As Brad Gilbert said "Sometimes you have to win ugly". Ok,so today it was 'draw ugly' but it is unrealistic to expect 8/10 performances week in week out. Lacking creativity,certainly but I'm content with that. As someone who earned their crust outside today may I add it's flipping cold out there and whilst I expect every player to be professional,sometimes you just have to grind it out.
Garcia’s stubbornness to play central players wide stinks of QSF season. It helps defensively but going forward we are ****. By not offering much going forward it also means we are subject to prolonged periods of attack vs defence and we will always break eventually. It makes it even more frustrating when I think we have adequate wide men available for selection - Success, Deulofeu, Penaranda, Pereyra. Deulofeu is not a striker and to have him playing off Deeney is pointless. 2 up top has to be Deeney & Gray but I prefer 1 up front with 3 creative attackers behind which for me would be Pereyra, Deulofeu and Success/Penaranda. Capoue and Cleverley doesn’t work because they are both defensive. Cleverley doesn’t offer the box-to-box threat of Doucoure and Quina would be a better fit for current tactics. I see more performances like today coming up unless we become more expansive with our play. A point gained away from home is fine but we are not reaching our full potential.
Well that was very hard to watch . To be honest having watched the recent performances it was what I was expecting as we have been poor since well before Christmas now., but I was trying to remain positive . Not quite as bad as spurs but this was not a top six side and I struggle to understand how Brighton dominated us and our our defence under so much pressure when we clearly have a more talented side . Additionally it was Foster once again to the rescue . I’m not entirely sure what’s wrong . Doucoure missing obviously is a factor, as we miss his dynamism sooo much , but we were poor against palace too despite winning . We don’t seem to have any control in midfield or any bite any’more . Gone is the free flowing football we were playing a couple of months ago. I’m not sure Javi is entirely to blame . When a Watford player can’t get a simple pass right to a yellow shirt i don’t think the manager is responsible for that . But he does need to freshen it up . Cleverly isn’t working in central Mid. Hughes isn’t suited to a wide role ( although I respect how much he works ) he is shackled by his defensive duties and needs to be playing more centrally . Sema has not impressed . I say change the formation . I know we have struggled with one up front because we don’t have anyone who can play that role but maybe give it a go again , with a three man midfield and Hughes in behind where he can create . Anyway that’s my little rant. I’m desperate for us to beat Everton next Saturday and hopefully send the snake on his way out if Everton , but I just don’t see it happening unless we really step up our performance . At least if Doucoure returns next Saturday we may have a chance . The injuries seem to be suddenly building up again which isn’t helping . I might even be tempted to throw Chalobah in as i honestly don’t think our midfield could be any worse than it has been the last few games .
In fairness, Javi's post match comments show he knows our attack just isn't working. Obviously we want something doing about it but public acknowledgement is a good first step.
I'd go back to what he did against Wolves and go 4-2-3-1, at least to show an effort to mix things up.
That was very much like the games a year ago: decent defending but never looked like scoring in a million years. My favourite bit was in the first half when Deleufeu lost the ball again, Brighton broke and Holebas had to chase back to cover and concede a corner. As he walked back into the area he gave Deleufeu a long, long stare then ripped off his gloves and flung them down behind the goal. Mr Angry played the rest of the game bare handed and I believe the gloves lie there still.
I love u Nath. You're a consistent Ray of sunshine and I hope you never change. People always criticise you because deep down, they know you're right.
I'm already mulling over whether to bother going. I've only missed one home game this season, because I was on holiday, but I'm just wondering now, is it worth turning up when our team just aren't.
One positive to take is that despite playing ****, we are eking out points. Javi has made us more resilient.
I think that's how they start...but not how they play the whole game. There are definitely points where Hughes and Deulofeu swap, with Hughes playing more central. Either way it doesn't work brilliantly.
One game Foster will have a mare .. cannot keep saving us! Very poor generally . Maybe saving ourselves to beat Silva next week and get him the sack !!
Nope, doesn't work at all the vast majority of the time, yet Gracia stubbornly ploughs on with it. Hughes is offering us absolutely nothing, game in, game out, because we have a manager insistent on playing him a role that he is completely unsuited to. I'm also 100% certain we'd get more out of Deulofeu out wide too. You know, where he's played most of his career. His abilities and style of play are made for getting in behind down the wing or picking the ball up wide in space and going at his full back.
