Watford 1-2 Manchester City - 04/12/2018

I thought that was a half decent performance, obviously we were very compact and defensive in the first half, but the only area it felt like we really struggled with was on the flanks when we would occasionally get caught out when trying to pass on their wingers between our full backs and our own wingers, but otherwise we looked fairly capable.

Both Qunia, Deulofeu and Gray all made good high energy cameos and really helped push them back and regain possession high up the pitch, but clearly this was a strategy you could only make work for a short time. Compared to the last couple of seasons against Man City, this felt like progress.

 

Could be psychological... Was it not City at home where he obtained his injury last season?

 

Possibly, I've deleted that game from my memory...ergo it didn't happen.

 

No he did it making a cup of tea at the training ground

 

Righty.

Foster - 8

Superb. His kicking was better but his shot stopping was top class. Came for everything he could and held it. Deserved MotM .

Femenia - 6

Sané kept him honest and in the second half I felt he played better and offered more, particularly when Deulofeu came on. Whilst I prefer Janmaat he didn't do too much wrong.

Cathcart - 6.5

Given the attack City have he didn't do much wrong individually and handled the game reasonably well

Kabasele - 6.5

Same as Cathcart, adding to that his usual last ditch tackles.

Holebas - 6

Given he had Mahrez going at him full tilt all game I thought he made a good go of shackling him. Inevitably he did get past but he made it hard for him to. Didn't see too much from him going forward and whilst Masina is a good back up and rotation option he's the stronger of the two.

Doucoure - 4

Woeful. Utter tripe. Whatever else you can think of. Gave the ball away cheaply so often in dangerous areas and offered no protection to the defence and little impetus to the attack. That bundled goal might be what gets him going this season but I doubt it.

Chalobah - 5

I'm going easier on him because of his long term injury, but if he's that far off the pace the put him in U23 games to build up his fitness and sharpness first. He did seem to recover as the game went on but that's a low bar that's under the ground.

Hughes - 4.5

Repeat after me: Will Hughes is not a winger. Will Hughes is not a winger. Will Hughes is not a winger. Will Hughes is not a winger.

Are we clear? Hopefully the knee injury isn't serious. Seemed to pick it up after a tackle with a City player.


Pereyra - 5.5

Involved early on in helping handle City and did make some good plays. After that miss from the curler he never seemed to get back into the game which was odd. Anonymous 2nd half.

Deeney - 6.5

Did as much as he could and did enough I feel to earn another start next game if we play with 2 up front. Won a fair amount of headers and flick one. Header near end good but not enough power. Ederson made a cracking point blank save to deny him earlier as well.

Success - 6

Worked hard but passing let him down. Missed a presentable chance. If we play 1 up front keep him, otherwise back to the bench as impact sub .

Subs

Quina - 6.5

Promising debut. Made an impact on the game and was involved in trying to make something happen. Would like to see him given more game time.

6.5 - Gray

If we play 2 up front then he starts next game. Movement helped us and I think he helped get Doucoure the goal. His first touch wasn't gash either this time.

Deulfoeu - 7

I don't like Gracia's obsession of him being a striker as he caused problems drifting out wide later in the game and linked well with Femenia. Start him next game AS A WINGER.

 

A lot of posters are saying how poor at least half of our team were tonight, in that case to only win 2-1 Man City must have been awful!

 

Or Foster played out of his skin...which he did.

 

We were never really going to have too much of the ball but I felt we could have done better when we had it in the first half. I'm not going to moan about Chalobah and Doucs performance as they were up against some world class midfielders.

City dominated the ball but we still managed to create chances. I was buzzing to see Quina get some minutes as he really impressed me in the cup games. Hopefully Doucoure has his goal scoring touch back now.

 

I met some friends after the game, in the pub, who are nothing to do with Wfc, and they asked me about the game, including asking whether I enjoyed seeing star players from the likes of City, who my favourites of their player were and whether I could take satisfaction from losing to such titans.

I simply can't give a ****. I have no idea which city player is which in the heat of the game and all I want is for whichever one it is to fall over, gift us the ball, get sent off or break their legs. I don't like seeing us lose to city. I enjoyed seeing us neat Huddersfield and their no mark clogging part timers, I have no interest in other teams' players and I just want to watch Watford win.

