Satisfying win. Very nervy at the end. Can’t say it was a dominant display but competent (other than for the own goal).
Bachmann is a much more rounded keeper than Foster, and like Chalobah (And would wager Zinckernagel) will get better with more game time but his handling of crosses is suspect. Does need to be improved. His character is good though and I think it will. He strikes me as someone who isn't happy to stand still.
Sierralta has to come back in. No one has explained why Wilmot was pushed out of the team for him. He then misses a game through injury and now moves Sierralta out of the side. Does this mean we are picking centrebacks on seniority rather than form ? Wilmot and Sierralta are a mobile, sound and balanced combination. If we play like we did in the first twenty and understandably may have faded in the second we will win most matches and that includes the other contenders. Let us hope they all slip up, that mini league between us all is one we must win.
We struggled when Hughes came off, just like against QPR, but it's something we have to manage really, an all-action player like him can't play all game every game, but we don't have much in the way of alternatives, especially in a midfield 3
I cannot blame the SH too much. Ridiculous Sky schedule to force a Friday game. We dug in and held on. Jesus though Troost is becoming a bit of a liability at the back. No reason Sarrelta was rested, we needed him. Derby are a good side, fair play to them they never gave up and almost snatched a point. I cannot see them slipping back into danger. It was a big ask tonight of the lads, and they delivered. Will Hughes is a fantastic footballer, pulling all the strings and marshalled the midfield. Pedro a bit lucky for the first goal but we seem to be having a lot of luck this season. Hard fought win, and we continue our sublime home record results wise. I thought Bachmann was a big cagey especially with that fumble over the bar but he has been immense so far in general. Well earned rest now. We can watch Saturday and hope some results go our way.
I hope Sierralta was dropped for a necessary reason. He needs to come back in straight away. I wonder if @reids is taking notes of their set-pieces? Best I've seen in a long time. Masina and T-E were absolute dog-turd on the ball. Sema struggled to get involved. JP had probably his best game of the season, not only did he get the goal but he generally led the line better than he has done in the past with his runs and hold-up play with his back to goal. We were still too sloppy at times, but we definitely do seem to have turned a corner in the general level of performances and the all-round pace and intensity of our play. Derby only really threatened from set-pieces and we deserved the win.
A good win and a great week, but why make subs when 2-0 up and in complete control with 15 mins to go? Can someone buy Kiko some moth spray for his sock drawer? In the absence of Troy and Andre can I propose Zinc 'the soft boy' as the new scapegoat? COYH!!
The first 30 minutes were among the best I’ve seen us play this season. In the end we made that harder for ourselves than we needed. Phew, those were nervy final few minutes. But we made it through them. Job done. Just. The bigger picture though is this time last week many of us were full of despair after three winless games and some poor performances and tactics. Less than a week later we’ve won three in a row and boosted our goal difference by +8. Seemingly invincible Brentford have lost twice in that time, and we’ve put some pressure on both they and Swansea/Norwich too now. If a week is a long time in politics, the same could be true of our season and the Championship in general. We are right in the mix. Somehow! PS Sierralta man of the match tonight
So Bachmann saves from the corner kick, but they don't have a shot on target? If you score directly from a corner does it not count as a shot?
Some teams are going to sit on Hughes because they know how important he is, so the centre backs are going to have to help progress the ball. For me Troost-Ekong has played his way out of the team tonight, I haven't seen a defender so uncomfortable on the ball for us since Doyley. What a truly dreadful performance from him, embarrassing stuff.
24/02/2021 - 19:45 - Blackburn Rovers (a) If someone can do this please put your hand up, Skyla is doing Bournemouth next week.
The Sarr-Kiko combination is unplayable. The way Sarr helps out Kiko defensively is so impressive and will win him plaudits from Klopp which is his likely destination next season. Chalobahs best game for ages, he is really benefitting from being released from the holding role where he looked too conservative and nervy with the ball at his feet. And of course Hughes excellence in that role has allowed Chalobah to play a higher risk game further forward.
