He gave Arsenal a goal in the first minute, defended awfully to allow them to score a third and did his best to give them a 4th. Picked up a yellow for a clumsy tackle on Aubameyang at one point as well. All of the starting back 4 played poorly, but none to that extent.
I disagree. I thought Kabasele was a lot worse than Dawson, although he was bad too. Dawson's challenge in the first minute would never have been a penalty to any other team. If that happens in the first minute next week in the cup final it will be ignored. We all know that. So I don't blame Dawson for the penalty. Mason was looking out for it, as 90% of officials do against us. Kabs was at fault for the second and third goal. He also made a mistake when Arsenal broke clear on a one v one at the end of the match. He was very shaky on the ball at other times and offers nothing going forward from set pieces unlike Dawson who got his head on a couple of things, which could have led to goals for us.
Agreed Kabasele was awful too - to be honest I think he has been a pretty poor signing in general. The game where he is brilliant but his typical performance level has been poor over the last few years in my opinion. He's mildly amusing on twitter so seems to get away with it a bit more than the likes of Dawson, Cathcart and Mariappa though.
No, I didn't but from what I've seen or read about from other games since Pearson came in he's been solid, with the exception of Southampton at home. Why did it take four minutes for the penalty to be taken? Was it because it was borderline rather than stonewall?
Only thing he has contributed in the opposition box was a miscontrol against Leicester which somehow ended up with Dawson banging it in lol
Dunno about Kabasele, he's average like all of our defenders, can he do a job in the Championship? Probably. Do I want him being anything more than back-up next season? Not really. Would I be upset if he left? Eh, he's been alright, quite like the guy, but I wouldn't shed any tears at him leaving
People are understandably looking at our promotion-winning squad with rose-tinted glasses, but was the defence really much better than what we have now? Back five was Anya and Paredes at wing-back, and Cathcart, Angella and Ekstrand/Connolly/Hoban in central defence. I think many would take Masina and Femenia over the first two, and Cathcart, Dawson and Kabasele is about equal defensively to the other three, even with Cathcart being six years older. We weren't that great defensively, apart from a spell towards the end, but got away with it due to outscoring teams, comebacks and a wealth of attacking options which hopefully we will have next season if the youngsters come through/back from loan.
With Willmott we have a championship ready defence. All we need know is a forward line that score about 90 goals, and we should be fine.
I think what's next is Welbeck and Pedro fighting it out to be top scorer in the Championship. You've got to have a dream, right?
Good suggestion as Barnsey was talking the other week on R4 about how moving to midfield (post surgery) saved his footballing career...
I don't think it's the footballing ability that is the problem. It's the attitude and mental strength that worries me.
Just been on Talksport trying to give a positive perspective on us going again next season. Had a little cry when I got off the phone. I am broken.
Honestly, I can't stop thinking about the little Iniesta style casual coast past a couple of Arsenal defenders he did. Several times. In 11 minutes of time on the pitch.
He did something similar in one of his short cameos a few weeks before. Can't remember who it was against but he dribbled past a few opposition players (granted he was going across the pitch but still took it round them with ease). Who knows what would have happened if he had been trusted to play a bit more.
I tend to agree with you and I suggested something similar in a post I posted before yesterdays game. He kinda played that role yesterday, by mostly playing in the hole behind Welbeck and it is probably the best he has played for quite sometime. I've even suggested in the past that he could do a job at the back as he does have good defensive qualities. This is not as crazy as no doubt some of you will think it is, as there is a history of CB's becoming forwards and Vice Versa.
So...Deeney hits double figures in the Prem for the third season in five, and some fans are suggesting get rid?? Are you insane people?
