Kone gave the ball away soon after we scored, from which they ended up hitting the post, the corner they scored their first came from a loose pass to Rajovic from Porteous, and it was a rush of blood to the head in the middle of the park from him again which led to their second. The third goal they absolutely tore us apart after a Martins pass up in their half didn't reach its target. Thank God we had a more level-headed defender next to Porteous! I know we were all a bit anxious about our holding midfield options, good to know we signed prime Pirlo! Chakvetadze is beginning to look more threatening than the beginning of his time here, Martins could have had another assist too He'll have bad games, he's definitely had one or two stinkers this season, but Andrews must be the best academy product we've had since Young
To be fair we got Quinoa and Ngakia from WHAM. And Sinclair from Liverpool. It all evens out. Err ............
I have to agree about Martins. A little while ago, when he was being left out of the team, many were berating Ismael for not using “our best player”. However, since being back, he has been mostly underwhelming.
It was an entertaining game to watch but completely bonkers at the time. I couldn’t understand why we just left ourselves so open time and time again. We were much better second half which certainly coincided with bringing Yaser off the bench. However, we still needed Hamer to make several good saves. I have been saying all season how much I like this team but I was disappointed that Val had to drag them back to applaud the fans who had made an 8 hour round trip in bad weather on New Year’s Day. I was even more pissed off about this when many of the roads were blocked off on my route back and ended up finding a travel lodge as the storm made driving back challenging.
Only two of them, the rest of the squad were already showing some fan appreciation without needing to be told.
Seemed like most had walked down the tunnel from where I was. All be it from the other side of the stand to the tunnel.
I was by the tunnel. Pretty much everyone applauded. Understandable none of them wanted to give shirts though!
Love Gomes. Thought he did fine, considering he was unfamiliar with the league and most of our squad. Not nearly as self indulgent as Tommy Mooney, who can’t co-commentate without talking about his playing career, his scouting, his time at the golf course…
He did get a nice assist for Kayembe's goal plus a well taken goal in Lancashire. I know what you mean though. I wish he'd sometimes go down the line instead of always cutting in, the sames probably applies to Asprilla.
This all over. Chakvetadze made some excellent forward runs yesterday, then played it out to Martins and Asprilla countless times but instead of continuing the momentum they slow it down and cut the ball back. Keep attacking with pace and it'll bring rewards. Whittaker gave Asprilla and Martins a lesson in exciting forward play yesterday.
His unfamiliarity with our players and league demonstrates his lack of continuing interest in our club. He had nothing of interest to say really and the part where he went on and on about how brilliant he was and the wonder save he made v west ham several years ago was completely irrelevant. I quite like Mooney, although I know some don't. You can tell he's a WFC fan as well as an ex-player. He gets angry and frustrated when we're doing badly and celebrates the same as us when we score or are doing well. By all means vary it up and have ex-players on the commentary, but some shouldn't be repeated. Monotone Tommy Smith was one such a couple of weeks ago and nothing-to-say Gomes was another in my opinion.
I it just me or has Hamer got a major problem at his front post? Anything low and wide and he makes great saves, but I reckon 3 times recently he's been beaten from an acute angle at his front post? It looks like he squats very low near his front post and completely misses the ball flight. (or maybe he's has 3 worldies he couldn't stop?)
They're just not traditional wingers though, Martins got an assist yesterday (and could have had more), but he is at his best cutting onto his right foot and shooting. Asprilla reminds me of Joao Pedro a bit, very good dribbler, but not blisteringly quick, he's not going to beat his man put in a cross like Sema, he's also best cutting or drifting in, or playing centrally to start with. Granted, if we are going to play Rajovic, we need Sema to put a reliable stream of crosses in or else he can be rendered almost useless, but at the same time, we have two other strikers on the book at the moment
I don't know, I was thinking the same, edging towards them being worldies judging by how well hit they were. Certainly I wouldn't put Plymouth's second or Blackburn's goal in the same category as the one Bachmann conceded at home to Blackburn early in the season
Most players were applauding as they tried to walk down the tunnel. Val called those still on the pitch over to eyeball the fans. They couldn’t have got any wetter taking off their shirts - the whole game was played in a swirling gale of rain. Hamer took off his shirt and spoke to fans - extra brownie point for him. An exciting game but our insistence on playing out from the back even under extreme pressure led to 2 of their goals as we lost the ball and they had the quick players to capitalise. I predicted Whittaker would score against us (but at the Vic). He’s a steal at £1m.
