The extended highlights are up on the website. We had quite a few chances, which have gone largely unreported. Loved the ability of Richarlison and Carrillo. Very good players. Both had great chances, which were created by their own skills, to extend the lead even further late in the game. If Chalobah, Doucoure, Richarlison and Carrillo stay injury free all season, I think we'll have a very good season. Lose any of these players, for any length of time, I think it would show.
Think you're getting a bit over excited here. If Southampton had won that game they'd be 4th and we'd be 15th or whatever. We do look a good side, but if we have a few injuries, especially if we lose either of Chalobah or (more importantly) Doucoure we will be in real trouble, as shown by Bristol City.
I think we should enjoy the moment fully - we have City, Arsenal and Chelsea in the next five. With the points we have gained already we should still be comfortably mid-table after 10 matches.......
The thing is if we'd have lost we would be 13th and have 5 points and that would still look like a good start to a new season with all the new additions and coach after last seasons debacle! So being where we actually are, 4th, is fantastic so let's try and be a little positive while we can! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Agree with you both entirely, however to say our players are champions league quality and that we've set ourselves up to be a long term prem team is a little forward. It's great football and I'm as positive as the next man, but let's take it game by game!
Lol! Yeah maybe Champions League stuff etc is a little overboard but I just put it down to everyone getting so excited that we are actually moving forward from last year! I'm very similar in let's just build on from one game to the next. But it is looking so much better already! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Easy there. We outplayed Southampton yesterday, thoroughly deserved the 3 points and have had a good start to the season, but one step at a time. Not having a dig here, but you do have a history of jumping the gun a bit and overhyping our players. Silva's got off to a very good start, but let's see where we are after 10 games eh? Then we can get excited.
Apparently we had the 5th hardest start to the campaign based on our opponent's league position last term. Everton had the hardest by some margin, Southampton had the easiest!
Agreed. The MOTD commentator made a good point about not doing much with all our possession & good play yesterday. Against Muff we peppered their goals with shots, but only 3 were on target against Soton. Don't get me wrong, 3 shots on target is 3 more than most matches under Mazzzzzzzarri, and it was a most enjoyable day out yesterday but I'd like to have seen us troubling their goalie a bit more than running rings around their midfield and snuffing out their forwards. Exciting, yes and I can't wait for the next game rather than go out of a sense of duty/hope like last season, but we need to be a bit more clinical as well. Minor grumbles though!
Well said. The start has been very pleasing and Silva looks the real deal so far, but there is an air of over-excitement on this thread which worries me a bit, as a natural pessimist (and supporter of 35+ years standing...).
Enjoyable day out, pleasant lunch in the Pitcher and Piano, a walk round the marina in the warm September sun, got soaked in the monsoon on the way to the game, the hornets played excellently, I packed three points safely in the boot of the new Blokemobile and still made it home in time to see a local band in a pub in Harrow.
By no means saying they are Champions League quality now, but I would be absolutely shocked if each of the four I mention haven't been involved in a Champions League game in four years time. We'll finish somewhere between 8th - 14th. It's just exciting to see future stars at the Vic.
I just hope we are in the P.L. next season and the one after that, and the one after that................................................
BTW from highlights , it was a defo penalty after Chalobahs failed header. Clear and deliberate, upper arm ball from Soton defender.
Last season, I was going on and on about how the attitude of the coach and players was all wrong. Even when we were mid-table, we were a desperate example of a "team". Well Doucoure is pretty well confirming it in this interview. He can't put his finger on what is different from last season, but he describes our the mentality of the squad is completely different now under Silva. They try and expect to win every game, they want to do their best, etc, etc. It was clear that last season we went out expecting to lose, and were just trying desperately to keep the score down and scrape a draw. http://www.hertfordshiremercury.co....y-at-watford/story-30508659-detail/story.html I say again, a team sport like football is as much about attitude as anything else. Of course, we are getting results now and it is easy to be positive and the real test will come when things are not going as well. But I reckon we would be fine (compared to life under Walter).
Good article. Like it when he says; "It's very good and we have to keep going like this. We win every game and the manager said before we have to fight for every ball and we showed a very good game" It has been very noticeable how Silva has got them chasing every ball down when not in possession. Like a swarm of hornets, putting pressure on the opposition to make a mistake. This is how you get the upper hand & win games. If this work rate remains with the technical quality of this squad, it's going to be interesting.
