We do seriously need to sort out the front four of this team though; the back 7 look comfortably of top half standard whilst our front four would struggle to create much in the Championship. Recruitment for these roles has thus far been **** poor, we've signed Jurado and Diamanti who whilst both are talented both play the same position as Abdi, so we effectively have three of the same player, all of which are varying levels of ineffective on the wing. Two wingers are an absolute must if we're going to play this system and stay up, a back up centre mid and a different option up front also required.
I think West Brom are definitely relegation candidates this season. I'd be extremely worried if I were them as the promoted teams look useful. A point against Saints is fine imo. For all the worry about the lack of cutting edge, it must be said we have controlled the two home games in terms of possession. That has to be a great base to build from even if it hasn't been very entertaining so far. The defense has looked superb. My bigger concern is the sidelining of Abdi/Vydra/Angella/Fessi who I've really come to identify with the last couple of years, even if they just get sub runouts to see if they can step up or not. Not using Berghuis is a mystery as well. I hope all these players get a chance at Preston.
A few observations: For those of a certain age Behrami reminds me so much of Roger Joslyn back in the late 70's early 80's - great player, when he get's fully match fit and can last the entire game, he is going to be an awesome addition. Capoue, from what I've seen so far - he's a class act, very surprised Spurs let him go. We play the ball well out of defence through the first two thirds of the pitch, with pace and composure, then we seem to get a bit stifled and it all slows down, allowing the opposition to get back and regroup. We were crying out for a 'third man running' from midfield through their defensive line - either as a decoy to create us space to play in or to take a slipped in pass. In my eyes Vydra would be excellent at that. Teams that have come to the Vic' so far have both played it very centrally in midfield and defence, happy to give us space out wide but giving no space for short one-two's in central positions - then when they break, the suddenly go wide and try to hurt us. I'm pretty happy with our start and have seen enough positives so far to think we'll be ok. I also spotted the 'player's entrance' which player were they referring to I wonder!
absolutely agree and the frustrating part is that we've stuffed ourselves so full of non HG players that do a similar job we now have no room for a cheap, creative option like AG....Diamante might have a wand of a left foot, but based on yesterday's cameo, quite apart from him looking like an extra from East Enders after a night out, is he really the sort of player we need? I got shouted down for saying it but imo Deeney is not happy with this style of play and losing patience.....the Troy of last year would have gambled on that first half cross shot from Anya, yesterday he looked like he couldn't be bothered. We need pace, pace and more pace
Undoubtedly true against West Brom where we had 60% possession but I'm not sure 53% against Southampton counts as controlling possession. We edged it yesterday, nothing more.
I genuinely think the only thing which was needed today was someone like Abdi in Igahlo's position. Igahlo likes to get too far forward and it left a huge hole between Capoue/Berhami and Deeney. Capoue visibally pointed it out at one point. One of Deeney or Igahlo will not start next week (and I think we can guess who).
Took us 6 games last time we were in the premier to get 3 points, incidentally our record was 5 wins 13 draws 20 defeats, That season, forget Man city, hopefully we will get points out of Swansea home and Newcastle away if not wil be time to be concerned.
We're the lowest-placed team to have played twice at home, with the exception of West Brom, who've had the misfortune to host Manchester City and Chelsea. I said before the start of the season that with all the changes of players and head coach, we'd start slowly and fail to pick up the points we need from bottom-half teams like West Brom and Southampton, and that seems to be the case. Even Florrie agrees: “We are a new team and we are creating a new base. We have how many new players? Too much.” Whether we'll improve when everybody knows their job, remains to be seen. Florrie again: “During the match it is not easy to change players." There's a bloke in Israel who cracked that one.
WhoScored has us as rated 5th best team in the league. 5th Highest number of Tackles this season 2nd Highest number of Interceptions this season 5th Highest number of Shots this season 6th Highest number of Dribbles this season 3rd Highest number of Completed Crosses this season 2nd Lowest number of times we have been dribbled past this season Stop *****ing moaning.
The points will come against weaker teams. Can't believe people think we should be winning against teams that will be in and around the European spots. Get a grip.
I think the frustrating thing is they were there for the taking. The next few games are only going to be harder to pick up points.
WBA won't be 'in and around the European spots' and few teams will play a weaker Southampton team at home all season.
