I agree. His CV is impressive, but i've yet to see him add value. He was gifted a sitter yesterday that would have nailed the game, but completely fluffed it. Deeney would have ripped the back out of the net in similar circumstance. PS the fake Soton player was Ali Dia when Graham Souness was the manager. He had tried his luck with Redknap at West Ham previously.
Thanks for the correction, I remember seeing a documentary when it was mentioned and yes it was Souness, I think Liam Henderson was better than Ighalo at least he had passion
I didn't see anything from him in 90 minutes against Doncaster, that was a reasonable opportunity for him to show what he could do
Aside from Tamas having a stinker and a half before thankfully having to go off (not wishing a serious injury on him of course), I can't see how anyone can blame the players. We committed tactical suicide from the start and then refused to change it throughout the entire 90 minutes. We have been almost unstoppable at home playing 3-5-2 for a year now. We might be a tad flaky at the back but we are almost always dominant going forward. Everybody knows what they are doing and where they are supposed to be and is comfortable playing it. Today, for whatever reason, we lined up 4-5-1 at home and then played a game of hoofball up to our 5'10 forwards. What in God's name was whoever is in charge of our tactical approach thinking? Why would you ever go one up front at home with our squad and if you do, why would you play a direct, aimless game of lump the ball up the pitch? All our attacking players are tiny and none of the midfield pushed up to win the second balls, so what the hell was the point of it? The players quite clearly had no idea what they were doing out there. I don't know what has been going on behind the scenes since Sannino left but Charlton, Blackpool and Bournemouth have shown that whatever it is it isn't good enough. They need to get a clue, and quick. How you can take a team so dominant at home and turn them into an aimless, unsure, lump-the-ball-forward negative mess of a team unable to create a single flowing chance is beyond me. It was a pathetic showing by the management team yesterday and the cluelessness shown in the last three games by them has already cost us points. If the Pozzos are set on promotion then setting up 4-5-1 at home is quite obviously not the way to do it, especially when you are aiming at Vydra, Forestieri, Dyer and Anya. I mean, seriously, what the **** was yesterday all about?!
Were you as unforgiving as when GT was away for 6 weeks in 98 with his throat abscess? That happened in January and we were pushing for promotion, it's barely been a week. It seems some people on here will never accept OG and will clutch at any opportunity to see him removed. However, they haven't gone through the stages of grief since BS left so will harp on about it and take pleasure in bad results and performances so they can be proved right. That's what's important to them...not the club.
Love that people have dismissed Ighalo before he's even started a league game. Is it because he's from the Spanish league so people are assuming he's another Geijo? Or is it because he's black and is of similar stature to Beleck they're assuming he's crap? Racists.
Having our manager in hospital this past week (and it has only been a week though it feels longer) is not a unique situation for us. Remember 97-98? GT rushed in with a serious absess. And remember how that season finished? Promotion from League One. The Oscar situation, while obviously not desirable, has happened early enough in the season for us to recover from it. I honestly feel we should all keep remembering the season is only 8 games old and still has 38 matches left. (sorry Hornetgags..wrote this before I'd seen your post)
I don't understand why anybody who was vocally pissed off at yesterday's game is dismissed as irrational. I think everybody realises that it is only one game, the manager hasn't had long etc. But that was very poor. I know the manager hasn't had long with the squad, but then why is he changing from a set up we feel entirely comfortable in, and one which we have looked superior in, when he isn't even there to train the team? Why are we playing Vydra up front by himself? I am not annoyed that we have drawn a game. I'm annoyed by the attitude, the lack of creativity, the lack of teamwork and the lack of width because the players want the glory and so line up in the same spot in the middle. The team has gone (albeit hopefully temporarily) backwards and I do not want to start seeing the same mistakes we started to make last season, the same mistakes Sannino looked like he had eradicated.
No worries, totally agree. Take the emotion out of it and it's the same situation. I've got no issues with the people bemoaning the performance yesterday...it was pretty abject in places...however I will call to task anyone who doesn't view the situation objectively and with perspective. Instead of calling for OG's head...why can't the attitude be...we need OG back as soon as possible to try and give the team some direction and see what he can do?
