT easy!) for a centre-back to play back to back games rather than an attacking midfielder - although with the amount of pressure our defence has been under that's probably not true right now! If that doesn't make any sense then fine, we'll keep guessing in different directions as the season goes on.
We were never amazing. If you had bothered to read the posts last season when we’re were doing well you would have seen most people on here we’re saying we were in a false position and that we still needed a better set of defenders. At no point last season were we amazing! If Watford, an established PL side can’t attract a better set of defenders than we currently have we might as well all go home. What a silly statement. The fact is we just don’t want to spend the money.
You forgot to mention the ‘Watford clause’. It will be enforced unless is benefits Watford, then it will be ignored and will be put down as an ‘unusual error’.
I won't set out another long post trying to explain my guesswork, but two things; If Welbeck and Sarr weren't to be trusted physically to play more than a short part in yesterdays game, who would you have had on the bench? Other than Okaka there wasn't a proper centre forward in the squad who could have been there instead of Welbeck, and he is supposedly on his way anyway. If you want an u23 player sat there then you've not seen them play, Dalby would get eaten alive in general play right now. The two central strikers of any worth in the development squad are Jakubiak & Folivi, both out on loan. Cassidy hasn't seen a match day squad this season if he's still even here. For Sarr? Again, no like for like replacement to play wide who is available from the main squad. Penaranda? Not a wide player. U23? Did you see how out of his depth Forster looked in pre-season? And like Cassidy, not seen an u23 match day squad yet either. Maybe Joseph Hungbo, he has looked promising, but he's very left sided, so maybe use Delefeou on the right? Maybe. But... there was a game versus a Wimbledon development side on Thursday (we won 3-1) which I'll guess included most of the u23s as they hadn't played since August 23 and won't play again until September 6. Despite us having 30 players in various states of fitness and form, there weren't many options other than Welbeck or Sarr to put on the bench anyway, regardless of how fit they actually are. And no, I wasn't being overly critical of our players against Coventry to suit my argument. I posted on that match thread all the players at some point looked poor, some more than others. I thought we were poor until spaces appeared due to them pushing on in the second half meaning our midfield/forward players had less pressure when on the ball and more time and space to play. It finished well but we didn't play that well.
Forget the dreadful performance. His decision to not use Sarr Welbeck, and Geri until the 80th minute was downright disgusting and i'm pretty sure a massive **** you to Gino as no there was no clear football reason for that nonsense. I won't be going again until he's gone, the time and money i've spent going to Liverpool and Newcastle to watch this horrible brand of football is just not worth it anymore.
Okay, you'll all be relieved I'll go back into my bunker after this one! There has been plenty of hyperbole around this place when we've played well and won. It's the nature of the football fan to see the good, exaggerate it and forget the missed chances at our end. Many said we threw away a chance of a 7th placed finish when we tailed off at the end. Best group of players etc., etc., etc. As you say, there have been doubts about the defence all along the way, especially when we didn't win - and that was my point, in general it's great when we win but we're somehow defying the odds with rotten defenders when we lose. No middle ground. As for not buying defenders, we were linked with a lot in the last window and not one of us on here knows how seriously we went after them. And after spending £30m+ on Sarr, I don't believe we won't spend a decent amount on a defender who actually wants to come here. But I'm just guessing, I'm not fully in the know like a lot on here.
Totally inexplicable, particularly as another new guy, Dawson, came straight into the team and is instantly undroppable.
I think that is a tough call. Having the money and not spending it is one thing, yes that I could agree on if we had millions like Abi Dhabi City, but we have to live within our means. Look at what happened to Bury. It's such a fine line between splashing out on a top LB then failing to balance the books afterwards. If Sarr bangs in 25 goals this season and we finish 8th fantastic. Where you finish = prize money. Unfortunatly, our clueless Goblin Gracia cannot pick a team or formation that can push us in the right direction. His unwillingness to change will send us down. This would severly hurt us financially and would mean big wage cutting costs. We could probably take the hit, but any major signings made would almost certainly be sold off to coup any losses. It's such a delicate balance.
