Nope. Because as usual you are creating a strawman argument. I’ve no interest in recreating the back and forth you had with Burnsy today. The forum are tired of petty rows so I’m going to let you claim “victory”. We won. I’m chuffed. Lots to work on. But I’m not going to waste the weekend going back and forth with you.
Sema and Quina changed sides behind JP and that really worked in the 2nd half. We were nonetheless the better team. We looked like that we were working hard for each other. We should have had a clear penalty but the lads knew that. They had a belief that they were going to win anyway. They kept organized, the diligent defending (Kabs and Ben) and support from the midfield was encouraging. Ken and Dom tracking back to help our defence on many occasions. JP trying to make himself available too and playing for us effectively, moving the ball quickly. Very happy with our team
Excellent performance. The manager himself wasn't happy with how we played and said we need to improve but it is my responsibility as a fan to ignore that and clap along like a flailing seal.
To be fair though, it's his job to motivate the team, all of us on these boards are just fans, nothing we say actually matters. Just sit back, enjoy the weekend, have a pint or two if you're that way inclined, hope we play better when our best players come back, but if not, worry about it then
I'm not getting too ahead of myself at this stage, it'll be as hard as ever to get out of this league! Totally agreed otherwise, maybe if we were able to bring Ivic in earlier, we'd have stayed up!
Riiiiight... So being a fan means being blind to the bigger picture of our actual performances in a match and ignoring elements of our play, and not even being able to have the same opinions as the manager of the team if they are less than positive? So, basically, clap along or you're not a "real fan". Bizarre and nonsensical, but as long as it fits the false narrative of me just being mindlessly negative, I suppose.
It's one of those games, where if you score the goal everyone's pleased, but if Derby had got it (like Reading last match), then everyone hates the performance. It has been a carbon copy of every match that's gone before. 5 games and only 4 goals seen.....luckily 3 of those have been to Watford, and those 3 goals have gleaned 9 points!! We are extremely economical. I give Ivic tremendous credit. We've hardly broken sweat, picking an under strength side in all games, but have picked up 10 points from a possible 15. The Championship seems really easy. I can't believe how comfortable we've been in all the games, but that is testament to Ivic and how well he has drilled the side. The board have picked a good coach for sure, but if they are smart, they'll instantly give him a longer deal. He's quality there's no doubt about that. We still have Sarr, Deeney, Capoue, Hughes and Gray to add to this side. That will be a massive boost, and will be the difference from scrapping out 1-0 wins to comfortable victories. Let's all hail Pedro.....two Derby winners this season!! There is plenty to be pleased about right now. Ivic can get a tune out of even the most basic of squad members, so what will he do when he's got these better players to pick. We need to trust this guy and trust the team he picks. He knows what he's doing.
Reading the forum after a game is so much more entertaining than actually watching it. As we know, Vlad loves his 1-0s!
Thought Wilmot was brilliant tonight, definitely his most rounded performance for us so far. Wouldn't change the back 3 next week if the same 3 are available. Unfortunate for Cathcart who was probably our best defender in the first 4 games but he'll have another busy international period soon enough so can see him becoming 4th choice (until Kabasele gets a red card)
I'd love us to play gung ho and blow teams away by 3 goals but Ivic can only use what he has available. Having a proper #9 with Sarr and Pedro playing off them will transform our attack, and having Capoue and Hughes in the middle will dominate games better. It's all a positive upward trajectory. Lovely goal from Pedro, he's going to be some player if he keeps his head screwed on.
The defence has looked good, but with the exception of Luton, the other teams we have played have also been struggling to create chances. Test will come mid week when we play Blackburn, because I can't see them not scoring with the form they are on.
Agreed. Actually had the confidence to leave the three and step into midfield, and one of his ventures forward created a goal.
Ivic: "I'm pleased we got the win but I was not happy with the performance and we have lots to improve on." Watford fans: "That's cool". Nath: "I'm pleased we got the win but I was not happy with the performance and we have lots to improve on." Watford fans: "OMFG WOTS WRONG WIV U UR SO NEGATIVE FFS STOP TALKING RUBBISH UR NOT A REAL FAN!!!!!!!"
Right, check your not inbox because I’m about to send you some imojis. No way Cathcart is our best defender in the last 4 games.
Sarr is retained and we win away. But you can’t keep the bed-wetters down, they still complain. Change your nappies, and judge it when we have got the first team out.
What about when those first team players pick up knocks during the season? The entire attack can't revolve around having 1 player available.
Sarr/Pedro/Percia/Gray/Deeney will urinate all over this league. We haven’t had a settled team, or our best players available. But we are still have 10 points from 5. People should stop worrying there pretty little heads
I have to say JP has some serious skill, he seems to be able to control almost any ball that is thrown at him, great feet, and some nice close control as well tonight, and a good goal. Still not sure as a 9 but not sure what more we can ask of the fella. Kiko was good again tonight. Not sure why no Capoue this evening but I genuinely think he is the best midfielder in this division by some distance so will be great when he gets back on board. Sarr scares the **** out of them with his pace and if Gray/Deeney can be a goal threat then I think we have nailed it. Hughes will also add a huge amount. A note for King Ken again tonight, another different position he was asked to play in and he again gave it his all, did OK to I thought, good guy to have around the place. WTE did OK as well, we really didn't look troubled at the back again whichever of the CB's are played. Hope that was a precautionary swap but he did seem to be holding his hamstring.
The big lesson tonight, is that only 22 of know what we are talking about. The rest of you can do one, and go back to supporting your first teams.
To be fair I don’t think Nath has said anything that we probably all aren’t thinking. The performance was poor from an attacking perspective but we are all Happy with the 3 points . That’s about the size of it . Some of us are recognising more the huge scope for improvement . This is at least an improvement for me on the earlier Nonsense around this being the team we would be putting out all season and how we are doomed etc etc
We're all on the same ship here people. Some rough seas ahead no doubt but this was a handy result and a relaxing weekend beckons. Enjoy.
It’s 3 points, which bring us closer to that target of 90/92 range which see teams pretty much promoted in a high point season whilst not being glamorous. I’m very much of the belief that Vlad’s getting his cards in order to start with initially and getting the defence sorted so that we don’t lose games even if we fail to score. Do I think we’ve been limited by personnel/transfer window? For sure. Part of his system relies on the wingbacks playing much higher up than they generally have been, which should be the case of Sarr returns due to the threat of his pace. Further to that, think it’s reliant on some players coming back in, through Hughes and Capoue who are capable of playing one-two touch football to bring that transition a bit easier, and do something different to what Cleverley can do, and what Chalobah used to be able to do. Will be interesting to see what happens with Masina too once he comes back, if he’ll be deployed as a left footed centre back to make the ball retention in defence a bit easier or deployed out wide. TLDR; Defence is good and building from the ground, think attack will come in time over new personnel returning and familiarity with expectations.
Then we'll have to improvise, I don't expect (and in truth wouldn't want) Sarr to start every game, but going forward we can try 2 up top if we don't have a proper right-winger (Gray/Perica/JP ideally with Deeney and Murray for emergencies. Maybe the formation we played today will work better in future too, Quina wasn't amazing or anything, but he was better
