Watford Fc 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday - 21/10/2023

Kone has shown an upward trajectory this season. He was very good vs West Brom when he started but then I think was dropped after the Leeds match ( when everyone was *****) so I think he has should start . Asprilla has been somewhat underwhelming when starting so I think he’s better as a sub at the moment.

 

Ok, you must be watching a different player to me then if you think that.

 

5 points off relegation, 6 points off play offs.

 

Bachmann's work with his feet was largely fine, there was one occasion I thought he might not have given it to Hoedt in the right area, but seeing some of Hoedt's shoddy passing today, perhaps that wasn't actually his fault, it was Bachmann's distribution with his hands or lack thereof which stood out for me. Chakvetadze does give me Jurado vibes, not the most cutting edge, but at least looks to get involved, which is more than can be said for some of the current squad at the moment

 

I turned to my brother half jokingly saying 'let's see what you can do in 15 minutes Yaser', but he ended up doing more in that time than Louza has done since the start of the season

 

I liked what Kone did today but let’s be clear, in what was a poor team showing he was standout **** at Leeds. As in epically arm-wavingly ****. He really needs to work on his consistency. At the moment his manger can’t rely on him which given what we paid for him is a damning indictment of the recruitment people.

 

Did VI make good subs, or did he select a poor starting line-up? Kone, Sema and Asprilla in particular changed the game. How Dele-Bashiru gets in the team ahead of Kone, I have no clue.

I am surprised to see how much praise Ngakia is getting though, I personally thought he was poor. How many times did he have time and space to pick out a decent cross into the box and instead balloon it over the top, or blast it into the nearest defender?

 

I don't know, in a way, I do think it's better to have your bad games in games like that when it's unlikely we'll get anything, today he came on and he made a difference against an admittedly fairly **** team, but those extra 2 points might make a difference come the end of the season

 

I wouldn't say it's a grievous insult to Kone that TDB is getting into the team ahead of him, TDB has had his good moments and has had his anonymous moments this season, as has Kone, but Kone has probably played his way into the team now. Agreed RE Ngakia, largely untroubled defensively, he played a few good balls where we were unlucky, but most were pretty wayward

 

Sema's best attribute is running around the outside of the full-back to get crosses in - shifting him to CM takes that away from him. It makes no sense to put him there to accommodate Lewis at LB instead who has simply been poor.

 

I agree. I see a player who gets into relatively good positions high up the pitch but think there’s little point giving him credit for that if all he does once he gets there is blooter the ball into the stand or straight into the first defender. And I thought defensively he pretty much found his level today. Put him up against the worst side in the division and he can just about hold his own. Certainly his hesitancy in possession isn’t punished like it is by more ruthless opponents.

 

What an absolutely **** day for sport. England cricket was terrible, L*t*n got a point, England knocked out of the Rugby and then, to top it all, our absolut **** of a team scrape a win at home against the worst championship side in history. FML.

 

You can add the passing of the greatest England player of all time!

 

Couple of other thoughts before I consign this game to history:

Val and Bachmann and co can say what they like but in my view the Watford crowd are never likely to take to this style of play involving interminable and ever increasingly risky sideways passing around the back. There was clear booing at times in both halves when it set in to a ridiculous degree. There was also really noticeable poor body language on the pitch, especially in the second half. Watford players waving arms at each other, moaning, berating one another. I know confidence is low but it definitely feels like the players aren’t 100% on board with the game plan. I think it’s incumbent on the manager to tweak things and react to the hand he’s been dealt, as imposing it isn’t going to end well.

Half the team scarpered down the tunnel within seconds of the final whistle. It was quite a rag tag few left for the lap round the pitch at the end. Again, hints at a lack of togetherness.

Wednesday had some big chances today. I’ve not seen much said about the free headers they missed - 1 in each half unmarked from pretty central positions. They could have been 2-0 up and cruising but for some pisspoor heading.