Just about dried out after getting 4 soakings to and from Southampton by motorcycle. Top, top performance, although in hindsight the failure to get through the Soton defence by 'conventional' means needs working on. That said, give me potential goals of the season over scruffy goalmouth scrambles any time. Special mention to the Abdoulaye Doucoure/September song - better even than Valon La Bamba Behrami!
I mow the lawn only when we lose. Current urban jungle compares poorly with Mazzarri era billiard table.
For me debates about where we might finish this season can wait a little longer. The first thing Silva had to do was end our losing run. We were a whisker away from that miserable sequence extending to 7, but got out of jail...just! Having ended that run, we've now got something good to build on. And it seems we are!!
Only real concern right now is relying on worldies or scrambled goals to win games. We seem to have a squad capable of carving out great opportunities and it will obviously take time for the new squad to gel so not overly worried, but would be nice to see some well worked clinical goals start to come.
I've only seen the club highlights of the game. After the professional job done against Bournemouth it was good to see an arguably even more professional job done against the saints. Would have been nice to create a bit more but they are more defensively sound than Bournemouth so still positive. The thing that strikes me is that this team is only just starting out. These games almost feel like we are warming up to be much, much better. That we did this with a supposed make shift defence and missing Pereya is impressive. On top of that, our bench is just so strong as well. No matter what you may think of the guy, having the ability to bring the likes of Capoue off the bench is pretty mental. Where will we finish? Well a lot can happen in football. Injuries can derail a team spectacularly. However if we can keep everyone largely fit this team may surprise a lot of people when the final table is committed to history in May.
Yes but I think this is the Iberian strategy of the manager. I am not sure of the correct term but don't some Spanish / Portuguese teams play with a false or no striker and a more fluid attacking midfield. Goals may then come from further out. I don't think we are going to be passing it into the net. The days of direct play are perhaps now limited for us (but remain a weapon in the arsenal) We also seem a threat from set pieces and corners for once. The advantage of this is that other teams haven't cottoned on yet and expect us to play lump it to Deeney
Walked through a park on the way to Hammersmith tube station this morning. There was quite a bit of yarrow growing amongst the uncut stuff around the railings but no real sign of the tell-tale feathery leaves on the mown parts. Just saying ...
The chasing down was very noticeable and obviously part of the Silva influence. There were several times when a S'ton player received the ball only to find three yellow shirts already challenging him for it within a fraction of a second. The number of 'turnovers' of possession we got this way was huge and since that catches them out of position (moving forward usually) the quick ball on to Richarlison/Gray/Carrillo is always on. Is this the first time incidentally, that we have had two starters with end initials? We had "Kiko F" and "Carrillo D" . I suppose our Andre Carrillo has his D to distinguish himself from the Argie at Monaco.
If we merged Kiko F and Carrillo D, do we get Kiki D, a left sided pace merchant who can also sing wonderfully?
Our Worldies and Scrambled goals come about because we make good passing moves to get into those positions. No, we haven't scored your more 'traditional' goals yet but it's not that we aren't creating them. For example, we've missed some chances like that ie: Gray whiffed shot vs Brighton from Amrabat's cross and Chalobah being distracted from that call at Bournemouth. We're creating a number of good chances and finishing them. We're not papering over cracks unlike Mazzarri as we're consistently creating goal scoring chances and there's good evidence of a team ethic and identity.
Yeah I get that, and as I say we have the players to make the chances but aren't making the most of them. But unless we are blessed with amazing strikes week in week out, we can't keep relying on something magic to go in. Most keepers would have stopped at least one if not both our goals on the weekend.
"Less said about us the better. Watford look a really good side under Silva, some genuinely great football being played throughout."
The most important things at the moment Dev, when it's so early in the season is that we are another 3 points nearer the magic 40, 8 points better off than Palace, Muff and Wet Spam and the players are playing with confidence for a new manager and we are all enjoying watching our team again.
The thing is if we hadn't score worldies or scrambled goals we've still kept three clean sheets. If you're not letting any goals in it doesn't really matter how your goals come at the other end and how many you score.
Full match replay if anyone wants http://fullmatchsports.com/southampton-vs-watford-full-match-epl-2017-18/?tab=1.first-half
