They come as much as anything just to have the run out. If they were meant to be there to win the game they would have started. Both should play against Coventry if for no other reason than to get match fit. I doubt either will start against Newcastle. For me Gray looked ok. I know he missed a lot but he scored a goal and that's what he is there for.
Not sure I’d want to be next to any modern day footballer in the trenches. Imagine Pogba if a shell landed in his general vicinity!
I wondered that at the time. Surely VAR doesn’t just check the challenge but also the offside which led up to the challenge? If it doesn’t the system is idiotic.
Referee was absolutely useless. Didn’t impact the game but as you say he let kicking the ball away go and ignored the new substitute rule. Either completely incompetent or an utter coward.
I was watching (on a Serbian channel !) and there was a point just after the water break (I think after Hughes miss) when they zoomed in on Hughes face and he looked beaten , just didn’t want to be on the pitch anymore. I don’t think he lacks effort or skill but as many have said is in the wrong place and confidence is low. The frustrating thing is we have loads of players who run down the sides and manage to get a cross in before the box gets congested but we never have anybody in there , in terms of goal scoring we need somebody like Hughes running through the centre of the pitch to get on the endow it. Isn’t that the role that Hughes and Challobah when they first signed.
I thought this was true for 70 minutes and then he lost the plot and looked casual. He’d probably given his all by then in the heat.
Goals on Sunday analysed Watford's defence and were just ruthless in their assessment. Basically they said we're just ball watching and have been like this for a long time. Alex Scott mentioned we'd conceded 29 goals in the last 14 Premier League matches and said you'd think they'd have done something about this problem by now. When you've got Scott, Kamara and Danny Drinkwater pulling you apart, it's obvious to everyone to see. You don't need to be an expert to notice what's going on. Too many players are just watching the ball instead of seeing where the West Ham players are. We've not tracking their movement. Ok, our defenders should certainly be given some trust, as they're all seasoned pros, but they are making mistakes the type of mistakes you'd expect a youngster to be making. We play like we're a team of 18 year olds in their first ever season. The mistakes are basic but are consistent. If the players are too thick to learn their lessons, then it has to be coached, even though they should know what they are doing by now. It's a collective failing of players and coaching, that's causing this. It's so amateurish. From what I've seen the problems are very deep, almost a cultural thing. Very few sides are this bad at the back, and when they are they are always relegated. If this attitude of ball watching continues, then we're down. There's no doubt about it. But I've seen these players also react and play well when given a specific instruction to do so. QSF managed to get a defence, of similar standard to what we have now, to concede only 30 goals from 29 matches. That was remarkable. Since that time, no one else has even got close to that standard. The goals we're conceding could be cut in half, just by some basic tactical improvements. There has to be a massive focus on the defensive issues now. Just basic defensive principles. Track your man, be in the correct positions to defend. Close players down who have the ball, match the run of your opponent. Switch on and be alive to situations. Make the opposition work hard for their goals. It's all far too easy, and a lot of the blame has to go with the coaching. Gracia got us tight for a period of time, but it seems that he's neglected this area for a long time by concentrating on finishing.....which has not improved. Even after the match yesterday, the main talking point from Javi was "we need to be more clinical" but nothing about the defence. It's always the same story. More clinical, learn from mistakes etc. But it never changes. We should have taken 7 points from our matches to date, and if we'd have defended correctly we probably would have done so.
Right at the beginning of the match Hughes did that. It's become a common-place amongst teams and, frankly, if I was a ref I'd punish it every time with a yellow. IMO it is one of the great spoilers of the modern game, much worse than diving. A huge number of potential fast getaway, flowing break-aways are destroyed every weekend in this way. Man City are prime miscreants.
Anyone of a masochistic nature wanting to see the lowlights, here they are. https://www.watfordfc.com/matches/highlights/highlights-watford-1-3-west-ham-united The defending looks even worse when you watch it back. I'd say Sunday league pub football standard, but that's being unkind to pub football.