And finally, while it had promise, the Elton John sing along idea pre-ko has failed. First time I’ve experienced it outside of the Rookery where, to be fair, probably half mumble along to it, and it’s clear no one’s interested or even really knows what’s expected of them given the music doesn’t cut off at the key point. Time to put it (us) out of our misery.

 

I've pointed that out here a few times already.

There are some on here who have clearly not seen Wednesday play before that this season because they have mostly been truly shambolic and off the pace, and today they were cohesive and combative in a way there weren't previously, and as such it wasn't a complete representation of a side who are bottom of the league. I think we've played teams who've played worse than that already this season and the new manager bounce was really on show for them. It wasn't just because they were playing us; we'd have found them more of a walkover prior to the international break.

A brief glance at the Sheffield Wednesday forum reiterates this:

"Gutted but far better. "
"As a performance, much better than the Munoz"
"Much improved. Focus now has to be on the long term team project and Chancer leaving. Onwards and upwards."
"34 games left, still plenty, not going to get too down as it was a big improvement"
"Best we have played all season and the lads worked hard. "
"Played better, will get points against the poorer sides but likely to be too far gone by January."
"Better organised and more energy."
"We actually looked like a football team."
"Well it was best performance of the season. If we had a striker worthy of the name we could have won it."
"Best performance I've seen so far. "
"Everything was 20x better than under XM"

https://www.owlstalk.co.uk/forums/topic/325686-watford-~v~-wednesday/page/40/#comments

 

I’m pretty sure VI is a moron from his nonsense in the press. Doubt the man can boil an egg.

 

Its in the short highlights here

I didnt have a great view of it either from where i was in the Rookery. It looked a pen and that Lewis was going to walk, then it looked like the officials were discussing if it was in the box or not and then a corner got given.

 

I also noted that and wondered if the fact there were numerous boos at the end of the first half was the reason half of them didn’t acknowledge the crowd at full time!

 

Will get points against the ‘poorer’ sides
Did they actually watch us play?

 

He always struck me as a dour, miserable *******. RIP etc. and no arguments with his achievements, but I never warmed to Sir Bobby.

 

The cricket defeat would have hurt more had it not been inevitable from very early on, a bit worrying that we have to be pretty much perfect from now on, but hey, we won the last one and it was always going to be a task to win it in India. Actually watched the rugby today, annoying that it was the same country that beat us in the cricket but I'm over it already tbf

 

Hideous game.

 

Do footballers have to take boo’ing then? As they were loudly boo’d off at half-time whilst it was 0-0 and they were boo’d at points in the game too for struggling with the passing game.

So when they go and score and win a game, are they entitled to say **** you, we’re going to the showers?

Not saying it’s right, just asking a question. Essentially, as fans can we do/say/behave however we like and expect players to take it because they’re well paid and we’re not?

 

I don't know what him and his brother argued about, but I always felt that whatever it was, Jack was probably in the right.

A sweet striker of the ball though Bobby Charlton. Wish I could hit a ball like that. RIP etc.

Interesting to see how many references there are to 'celebrated all over the world' and similar. I believe this comes from a **** advert or maybe a **** sitcom from the 70s, where an Englishman abroad is trying to talk to a johnny Foreigner barman who doesn't know any English, but eventually alights on a heavily-accented 'ahhh Bobby Sharltón?' and then tbe two have a football connection between them and it's all smiles.

Does anyone else recall this? I'm sure I'm not imagining it.

 

I don't care if they clap the fans or not and find it weird that it's even a topic of conversation, let alone that some people get so wound up about it (especially the cardinal sin of not clapping away fans).

I'm far more interested in whether or not they've tried their best and avoided doing anything silly/petulant.

 

It would be nice to compare Rajovic`s number with other strikers. I think that defenders are usually getting better numbers as it is easier to defend. My assumption anyway. Deeney was often defended two against one for example. Yesterday Raj managed to share the ball with his feet few times, so it is not only about heading duels.

 

Crikey with those stats we haven't a hops in hell of playing direct football.

 

I thought he’d only came back for a game or two at the end of the season, maybe for sentimental “you’ve made it back, please stay” reasons ? But could be wrong?