I'm certainly not arguing for resting our best players in this game, but relying on the pros themselves to be the arbiters of whether they play or not is a bad idea for exactly that reason - they always want to play. Look at Deeney, and his desperation to force himself on to the field, no matter how unprepared, as well as how much we all chastize him for it. This kind of thing is of part why modern medical departments are so advanced, and so intricate, and rely on things like the fabled 'red zone' approach to determine whether a player is close to being pushed too hard, even if they don't necessarily feel it (or, indeed, choose not to) themselves. It speaks well to the players attitudes if they always want to keep going, but they're insanely competitive people who also mostly feel in some way under pressure for their starting spot; not to mention the potential to grow their own careers and attract suitors. There are plenty of reasons why they'd want to be there every second of every game that may or may not help themselves but definitely don't help the overall goals of the team.
There is one thing which isn't mentioned and that is this season is unique in that it started later (about 4 weeks) than ever before, this coupled with more games (46 v 38) than our previous 5 seasons has meant the constant mid-week fixtures! This is all alien to our current crop of players. Having said that I don't remember suggesting on social media that the likes of Walker, Welbourne and Williams should have been rested in their day!
Our best players will have plenty of rest next season when they are sitting on a bigger club's bench.
Nor Stewart Scullion, and he needed resting as he always worked twice as hard doubling back to beat his man twice. Having said that, I could never get social media to work in those days! Good points btw.
Why not bathe in a river for the Dutch/Arabic commentary like normal people? So now we’ll have you to thank you for a ruined weekend - bah!
Haha! I don't think Stewart Scullion had much luck with social media either, if so someone would have told him you only have to beat a man once!
Looking forward to this. Sunny day on the south coast. Retribution for their undeserved last gasp equaliser at our place. 1-1
Hope xisco got his tactic board with him today keep playing the way we are 433 ,winning by 2 goals with 15 to go play 4231 as to only use 2 cmids and p.s dont forget chalobah needs a booking so he can miss wycombe and forest COYH
Like last match, I believe there'll be goals in this game. It may end up a draw, but not a bore-draw. Predictions may be muddied by the intensity of the play as both teams struggle to cope with the ancient rivalries, which go back at least a couple of years. But, if the form-book plays out, there will only be one winner: Us. (Oh, and football and righteousness, too). The ref will need to be up for this; I didn't like that early tackle (= assault) on Sarr in the first game: A clearly deliberate attempt to cripple our best player. Bournemouth players may well think that, if they go a couple of goals down, their season is f****d; and they may not take that lying down.
I swear Xisco reads this forum. That is exactly what we said. The only thing I worry about is Chalobah getting that yellow today. We have Gozzers for Wycombe and Forest but I hope he can refrain even if it is Muff.
Until very revently, the most stressful time to be a Watford supporter was 61 minutes before kickoff. Now we can be relaxed about the announcement of the team and can postpone stress until the 70th minute when Xisco makes the subs he'd planned before the start irrespective of what's going on on the field. A big step forward. And the matches are fun to watch now.
I have absolutely no problem in Gray coming on at 75mins if we are winning at least 3-0. If it's still 0-0, and he replaces Pedro for Gray in search of a goal rather than leaving our best striker on the pitch, he needs checking for vital signs.
I'm slightly anxious that Solanke is starting and I hope they have brought him back too soon. We need to be bright eyed and bushy tailed from the start,we know they are quick out of the blocks.
Good lineup. Sensible changes. Maybe would've brought Zinckernagel in (possibly for Sema), but you can't really argue with keeping the same front three when they all scored against Blackburn. Optimistic today. So weird...
I think someone needs to tell Old Cherry how football works, how can you be the much better side if the league was decided by virtually the last kick of the last game and you ended up 1 point ahead?
Woodgate is a trully terrible managerial appointment. However, even a stopped clock is correct twice a day. As we have seen many times, crap referees, crass defensive errors, and just plain old bad luck can conspire against and hand a zero-confidence, poor side three points, particularly against us if we don't do our basics right, are too complacent, or do things which are just plain idiotic. Hopefully, the club astrologers will have analysed the various planetary alignments and constructed the appropriate horrorscopes for the squad, consulted crystal balls, and checked residual tea leaves and made sure nothing is left to chance. It would be nice to spank them at their place again. Fingers crossed and ladders circumvented.
Def our best available team IMO. It would only be better if Big Ben, Kabaselle & Dele-Bashiru were fit to play
For some reason I’m looking forward to this game more than I have in a long time, happy with the lineup, gonna go 1-2 wfc. COYH.
Great lineup for sure, only thing I would have done is put in Zinckernagel for Sema, but I still have a bad feel about this lol
