Oh also I just remembered, I was listening to an episode of FTRE weeks ago when Ivic was first appointed and someone who had followed him closely said we'd win 1-0 a lot as it was a staple of his time at one of his old clubs. Not sure if anyone has the data to back it up but if so maybe performances like yesterday could be a regular thing.
Our pass completion percentage stats from yesterday: Cathcart - 82 Kabasele - 76 Wilmot - 58 Ngakia - 57 Femenia - 76 Chalobah - 68 Cleverley - 76 Sema - 57 Quina - 61 Joao Pedro - 65 Some really poor numbers in there. Funnily enough, my excitement at signing Ngakia was slightly tempered by seeing his pass completion stats from his PL performances was at 54%. He should be upping this more in the Champ, but that he's started in the same vein is a concern. I'd posted more about it in this thread: http://wfcforums.com/index.php?threads/jeremy-ngakia.57128/page-3#post-2877528
To be honest, of all the issues at the club, I don't think signing Perica is one, he looks like he'll get a few goals at this level. Even getting rid of Suarez isn't terminal, we still have three out and out strikers who look like they'll be staying, as well as JP and Sarr who can play there. If we don't get a replacement in for Estupinan, or Sarr leaves without any kind of replacement, then yeah, big questions will need to be answered
By the looks of that, the guys trying to make the more ambitious passes going forward were the ones who struggled, not overly surprising, and not a cause for concern. FWIW, although we struggled to create much going forward, I thought we did look calm when they tried to press us, less nervous hoofs when under any kind of pressure
Fact is that he had been picked for his country during his career and had played somewhat regularly in Serie A directly before signing for us. Pedigree, and two things that don't apply to our new, lower quality Udinese cast offs. Tell me I'm wrong?
Acccurate long balls: Cathcart - 0 Kabasele - 3 Wilmot - 3 Ngakia - 0 Femenia - 1 Chalobah - 4 Cleverley - 2 Sema - 0 Quina - 0 Joao Pedro - 0 Inaccurate long balls: Cathcart - 0 Kabasele - 1 Wilmot - 10 Ngakia - 4 Femenia - 1 Chalobah - 5 Cleverley - 3 Sema - 2 Quina - 1 Joao Pedro - 0
Going only by your logic, Sierralta is a full international (more recently than Abdi was when he joined) for a country of similar rank. Here's the pedigree of some of the players who joined us back in 12/13 and performed well. Forestieri: Joined off the back of 2 goals in 28 games for Bari in Serie B Anya: 35 games for Cadiz in the Segunda B (Spanish 3rd division!) Abdi: 9 starts for Udinese Vydra: 5 games 0 goals for Club Brugge Ekstrand: 5 starts for Udinese
We won yesterday, without too much trouble. Regardless of the off field issues which undoubtedly will continue until a few hours after the transfer deadline, I prefer to be in our position right now compared to say Cardiff or Derby with both turned over at home by teams expected to be mid table at best. The forum would completely imploded if that had been us! The angst, stress and high blood pressure is just not worth it. Far better to look at what could be positively, for me anyway.
Except Sierralta has just come in off the back of 11 appearances in Serie B, not 23 n Serie A, but I suppose it's better for you to ignore that part of it. Of course there will be exceptions to the rule, I simply don't expect Perica or Sierralta to be part of that. We've signed plenty of crap from Udinese and elsewhere, and these two are simply a continuation of our laughable, hit and hope recruitment.
I think most of the doom and gloomers would take 3rd place and a play off final right now... Christ there's literally nothing you won't be a pedant about is there haha
Sierralta and Perica both have better pedigree than Anya, Forestieri and Vydra when they joined. Were you saying the same things when they joined? Personally I've never seen either of them play (I assume you have, extensively?), so I'm saving my judgement for that point. But, each to their own!
Maybe, maybe not. But they signed contracts (which will be protecting them as well as Watford). Perhaps they should honour them.
He definitely gave the ball away a lot, but he was also trying to play significantly more difficult passes than the likes of Cathcart and Kabasele. A fair amount of naivete in many of his decisions, I think. There were a lot of times he attempted to thread a ball forward through to someone and it got intercepted. If he had made the pass, though, we'd have been through on goal. He clearly has the ambition to play penetrating balls, which is commendable and something we've been lacking for a while, but doesn't yet have the experience to know when the pass isn't on. I suspect we'll see that improve if he gets getting senior starts under his belt. What's pleasing about him is he's very positive in his outlook: he gets the ball and he's looking to create an opportunity instead of lay the ball off so it's someone else's problem. If he can temper that urge more when the ball really isn't on, I reckon he'll become a real asset.
How on earth is it pedantic to point out something that is factually important to the debate at hand?! You may not like it but frankly I don’t care. People often don’t like having the holes in their argument shown to them. You may feel like finishing 3rd and a loss in a playoff final is good enough. I don’t.
So, what's the argument? On average, players in their prime years who have proven pedigree are no more likely to perform/be good signings than players who are also in their prime years but have done little to nothing in their careers? As I've said, there are always exceptions to the rule, it doesn't change the bigger picture.
Your argument that Abdi had pedigree because he had played international matches. So has Carlton Palmer and I’ve never seen a worse player play for England
I was in a conversation with Nath (shock horror you needed to add your...input), his point being that the Udinese cast offs we've been given are of a poorer standard than we received last time due to their pedigree. I pointed out the players we recruited in 12/13 who by all accounts did an excellent job at this level had a similar if not worse pedigree than Perica and Sierralta. So they shouldn't be immediately written off at this level. I really didn't think that needed spelling out seeing as it was written in front of you before you clicked reply, but I'll bear that in mind for next time!
I've never seen Kiko do anything except give his all. He is, however, a poor defender and we saw a bit of that yesterday. He is right footed and so was playing somewhat out of position. He is, in my opinion, a half-decent winger (at Championship level) and I would keep him for that. Of course, Sarr would be first choice.
Standard Watford of late though isn’t it? Plenty of 2nd and 3rd choice options for all positions but few who are actually good enough to be starters.
Indeed. In fact it looks like it is being played extremely cagily. I suspect there may be a small rush at the end after countless bluffs and counter-bluffs. But it looks at the moment like a buyers' market.
