Watford FC 0-3 Brighton & Hove Albion - 10/08/2019

Terrible performance. Terrible result.
Hopefully it's shaken some complacency out of the team and a few posters who believe we are making a concerted effort to challenge for Europe ?
I guess it'll be ok as "we will go again" ?

 

I think everything’s been said about yesterday’s dispiriting start to the season but here’s a few other things I noticed.
What’s the thinking behind announcing the subs before the starting line-ups when the teams are read out? Odd.
The new seats in the SE corner are uncovered. Will they remain that way, or do they have to have a roof before they become operational?
What happened to the new rule about substituted players leaving the pitch at the nearest point? I think this is going to be very difficult to enforce, except in the case of injured players. As it happens there was no real incentive yesterday for any time-wasting, but all the changeovers happened at the half-way line.

 

I think they do. In this day and age, if the views of anonymous, mostly lying posters on an unofficial football forum are not taking into consideration by a coach when picking the team, then that'll be why we are underachieving.

 

Made the right call in staying off the forum last night having read just the last page or so.

Think I’ll stay off for the next week if this is representitive.

 

Nah, wouldnt give any of the players a rating over 61 after that.

 

Did Foster really say that?
I have 11 year old players that know you have to earn every victory.
Really concerning.
Everyone can play badly,Lord knows I can vouch for that but to think merely turning up is sufficient is breathtakingly arrogant.
I'm lost for words for the third time in 24 hours.

 

He did. Interview is on YouTube. I find this concerning. There are no excuses for not being mentally ready for the first game of the season.

Have also heard people saying the players don't seem fit enough. How many pre-season matches were there? 4? Aren't there normally a few more than that? If so, again, inexcusable.

Javi needs to tear them a new one after that.

 

What did you expect?

 

Stupid boy.

 

Commentator said yesterday we were doing double sessions right up until a week to go, no idea if that contributed or not but we did look tired.

 

Vitriol

 

That was an absolute ****ing disgrace.

 

What’s the thinking behind announcing the subs before the starting line-ups when the teams are read out? Odd. Maybe they think it's like a gig, where the support act comes on first? Pointless change though.

The new seats in the SE corner are uncovered. Will they remain that way, or do they have to have a roof before they become operational? Don't think so, but it seems a fair proportional of these new seats, now in three corners, have restricted views. If yesterday's show is anything to go by, they'll soon be the most expensive seats! (badum tish)

One other thing I noticed was that for goal kicks, two defenders were in their own penalty areas, either side of the goalie. Last season when some teams used this new(?) tactic they waited outside. A change of rule or reinterpretation of an old one? Either way, it's open to new time-wasting opportunities. We tried it once that I remember, Brighton a couple of times, with Deeney warned about encroachment on one occasion. Get rid of it, I say!

Lastly, what's the point of an announcement after a VAR review has been completed, saying 'VAR review completed' a few seconds after it has obviously been completed with the result being displayed on the scoreboard. Pointless.

 

It’s a new rule. Previously a player had to be outside the box to receive the ball from a goal kick. Now defenders can be in the box but attackers have to remain outside.

I don’t think it encourages time wasting - if the ball’s in play, it’s in play. It’s up to attacking sides to work out how to counteract it. But what it did seem to do yesterday was completely distract Foster. None of our defenders are noted for their fancy footwork. We should just stick to what worked last year.

 

Watching the highlights again this stood out for me even more than on first viewing. I said in the QPR game that Holebas was shocking, he really does look finished ufortunately. Our need to sign another LB is clear and our failure to get one at the last minute will bite us. I'm not even sure a fully fit Masina is any better though. Who else could be a stopgap in that position until January? Foulquier? Cathcart? Kabs? Are any of our new U23 lads left backs?

Have Udinese got any spare left backs whose contracts they could terminate for us? Actually, considering they play Zeegelaar there then perhaps that's not the best idea.

 

Troy probably does and Id imagine the top dogs are aware of the views even if they dont spend their days scrolling through.

 

We all know how bad yesterday was, but how do we improve the situation? It's not a one-off as it appears to be a continuation from last season's slump. We're not only losing, we are being completely thrashed right now.

