Was anonymous today. More seriously, Almunia was not at fault for any of the goals and made a stunning one on one save, which saved some blushes. Belkalem was dire. He's slow, clumsy and cumbersome. I don't want him anywhere near our first team unless he has a 100% improvement in every department Ekstrand was also crap, but he normally is. One of our most overrated players. Angella can't be faultless for an all round defensive horror show. Another player overrated by our fans, who doesn't actually deliver enough. Pudil had one of his best games Cassetti wasn't great. Did add some good balls into the box I thought Mcgoo did well, constantly busy and trying to make things happen. Iriney was good, but alongside McEachran, our midfield dynamic was wrong McEachran was OK. I didn't really notice him doing anything really good or bad Murray completely changed our set up entirely and was a real buzz when he came on Fessi - Lost the ball for their third, but I can't say that he lost it in a deadly place. They just walked through the rest of our team after that. Other than that, he was having a real top game, making things happen with the ball. Fabbrini, again, like Fessi, whenever he got the ball, you always believe that something can happen. Even when they are hemmed in, in a seemingly non threatening position, they can find their way into the danger area. If anything I would say that neither of them saw the ball in the right areas enough to create more danger to the Derby goal. Acuna - He reminds me of Keith Scott. I can't actually see what attributes he has as a footballer. Does anyone else remember Keith Scott? Exactly.
You do know he's our centre mid right? Not once has he EVER covered Pudil. The only time he pulls out wide he is always ahead of Pudil, often supports him but when the ball is on the right wing he needs to be a lot more central. Just watch him next game when he goes drifting.
After you saying that he never wants the ball, I question the logic and sanity of your other points. At times, he looks like the only player that wants the ball. Also, he's been interchangeable with the left sided player since Abdi got injured. Because that's the role Abdi plays.
A game we could so easily have won but sadly lost. Bossed the second half but over elaborating at both ends of the pitch costing us dear Surprised Acuna didnt start, maybe he's still carrying an injury. To be honest any side would miss Deeney, Anya, Abdi - all enforced changes and of course Vydra Nothing to worry about yet but I've still got that nagging feeling that we missed the boat by not getting promotion last season
Felt McEachran or McGugan should have gone off, not Fabbrini. Neither had a bad game but we should have gone 3-4-3 just to change it up, even if only for 5 minutes. Then Fab or FF could have come off for Battochio later on. Taking Fab off just meant we lost the ability to change formation. Back 3 all equally terrible in possession today. Find it astounding how many people say things like "get doyley out the team" most weeks, then shout "get doyley on Zola you idiot!" today. Fickle fans. Yes I'm frustrated at todays game but to paraphrase every 14 year old girl, if you can't take this team at its worst you certainly don't deserve them at their best. When you attack like we do, only one* clever move has to come off but its acceptable that a few end up looking like wasted passes. It is not acceptable, at all, to do that outside of the final third, though! *assuming the defence is alert
Strange how people see the game differently. I thought Fabbrini was the outstanding player on the pitch and was mystified as to why he was substituted. We really had them rocking and after he went off the momentum stopped. Poor from Zola IMO.
What? It was ****ing dire! I was in the lowers Rous near the Vic Rd end and heard nothing all game. Kids first game and my daughter asked me several times why Watford weren't singing. At least the flags were noticeable but it was shocking otherwise.
Whilst it wasn't loud it was constant which is a vast improvement from sing five minute gap and then another song.
I have to question the thought process of Almunia playing it long to Forestieri constantly at least in the first half, who was up against a much larger CB than he.
I'm sorry Iriney is not 'good'. He was dozing for the second goal and ill-disciplined before. A times he virtually plays level with the back three. Running around ghosting players and getting the odd toe-in is not good play. It's negative. We play too slowly with him in the centre. Murray was so much better. Fact is if he was doing the job you think he is we would have less ball when he's off the pitch.
You know what after a few hours to recollect I'm not too down. Frustrating result as we were very good in a few spells especially 2nd half and didn't deserve to lose. Compared to times gone by we're in a very good place and got exciting times ahead. If we miss out on promotion this year then so be it, we'll come back stronger next season. Another positive is the home atmosphere is a massive improvement and was electric on a few occasions today especially after our 2nd equaliser. Got chatting to a few Derby fans after the game and they even mentioned how much better our home support was compared to their previous visits.
He is good. We need a player who does what he does. He barely gives the ball away and he does stick to a role, which he's been given, just in front of the back three. The issue was, McEachran does much the same job and neither of them is going to burst forwards and take the ball into the box. Murray gives you that and he's far more gung ho and exciting, but you couldn't have a midfield of Murrays. It would be fun, but ultimately ****. I like Iriney and I like you. Don't make me choose, because Iriney will win. Every time.
It's mental. But that's what happens if you have no drive from back, insufficient movement ahead and an OAP on one flank.
Can I just add, for sticking Angella up front and pumping it forward to him, Zola should be sacked tonight. That was the worst thing I've seen us do under his tenure. At least ****tu won a header up front.