Cathcart had Ekong next to him who is error prone and a goalkeeper who was flapping at the ball at times and looking nervy. Cathcart shouldn't be dropped for a sliced 93rd clearance that did no damage, when he was ok for the other 90+ mins. The problem was that Sierralta was replaced with an error prone player which is where their goal came from.
Good question lol, I don't think I'd classify that as a shot, just get it in the mixer and hope for the best really
Oh yeah, hats off to JP tonight. He didn't stop running and most of his touches were sublime.... Add a few more goals and he will be will be top drawer..! Plus Challobah seems more like his old self since the formation change, his inter play with kiko and sarr was brilliant to watch...
He has been like this all season. Unable to pass out from the back or overhitting passes. Even the pass that nearly made it's way into Pedros path was a overhit down the line to Sarr that curled back in. Get Wilmot in with Sierralta or if needs be Cathcart. The Chilean colossus would have made short work of don't leave me hanging.
A few people questioning the subs, I thought they made sense tbh - we couldn't afford Chalobah or Hughes getting another booking, Gosling is pretty much like-for-like with Chalobah and Wilmot was able to provide some additional aerial presence in front of the defence which Hughes doesn't have and which was necessary given their biggest threat was set-pieces.
A good academy they've got there, who should we nick off them for a cut price as we unload our surplus to requirements players on them?
Think tonight highlighted our lack of depth in CM. All looked knackered, but we only really have Gosling as an option on the bench. I criticised our pressing the other week, but fair play to Xisco, it looked much better today.
We just about get away with playing 1 CB poor with the ball at their feet, but to play 2 is an unforgivable mistake by xisco. Not when he has Wilmot and Sieralta sitting on the bench. Unacceptable.
I remember when we signed him, I found a YouTube video of him playing the ball into feet through the lines or spraying balls left and right. I confidently proclaimed that we'd found our ball playing centre back. He's been well and truly Watforded.
Another good win. Nervier than needed. Xisco singing and dancing in the post match interview. He’s bang on board PTL.
Not great, but yet another win and 4-3-3 triumphs again. Fairplay Chalobah, best performance of the season. Hughes my MotM though. He makes us so much better; as soon as he went off we capitulated. The tenacity to win possession back for the first goal, the finish for the second and that sublime floated pass to JP at the start of the 2nd showed what he’s about.
Ha ha , to be fair he is capable of playing worldie long passes, enough to make a YT highights video at least. The problem is his success ratio is very poor. The other thing that bugs me about his passing is the pace of the ball when he short passes to the CMs. It means that the receiver has a split second less to control and pass, therefore the pass the receiver then makes often ends in a loss of possession.
Wow...I'm a nervous wreck. Watford really put the fans through the wringer. 2-0 and coasting, but we manage to find a way to turn it into a nerve jangling second half. Tonight we saw Bachmann when he's not protected by Sierralta. He looked as nervous as he did against Tranmere last season. Many have called for him to be number one, but not for me. He's an able number two, but he is so weak with crosses. He's got to deal with routine corners and I'm amazed he's not been exposed before now, however, I put that down to Sierralta getting his head to everything in the air. We didn't play well tonight and let Derby take control. I was disappointed with the overall performance and we got lucky tonight. Good fortune on the Pedro goal and Derby had a perfectly valid goal disallowed. Lucky, lucky win, but we need to get the three points in so many games, we just cannot afford to throw away a 2-0 win, which could have happened tonight. I'm obviously delighted we won, but we need to be a lot better than this, if we are to win another 11 or 12 games from the final 15 matches.
All 10 of their corners looked dangerous and we didn't look in control of any of them, but Derby had 0 shots on target in the whole game. We must of been in more control than it looked. Yes I know we got a bit lucky on the one that led to the disallowed goal. From the side it wasn't really a foul, but from the refs angle you can see why he gave the foul.
Pleasing win,albeit slightly anxious at the end. We should have finished the game off,especially down our right where Kiko and Freddie were making it look easy. We certainly miss Hughes when he is removed but we deserved the win. Waghorn seems to take a good corner and the prophecy that they would look to cause problems from there was correct. They are quite a spotty side,without wishing to be cruel.
A win I suppose but an unconvincing one. Had chance to seal it tbf if the final ball was better. 2 down 15 to go.