Chelsea 0-3, West Ham 1-4, Man City 0-6 and Brighton 0-3 have been our last 4 results. No clean sheets in the last 16 games. We've only won 1 of our last 8, losing 6 (nearly 7) of those. Being thrashed at home by a side that's only won 3 of their last 32 away games. THERE IS A PROBLEM for sure.

So, I'm going to try and break it down. Up front, certainly yesterday, we were toothless. Deeney was totally anonymous. He was trying little one/two passes which were just not coming off. I see that not as smart play, but as a sign the player is passing on the responsibility. Instead he should be taking a quick touch and shooting. But he takes the safer option of passing quickly, so he will not get the blame. But he's the striker. He's the guy that has to be on the end of things. How many shots does he have during games? Very few as a rule.

Gray is the other striker, but he's not an intelligent striker. He's someone who will just swing a leg at it and hope to make a good connection. The chance he had for the equaliser is a perfect example. A good striker knows he needs to lift the ball. The ball was rolled to him perfectly to run on to and hit and he had plenty of time to shoot higher into the net. What he did is just shoot, without any intelligence. It's a shot a player who is not a striker makes. This is what separates good players from ordinary ones. So that's our forward line. Decent enough from the bench, but these two are largely Championship in ability.

We have Hughes, who is an advanced central midfielder, playing as a wide right player. He is the only player who I won't criticise for yesterday, as he at least put in a shift. He showed he cared. But he's not playing in his most effective position.

We do not have anyone high in central midfield to stop an opposition central defender or defensive midfielder from bringing the ball out. We do not put pressure on these players. Sociedad destroyed us through the middle a couple of weeks ago, and Brighton scored their third because of this too.

The defence is Championship. It's not the players' fault. They are what they are. We have a 35 year old left wing back, a converted winger right back, two Championship central defenders and the back up options are less effective.

But we have enough in the squad to be better, a lot better than we've been showing in recent matches.

So what do we need to do? Putting it simply, we need to change our shape, increase our intensity and desire, and we MUST bring is Sarr and Welbeck as soon as humanly possible.

 

The one thing that Gracia has more than any Watford manager in history is that we have pretty much 2 players in every position of a similar quality. I think he needs to be ruthless with players who are not putting it in, and bench them. Some of the players don’t look like they have the desire anymore (or aren’t good enough). Most teams reach a season after they have been promoted hit a bad season and face a relegation fight. I think this could be our season, but Gracia doesn’t really have any excuses with the squad he has at his disposal. Watching Villa yesterday reminded me of when we were first promoted. Fair enough they lost but they played at full tilt, and players were putting their bodies on the line. We need some of that

 

No. It won't make any difference to our players how larfe the goals are. We still wouldn't score

 

50% of the players you named weren't available yesterday

 

Flag waving?

 

Gracia has been quite stubborn to drop players last season so doubt he will be ruthless with established first teamers.

 

I don't think there is an over reaction. What do you expect fans to say when you lose 0-3 at home to a Premier League struggler?

Of course we have to see how things pan out over the next few games, but this match was not a one-off. These performances have been going on for a while now and even an end of season break, and pre-season has not fixed it.

It's getting to a stage where it's more than "just a blip". You have to take into consideration the end of last season, rather than just yesterday's match in isolation.

 

Where is the captain in all this . Fair enough Foster and Cathcart are senior players so worth hearing but I would have thought the captain would have something to say - maybe I missed it

 

Let’s hope Meister’s data protection is watertight & details can’t out.

Like home addresses.

 

But Brighton aren’t a struggler.

They’re third.

 

I saw that in the youtube interview. Though on yesterday's showing I at least refuse to believe that Deeney has lost his hunger.

 

How many defeats in a row before questions can be asked? We are on 5, so what's the boundary line? 10? 20?

 

Agreed. The average age of our back 5 (inc Foster) is 32. Brighton's was 27. According to transfermarket the average age of our starting 11 was over 29 and that looked an underestimate yesterday. I think we have one of the oldest squad ages hence why DW and IS should make a difference to our energy levels

 

Odd indeed. Weird even. And very annoying too.