It was Hughes, not Kiko. There’s no shame in losing the one on one but, once you have, for goodness sake foul the opponent. Instead Hughes let him palm him off and basically stopped. I don’t get Doucoure either. He seemed to recognise the danger Haller was posing and initially went with him, but then stopped dead.
For the second, I was rather bemused at the time that we didn't get a free kick for the challenge on Cleverley that turned the ball over. It looked like a clear foul to me, although I haven't seen a replay yet.
Shockingly clumsy challenge from Doucoure for the penalty, lazy tracking back for their second goal, an own goal against Brighton and I think it was him who gave the ball away at Everton for their goal last week? All-in-all Doucoure has had an absolute shocking start to the season and isn't too good to be dropped in favour of Quina or Chalobah! Both more than capable players and Doucoure's form means he shouldn't be anywhere near the first 11 at the moment! This is Javi's undoing, he's been too loyal to certain players who are massively out of form (Deeney, Doucoure, Kiko, Hughes, Holebas, Cathcart). All of these players should've been benched for today (with obvious exception of Troy's injury).
I sit in the family stand so didn't see the penalty clearly, but looking at the MotD highlights, it looked like Laznini just threw himself to the ground and conned the ref (again). Anyone at the Vic see it clearly? Did Doucoure catch him? The running away by Cathcart for their second goal, I was doing my nut at him for that. It was just pathetic. Dawson and Cathcart need to be dropped for the Newcastle match. Both are liabilities right now. Other players need to be given a chance. Interesting comment made by Wrighty at the end saying that Watford are in the sort of run where they need to do something. I assume he means changing the coach?
My bad - only caught a quick glance. Definitely have to drill the "take one for the team" into them. Cahill did it for Palace on Martial (admittedly unsure why it wasn't a red) but can really make the difference on the day. Need much better game management with defending.
I just don't see how it can be related, considering our no clean sheet run goes back EIGHTEEN games. The cup final was FOUR games ago. What's the reason for the other fourteen games? Secondly, we attacked brilliantly at points today so is it only affecting defenders? Clubs get relegated in some of your examples a whole 76 games after a cup final and they're affected by that? Let's take a look at your Villa example. Villa cup final team and next to it is what followed. Shay Given - Released Alan Hutton - Stayed and made 28 appearances Ron Vlaar - Released Jores Okore - Stayed and made 12 appearances Kieran Richardson - Stayed and made 11 appearances Ashley Westwood - Stayed and made 32 appearances Tom Cleverley - Joined Everton Fabian Delph - Joined Man City Charles N'Zogbia - Stayed and made 2 appearances Jack Grealish - Stayed and made 16 appearances Christian Benteke - Joined Liverpool So as you can see - only THREE players from Villa's FA Cup Final beating against Arsenal made a significant contribution in their relegation season. 5 weren't even at the club anymore. Sorry, Stevo but that is how I can be so certain.
I'm gonna hazard a guess at that not being good news for Javi. I'm connecting a lot of dots here so might be wrong but: - As technical director I imagine Giraldi has a say in the head coaches position. - It is incredibly rare for a technical director/sporting director etc to go to their own teams game - especially a 3pm KO. They'll usually be off scouting somewhere. As a result of these points I personally believe the Pozzos have an eye on sacking Javi and Giraldi was there to cast an eye over him and to see how he'd react to the game as it unfolded to report back to Gino.
As much as Javi’s lack of initiative with subs bothers me, when I watched the match today I came away thinking that the players are playing for Javi. Our attacking shape looked pretty good, and we were unlucky not to score more. Looking at the stats however, West Ham’s expected goals was far higher than ours, at nearly 4 goals. At home. That’s absolutely abysmal. We’ve all recognised that we have a decent midfield and a poor attack and defence. Now we’ve also got a woefully out of form Doucoure, who has been so pivotal to our recent success. The next game is massive. Lose against the worst side in the league and Javi needs to go.
You mean that, henceforth, he’ll be a magnificent statuesque presence in the Technical Area a la Jokanovic?