 

There was a point in the 2nd half where we didn't touch the ball for about 20 minutes. It was irritating and really boring, even with possession and far better players, City were happy to sit there passing it around the back whilst ******* themselves laughing at Deeney's attempts at running around. If I were a City fan (well, I am because they are my 3rd team after Barcelona and PSG), i'd be pretty dissapointed.

That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the last 10 minute spell we had where we just went all out, and there was little City could do other than panic and hoof it back to Foster... In other words, in the final moments, we played the City 'way' against City themselves. That part of the game was very much reminiscent of the Spurs and Arsenal (last season) games.

Sadly we didn't manage to nick a point but that's down to the mahoosive difference in quality and the lack of finishing power we have compared to teams like Manchester's other team. Had the roles been reversed, that level of constant pressure and bombardment, we'd have been thumped 6-0 easily.

That said, we gave them a go at the end, but there were clear problems from the start where it was inevitable that we were going to concede... It's obvious we aren't starting strongly and something needs to be done about it. Perhaps start our next game with the players we had on the pitch in the last 10 minutes?

 

That was dire. We gifted City the game. It looked like we had lost before the first kick. It was a second gear performance from City. They didn't even have to run. They played walking football and still smashed us to pieces.

We played better against them when we lost 6-0 last season. At least then we took the game to them, only Anthony Taylor's appalling officiating took the game away from us that day.

That was the wort performance at home since Gracia took over. This is what I was concerned about. A bad run takes it's toll and confidence ebbs away. We were so nervous. We were terrified of the ball and couldn't give it back to City quick enough.

However, it was a strange game. City found it so easy that they convinced themselves the next goal would come at any moment. They got complacent. Pep gave us a sporting chance by taking off Kompany, then it changed the game.

We scored out of nowhere with 6 minutes to go, plus an additional 4. City then crapped themselves and we kept them boxed in. Why didn't we play with that urgency from the off? It was such a limp-wristed flop of a display.

The only saving grace for Watford was it was against an unbelievably good City side and the final score was only 2-1. You have to consider, there was no Aguero, De Bruyne or Sterling. City could have been even stronger, and it would have been another 6-0 had Aguero played. No way would he have missed the chances Jesus did.

Foster was magnificent. Saved us from an embarrassment. I thought Quina looked good when he came on and he can be proud of the way he played. But our strikers are so woeful. That Deeney miss in the first half was a sitter. The header was too weak, although not an easy chance. Doucoure summed up how weak and nervous we are in front of goal with an apologetic finish for his goal. How many attempts did it take him to force it home. Even tap ins are extremely difficult for us right now.

Everton away next to complete the four game losing sequence. It was predicted that we'd lose all these games, but it's still horrible to see it play out.

We have to be brave and front it out. Only 6 wins required to stay up. Surely we will get them from 23 remaining games. But, as you can see, matches disappear fast. We've won only 2 from the last 11, attaining 8 points. I think we'll be ok though, but we must give a much better performance than today or else we will be in trouble.

 

It’s clear to me that Chalobah just needs a run of games at this stage - it’s hard to be harsh on him and we all know the quality he has. He’ll be back for sure.

Of bigger concern is Doucoure. He is just not at it - and there’s no club in football that will pay £25m for him on current form, let alone double that!

We showed them far too much respect for 60-70 mins tonight. I accept it was City and no one expected anything other than defeat - but we played into their hands. It’s hard enough getting the ball off them without giving it back to them every 10 seconds. We just could not string 2 passes together. I look at these games against the big clubs as opportunities for the likes of Pereyra and Doucoure to show why they are highly rated by us but they were sub-standard tonight.

Gracia needs to simplify Success’ game - he’s powerful and quick, the perfect mix to be direct and run at defenders but he rarely does.

Deeney was largely anonymous again - but I can see why he was given the nod as we played largely with one up front. But it seems we are into the realm of picking the ‘least worst’ striker at present and I think it’s borders on ridiculous how we are 4 years into the PL and don’t have a recognised 1st choice striker.

The pluses for me were Foster - his desire to come so often off his line was a saviour tonight, even if I think he should have stayed on his line for the Sane goal. Kabasele has now surely put Mariappa back to bench duty long term? Quina looked bright and I think can only get better, would start him over Hughes regardless of if Hughes is injured or not on Monday. And I think Kiko showed flashes of his old self defensively today.