I know we are not playing well at the moment but since the turn of the year we have lost only one game - to second placed Spurs at Wembley when we might well have got something, Six of our seven games have been away and we have progressed two rounds of the FA cup. In recent seasons we have gone off the boil before Christmas and lost lost lost - I really do not understand what our fans want. We are 8th in the table. We are not Barcelona.
I actually think that’s when Hughes has looked more effective in recent matches when he does drift inside . When he’s around the penalty area he’s a threat with his quick feet , but doesn’t have the pace to be a wide player . He had a couple of moments today but stuck out wide he rarely has those.
Also, and I know it's been mentioned, but Ken Sema may well be the worst player to ever kick a ball for us in the Premier League. I'd have McNamee back in a heartbeat over him. Or Jurado. Or Amrabat even.
I suppose away from home I'd back Hughes to offer more defensively than Deulofeu would. He normally does anyway. He's not a wide man though. Plus he's constantly trying quick and relatively short lay offs which probably only work 10% of the time, which causes a lot of attacks to break up. Not helped in that by the statues ahead of him though...
I actually find that he causes us issues defensively because he drifts so far inside all the time. His full back often has a free roam up the wing because he's still 30 feet away somewhere in the middle of the pitch.
We can't play two central midfielders if Doucouré isn't one of them. We have lost control of the midfield every time we've tried to, whether it's Capoue and Quina, or Capoue and Cleverly. We are too lightweight and not dynamic enough. Weirdly, we've played ok in cup games in a 4-3-3 but we won't give it a go in the league. Doucouré does a few things that affect our whole team. He always moves towards the ball when our defence have it and keeps us tucking over. He is also always at the top of the rankings across Europe for picking up loose balls in the middle of the pitch, so we get on the attack quicker and higher up the pitch. Finally, he gets in the box, something that Cleverley and Capoue rarely do. The people who were saying we should sell him as we already have adequate replacements need their heads examined. Replacing him will be the biggest challenge of the summer if we are to persist with this formation.
If you take away the anomaly of 12 points from the first 4 matches, it reveals the true identity of this Watford team. We've picked up 22 points from 21 matches. That's probably a better indicator of where we are right now as a team. Of course we need to improve, but it's quality we need and that costs money. Team spirit, work ethic, desire and all those boring, ugly things, we're doing well and this is down to the good work Gracia has done. So if our natural form continues, then we'll probably earn 13/14 points more, which should give us around 48 points.
One of tbe dullest matches iv been too in a long time, and that was awful tday. But take a point away a team are hard to beat i guess. Foster easily MotM. Best part of that game? Coupe's stunning 50 yard pass. We derserved to lose really but defensivly pretty solid. Mapps did well agaim today. Lets see what else.... Oh yeah we didnt lose and kept a clean sheet. Deeney had a chance but shot wide. Two mid table sides warming down for summer early. Journey home was funny mind. Time to all go work on our Silva is a Snake banners for next week. At least we can avoid MotD tonight. Shout out to Watford fans who also endured that. Lets hope for much much better next week.
On another note - did anyone else see it kick off towards the end of the game in our end? Four little rats dressed like something out of Football Factory spent most of the game chanting homophobic crap and generally ******* every one off before one guy completely lost it with them and was having to be held back by multiple people. After giving it large they quickly scurried off after the game and sought protection from the coppers at the top of the stairs.
Talking of Silva, the Grand Old Team forum is delicious tonight. Don't spend too much time on that banner. He may not be there to see it!
Mario Suarez was so, so *****. Ken is massively limited but at least he's tucked away on the wing and has managed a goal and an assist already. Suarez was right in the middle of the pitch and actively harmed us as he ushered opponents towards our back four and dallied on the ball just outside our penalty area. It was like playing with one central midfielder.
Del is quick and skilful but a terrible decision maker. Out wide maximises his strengths and minimises his weakness, as he has fewer decisions to make. Clevs has come in for a lot if stick for being too defensive, but he was superb when played just behind the front two last season
I know, it was like he was ill or something. So ridiculously slow and ponderous on the ball. It was quite remarkable considering he was once actually a half decent player.
Ghastly. We were lucky that Brighton we’re also so faecal as otherwise we would have been put to the sword. A point is good but performance depressing. Given that the Amex is a new modern stadium with lots of space, why is the concourse and bar area way to small for the number of spectators? The only sniff of trouble I experienced was queuing for the train when there was some bantz regarding who hated Crystal Palace the most.
Yeah, no idea was that was about. The ginger guy was a few seat and a row behind me, but what was going on before then I have no clue. Yelled something about kids.