The question is are you all going to be happy if we dont win the following games. Man City away - Well best team in the country at the moment never expected anything Swansea at home - They were top half in the league last season- they just signed champions league quality such as Ayew - its a bit much to ask for a win there and they are unbeaten Newcastle away - They've recruited - got former england manager Mcclaren in charge now and just drew 0-0 away to Man Utd Palace at home - They are quality! pace and power down the wings just signed Sakho will easily be top half this season - didnt they beat fellow promotion achievers Norwich at their place? I hope I dont sound too harsh as we are still a new team but as I said it doesn't get any easier. I am making these excuses in advance not because I believe them but because I'm expecting them if we dont win. I've heard a few people say on this thread that we've been handed a tough start but with two home games against West Brom and Southampton we have barely had a shot on target in either game and those were two of the most winnable home games we will have this season.
No, but that was a game in which we dominated as WBA sat back and defended, you'd be hard pushed to get a goal over a Pulis team when he decides they're going for a draw. True about Southampton, but a draw still isn't a bad result considering the class they have in that team. We'll get wins, we'll stay up. Just relax.
How I view it is this.. We can all discuss a match, as we are doing here. The danger can sometimes be if the discussion of that match then becomes a discussion of the whole season ahead, based on that match. Yesterday was poor. We had an opportunity to win and didn't. Defensively solid, attackingly fairly inept. That was yesterday's match (and the WBA one). Very frustrating. Two sides we could have beaten. But.. A whole season can't be 'written off' on the basis of what we saw yesterday. It's a 38 game campaign. Sides develop, sides change, players surprise, tactics get tweaked. I'd hate a whole season of matches like yesterday but there's little logic to suggest that will be the case. (In 99-00 we won 2 of our opening 4 games in the PL and things looked rosey..we then won only 4 of our final 34!)
Have to agree with Reids, we'll get enough points to stay up and anything other than relegation is a huge achievement.
5 shots on target in the West Brom game is barely a shot on target? That's the same amount we had at Brighton when we clinched promotion. We were never going to be peppering Southamptons goal with shots. You lot need to be more realistic.
Spot on. You've definitely nailed the excuses in advance. I'm perfectly relaxed. Not sure the team are looking at some of the body language in the last 15 minutes yesterday.
I'm not particularly concerned that we haven't won yet (though it will become a mentality issue if it goes on), but I'm more concerned at not seeing any pattern of forward play that is likely to see us scoring and therefore winning games eventually.....and it appears we're about to lose our paciest striker
I suspect incomings this week will make many feel better; if Vydra is going, someone better, or at least more suited to the system is coming in.
For all the faults of yesterday's display, if Capoue's header goes in, which it really ought to have done, the WFC world looks a brighter place this morning. I believe that ultimately it will be those sorts of fine margins that determine which way our season goes. (ditto Berahino's bad miss the match before)
By the way, for those who think I'm being unduly negative or have inflated expectations I've just seen a post-match interview with Behrami where he makes one of my points much better than maybe I have: http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sp...the_nice_team_to_watch_who_don_t_win_points/? Looking solid and concentrating on defence first is great but goals breed confidence.
Can't help but feel that if Deeney was playing in the middle of the 3 with Ighalo as the lone striker, Ighalo would ve been in the six yard box for that cross. Deeney still seemed to be playing quite deep. Well, not on the back four anyway.. I'm still happy with a point tho we didn't look out of place which was good, and the defence looks solid. I didn't think Cathcart would be able to step up but he's been awesome
With only 3 yellow cards so far, we're leading the race for the Fair Play League!!! We'll be in Europe yet
Yes but according to the gurus at WhoScored.com, Arsenal were the best team in the league last year and Hull, QPR and Burnley were 14th, 15th and 16th. Didn't do them much good! It's very easy to cherry pick statistics but they often don't tell the whole story. We may have had the 6th most dribbles but how many of them other than Ighalo's at Everton actually led to an opportunity? What counts as a dribble? Do we get one if Anya runs down the wing and then boots it out for a goal kick? We are very good at slinging crosses into the box but how many times have we found one of our players? There is no category for completed crosses by the way, it's just crosses and apparently we have 25 per game. If we have successfully got on the end of 25 crosses in each of our three games so far, I've definitely missed that! We are playing very ponderous, disjointed attacking football and the last two games have been terrible to watch. We have obviously decided to prioritise not conceding over attacking play which is fair enough, that's Quique's call but let's not try and pretend we are something we are not.
There is. We have completed 6% of crosses. Which seems to be the average looking at Everton/Norwich/Leicester/Bmuff.
Fair enough. Couldn't find that category on WhoScored.com but it was the first time I'd ever looked on that website! I don't see how we could possibly be 3rd for completed crosses then as the other guy initially claimed!
