Remember children this is an early evening kick off. Expect effigies of Floppo and friends to be burnt the night after if this turns out to be another miserable negative set up from Ivic which sees yet another ever so narrow defeat. I'm tired of going over the same old ground but suffice to say Vladimir for a supposed tactician reminds me of many an inept general. Sticking to the same plan despite it clearly not being suitable for the players we have. Let us get back to a back four and a target man and then we may actually start to control games a bit better. Sema is wasted where he is despite his best impersonations of a deranged octopus at Oakwell. Pedro and Sarr need to be on the flanks charging into space taking players one one one as neither still has the physical strength to consistently shrug off defenders. Murray. Why 'buy' him and not play him ? I have said this before he may not be pacy he never really was but he is intelligent and has experience to bring the two kids into play. And enough nowse to create chances himself and offer an aerial option for crosses into the box. Bring Kiko to left back. Yes he is one footed but he can do a job. Why Ngakia is out in the cold beats everyone. Find a central pair. Wilmot looked more comfortable in a pairing with Ekong. Take Cathcart out of the equation despite that glorious pass against Cheats FC. And a fluid three in midfield. Capoue at its base. An awful start at Oakwell but he improved and is getting fitter. Add in Garner and Cleverly for a half and then bring in Hughes to gain fitness. Goodbye Chalobah. Still offers precious little. Too many fancy flicks and that goes for the team as a whole. Get the basics right. Win secondary balls. Pass to feet or into the space in front. Look to be positive and take on players. Attack the box and get as many crosses in or shots off when the chances present themselves. When crossing have a quick look for Murray and Pedro and vice versa for Sarr. It has been a dreadful week. The last minute equalizer against the scum felt like a loss and it appears the mental hangover has carried over. One lucky point against two relegation favourites. The need for a team psychologist let alone a left back has never been greater. If we lose to Stoke or play as we have done huge questions will be mounting over the future of the manager and his team although much of the blame lies with Gino, Scott and Floppo who will be more than content to wash their hands clean of the whole affair and blame everyone else but themselves. A loss will see us heading to midtable mediocrity and beyond. Stoke have had a mixed bag of a season their only loss being against the impressive Swansea, having beaten the scummers and drawn with Barnsley. It's an experienced squad with players like James Chester, Ryan Shawcross, Joe Allen, James Maclean, Benik Afobe, Steven Fletcher and Jon Obi Mikel pulling strings in midfield. It is the last season of PL payments as well for the Potters so their need to go up is paramount. Like all other Chump clubs the incomings have been loans or recalls the only signing made by former Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill being Jacob Brown of the Tykes. None of the first four mentioned played against Rotherham. Allen and Shawcross are expected to return soon but the game against us will be too soon for them. O'Neill has changed his formations and personnel frequently generally using a 3-4-3. However at Swansea he adopted a more cautious 5-3-2 in a negative sense. Players to look out for them are the homegrown ones surprise surprise who actually care more about the club than those just brought in for a wage. Harry Souttar in central defence who is half Scottish but elected in the end to play for Australia. A giant commanding youngster just the sort of centreback we have been crying out for a long time. He has learnt a lot from his time at Fleetwood and if he carries on with his impressive performances more than one or two PL clubs will be eyeing him up. Tyrese Campbell can play out wide or upfront and is the son of former Anusol striker Kevin. Like his dad he has an eye for goal. While frozen out under scummer Nathan Jones, O'Neill has put his arms around the shoulder and coaxed out the potential of the former Abu Dhabi academy player. Kiko if he was played at LB or probably Sema will have their hands full with him. Again if he keeps developing as he does the PL is the next stop for him assuming Stoke stay in this division. It's getting darker as autumn moves to winter. And it's getting darker at Vicarage Road. The clouds are gathering because this season is all or nothing. Failure this season will confine us to years in the wilderness again. Discontent is growing among fans in general. There is still something rotten in the club. Perhaps it is the return of older players or for me the sheer complacency of those in charge and their lack of competence. Elpis help us. Probably moves faster than most of the squad. Record v the Potters. A pretty poor one recently: https://www.11v11.com/teams/watford/tab/opposingTeams/opposition/Stoke City/ Opposition forum, cautiously optimistic: https://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/ Don't bother with a pass to avoid more heartache. And please put your names forward for doing a preview here. http://wfcforums.com/index.php?threads/previews-your-choice.57465/
Why is this at 7pm can anyone tell me ? I won't see the first half as I'll be working,possibly for the penultimate time,who knows. I'm afraid I have had the confidence knocked out of me with regards to this squad. Stoke will be far to savvy for us. 0-2.
