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Reflecting after yesterday's game you realise just how much there is a gulf behind the oil backed city and the likes of Watford and how ridiculous Guardiola's moaning sounds about injuries in the week when he has the luxury of taking off £100m Grealish and bringing on De Bruyne and Mahrez. As for the game positives about our game going forward but concern about our defence Bachmann had a better game but still not convinced and mystified about his insistence on kicking long when it inevitable involves loss of possession when we all know how difficult it is to get the ball back You can marvel City's ability throughout their team but they are incredibly boring to watch .
This was driving me insane yesterday. Why are footballers so painfully stupid? 90% of his long balls forward lost us possession and came right back at us. How dumb do you have to be to see that happening time after time but continue with it anyway?
I’ve never understood it, pass, pass, pass back to keeper hoof, how does it make sense to actually have possession, then put yourself in a position where you’re almost certain to lose it? If you’ve run out of ideas surely it would at least be preferable to get the ball as far forward as possible, and then just get it in the box?
Yet if Burnley had managed to beat Spuds in the postponed game, we would be. We really need points in the remaining games this year.
The only reason Silva had the ball in that position was two (I think) very lucky ricochets....maybe Bachmann's positioning got screwed over by that.
I think it's just pure frustration that we are very close to having an exciting, hard-working, compact team that is being let down by the same old suspects almost every game. I just hope the fools, sorry wise sages, at the top of our organisation just bring in some experienced or younger promising defensive players, they don't have to be flashy but competent (think Prodl, Britos when we signed them) rather than the tired old cast-offs that we have been subjected to in previous winter windows. Then again it is the hope that kills you.
Correct. It's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask). A 1972 film directed by and starring Woody Allen. It's a film containing various segments posed as questions in a book that was published with the same title. The segment shown above concerns a mad scientist (John Carradine) who has created and unleashed a monster breast. Other highlights are Gene Wilder having an extramarital affair with a sheep called Daisy, and Woody Allen as a spermatozoa under guidance from a NASA-like mission control centre in a man's brain. It's one of his very funny early films. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Every...w_About_Sex*_(*But_Were_Afraid_to_Ask)_(film)
Loved the early Woody Allen stuff - had quite a collection on CD. In the good old days they used to show them on BBC2 over christmas
I see absolutely no benefit whatsoever in Bachmann passing the ball out to our defenders, especially against Man City. Clearly the plan was to get it forward and win the second balls which was spot on by Ranieri.
Mainstream as opposed to cult/niche films. His movies have won Oscars and were often nominated. This film was the 10th highest-grossing film of 1972, an era when alot of films were made so big business for the studios involved.
I think if WTE had found himself with the ball at his feet coming out of defence at any point last night, presumably the plan Guardiola concocted for that situation would have been activated, resulting in 10 simultaneous goals being scored at once.
I don't know why anyone is moaning about our recruitment. The players we signed this summer have all been superb. Some have been better than others and we could have done with another centre back but generally the quality of the new recruits has been high
Can’t tell if this is serious or not? They’ve struck gold with Dennis and Sissoko. Rose has been awful. Nkoulou has played less than 3 games. Etebo looks okay but not a big sample size to judge. Louza goes from great to average to awful. Kucka the same…but is nearly 35. King looks good for what he ‘cost’. Tufan has not put in a performance worth even mentioning as yet. A huge chunk of whatever budget we have had been spent on a CM who is either great or (more often) replaced at HT, and a GK who we won’t see until next summer. Fletcher has been exactly what everyone thought he would be. ‘Have all been superb’ is a wild statement.
Big apologies. I'm now really confused with all these posts Reg. Can you just help me a little bit please. Tell me again, which is which exactly...?
A 1 - 3 scoreline was a kind of victory for us, in the broader scheme of things. I know that sounds feeble and clutching at straws, but the Big Victory for this club, this year, would simply be staying in the Premier League. As Ranieri and a load of others have said, if offered 3 points and reasonable scores in our last 4 games most of us would happily have taken it. A lot is said about keeping the goal difference healthy. The maximum value of a good goal difference is 1 point and so isn't very important unless the final day is uncomfortably close. But the value I see in last night's scoreline is that we weren't humiliated: Morale needs to be kept high and it surely will be now. In fact I was gobsmacked to see Watford players racing around near the end, hurrying to take throws and so on, clearly believing they could still get something out of the game. That is brilliant positive thinking. If I 'm honest, I would have chickened out of that and played for time, to keep the score down. Of course, the score could easily have been terrible, especially in the first 15 minutes, but City did not have their shooting boots on and Bachmann had his best game for us. The latter point seems to have been lost on a few people who criticize this or that instance of positioning; the bigger picture is he made a whole load of top and vital saves. It seems clear to me he had been told to use his judgement on whether to roll the ball out or kick it long. The reason he mostly chose to kick long seemed pretty obvious: His options were WTE, Cathcart or Rose (less often Kiko). I mean, would you? In fact his long kicks were largely good and gave our forwards a quick opportunity to attack. Mostly these broke down because every single one of the City players is a class act. But against more mortal mid and lower table teams you could see them working.