For you to call people racists is downright stupid, insulting and shows the only person being racist is yourself. The comment I made was purely down to the players contribution in all of his appearances to date! Luther Blissett and John Barnes were two of the best players that ever played for WFC, the colour of their skin has absolutely nothing to do with it!
I was going to add a proviso about the fact it would be different if a long serving manger who already had his playing style and philosophy established with the team, as obviously the team would be more able to function reasonably well with the managers underlings running things. However, I didn't because I thought people would realise it was more of a problem as O G has not had a chance to ingrain his ideas etc. yet, therefore the team is basically rudderless at the moment and all at sea. Edit: By the way I've just read your later post, and I am not calling for O G's head, if he regains full heath quickly I would be more than happy for him to stay on. I am just being realistic as we cannot afford to be without a manager for weeks, as we were when GT was ill, because the team have no idea how the NEW manager wants them to play, so we could be pretty much rudderless for several weeks, but when GT was ill that was not the case. It's just bad luck all round if O G is not well enough to do his job, but the club must come first so he might have to go.
FFS Paredes plays as a fullback for Ecuador, if he didn't overlap it's because there was no cover behind. And believe me, Fessi wasn't waiting for his run but just for the defender to commit.
One thing that did make me have a wry smile yesterday was when Toszer was given a piece of paper from the bench and had to try and point out to those around him, what the new formation was. Some players looked liked they were also asking Toszer to just confirm what he had just said. I know this does happen sometimes but it did look like the players were totally confused. Anyway on to the next game.
It baffles me the people on here who say we got a draw against Bournemouth who are a good side or we only lost 1-0 away to Charlton who are unbeaten. Surely if we have any real aspirations of promotion these are not results to derive satisfaction from these are games we need to be winning. We have a lot of very talented players who looking at them individually are more than capable of winning this league, therefore it can only come to one of two things, either we are employing the wrong tactics or the players have the wrong attitude and whichever of these is the problem it needs sorting before another season drifts into mediocrity. This wouldn't bother me as I've supported some very average Watford teams in the past and followed them avidly for over 50 years but I genuinely believe we have the talent to win this league and to see them regularly under perform is unbelievably frustrating.
No Watford Talk it's probably because he looks quite shi*e. With Geijo people kept saying 'dont write him off' Acuna still gets the blessing of the old 'didnt have a chance' card Ighalo looks like a donkey in the area, doesn't offer a lot, he looks strong enough to hold the ball up but doesn't do that, looks quick enough to run behind defenders but doesn't do that? He's competing with the likes of Deeney & Vydra so he's not going to get many starts but that shouldn't be his get out clause. If he's presented the opportunity whilst Deeney's gone then he needs to take it not strike it right at the keeper.
I think there has been some massive overreactions in this thread - yes we were poor for periods - but at the end of the day it was just one game and, we didn't lose! One observation I did make was that if Toszer is meant to be our defensive midfielder, he needs to improve his tackling and heading ability - his passing is his biggest strength and when that is off, which can happen in some games, we need to see the other side of his game coming to the fore. I thought he or Abdi should have been the one trying to shut down the space for Artur's strike (which was excellent), not Cathcart. When our midfield fails to click we look very ordinary, yesterday was one of those days, hopefully it was just a bad day at the office, and we'll get back on track next Saturday at Blackburn. Ekstrand stood out yesterday for me, very composed performance. I wonder how far Ikpeazu is off from full fitness, he may offer us something different if Deeney is out for a considerable amount of time. Let's not get too despondent and look for the positives - roll on Blackburn. COYH
Artur was always unmarked and we never got a handle on him, had we shut him down they would not have been so effective. Once Cathcart came on we looked far more composed (deserved MOM) at the back but the midfield didn't provide enough protection. I thought Ekstrand and Cathcart were excellent yesterday. A back 3 of Cathcart, Ekstrand and Angella would be ideal. Anya, was so frustrating, I said to my friend Strachan was quoted as saying he couldn't understand why Anya wasn't playing in the Premiership...yesterday showed why. I think Munari was a big miss - unspectacular however very much in the Eustace/Hogg mould - you miss him when he's not there. Get him sitting in front of the defence and release Toszer and Abdi to hurt teams further forward.