Seems to just be by agreement between the two clubs. Maybe the away team likes the idea of getting home 45 minutes earlier?
I’m more confident for this one. As I posted elsewhere, we really have become a home and away side since we came out of the first lockdown. We were just seconds away from making it 4 home wins out of 4 this season (plus we won both home friendlies) and we took 7 points from our home matches in the PL too once it resumed. It’s just our away record that’s so awful, and maybe distorts our impression too of where we are actually at.
As much as we want to see an improvement, different formation, have a striker even if it's Murray, it won't happen. Ivic has this obsession with his formation and a bit like Gracia towards the end of his regime, he will not change it. We cannot play such a backward system. You name me one other club that doesn't use a striker. There isn't one. This is the Watford way though - and as long as we are only losing 1-0 each game and playing average, that's good enough apparently. Erm, no it isn't. Ivic shouts about work ethic, unity... have we seen any of that so far? I haven't. Stoke are Burnley 2.0. The will bully our fairies off the all, score a deflected goal then park the bus. This will happen if no system change is implemented. 0-3
Foster Ngakia Ekong Kabasele Sema Capoue Hughes Trump Sarr Biden JP 2-1 Stoke. We get a fluke goal from a set-piece.
Calling it now. Biden o.g (forgets which team he's on) (2), Crouch (95) Trump's toupee (25), Gray missed pen (62), Murray missed pen (94) Foster happy because he gets 'big man' Crouch's shirt. Capoue shrugs. Sarr sulks.
If we are in a downward spiral, as the last two performances suggest, then it will be another defeat. It's Ivic's call. Play 3-5-2 and struggle or switch it to a 4-3-3 and try something else.
Liked for Trump's toupee. My golfing friends tell me Colin Shrinkwin from Moor Park won the Cyprus Open. Golfers and their names! Reminds me of the bodybuilders' curse of 'windy shrinkage'. Strange and concerning times.
Hughes and gray are fit. Everything will be different now. And if we're still shyt, we just have to wait for Masina to get fit.
Not true. We are incomplete until our captain, coach and key media spokesperson, RH Troy Deeney esq is fit. Any points we can glean up to that point are a real bonus.
Missed the last game but if it was anything like Wycombe I just felt relieved I saved £10 not watching 90 minutes of defensive huffing and puffing with no shots on target. The Orns are supposed to be bringing a little sunshine but ffs, the gloom is darkening ... Something is not right with this squad/Ivic/board and I have no confidence anything is changing. . And where is the announcement thanking Mapps for his years of loyal service that Duxbury promised? Wtf is going on with Wtf Ford? 0-1 Stoke
It was 90 minutes of putting the ball in from the wings just a bit too close to their keeper and not having a proper number 9 to tap them in.
So all we need is better directed crosses and a fit, mobile number 9 with shooting boots? Do we have one? And did any of our corners beat the first man? I just hope Ivic can change his tactical spots and we get some strong leadership on the pitch. Another insipid performance and Thursday could be a very miserable lock down day.
I only saw the highlights but seemed like however poorly we played we had a few very decent chances we should have taken.
Pretty much. Decent performance bar the final ball/finish. The only chances Barnsley had were from unforced errors.
Disappointed to read Ivic is not going to change from 3-5-2 anytime soon. It's up to him, as it's his neck on the line, however, I don't expect him to be still in a job if we lose the next two matches (or continue to struggle and only pick up 1 or 2 points). https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/18839493.vladimir-ivic-unlikely-change-watford-formation.
Will one of the 2 up front include a natural striker? tbh no formation will work if we don’t get people forward or do basic 5 yard passes to each other. Apparently we lost the ball 200 times on Saturday !
Michael O'Neill is a fantastic manager and if we play like we have been all season I would be surprised if we get anything from this game.
