Any change to saturdays team will be heavily criticised by certain forum members but was it the players of the formation that created the vast improvement in the performance. For once we seemed to have more control in the midfield which related to more time and the option to pick out a forward pass. The key was playing Hughes in a attacking central position , this eliminated the need for the number 9 to drop back.
If either Deeney or Gray enter the town of Preston on Tuesday night we will lose 8-0 and end the season in 14th. If they don’t we will win 6-0 and win the league. It’s that simple. Prediction Preston 1-1 Watford Deeney (og 90+3); Deeney (pen 89)
Changing out a centre-half might happen. Those blokes play a lot of minutes and rotation should be on the menu sooner rather than later. Barring injury, there's no way that you can sit Sema or Sarr. You can sit a player who scores one, but not two. As Femenia is coming off an injury, the short rest might see someone like Ngakia get a start. To me, the most likely midfielder to sit is Chalobah, but given that he only played 45, I think he starts. That really leaves Pedro. It's possible Xisco would sit him for Deeney, but three's no way he's stupid enough to sit him for Gray. I think we see the same front 6 as last time, but 1-2 changes on the back line.
With games coming fast and furious there are bound to be some team changes, it is only sensible. Happy to be proved wrong but despite Saturdays win we are just not consistent enough for top two and even if we went on a run now we will need 2 of the 3 teams above to collapse. I know we saw Bournemouth lose 4 in a row and Brentford lost today but I don't see them having a complete slump and we would have to rely on Swansea losing games and players due to their fixture pile up. It's not impossible but highly improbable. Regardless, we have nothing to fear in the play-offs with such a good defence and hopefully we have played ourselves into good form by then. Time will tell. It seems the senior players organising squad meetings since Coventry had an effect.
Cannot agree with this as it doesn't matter who plays centre mid If your strikers cannot hit a barn door with a shovel .
I went once, many years ago, to see Preston play Birmingham. There were three international centre forwards on the pitch. It was 0-0.
"Ha ha ha beautiful Sunday This is my my my beautiful day When you say say say Say that you love me Then my my my what a beautiful day" Surely our song !!!!
First season back in the then “big time” Div 2 - we had played 10 away games up until then losing seven and 3 draws. Our coach broke down on the way to this Friday night game in December 79 and another was called so when we arrived it was half time and we were losing 1-0. Imagine the despondency but you are right we turned it round second half winning as you describe . Much happier journey back
You might want to see this post of mine in the Championship thread if you haven't seen it already: http://www.wfcforums.com/index.php?threads/the-championship-2020-21.57308/page-101#post-2967316 Yes, it's true Derby did collapse and didn't even make the play-offs but even if they'd picked up 31 points in their last 17 games (beating the 29 points from Middlesbrough who we finished above), we'd have still finished above them, as well as Bournemouth if we'd held on to our lead against Sheff Wed. It doesn't require either of the top three to have a slump and the fact we're playing all of them could really help us (like when we beat Middlesbrough to get top two).
Our defence haven't had an awful lot to do at the best of times this season, but they might as well not have been there yesterday!
Say what you like about team selections of late, and there have been some weird ones, but they SHOULD mean that everyone has had sufficient rest to play on Tuesday. Still fear that JP will be dropped to the bench mind you
I'm expecting Gray and Deeney to start, lose 2-1 and Zinc to get 2 minutes at the end. Sema and Hughes dropped to the bench. Then normal service on this forum can resume.
Interesting quote from Leventhal in his most recent Athletic article: 'The move to 4-3-3 was also favoured by the majority of the group, as well as some of the Watford hierarchy. When put into practice, it was built on solid foundations (a 14th clean sheet of the season) and interconnectivity' Are we going with this going forward? Hope so, although it'd be almost rendered useless if Deeney or Gray are back up front
He didn't play in an attacking central position - he was the deepest lying midfielder. He constantly dropped back and received the ball from the defence, then brought it up the pitch into that space, meaning they always had a passing option, which in turn led our long pass percentage to more than halve as a team between the Coventry and Bristol City games, as well as double our average passes per possession: Here are the heatmaps of the three midfielders:
I was going to say, it sounded like people were watching a different game to me on Saturday! Hughes was often the deepest of the three and Cleverley was excellent at being the furthest forward. They performed their roles brilliantly, Hughes just makes us such a better team.
The biggest difference was having a mobile #9 who could keep up with Sema and Sarr. It completely changes the dynamic of the game. There's no point u having 4 of the best attacking players in the champo (Sarr JP Sema and Zinky) if we are going to tie kryptonite round their legs by playing Deeney. Success would be my 2nd choice #9, Perica 3rd.
Great win in Saturday and so important we keep the shape and momentum going. Must win game. PNE 6 WFC 0 (Deeney missed pen, Gray missed everything)
What is the source of these stats, please? I would like to investigate some of the meaning behind them.
Have you forgotten how often Success inexplicably falls over? We also really don’t know if Zinckernagel is “one of the best attacking players in the Championship” because we have yet to see him start a league game and he has never played in his reportedly best position.
My comment was to point out that Hughes was always on the front foot ,this draws the opposition into play resulting in more options and eliminates the need for the big hoof upfield. Hughes stats shows that he spent the majority of his time 20 yards each side of the centre of the pitch so not really defensive. I am not being negative but people are going over the top after one positive result, very simular to after the spurs game
If Xisco has learnt anything it's the new formation is the way forward. Having Gray up front on his own is like having a bucket of manure on the centre circle. Preston will be galvanised for this, fresh after beating their local rivals. There is no excuse for a crap performance like Coventry on Tuesday. Let's start Pedro again, he clearly enjoys his football and we need a player who can score a goal. 1-0
I would say this is the most important game of the season. This when we find out if Bristol City was a false dawn or we are about to go on a run similar to the last time we got promoted. 4-3-3 does seem to be the choice of the players which is good but as many have mentioned it will be who fills these positions. Surely after winning 6-0 an unchanged line up makes more sense. I would say this is the more difficult of the next two games so if changes have to be made do it Friday. I’m under no illusion that Deeney or Gray will never play for us again but hopefully at the same time won’t happen. Massive week. A further six points and we can begin to dream. A performance like every other away game this season and we can go back to abusing each other