What has happened with Cathcart is exactly what happened with Prodl last year. Playing players until their bodies literally stop working may save money but it also gets you relegated.
Yes, I saw that too, he was deliberately being kept out. As said, the first guard with the goatee stopped him, he wasn’t happy, the other guy came over.
A pub defender would have smashed into them, completely gutless, confusion for the 2nd goal. Foster could probably do a job in defence based on that tackle. Great finish by Gray. He offers 10 times the goal threat of Troy, these days. Delia looking like he was trying too hard/being greedy (delete as appropriate). Players looked physically and mentally exhausted at the end. This sort of form will obviously make it worse. Agree, that the players seem to be trying for JG. Find it hard to believe that confidence hasn't been effected by this form, despite what Cleverley said afterwards. Still believe a change of manager is needed to kick-start our season.
The good thing about that is that it can be easily improved with better tactics. Our defenders need protection. When the tactics are good they look much better, when they are exposed they look weak. Last season Foster and Capoue had the best seasons of their careers, it helped our defence a lot. When Doucoure and Capoue arent on top form its puts a lot more pressure on our defence and as we have seen in both our home games we are very vulnerable at the back in that situation.
I no your been sarcastic. Maybe your prefer it we was berry or bolt on or may be your preffer if basino come back. U mug.
But remember you need to give them a 4 year contract extension just before they hit the wall to restrict recruitment of younger defenders.
Thing is, if it were just keeping CC and bringing in someone to challenge for his place, that would be fine, but the fact is, we've championship and worse defenders and we are actually ADDING to that pool of ageing, not good enough defenders, window by window. I hate Gino for that. I dont care about anything else he does, as long as he ignores an easy way to improve us, by consistently buying old, ****, cheap defenders. I'd rather Basini than this idiot.
I've just watched the post match interview with Gracia. He is sat there smiling like the chessire cat. Not convinced If he put as much effort into it as he says "in this moment" we might get somewhere. Have Spurs equalised yet?
I think the Kane penalty incident in the game this afternoon proves my point here. It looked a pretty clear penalty on the replay, yet the VAR didn’t overturn it so they are trying to support the onfield ref unless he makes a real howler. I’m actually quite happy with this, although I don’t expect the same approach to be taken anywhere other than the Premier League. Those expecting the playing field to be levelled by VAR are going to be disappointed.
Well Spurs, Man City, Chelsea and Man U were denied good penalty shouts so could argue its gone against some of the bigger sides even though 2 won anyway.
This heatmap perfectly sums up Tottenham's day. They have had so much possession around the box and in the opposition half but they haven't tested Newcastle, barely breaking past the 20-yard line.
I think the point is that, over a whole season, if there is bias towards the big teams (which I believe there is but it is unconscious) then it will not be rectified by VAR because incidents are not being re-refereed, other than in the most extreme cases.
Most of them looked shot by then. It happens if you play flat out in the summer sun. The gamble that we would be well ahead by then didn't work.
Well I think it could already be happening.., All Alice has to do is reach the final act of Wonderland after all. And it seems our backline has been in Wonderland having tea with the Mad Hatter and the Hare.
Yeah I don’t disagree. I’d it is used for bowlers only then all the better. Unfortunately we have scenario is penalty appeal is just bantz analysis whereas offside is CSI toenail stuff!
The one thing I'll say to that (and it's something that quite a few managers do) is they purposely avoid the main point because they've covered it in the form of shouting and abuse in the dressing room. At least I hope he had a right go at the defenders straight after the game. They might (and I'm using the word very lightly) deserve to be defended in public, but they certainly don't deserve to be defended in private. Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk
Lord knows they can't. When I say defend, I mean protect them for criticism that might not do them any good, essentially a platform that allows (but rarely shows) constructive criticism. Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk
Praise in public, punish in private. Any leader who doesn't follow that approach shouldn't be in charge.