There’s was a penalty all day long. I have no idea what Cathcart was doing for the goal. He goes to the player it doesn’t get crossed over but he runs away. I get Gracia is under pressure but Dawson and Cathcart should know what they’re doing. They’re not getting done for pace, it is just error after error. Not marking, not tracking, being pulled out of position. For all Kabaseles issues I would play him at Newcastle and probably Coventry so he gets some match fitness
Palace were ridiculously lucky against United though. Cahill should have been sent off and Palace should have conceded two more penalties. Of course they’ll get the credit, but with a different referee United would have beaten Palace easily.
Just come in here so apologies if already covered. Capoue’s attitude today was woeful. Nominally captain but really weak. Low energy, a loser’s body language & dozy on the ball. The people you appoint is one of the clearest ways of judging a manager (not just in football). Capoue wasn’t playing for Javi. He stood in the centre circle at ko pointing at the sky. Who was he playing for? God? A dead homie? Instagram?
And Hughes bottled a challenge too whilst think Cathcart lost his man for the 3rd. Doucoure was a bit unlucky for the penalty. Attacker played it well . Tidy pass by Hughes for the Gray goal who also finished well. They would be great in the Championship!
In the first half it was 4-midfield diamond-2. Del in a roving role, Doucs generally on the left. In the second it 3-5-2, Fem & Hols playing suicidally high.
Agreed. No communication or understanding between Cathcart & Dawson. Counter attacking teams will slaughter this defence.
Positives: Geri is a threat. It doesn’t always come off, but he’s a constant threat and never hides from having the ball. I think once Welbeck and Sarr are up to speed, we have the makings of a really good forward line. It looked like the players were still playing for Javi, which hasn’t been the case under previous managers when things have started going wrong. Negatives: We are atrocious at the back. West Ham have some good attacking players, but the ease with which they cut us apart at times was terrifying. The total lack of organization and coherence at the back is unforgivable and it’ll ultimately be our downfall if things don’t change quickly. You can excuse Javi for a lack of talent to work with at the back, but you can’t excuse how poorly the defense and midfield play as a unit when it’s comes to protecting our goal. I thought we’d be comfortably safe this year. It’s hard to see that becoming a reality at this point.
West Ham themselves also made a lot of fouls in the second half to stop our attacks and were quite happy to take the consequences. I found myself wishing Watford would sometimes do the same - as I did at the Cup Final.
Thing that annoyed me the most about the game yesterday was that there was an organised drinks break. At 27 degrees? Pshh
I’ve been reluctant to jump on the doom and gloom bandwagon , but for me yesterday was the most worrying display so far . We were dominant for 80% of that match , played some very good football and opened West Ham up at will . Thought Delefeou was a constant threat ( though final ball was hit and miss). Also, yes if Hughes had put that open goal away it could have been a different result. We we’re incredibly wasteful in front of goal , but that’s not really what worries me . Our defence . We can’t cope with any kind of pace and even when not being hit on the break wee appear to lack organisation . I agree with what people are saying , we lack quality at the back , but when Javi first came in he got us organised and for most of last season ( a few hammerings apart) we looked well organised and and we always had a chance in matches as we weren’t conceding 2/3 goals . I’m not sure what’s happened ? I’m not as good at analysing as some others on here . Cathcart looks a shadow of the player he was for most of last season ( which appeared to start in the last few games if last season ) Jolebas similar and Dawson has not improved us at all . I can’t believe Cathcart has be one a bad player overnight ,so what is going on ? Whatever it is if we carry on like this we are in trouble . To concede 3 goals to 2 average dudes at home and look like we need to score 2 or 3 goals to have a chance of winning. I was trying to console myself that we are still likely to get the 10 subs we need this season to stay up , but with promoted teams like Norwich and villa looking like they cab score goals I wouldn’t fancy us to beat many teams as it stands ... maybe we’d have a chance against a more defensive side but even then any team with a bit of pace us going to take us apart . I don’t think there was any lack of effort today and they are still playing for Javi but defeat at Newcastle and I do think regretfully that Gino will be looking at his options . We absolutely do need to get our defence organised, that is the top priority .I’m worried!
Every single supporter can see where we are going wrong and I hope that Javi does as well. The system ain’t working at all. With the ball we are ok but without it we are shocking. I feel sorry for our full backs, they get 0 cover and are expected to be out only source of width up the pitch and get back to defend as well making them always out of position. We need 3 in the midfield as well, we are getting run ragged and dominated by teams.
