Foster Janmaat Kabasele Dawson Holebas Doucoure Capoue Sarr Quina/Pereyra Deulofeu Welbeck Come on Quique, make it happen.
Wolves are utter garbage, this will be our easiest win in the Premier League ever. By 5 pm Wolves will be bottom of the league.
Wolves are a good side and are bound to kickstart their season at some point. If we get soundly beaten, then I think we're going to be in real trouble for the rest of the season, or at least until January. Like you, I'd expect to see us pick up some points, at least 4 in the next two games if we are to pull away from danger. If we are good enough, we'll pick up points, if we're not, then at least we'll know what we're in for the rest of the campaign.
Bookies don't seem to think so: https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/relegation
Looking back at our results so far this season, I'm trying to categorise how bad they've been. Brighton (h ) 0-3 L There's no getting away from this one. For me, it's probably the worst result and performance since our promotion. Yes even worse than the 0-8 at City. As expected, Brighton have not won a game since then and have only scored 2 goals. It was an insane defeat and one which should have seen Gracia dismissed immediately. Expected pre-match result:- 3 points Everton (a ) 0-1 L Now this was a much improved performance. Our weak defence let us down with their defending, and Richarlison missed a couple of sitters, but overall we deserved a point as chances we created and balance of play was equal to them. However, we never win at Everton so a point is the most we can ever expect from this fixture and a narrow defeat, whilst disappointing, would not sound any alarm bells on its own. Expected pre-match result:- 0 points West Ham (h ) 1-3 L The performance was ok, but again, woefully inadequate defending cost us three avoidable goals. A goal down, we equalised with a good goal from Gray, then went on to have the miss of the season with Hughes. That was with the scores at 1-1. Now, you can never count your chickens when the defence is as bad as Watford's but there was some feeling we'd have held on to a win. I'm not too convinced about it, as once Antonio came on, he just destroyed us as the back. Expected pre-match result:- 1 point Newcastle (a ) 1-1 D. Not a great performance but we took the lead and suffered because of Pawson's inability to spot a handball on VAR. We probably would have held on to a narrow win and could have seen Gracia keep his job. Expected pre-match result: 3 points Arsenal (h ) We were down and out at half time, but an inspired second half comeback was so good, that you left feeling disappointed we didn't win. Expected pre-match result:- 0 points Man City (a ) Clearly we were never going to win or even draw this one, but the type of thrashing we got was just dreadful. Again, the ineptitude of our defence was cruelly exposed by City's quality. If we played them tomorrow I'd expect the same type of result, as we're helpless to stop it with the team we have right now. Expected pre-match result:- 0 points So if you compare my pre-match expectations with reality, I'd say we're about 5 points down. I think after the games we've played so far this season we should have around 7 points. Next up is Wolves, and although they are far worse than I ever expected them to be, they will look at the Watford fixture as a god send. This is the game that could kickstart their season. If they get on top and score early it could get very ugly. I'm thinking another heavy defeat here. But what I think will happen, doesn't always reflect in what will happen. We could go there and surprise everyone with an impressive win. It's going to be a battle of wills. Both teams need to get a good result as both are so far winless in the league. If we do win, I'd consider that 3 bonus points.
Morning Hornets. Just thought I'd share a link to the preview for tomorrow's game I put together for those interested in the Wolves perspective. https://www.wolvesblog.com/13623/wolves-vs-watford-preview-4 I like the above breakdown of your performances vs expectations and think that's a good way to look at things. The margins are so thin in the Premier League that a couple of moments completely reshape your outlook. That Newcastle goal you conceded shouldn't have stood. That irked me because we had one ruled out at Leicester (that probably would have given us a win) for an identical incident involving a much less obvious handball. Both of us could have got those wins and the belief/confidence of the whole team changes. There is your margin. No result would surprise me tomorrow, but I certainly don't think you'll go down. Best of luck, aside from the obivous.
I can't order it for myself in bars because I'm lactose intolerant. I had a look at the wiki recipe modifications: I *think* the dark chocolate one is overkill and when I made them in a bar we used cream mix (50/50 milk and single cream) so I imagine a 50/50 vodka and double cream mix would add some extra oomph. It is, seriously, a nice drink.
I seriously don't doubt it's a nice drink and am tempted to buy the ingredients to try it out this weekend and get hammered from 3pm tomorrow.
Given QSF’s comments, doesn’t sound like Quina or Prodl will start tomorrow - but definitely sounds like they may get more opportunities than they were under Gracia. I suspect Prodl in particular may stand a good chance under QSF of becoming a regular.
It would never happen but it would be of interest if they released the stats for players i.e. speed over 10 yards, static jump height etc. I would particularly be interested in Prodl's turning circle!
Definitely good news for Quina. Prodl... I would be shocked if he was still up to Prem standard, considering his lack of action over the last couple of seasons. Would be happy to be proven wrong though - he was colossal at times in his first season or two.
My favourite Prodl moment is still his facial reaction to Welbeck missing a 6 yards out open goal against Arsenal. Just an exhausted shock. Imagine having someone like Welbeck in your team lol
Just keep telling yourself; 1/Football doesn't matter, it's just a game 3/ Life was more fun in the championship 4/ Bassini could have killed us, just as Steve Dale killed Bury.
Gomes Prodl Prodl Prodl Bachmann Capoue Doucoure Cleverly Pereyra Sarr Hughes off the bench: Welbeck Del boy Quina
Foster Janmaat Dawson Kabasele Holebas Doucoure Quina Geri Cleverley Sarr Welbz Subs: Bachmann, Prodl, Masina, Capoue, Pereyra, Gray, Hughes I hate having to include Holebas, but it doesn’t sound as though Masina impressed particularly in the week. Same goes for the Dawson/Kaba combo, but unless Cathcart is fit, there isn’t really any other viable option. The bench is quite hideous too, with nobody beside Gray who would likely come on and change the game for us. I wish we had Penaranda to throw on and provide us with some unpredictable spark. I’d play Quina and hope that his energy, alongside Doucoure, would help us press better, especially with Cleverley in there as well. If we can win the ball back quickly, we’d have the pace of Sarr and Geri, hopefully in space during transition and we may be able to hurt them in behind. Our squad is well crap though.
The squad is not well crap at all, but we’re missing quality across the defensive line. The first choice defenders are good enough as back up and those considered back up should no longer be at the club. The rest of the squad is excellent and will be added to with Cucho, Pedro and probably some others in January. It’s an exciting team believe it or not. We just need a couple of quality defenders and I’d be confident in the side again. Just imagine we had Maguire and Rose in defence, both of whom we had the opportunity to sign. We’d instantly be looking like a strong mid-table, maybe even top 10 side.
OH MY GOD I'VE BEEN QUOTED! Decent, fair write up mate, elevated to the heavens by your choice of vox pop subject.
You just know Femenia will start. He had midweek off. Delafoo went to Bingo, came on 2nd half and tee'd up the winner. If we win tomorrow, lets try and make a habit of it.
