Bachman did well. 3 Centre Half's generally did well but liked a lunge every now and then. Lewis linked up well, if he could cross it he'd be a good player. Andrews a bit off pace, needs a summer. Edo and Kone were Ok. Dennis still not at his best Asprilla mixed. One minute dribbling past 3 in 2 strides, the next skying a shot. Bayo anon. Sema was better than Lewis. Raj was inspired for 10 minutes. Ref was useless. Some yellows given for good tackles, some fouls ignored and our 19 fouls today was the highest in the league. The worst decision was the encroachment decision when their keeper passed it to Dennis or Kone? No Watford player was in the box when they took the goal kick, he didn't see it, I presume he guessed because we closed the keeper down so quickly. An utterly absurd decision.
The ref blew because he was in the way of Carvalho and Kone as they were both trying to get to the ball... Kone probably would still have got there first had the ref not been there, but he did impede both players.
I’m really not sure why people seem to be clamouring for Cleverley to get the job full time. Sure, he’s a nice guy and all that, but he’s won one game in charge I think is?
yes but he’s also stopped us losing and the recent draws have been mostly against promotion or play off candidates. And I like him. and the players seem to as well thought todays first half was instantly forgettable. Second half was a cracking half. Our recruitment was abysmal and the poor crosses until Sema came on and the poor finishing is a recurrent theme
He's had one game against a bottom half side, and we won that, meanwhile we've only lost once against the top half sides we've played, and that was desperately unfortunate
I guess you have to look at who we have played and performed against them though. Mind you if Pozzos only go by results Clev probably won't get it.
Thought that wasn’t a bad match. We started poorly but had a good spell where we were breaking well And getting numbers forward and had a couple of chances . Then I thought the game stuttered as the ref kept giving soft free kicks . Second hajf was more end to end. Thought we got some good balls into the box and if it wasn’t for poor finishing we’d have won that . Although Bachmann kept us in it at the end with a couple of terrific saves . I thought we were the better side once again against a promotion candidate and looked more solid at the back. Rajovic , whilst still lacking quality is definitely putting himself about a bit more . He had a good spell when he came on , won a free kick and came close to scoring with it. Was good to see Aidy at half time . He’s looking quite grey now.
He's got one game left to save his (interim) job I reckon. Mariappa already being lined up to take over for the last couple of games and keep the fans onside.
Come on! I am the first to criticise Rajovic when it's deserved but he actually used his body well looked stronger today.
So the reason is because we’ve drawn a few games. That doesn’t really wash for me. Sure, Birmingham sounded like a very hard earned win but it’s been extremely forgettable since then. Even VI had us playing good football in flashes. Of course the club are really driving the narrative as he’s a well liked ex player. Very cynical way of getting the fans back onside.
A fit Ken Sema is our best player by a mile. Great to see him back. Enjoyable game but I'll be glad when this season is over.
no the reason is because I’ve started enjoying games again that have coincided with the Cleverley appointment. And he is delivering on what my expectations are of the rag bag group of players that our illustrious owner has got together wouldn’t worry as the rumour is that Pozzo doesn’t want Cleverley anyway
I guess truth is, pre Clevs we were a totally average team but with no back bone nor confidence with a manager that stuck hard to his "play it out from the back" ideals with players who just weren't technically capable of it. Then a massive loss of confidence. WITH Clevs there's now a clearer idea of playing, basic tactics and a boost in morale and team spirit, BUT at the end of the day we still have an average bunch of players who still have some frailties, and whose confidence is a bit frail. Ergo this current run of results against some decent teams is probably the best we should have expected? Biggest issue for next season is whether we can expect this bunch to evolve as they are with just a few additions or is this their 100pct level?
To be fair, on the face of it, it’s dull and uninspiring. But for me, the reality is that no one is going to be able to come in and wave a magic wand with our squad and suddenly be in and around the top spots. Cleverley clearly has the support of the players and the majority of fans - that’s a big win right now in my opinion. There isn’t much else to inspire that’s for sure. I also think given the finances and state of things behind the scenes, incremental gains is the name of the game and when you nail one aspect, move on to the next. I’d guess that Cleverley has seen this run of games, knew he took over with the club glancing nervously over their shoulder and knew that being solid and hard to beat was top of the agenda. And he’s done that. A big part of us going forward will be trying to improve the players we do have, building a sense of togetherness and accepting we can’t just go out and buy success/promotion. We have to think differently - and I think a coach like Cleverley who knows the club and players will be far better suited to that, than another Ismael/Bilic-clone who will want their own players, style etc. We are at a point where we have little money and we should be minimising the amount of disruption wherever possible IMO.
Not a fan of Bachman by any stretch but he must be saying to the strikers in the changing room "any chance of a goal lads " 3 blanks in the last 4 And I don't buy this lack of service guff either There were plenty of chances today and in any case Szmodics has 24 playing in a relegation threatened side and Whittaker has 19 for Plymouth. Even Plymouth's 2cnd striker has 12 !! Our "spearhead" has 6 and doesn't look like adding anytime soon To sum up Bachman the back 4 and midfield are carrying the strikeforce and not the other way around Blackburn's striker is carrying the team
TBF alot of fans like him and the way we are playing but yes the club have hyped him up too as they do with anyone new. Many fans really didn't like the VI style saying he was taking us down but then fans are fickle I guess. What if Tom gets it and we have an easier looking set of games but don't get wins next season?