Agree with so much of this , Britos and Holebas won the fight and Prodl just headed the ball away. We don't win the fight these days and Troost thinks he's Rio.
It’s far more about who we didn’t buy surely? Signing one morbidly obese LB for our defence was never, ever going to be enough was it, and we even started the season net one CB down from last season. In case you missed the conclusive proof of this, we’ve just set a very unwanted record for consecutive lack of PL clean sheets.
Yes, however we clearly had limited funds available. I do wish we had brought in a couple of defenders but overall considering our lack of funding we have done a good job. Sissoko, King and Dennis for around 7 million is excellent buisness.
They’ve struck gold with Dennis and Sissoko. Agreed. And 'they' deserve huge credit for digging them up Rose has been awful. No he hasn't. He isn't the player he once was but if he was still performing at that level he wouldn't be at Watford. He's a very useful addition to the squad Nkoulou has played less than 3 games. But has looked excellent in each of them Etebo looks okay but not a big sample size to judge. Etebo was outstanding before his injury Louza goes from great to average to awful. Kucka the same…but is nearly 35. After a slow start Louza has looked like a tremendous player lately. Kucka may not play every minute of every game but everyone can see that he is more than adequate replacement for Hughes or Chalobah King looks good for what he ‘cost’. King looks more than 'good for what he cost'. Our attacking options are better than most of the teams in this league.Without mentioning Liverpool or Man City, name a better front 3 than King, Dennis and Sara/Cucho/Jao Pedro Tufan has not put in a performance worth even mentioning as yet. Agreed, but from what I've seen he clearly has potential to be a huge player for us in the second half of the season A huge chunk of whatever budget we have had been spent on a CM who is either great or (more often) replaced at HT, and a GK who we won’t see until next summer. I've got no problem with them investing in one for the future. Fletcher has been exactly what everyone thought he would be. I agree. Fletcher is sh 1te
I'm not sure I would have fancied watching Craig, Desperate Dan, Billy T and the gang trying to play out from the back against City. Getting dispossessed and conceding seems a high possibility. With our pacy attack, I would have thought one of the best ways to get in on their goal is through a keeper's hoof down either of the wings. As others point out, it didn't really work, but then at least we lost possession on the edge of their area rather than the edge of ours (with one of our hapless defenders looking gobstruck over their shoulder as City forward slots in another one). No, I think if I were CR70, I'd give the same instructions - get rid of the bloody thing. I noticed we did the same sort of thing against Chelsea and Man U and it worked slightly more effectively then. We rarely played out from the back as I remember in those games.
Everyone knows we need a centre back or two, but given the quality we have brought in elsewhere and the unique economic uncertainty they have to take into consideration when weighing up future signings, it is clearly grossly unfair to rubbish the club's overall recruitment efforts this summer
Regarding Rose, I can only assume you missed the City game, as well as the fact he’s been kept out of the side by Adam Masina, as well as the most recent Athletic article stating the club are looking for a new LB to sign in Jan.
Not really, we haven’t kept a clean sheet all season, it doesn’t matter how good the other signings have been if their good work is consistently undone due to constant mistakes in an area they neglected. There is a good chance our defence relegates us if it does not receive major surgery in January, I guess that won’t matter if all the signings they made were all mostly good though will it?
We need a couple of centre backs. We'll bring them in this January. All will be well - thanks largely to the excellent business done this summer
Speaking as a totally impartial observer here, you've just lost the plot Lloyd. I'm flabbergasted, looking on as a total neutral.
Personally I don't think that Rose has been as poor as a lot of people suggest. The goal yesterday was baffling and he has had a couple of crap games but I thought he was good against Chelsea and had a handful of good games earlier in the season.
