...but we still play the long ball game! Not only do we play the long ball game but we play it to Macca, Ash and Hameur in the air?! Aidy played the same side minus Shittu that he did against Arsenal and we were superb! We played the right style of play which was getting the ball wide quickly and using the wings! Yesterday everytime Mackay got the ball he lumped it in the air to Ash and Hameur! There was no wing play yesterday, there was no pace and there was no urgency! So why the hell does Aidy sack Hockaday only to play the same style of football? Something doesn't add up!
Hm...I though that as well. Liverpool were doing pretty much the same until they decided to start passing but we just kept on wacking the ball all game whereas in recent games (Fulham 1st half apart) we had playing some good football in periods. Little point in playing long balls to 4 really small guys is there!? Maybe some sort of incident happened on the training ground and the 'players wanted him sacked' is some sort of smokescreen excuse because I cannot believe Aidy would just get rid of the bloke who helped him get promotion for no great reason? Alan Green made a good point last night...he said we were not kicking it long to get behind the defence using pace like earlier in the season but just booting the ball straight up in the air so it was always 50/50 as to who got it.
Boothroyd doesn't seem to be learning from our positives, notice when we drew 3-3 with Fulham, our goals came from neat passes along the floor and working it wide to the wingers who got low crosses in and created goals. Yet despite this evident display of strength in pace and width we fail to use it to it's potential. Boothroyd claims we play to our strengths. To be quite frank this season it has become clear that what he said is absolute shyte. When we play long stuff it's playing to the stregths of Mackay and Hendo and nobody else. It's useless to the likes of Smith, Young, Macca, Bouzza, Moses, Hoskins, Priskin, all who like the ball to run on to or into feet. Boothroyd talks alot about learning from our defeats and mistakes but he needs to turn the coin and learn from the positives.
Correct, we may aswell have played Henderson if we're going to hit the ball long! It's very frustrating to watch that shower of **** yesterday and to know how we can play like we did against Arsenal! I agree, i think something may have happened behind closed doors that Watford obviously won't tell us! I just hope we use the wings more next week at Villa and exploit the big pitch! Can't be hoofing it to the strikers anymore, we need to play like we did last season, and that's by getting the ball into the channels and using our wingers! Defences don't like playing against pace, and we have that in abundance! Sadly we don't use it as much as we should!
Cracking post, i agree entirely! Whilst I love Aidy and will always think the sun shines out his arse he was way to pigheaded regarding the long ball tactic! If we have a decent targetman that will win headers (Mcbride, Helguson, Kevin Davies etc) then fair enough play to their strengths, but Hendo doesn't seem to win any headers! Use the wings more! We did against Arsenal and Wigan (first 15-20 mins) and looked very dangerous! Players like Macca are also at their best when they recieve the ball out wide!
The defenders in the prem are far more advanced as far as having a footballing brain goes, they know that for most of the time all they have to do is stand their ground and Hendo will foul them as he has little spring in his jump so therefore often leans on the defender. Take the manure match for example, Hendo gave away about 10 fould on Wes Brown alone as Brown stood his ground and used his strength legally to win the free kick. In the CCC defenders wern't as quick or as advanced tactically to do this and therefore would use their arms as well making it 50/50 and Hendo had more of a chance to win the ball. He's struggled this season and i'm suprised AB stuck with him for so long. Priskin and Hoskins should start at Villa. Tamas has some presence about him and does win the odd flick on if required.
Agreed with most of the above. Don't see the point in playing Macca if the ball's not going to come down the left wing from where he can whip in crosses. Nearly all the play went down the right. I've never actually seen the ball make contact with Henderson's head from a goal kick, or a long hoof, so I don't see the point in playing it to him like that. This team CAN play decent football. I really don't want to think about yesterday anymore!
Dowie summed it up on prem plus after the game! 'Watford played alot of decent football last season' Not enough this season though!
Actually I think yesterday once he did actually managed to head the ball from a long ball, I was amazed too!!!