Bachmann kept us in that. I’ve been critical of him this season but he made some very good saves today and was very commanding- always shouting at his defence, seemingly organising them. I haven’t really seen that from him so was good to see it today. Lewis was better too. The ref was comically bad. Very obviously inexperienced and it showed- the Hull players worked this out rather quickly and used it to their advantage. He fell for nearly everything they did. Tufan is a nob
Yes one win. But, you have to look at the bigger picture. We were terrible before Clevs come in and looked in real danger of relegation. We have looked much improved under TC and way more organised and energetic. Yes, we have only won once under him but we have also only lost once and in fairness we shouldn't have lost that game. In his seven game in charge we have played 3 of the 4 teams fighting for an automatic spot and West Brom away who are comfortably in a play off spot. We have also played Preston and Hull who were in and around the play offs. I'm not necessarily all for Clevs getting the job as his lack of experience worries me but it really isn't that hard to work out why people have been impressed.
It's not always been the case this season mind - up to Cleverley taking over we'd only had 2 clean sheets in 24 games, and those were against Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham! But we'd only not scored in 5 of those 24 games. So in general clean sheets have definitely been harder to come by prior to Cleverley than us not scoring. Now we're getting the rare clean sheets, but have found scoring a tad trickier. Playing a 352 all game could be in part behind that. It of course also doesn't help mind when Asprilla, Dennis and Bayo keep making bad decisions, getting in each other's way, or wasting opportunities.
Poor ref. Still far too many unforced errors and sloppy passing. No one seems to want to step up and take shot. Bachman kept us in it with some excellent stops.
I guess it depends on the criteria they use to judge TC’s time in charge. If its solely results, I do have sympathy with the posters on here who think he’s underwhelmed. I’d like to hope it was more than this though. I hope quality of his training sessions, his organisational skills, attention to detail, media interviews and everything else are also taken into account. And the most difficult thing to assess, his potential to do the job well on a longer term basis. I really hope he will be assessed on these factors too, as well as results that are influenced by a poor ref at Southampton and misses in front of goal by players he had no part in signing. I’d be happy for him to get the job, although of course right now the choice is TC v somebody else and we have no idea who other potential candidates would be, so we can’t really compare like-for-like. Please though can we win his final home match, because the thought of going from November to August without one is unthinkable.
Our goals this season clearly have come from many sources hence my point about the many carrying the few . Another 8-10 goals this season and who knows where we would be now ? BTW before Cleverley we had 9 clean sheets and a similar amount of match's in which we conceded 1. In comparison to Szmodics or Whittaker do you know how many ,"important" goals our erstwhile strikers have scored this season ? By that I mean the 1st, an equaliser, or a winner ?
The last 20 minutes of that game were more entertaining than the 160+ that came before it over the last game and a half of home stalemate. It was pretty chaotic but we had clear chances to win it. The causes of our crapness in front of goal are well rehearsed on here so there’s little point repeating them. Bachmann MOTM for me. The penalty save pretty much only required him to fall the right way but he made some other good saves too. The ref contributed to the more tedious phases of the game by being so soft in giving their flair players fouls for minimal contact. He nearly got an assist for our most clear cut chance though, so at least he tried to break the deadlock. Atmosphere was funny today. Loudest moments were for a former player, a former manager, a subbed player and our rivals in the league above. There was one good bit of Watford chanting in the second half but even that came off the back of Brentford scoring a 4th goal. I still think Cleverley’s a vibes manager. I personally think those seeing a coherent plan or signs of encouragement are seeing what they want to see, but then it’s all about opinions. I’m not fussed if he gets the job but if he turned in this run of results/form from August he’d be gone by the second international break. It really is just recycled Valball. I’ve not seen us win at home since October, so you’ll be glad to know I’m giving next Saturday a miss.
It would be nicer to win the "top half of the bottom half", but we would definitely have to win our final home game to do that!
Ref did seem to fall for players going down easily . Fair point - we will need to win some games as you can only play well but not win for so long !
Rajovic did more in his first minute on the pitch than Dennis managed in 73. Unfortunately it seems many people want a fully committed Rajovic to fail, yet give weird fanboy treatment to a bloke who has been an expensive and terrible signing and can't seem to play for a team.
Thought Asprilla, for the first time, looked a slight cut above the rest. Bit like when Joao Pedro made that leap, still lots and lots to work on but is becoming increasingly influential.
Bachmann MOTM. The back three and Bachmann are fine. Everything in front of them is poor. Kone the sloth had a chance to play Asprilla through but took a few extra touches first, which meant by the time he played it Asprilla was offside. Martins ballooned a chance that had it been missed by Rajovic would have had people in floods of tears. A couple of early season goals but other than that he has been poor this season. Asprilla shows glimpses of talent but decision making remains awful. His best moment was a great run in the second half where he played Dennis in, but Dennis being Dennis he couldn't just hit the facking thing and instead chose to take a few chances and ruin the chance. Bayo wasn't in the game. Dennis is a duff signing but I'm sure he will look great when he is fit/gets up to speed/the weather warms up or whatever the excuse is this week. Kone, Asprilla, Lewis, Andrews and Dennis have a special talent for turning chances into half chances. Sema and Rajovic should start next week. They were both much more effective than the two clowns they replaced today.