The one thing the hierarchy cannot do if they want automatic promotion is to underestimate the Chumpionship. It is full of pretty average players , the odd starlet and loanee and many older professionals and journeymen. But having the right mindset and focus is vital. They have little time to prepare the squad mentally and physically. They have to address areas like set pieces and team psychology and build a dressing room camraderie instead of a clique. Get rid of the deadwood and those who do not want to be here. Get in a progressive coach remove fatty from interfering and overhaul that defence. Players like Tomoyasu are what they should be looking at or along those lines not just for promotion but beyond. We need hunger and drive and youth but at the same time you need the experienced heads in there. Cleverly for instance is not PL level now but he has vital experience. We won't get far in this division if we just play youngsters so a couple of experience Champ campaigners looking to make a PL career and also bring in one or two loans from the PL. Young players looking to learn and grow. I suggest Doyle and Harwood-Bellis from Abu Dhabi for instance. Not older loanees who probably don't fancy it or might find it demeaning. The senior hierarchy need to speak to the playing staff and especially those like Sarr and Welbeck explain what they are trying to do and their plan to get back straight away to the PL.
Which direction do people think we'll go? Going by their statement, it sounds like they want to bounce straight back. If that's the case, then they will have to retain a lot of the 'quality' from this squad. We are going to have to sell some players, and get some high earners off the wage bill, but the final judgement of how many leave is going to be critical. Of the "star" players I think we can get away with selling Doucoure, Capoue, Pererya and even Deulofeu, but no more than that. We need Sarr, Welbeck, Pedro & Hughes to stay. Bring in Quina, Chalobah, Wilmott and Dele-Bashiru to the squad. Use Pussetto, Sema and Penaranda. These would be effective players in a lower league. It seems unlikely that Estupinan will be with us next season, which is a shame, but we need players who want to be part of it. I'm hopeful at least one of Cucho and Suarez play as I think they'd be very good additions. If we need to trim further, we can move on Kabasele, Cleverley, Success and Gray. They would not really be missed too much. Kiko looks like he's off as well. One name I've missed, but I would keep Deeney for sure. He would be excellent in the Championship. We need to be smart and understand it's easy to sell quality, but for a club like Watford, virtually impossible to attract quality players from a Championship stance.
Why will Deeney be excellent in the championship? This isn’t 2014. And if we go into the competition with the arrogance that a slow ageing Deeney with ****ed knees will still cream the league we deserve all we get. He’s not going to have 7 days between games to rest his knees he’s going to regularly have only 3. If he stays, from this point on he needs to be plan B from the bench.
Statement from the owner - check. Next step which needs to be sorted by next week at the latest is the head coach. The athletic article suggests a return to the original model which doesn't give us much clue really, but they want someone young with an attacking philosophy. My personal choice would be Struber at Barnsley, but I admit it will likely be someone I've never heard of before. Hopefully the club are already chasing transfer targets and we'll secure some in the near future - Norwich have already been busy so we better get in there quick. Slightly disappointed to see that Toney is probably off to Brentford, if they don't go up this year then Brentford and Norwich are my picks for next season. We manage to change the attitude of the club and we could well be up there with them.
If Brentford don’t go up, they will have multiple players leaving for Prem teams. Benrahma will definitely be gone. Watkins is another one. Dasilva is on the radar of many teams. Henry at LB would be a good buy for any lower table Prem team. Mbeumo has stormed the league. Lots of interest in him. I actually want Brentford to go up
What did you expect them to say ? Are you surprised that they say they would like to be promoted this coming season ? Do you think they will do anything to try to make that happen that beyond making that statement ? They are hardly going to say their objective for the coming season is to be comfortably mid-table. Just like when they said they'd like to be best of the rest. Of course they would. My guess is the best 11 when the window closes will be much weaker than last season with high profile exits and minimal signings.
They could easily say “we’re going to consolidate, and rebuild over the next 2 or 3 years”. If that’s what they intend to do then we’ll be prepared for it and will be understanding when all high profile players go. Both statements are sounding ambitious, but one way being quicker than the other. They’ve gone with the bounce straight back message, so they have to deliver on that. If they sell all high profile players and hire some journeyman coach, then we would have been sold short on their statement.
The above is #15 on this thread posted on 27/7/20. Not many of you agreed with me at that time, but it's nice to see more and more of you are doing so now.
