Watched some dodgy stream which kept stopping which was plagued by some miserable northerners. Were we really as lucky as they say we were? Seen the goals, JP goal was great team goal and can see us cuttting teams apart like that more often. Foster was great, I missed the pen as the stream was down for a bit. Chabs looks broken im afraid and watching Capoue being his usual nonchalant graceful self was fun. Lets stick it to the muff!
Pedro really isn't clinical, a more natural striker would have done much better with the chances he got after his goal. He will pop up with his fair share of goals though, 3 is a fine haul for this stage of the season, and he'll be right in the thick of our general play as well. What a player we have on our hands!
Nah, we shaded it, maybe they could have scored a few, but we also had our fair share of big chances which we spurned
I think the COG and wetter lines are slightly blurred tonight, I’ve no idea if I’ll make it through the night without a trip to the bog or if I’ll wake up with soiled sheets.
Oh no, not at all, but he's not a natural finisher, he'll take a few chances to score his goals. If he can improve his finishing though, woah Nelly what a player!
Strikes me that Blackburn are the first team so far to open up and give us a game. Thus leaving themselves open at the back on more than enough occasions for us to have scored 4 or 5. We also could have conceded 4 or 5 in truth, but the team move and Pedro's finish was sublime, Sarr's extra quality made the 2nd and Semas delivery the 3rd. Blackburn had more shots but we had the quality and a better keeper. My interpretation is we will generally win most games that end up being end to end because we have better players than the average championship team. And we will generally not lose games where the opponent sits off in numbers. Conclusion - walking the league.
Looking more like piss the league than piss the sheets right now. Hopefully we can give the Muff a good pounding too.
I remain unconvinced. Blackburn's defence was very open, they gave our forwards too much time, we should have scored more. Foster was immense. Without him it could have been 3-4 or more. Hopefully this wasn't all of this season's luck used up. Fed up of commentators banging on about all of the players out and how good we'll be when they get back. I'm thinking how bad we'll be when then get back and would rather stick with who we have now.
So we play defensively,win games ugly and get slated. We then play an open attacking game which we win and get slated. I'm all for criticism but Ivic has done brilliantly under testing circumstances and he's going to get us promoted. We are going to win this league so everyone needs to just ENJOY the ride.
Football without the crowds seems really second rate. We won last night, and for the first time this season I was nervous throughout the match as we were not in control of it. This has been the first game we've actually needed Foster. I could have played in the other games and I doubt I'd have conceded anymore goals than Foster. But without the fans, it all seems a bit hollow. Normally after a good win I'm buzzing the next day, but I've just felt flat after every game so far. I'm not sure if it's because I feel we're in a league we shouldn't be in, almost as if it's too easy and that I haven't mentally readjusted to it, or the fact no supporters are allowed in the ground, so it feels like a training session. I do cheer the goals, but I don't feel very connected to it. Fans at matches changes everything. The games have an edge and seem to mean a lot more. Take away the fans, and it really doesn't seem to mean as much.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, 3 points is 3 points, don't really care how it comes about. I was impressed with Blackburn, they were certainly the best team we have come across so far in the early stages of this season, and I can imagine they will be there or thereabouts in April/May. Nice not to have another grindfest of a game. Positives for me were the fact we scored more than one goal from open play, there were some nice moves at times, and we looked very dangerous on the counter. Great to see Capoue back and I thought Cleverley and Garner were both pretty good as well, Sema's left foot was also the unsung hero last night. He is solid. Foster has rightly taken all the plaudits for his performance too. Negatives, I mentioned on the shoutbox about our defending from set pieces. I have noticed in all the games so far we are leaving far too many players free when defending, and I think this highlights the difference between the Premier League and Championship. Last few seasons we would not get away with it, but at this level we seem to be doing so more which I think is papering over a few cracks. I'm disappointed with Chalobah as well, lots of niggly fouls, misplaced and unintelligent passes and he just comes across as a bit lazy and complacent. I think a place on the bench for him when Hughes and Capoue are both fully up-to-speed. Maybe controversially, I have very fickle feelings about Wilmot, sometimes I'm extremely impressed with what he does and sometimes he can be incredibly frustrating. Like Foster, Wilmot seems to have a bit of a distribution issue; however, he is young so he won't become my boo boy anytime soon. All in all though the solid start continues, and if we can get one over muff this weekend we are well on our way I think. My only fear is that we'll do what happened in GT's last season and start like a train before falling away, but that was almost 20 years ago now so I'm probably worrying over nothing.
From the competitive games played so far you can see some green shots of recovery but unlike last year we seem to be having more than our fair share of luck,average of one goal a game and low possession rate is still worrying Still a long way short of a premiership standard team on and off the pitch.
I still feel our luck is going to run out at some point - yet to be convinced by any performance this season. Our midfield just looks so poor when Cleverely and Chalobah are in it together. Garner looked good at least and Capoue was different class when he came on. Cathcart and Kabasele were both poor, Wilmot looks solid though. A little disappointing knowing we are going to waste one of the highest rated players in Championship history by playing him as a striker. As a winger in this league, no-one comes close to Sarr. As a striker, he is decent but nothing special.
That is why I mentioned the final GT season above. I'm nervous it will all fall apart at some point, but that's partly the pessimistic Watford fan in me talking.
Half the season as a striker, half the season as a winger. Once we get the left back Ivic has been asking for for months (I.e. Masina/New Signing), would imagine we’ll deploy the 4-3-3. Good win last night but looked too open and down to a significant chunk of luck (Foster bailing us out) to me, even if we scored a couple of decent goals too. Sadly think Bournemouth could be our undoing with no VAR to call them out on their $h*t.
I think the main difference between this season and 07/08 and 00/01 is that our start hasn't been blistering, at the time I felt that we were unbeatable and no doubt so did those squads. I also think that following relegation from the top flight, Ivic is the first manager that is new, in 88, 00 & 07 we started with the same manager we had from the relegation season. Last night proved that we will have a season with some high intensity matches with a reasonably high scoreline and many matches where we shut up shop but only get 2-3 real chances, we certainly won't piss the league as we will occasionally get unstuck as we did v Reading.
Tom Cleverly talking about the dressing room this season, sounds like the Gen Z players are having a very positive impact: 'The pleasing thing this year is how together we are. Everyone's willing to pull together and there's a really good vibe in the dressing room. A really good feeling and a really good group of lads this year. I'd put a lot down to the young lads, they've been a breath of fresh air, enthusiasm, no egos, just wanna learn and work hard and that gives all us experienced boys a good kick on. It's just a good dynamic this year. Enjoying going into work, I think even before the results there was a good feeling about the place this year'. My personal view is that if anyone steps in with their ego and undermines the current dynamic they should be kneecapped on the centre circle on Hive Live (mentioning no names). Just a thought.