From what I’ve witnessed, Hamer is good when he’s got time to set himself. He’s made some excellent saves from free kicks for example. He’s done pretty well in 1 v 1 situations also. Where he is vulnerable is shots going across him. Both the 2nd and 3rd goal at Plymouth should have been saved, imo. He has done well, but he does let in poor goals. Thought he was at fault for 2 goals at a Plymouth, and 2 goals against Bristol. That first Norwich goal was pretty bad too. The goal at Blackburn and home to Stoke were poor from him as well. So the list is quite big. He’s being praised because I think the bar was very low about him from fans. Everyone thought he’d be totally sh1t, but he’s not. But he’s let in 8 goals in the past 3 games and I think he’s been at fault for 5 of them (or rather, he should have done a lot better with 5 of them) He’s not keeping clean sheets, whereas Bachmann kept 7. I think Bachmann is a much better keeper, but Hamer has a better temperament, which is probably the reason why he’s being preferred right now.
Goals: 0-1: Kayembe - 0.10 xG 1-1: Azaz - 0.03 xG 2-1: Whittaker - 0.09 xG 2-2: Kone - 0.03 xG 3-2: Hardie - 0.13 xG 3-3: Andrews - 0.22 xG
Only the first goal stemmed from us losing the ball in our own half, the others we gave the ball away in their half, or an attack broke down and Porteous being ultra aggressive left us exposed
I think you're right that most of those goals would have been saved by a better goalkeeper. We don't have one though. Definitely a position to sort out in the summer. Harsh to blame Hamer for the Stoke goal in my view though. From behind it in the Rookery it was basically an open goal once TDB was taken for his walkies by their attacker. Their guy turned and buried it right in the far corner at pace. It was miles from Hamer and two goalkeepers would have struggled to stop it.
Honestly it baffles me why they seem to slow it down and cut back 9 times out of ten rather than finding a yard and putting a ball in the box. We have a striker who is excellent in front of goal and no good outside the box, so get some crosses in and cause some havoc. It seems like it comes down to the modern day obsession with being afraid to lose the ball, so they lean towards playing it safe and creating little rather than taking some risks.
Yes....scrub the Stoke one. I confused it with the goal against Bristol. For me, Hamer is not the answer. He's not as crap as I first feared, but he still concedes saveable shots. Bachmann is better, but is flawed with commanding his area, not claiming crosses and temperament. So it's vital we sign a strong keeper. Don't mind retaining Bachmann and Hamer as no's 2 & 3 respectively, but a new number 1 is a must. It makes such a difference if your keeper is solid.
That Andrews goal was a thing of beauty. Don't think any of our strikers could have pulled that off. Fantastic from the young man.
You can't accuse Asprilla and Martins of playing it safe, Asprilla is always trying to make things happen with defence-splitting passes, and Martins (more so on the left hand side when he gets the chance to cut inside) often shoots from improbable positions, both occasionally coming off to great effect. They're just not as good at crossing as Sema, we saw that against Bristol City where Asprilla wasn't as effective when forced out wide, I'd even argue that the one assist Asprilla has from a cross this season was quite fortunate on his part as Rajovic did really well to steer in a cross that wasn't quite on the money. As I've said, playing Rajovic without Sema risks him becoming useless, Bayo was obviously unavailable, but could we not have started Healey yesterday? Either that, or play Sema at LB and Martins in front of him, which would give us a double threat of Sema's crossing and Martins' dribbling and shooting
It's another of those things Pozzo seemed to get right in the early days but has somehow deleted from his brain since. It's a position worth over-investing in to get the right experience.
I can having watched them multiple times this season including yesterday. I'm not saying they always play it safe, but more of than not they slow things down rather than attack with gusto and take some risks. Asprilla plays some lovely passes between full backs and centre backs which is where I think Healey will end up benefitting from. They are good players and I get they are popular, but it doesn't make them immune from criticism.
They did actually spend a lot of money on a keeper, but of course, was assigned to the rubbish bin as he was probably the worst keeper I've ever seen. More examples of recruitment idiocy. Having said that, I noticed Okoye did play in Udinese's 3-0 home win against high flying Bologna. The spine of a team has to be right. We've not got it, in any area. Keeper, central defence, midfield and up front. Keeper and central striker are not good enough to carry Watford any higher than mid-table at a push. CB's are passable, but a bit flaky. Midfield they've put a sticky plaster on it with Livermore, but he's not the long term answer.
Well get them in a position where they can do what they do best and don't have them trying to do Ken Sema's job and they won't slow things down, simple
Yes, that's about it. Hamer looks to me to know his business, but simply does not have the athleticism to match Bachmann's shot stopping. Perhaps he's just getting too old. On balance, at the moment, I'd have Hamer as first pick. I've said before that I think we've been spoilt by the quality of keeper we've had over quite a long period.
Foster (pre-man child) Almunia Gomes Chamberlain Loach (had is moments but still a decent keeper) Cotton Pantilimon All very good keepers in their time at Watford.