What a contradiction in terms. The only good point about that @@@@ is when he drops dead, a founder member of the anti watford brigade.
Agreed, week in week out Alan Green insists on finding something to criticise us for and will have a dig whenever possible. Complete wan*er if you ask me and it's hilarious when a Watford fan phnes up and bites back, just listen to him stutter then try to deny it. Ha, ******.
The play went down the right because every time it went down the left macca went in to hiding. His tracking back was woeful and if we did attack down the left he did his best to ensure he couldn't get passed to.
Can I just say i 150% agree! He's a tool of the highest order and should rot in hell alongside Terry Christian and Mick Quinn!
I usually hate Alan Green too...he so badly wanted Leeds to go up. As for the 2 on Talksport they dislike anyone but Man U really!
BTW completely agree with the earlier sentiments of this thread. This is exactly the half time conversations we were all having around me. Hockaday, supposedly the long ball architect goes and not only do we continue to play the same way, we play worse than i can remember. the performance was worse than against Sheff U when you consider the side we had to put out then. Why was Priskin not on the bench even after a couple of decent performances? He must start against Villa.
Am I the only who thinks that just because we sacked a coach in the latter part of the week you're hardly likely to see a magical transformation by the weekend?
Yeah. The report was that DH was put on warning before christmas that his position was at theat unless things improved. They didn't so it was bye bye for him. To be honest I think this is more of a strategy change for the medium/long term rather than for this season. Think of it like this: we're obviously playing to the wrong strengths in this division. We came up this way and that's good but it's not working here. We need another coach to bring out a different philosophy so next time we're promoted the team come up with the right skills ready to go. You might even see a different style in the Championship next year (could be controversial if we don't start off as well!). Moreover Aidy obviously feels the fella at the academy is producing youngsters with the wrong ethos and tactical sense - instead we need to be minded towards the passing game so when they come through and we're in the Premiership they're ready to roll from the off.
From what I have seen the Youth team pass the ball around well and do not use the route one style but apart from Theo Robinson do not cause any real attacking threat. Midfielders like Forrester and Campana plus Ashley Young's brother look pretty useful.
Totally agree with whats been said before me on this thread. Whenever we've abandoned the aimless hoof tactics we've looked so much more dangerous, even yesterday, Bouazza's 1st half chance came about from our only passing move of the half. We looked dangerous against Arsenal and Wigan by getting the ball down and finding our wingers, look at how both our goals in them games came about, from crosses out wide. If we can do this against teams like Arsenal and Wigan, imagine the damage we'd do in the championship next year. Hoskins and Priskin would be my choice partnership for Villa, both of them have decent movement and a bit of creativity, Tamas seemed to revel in the responsibility given to him against wigan and looked a different player. We're all still learning, let's just hope we keep these lessons we've learnt this year for the next time we're back in the Prem, and with the squad we've got i see no reason for us not getting promoted again next year.
midfield is definately a position where our academy can break into. Mahon is usually the first name on the team sheet but seems to have a new partner every match.
But Liverpool are a far better, stronger and quicker side than Sheffield Utd. You have to remember that their recent Premiership form coming into this game was incredibly good- something like 8 wins from their last 9.
Tamas Priskin and Hoskins would be a good combo, as Tamas likes to come a little deep and play the ball off to someone. Getting the ball into his feet and with Hoskins making some decent runs we could be onto something there.
Personally I thought Hoskins played way too deep on Saturday. On the subject of Hockaday, I can only assume that the long-ball strategy is/was Aidy's. There's no way that Hockaday would be coaching the players to a tactical system not required by Aidy. So Hockaday goes because Aidy's chosen approach isn't working in the Prem.....curious. Or could it be that Aidy told him the tactics were going to change to a completely different approach (in Dec) & Aidy (& the players?!) have decided that Hockaday isn't good enough to adequately coach the new style?
Am I the only one who finds it ever so slightly ironic that the man charged with making us play the long ball game is replaced by Malky Mackay, the man who probably hasn't played a pass on the deck in his whole career?