I do have to wonder if we never cottoned on to the Mahrez to Sane pass that was on ALL night or if it’s just something that is very hard to defend against unless you have world class full backs.

But anyone saying we were in the game or almost drew - no. But for Foster and Jesus being fairly lazy, it would have been 5 or 6 again. If Aguero was fit, I dread to think what the score would have been.

It didn’t highlight anything we haven’t known already this season - Get a striker, get a defensive leader and get Doucoure back on form. Then we’ll be alright. Do none of the above and we will continue to lose more than we win.

 

Proud of are ladz

 

My memory is fading but didn't we score two against City when we were in the championship, away?

 

Just seen the stats. 70% possession to City was not a surprise to see, but we had 7 on target shots!! When did that happen? Or did they count Doucoure's multiple attempts for his goal!!

 

Largely don't disagree except not sure what Foster would have to do to get a 9 or a 10?

 

Some of the stuff I've just read on here..... bitter, angry, stream of conciousness, know-all invective. And I wonder if some of you have ever actually played football. This is especially the case immediately at the close of play. Already, a couple of hours later, things are calming down a little bit. The probable future champions beat us 2 - 1 and we genuinely gave them a fright in the last 5 or so minutes and people reacting like it's the end of the World. I thought Watford had a game plan and it worked relatively well, although of course Watford players made quite a few individual mistakes, especially early on. The quality of the opposition does have some bearing on this.

 

Our passing in the first half was awful, it's hard enough playing city as it is without gifting them the ball back at every opportunity. Doucs & Chalobah the worst culprits but by no means the only ones.

While we worked hard, our 1st half performance wasnt great overall.

Hughes isnt a winger.

Deeney was unlucky with his strike late on in the first half, if he had been able to keep his balance then he scores. If they are going to play Deeney on his own then the balls into him need to be better, he won little in the air.

Their keeper is one ugly looking person.

We gave it a go at the end, shame we didn't do that sooner in the game.

 

Fair point. Going to edit that.

Ah. I can't. Well, consider it a 9 or 10.

 

On another matter, but topical as it is the reason Capoue is now suspended...…...always the victim Zaha in tonight's defeat at Brighton.

 

Try again!

No it really wasn't

 

Riyad Mahrez has an incredible record vs Watford in which he has scored against them in his last 6 games:

vs Watford, 5th Mar 2016
vs Watford, 19th Nov 2016
vs Watford, 6th May 2017
vs Watford, 26th Dec 2017
vs Watford, 20th Jan 2018
vs Watford, 4th Dec 2018

Bloody menace!

 

Last two games at home against city, 5/0 and 6/0 so an improvement.

What was disappointing was our lack of composure, misplaced passing , giving the ball away. Doucoure was again awful and Chalobah no better. They were both put to shame by a positive cameo from Quina.
Pererya anonymous, thought success rather lazy, particularly noticeable when Gray came on and chased down everything.
Hopefully things will turn soon.

 

Mahrez, Salah, Aguero, Vardy, Zaha etc.....the list is quite long.

 

Think people are actually being harsh on Doucoure myself. He's set high standards by his phenomenal performances last season - however don't forget he didn't really have a preseason - I think this impacts more than people think - Deeney last season for example.

 

What's his excuse for this season?

 

Every word in RC’s post is true people.

 

Surely you all understand our future in this league? Lose more than we win, scrape to 40-45 points each season until the season we go down. All that talk about Europe and finishing top of the non-top-six-league given what we are able to spend was just embarrassing. The quality of our squad vs our peers is horrendously overestimated on this forum. We are a bottom 6 squad.

 

But this is just not realistic. Press high and “have a go” will lead to them picking us off with ease for a 6-1 defeat. I don’t see how we could have played any other way last night. Gameplan looked fine to me - just can not afford to miss the sort of chance that Deeney did.

 

We lost by a single goal, but we played terribly, doesn't that tell you something? When you played, would you have considered that a victory? In your playing days, would you not have considered that had your team played better, you may have managed a point or three?

Or would you have merely thought, we only lost 2-1, so it doesn't matter how we played.

 

You just saved me writing up my report, cheers.

Otherwise I have to say Success was an utter embarrassment to switch off like that at a throw. Basically gifted them the game right there. I wish we'd simply fire Success, Gray and Okaka.

One, and I mean one, small bright spot was Quina.