Can't be bothered to do a full type up but I agree this post. We were our own worst enemy today, Derby were good, but we certainly should have got something out of it today. I couldn't say either team was the "better team" though. Atmosphere was the worst it's been this season at home in my opinion. Referee was sh1t and Derby went to ground at the slightest of touches and took a hell of a long time to get back up afterwards, they were eager to get the time wasting going from early in the 1st half, but we can't be blaming this kind of stuff every game, you should be able to battle against it if you're a team who are looking to get promoted. Thought McGugan was pretty good today, seems like he does get a bit of unfair stick sometimes but Watford fans have always got to pick someone out. Not going to come on here and slag off Acuna for a 15 minute performance or whatever it was but let's just say from what I've seen he isn't a suitable replacement for the man who must not be named, and surely the two top priorities for the board/management to think about would be sorting the defence and filling that role (if Deeney doesn't start scoring regularly that is).
Y'know he rarely gives the ball away because he never does anything with it such as run with it or play a useful pass. But sadly it's beginning to be when he does give it away it's in a crucial position, I could see today he was trying. But he simply isn't good enough for a team that wants to get promotion. I find it curious you are so down on Angella, whose contributions are obvious, yet don't criticise Iriney for the second goal. It's simply not true we couldn't have a midfield of Murrays. He can do whatever is required better than Iriney. The evidence. We had more possession.
obviously Hogg leaving wasn't really within our control but which would you prefer, Iriney or Hogg? Bit of a moot point given that he's gone and its not a choice we really had, but I feel we really missed out there Not having a go, IMO he isn't learning from his mistakes
I think Angella vs Iriney is a fair comparison as I think they are both about the same level. The difference is, I find myself having to hose down the flames of passion by people who massively over hype the former and then over criticise the latter. I definitely think Angella is part of our first 11, but he is no better than other centre halves in the top teams of the Championship, or several that we've had in the past. He's just an ordinary, average central defender, but better looking than most. Iriney is good. Not brilliant, but he would also be in my first choice starting eleven out of our squad this season. Or maybe not. I'd like to actually play Murray, Abdi and McGu together, but I don't think that would work.
In my opinion we were very unlucky to loose that. We were very sloppy today but we were better than Derby who I thought were relatively poor. Forestieri and Fabbrini were lively up top and I thought they were the best players on the pitch I think Zola made the wrong decision taking DF of he was causing problems for Derby running at their defence. Fessi's finish was very good swell. To be honest I didn't think Iriney was going to get through 90 minutes without receiving a red card although he was booked for a hand ball that seemed to hit his chest. Cassetti was a weak link he iis far to slow and when he lost the ball in a attacking area he just strolled back instead of making any real effort to get back into position. It seems like I was the only person who was impressed with Josh Mceachran I thought he was tidy on the ball most of the time. JM has good vision he played a lovely through ball to Cassetti in the first half which any other player on the pitch would've been able to get to. Pudil got forward well although at times his final ball was abit suspect. Murray was excellent when he come on. Don't want to sound negative because I know Hollywood and others are working hard to improve the atmosphere at The Vic but for the majority of today you could hear a pin drop if we are going to have a singing section we may aswell sing for 90 minutes not just when we have scored or are on top.
Had some of Angella's colleagues played a bit better he wouldn't have found himself there in the first place.
It would work fine. One holds back while the other two play. In a 4-4-2 there would only be two there anyway. We don't need a holding midfielder who is timid. It adds nothing
A disappointing result against, tbh, a pretty run of the mill mid table Derby side. We where the better side for large parts of the game yet gifted them three goals from sloppy play & giving the ball away in areas we shouldnt. Dropping points against poor sides we should be beating was why we didnt take one of the automatic spots last season and on the evidence of this game its a problem we still need to remedy. The back three where uncharacteristly shakey & at times sloppy in possesion. Thought Iriney was one of our best players. McGuggan scored a fantastic goal but otherwise didnt have a great game and tbh needs to be doing alot more to justify selection. Likewise thought the loanee had a quiet game, though he got better as the match progressed - though he will need to improve more to justify being selected ahead of either Murray or Batty. Glad to see Fossi score and he took his goal well. Also thought Fabrinni had a good game and was causing Derby problems - not sure he should have been subbed really. That was certainly one plus point - that we didnt seem to miss Deeney. I still think our biggest problem is not having a settled starting eleven & all the rotation every game. I know we have a number of injuries/suspensions at the moment but since the opening day I dont think the same midfield/defence/wingbacks have played for two games running. While the defence have generally coped well, I do think the midfield has struggled this season. Last season we had a settled matchday squad, you generally knew who would be playing. This year though is the complete opposite and I do wonder if Zola knows what his best eleven is. Disappointing but not the end of the world. If we want auto's we will need to improve some.
I love how we all see things differently. I thought he was poor, constantly wanting far too much time on the ball and giving it away in dangerous positions.
