We needs some Jamaican steel at the back, When is Nos fit ? Doyley should be the first name down on the teamsheet every week
He seemed to be having a very late fitness test in front of the Rookery just before KO; so it might explain why he gave one of his worst performances for quite some time? Having said that he was still better than Bakellam!!! I have not been impressed with him at all so far! Lets hope it is because he has not yet got up to speed with the Championship, we must remember he has come more or less straight from the Algerian leagues, which are hardly a hotbed for football, so hopefully he will improve, but he needs to hurry up, or I'd send him back in January and bring in a replacement.
Watford side under Zola and missing 4 of our best players defends badly and ends up narrowly losing thriller to side with best away record in the division and trying to impress new manager shocker!
At the moment I agree with you, but if Nos and Hoban come back anywhere near the players they were before their injuries, I would probably replace Doyley with one of them, and the other would be pushing hard for a place if any of my 1st choice CB's had a slight slip in form. As for Doyley I would still keep him in the match day squad for his versatility, the fact he always gives 110% and is still a good player IMO, despite his lack of finesse.
Not sure it's that easy to dismiss mate. The side we had out on Saturday was still a very strong one. Sure we could have had Faraoni, Anya, Deeny and Abdi playing and that would have been even better but one's a striker, one's an attacking midfielder and the other two are very attacking wing backs. When you talk about Watford's defence it's really the central three and the guy that plays the deep midfield position. This is the area Watford need to get right. It's an area we've never got right. Is the keeper the problem? I doubt you'll find too many better than Almunia in the Championship. Already this season, we've played 12 matches and kept only 2 clean sheets. Even in those two games Wigan had a good goal disallowed an Birmingham should have scored from a couple of very good chances on the opening day. Playing a settled back three may help, but I think our back three, and you can pick any combination, seems to lack pace and a dogged determination not to concede. 14 goals conceded from 12 games is not a disaster by any means, but it's still too high for a top side and tbh I think we've been a little lucky not to have conceded more than that, with a couple of disallowed goals and the woodwork helping us out, plus I recall some excellent stops from Almunia when he's been totally exposed.
I can see why you would be annoyed with Martin. If he played for any other team, I'd probably hate him. As for Hughes, he's 18, probably 8 stone wet through and built like a twig. I'm not trying to defend him as I too saw a few tackles where he went over very easily, but his strength and physicality has always been an issue whereas his "diving" hasn't. I'd give him the benefit of the doubt for this one.
That's a very good write-up. I agree with your thoughts about the penalty incident too. It probably was a penalty but his reaction was just so unnatural and did himself no favours at all.
To be honest I still think alot of the problems we have (especially in defence) is down to still having a team that isnt settled. I know we had injuries against Derby but every game this season has had a different starting back 3, a different midfield 3 and a different wingback pairing from one match to the next.
Having watched the third goal for the first time since Saturday, I don't think Forestieri was responsible for it. I feel the defence panicked, Belkalem went the wrong way and Ekstrand bottled a tackle.
HAving seen Hughes play in the flesh a few times and from what I see on TV, he is a class apart at this level. I would say similar to Wiltshire perhaps but offers more going forward. Any Premier League including United and Chelsea would be lucky to have him. We would have won comfortably with him in our line-up feeding the attack.
Really? Other than his through ball, which I think most championship midfielders would have been capable of given the standard of defending, I can't recall him doing much else. I don't think he's a bad player but I thought he looked average on saturday, certainly not ready to play at Prem level.
I thought Derby looked a good team . Wobbly in defence yes, but less wobbly than we did . They equalled us playing away from home , with less good players and a new manager in charge for just 2 games . They won the game and perhaps not unfairly so tbf
I'd only seen Hughes on the box before Saturday's game and was a bit concerned about how he might influence the game. I needn't have worried though as FF taught him a footballing lesson for the full 90 minutes. Decent player though and def one for the future.
Dear smudger That is one superb pre-match review.....fantastic. P.s. Charlie george didnt score v whu in the charity shield. But he did make his debut. But i'm not going to nit pick. Terrific piece.
Wait until we play River Plate in the World Club Championships if you want to see a real preview. Will probably crash the internet.
http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/story-19984217-detail/story.html? Should have been down to 10 men . . .
I thought as much when I watching the game. Called the red as soon as the ref blew to stop play, which caused much confusion when he stayed on the pitch. Diabolical refereeing. I can understand not being able to see important things from time to time, but getting confused over the players you personally booked is unforgivable.