He'd have been waiting a long time then with no support at all! They were inching closer and FF was going no where. I'm not particularly interested in what he does for Ecuador. Anya goes away and does the business for Scotland but continually comes back a shadow of that player. Parades had such a good debut it seems people aren't prepared to accept that was a one off performance buoyed by adrenaline and that actually he's a pretty average player at this level.
Dropping Abdi? I will not let heresy like that go unanswered, Sir. Retract immediately and make a large donation to the Church of Sainted Midfield Playmakers or I will see you in Oxhey Park at dawn for a duel to the death!
Thoughts: Management team - big mitigating circumstances for apparent lack of organisation - give them time to see what they can do Tamas - for all his calamitous defending, he is still one of our best players with the ball Cathcart - promising (2nd) debut Pudil -our most consistent player Anya / Abdi / Toszer - three of our best players had off days Dyer - decent, deserves a run in the starting 11 Deeney - get well soon, we miss you!
A lot of people are saying we were rubbish yesterday and granted it certainly wasn't out best performance individually and certainly as a team but everyone in yellow put in a shift. If you read any of my posts you will know i will always look for the positives. So here is one. We were and maybe still are the best 2nd half team in The Championship. This was demonstrated again yesterday and what i really liked is the way we finished the game. The were no real panics (apart from within the crowd) to try and get the equaliser or winner but we applied pressure with good ball retention around their last third (Yes they did have break aways). This reminded me of what premier leagues teams did to us (particularly teams like Arsenal) and was one of the reasons we got hit late in our most recent top flight seasons. Last season we were conceding late goals this season we are scoring them.
To me the great thing is, with a lot of our players, particularly the ones mentioned, even if they're having an indifferent game they are all capable of making something out of nothing to win a game as Iketchi did yesterday with his pull back to Matty.
One thing to remember is how early doors it is for many of our players and of course the coaching staff, some disarray is inevitable. B'mth on the other hand are probably the most settled side in the championship and therefore are always likely to perform well at this time of the season. As we saw under Zola things change and it's the future that should be concerning us the most, with our depth it should be an upward curve. However I will say that barring Parades we don't have the quality in the wide areas that we need for the formation (although Pudil is a good utility that never goes missing). Pace isn't everything, if Oscar wants his false nine ball retention and good delivery are absolutely essential.
If Oscar wants 433 then imo there needs to be some movement in Jan and Gino needs to get the cheque book out and get the best wingers/inside forwards he can afford. Unfortunately that makes Fessi and Vydra surplus to requirements and demotes Anya and Dyer to reserve. At the back we need two proper full backs, one each side.
When he's come on, I think he's looked quite good. Decent hold up play, quite feet, okay in the air. Udinese, Rotherham, Charlton and yesterday I thought he's shown some nice touches. Won the header that lead to Cathcart's goal. Regarding him fluffing a chance yesterday, remind me what Vydra did with his one chance (that Ighalo played a big part in) yesterday?
I don't think anybody thinks yesterday was anything other than a below-par performance..maybe in slightly mitigating circumstances.. but I don't believe history should be re-written either to portray it as a total dogs dinner of a NINETY minute performance..it wasn't great and maybe we were lucky to get a point..but I did feel we looked brighter the longer the game went on and finished quite strongly. Towards the end of the Zola reign, I believe we'd have lost that one..and who yet knows how important the point we salvidged could turn out to be in 7 months time. Poor by our standards, very frustrating, but not to be consigned to the 'worst ever performances at home' dustbin.
The body language and facial expressions on many of the players yesterday was worrying to see. I don't think getting rid of Beppe and bringing in Garcia will change anything. Basically, we've got some players wearing the famous yellow who don't give two ****s about our club.
Set up the funniest moment of the game (Fessi's hand of god) In all seriousness when Ighalo has the debut and following months that Vydra did then you can compare the two.
Bit unfair. Just think it's a bit unfortunate that so many have wrote him off after a couple of sub appearances.