You cant blame the 1881 in fairness. I sit near them in the Rookery and they sang throughout almost. Thought they did a good job today
Now I'm home I can add a few more views to my earlier quick post. Derby gamesmanship/time wasting - referee should have done something about this much sooner. We do concede needless fouls quite often, despite what some would have you believe with their hollering at the Vic, but Derby played up to it perfectly. They were led from the front in this regard by Eustace. He was in the referees ear all game chatting away. Not in that angry faced threatening way Deeney always seems to be doing it but just casual but persistent. We missed that for most of last year and still do now. Whether it's the language barrier or what but other than Josh no one seemed to speak with him. Fabbrini - I actually called the Acuna sub about 15 minutes before it happened and thought it would be for the better. But it really wasn't. My dad pointed out that Fabbrini was winning an awful lot of tackles in the middle of the park and with him gone we suddenly looked a lot more fragile there. No surprise Hughes waltzed from there unchallenged to set up their winner. Coming from behind - getting a bit dull now this. I've lost count now of the number of times we've conceded a goal and then gone straight up the other end and equalised. Almost as if we need the motivation of being behind to get us going. Salmon - Although he seems to like playing against us anyway he somehow changed the whole game today just when it looked like it was ours for the taking. Belkalem had at last started using his height/size productively to totally take Ward out of the game. Yet a similar sized bloke was put up against him and he crumbled completely. Cassetti - I think we all now know why he hasn't been chosen at wing back through choice recently. Fitness - how fit are our team? Some really tired passes in the last ten minutes, a defence which was caught flat footed twice in that time and at least one player (McGugan) physically doubled over looking dead on his feet just before FF fluffed his pass to set them on their way to win it. Add in some bizarre injury diagnoses/explanations from Zola and I start to wonder what the fitness coach / physios do all week. Maybe our luck is just out, I dunno. Zola - maybe feeling some pressure now for the first time since he came here. We're definitely not in the automatic promotion race at the moment and are just one of a cast of many contenders for the play offs. Today we suffered from players missing through injury for sure and it's difficult to account for individual errors. But the team seems unbalanced to me, a lot of last season's lessons seem to have been forgotten and we still don't seem to take advantage of our periods of dominance. There's no point mullering the opposition for 20 minutes as we did today if all you have to show for it is an equaliser which you can't even hold on to. Nor is win one, lose one going to do it for us this season if the aim is promotion.
I love Zola but I find this current Watford side unbelievably frustrating to watch at times. We gave the ball away unnecessarily so many times today it was ridiculous. On the other hand the spell of dominance we had in the second half I think very few teams in this league would be able to withstand (although frustratingly it only brought us one goal). Derby are a bog standard championship team and we should not be conceding three goals at home to them. The 2nd and 3rd goals were gifts and for the first how did a midget like ward get a free header from a simple ball into the box when we have three six foot plus centre backs?? Please Mr Zola can you pick your first choice back three and stick with it for a few games (have we had an unchanged back three in successive games yet this season??). On today's performance that would be Angella, Ekstrand and Doyley with possibly Hoban to come in when fit. Almunia: Can't remember him putting a four wrong today. Great save from a one-on-one with sammon before their third (why did we not learn from that and let him get free again for the third) Cassetti: sadly hasn't got the pace to be a decent wing back anymore although again don't remember him doing much wrong today. Was visibly annoyed he did not get enough of the ball when constantly in space in the 1st half Belkalem: clumsy!! Can't fault his desire to win the ball but hid challenges were so unsubtle he gave free kicks away constantly. McGugan even had a go at him about it at one point which he didn't like. Might have been different if he had scored the free header he had in the first few minutes Angella: my player of the season so far but today was the worst I have seen him play. Gave the ball away sloppily far too much but I do think a lot of this was due to the fact that he tries to force the issue too much and seems to take responsibility for launching attacks Ekstrand: has had better games, lacked his usual composure and quality when passing the ball. Seemed irritated with team mates a lot but I guess this is just frustration. Pudil: seems a yard quicker this season: decent game Iriney: felt like he was a sending off waiting to happen today and was glad when he went off. I understand he plays the role given to him well but I think he is guilty of slowing the tempo of the team at times when he is in possession McGugan: was looking to get on the ball as much as he could and his drifting to the left to link up with pudil is obviously something he is instructed to do. Amazing goal, Shane about the two Shiite free kicks Forestieri: one of the best games I've seen him have. Stepped up in the absence of deeney and took his goal bloody well. BUT stopping after the challenge which led to us losing possession in the build up to the third was petulant and bloody irritating and I hope Zola has a word with him about it. Murray: bright spark when he came on. Different player to last season,worthy of start next game if Abdi not fit. We should/could have won today but didn't due to being sloppy and wasteful in possession at times. We have the squad to be a top six team and possibly challenge for second place but can't afford to lose games like this too often. I hope this season doesn't get away from us and we look back at what might have been. Faraoni, Anya, Abdi and Deeney would have made a big difference today and I hope they are back soon... Onwards and upwards.....
