And you can hear that in Ranieri’s words after the game. He doesn’t want to play WTE but we have literally no one else. We can make all the excuses we want and claim that Sierralta and Nkoulou were the bedrock of our defence but we have no idea if they have what it takes either. A youth team CB would be preferable over a shot WTE, but we don’t have any of those either. Other clubs can stick youngsters on their bench in times of injuries, we have to put a second GK on ours. Absolutely reprehensible repeated mistakes of last time. Sign *****, get *****. Duxbury can pace around all he wants last season in an empty stand nervous about promotion but he learnt nothing from that experience.
It is amazing to think that we don't have one centre back in the U23s capable of stepping into the first team squad even during an injury/form crisis. What is the point of keeping it going?
It is far too early to be throwing in the towel, I will wait until the end of February and see where we are then, we might have a good transfer window (CB, LB and AMC needed) and the AFCON players would have been back for a while then too.
They seem to leak goals themselves most weeks too! But yes we really must have the worse youth system around now . Doesn’t matter how much the club try to spin it !
Unfortunately, it might be too little too late time the January window comes around. IMO to have any chance of staying up, we've got to win the next two. Anything under that, then I just can't see us staying up this season. We'll be too far behind without the impetus to catch up. Yesterday, Brentford were depleted. It was a good time to play them, but we f&cked it up in typical Watford fashion. I thought we were poor, but matched an equally poor opponent. We had our noses in front and just had to manage the game and grind out the win, just as Southampton did to us earlier this season. But where it started to unravel was after Ranieri's strange substitution of Cleverley for Pedro. It was too early for that change and it handed the initiative to Brentford immediately. Pedro was poor in his application and endeavour which allowed Brentford to get through our midfield and find spaces. It turned the game. Once the defence had to deal with some pressure, they crumbled as usual. Far too many players were below average or just poor. Only King, Dennis, Cleverley and possibly Kiko can come out with any credit from yesterday's match. You cannot afford to carry that many players. It seemed to me, the players wanted to lose the game. Their actions were of a team wanting to be defeated. Ranieri's honeymoon is now over. Poor substitutions cost us, but the players also have to take a large share of the blame. No way should we be leading after 84minutes and end up losing. Why do Watford have this capitulation in them? They've done it so many times. It's almost part of their DNA. But it's a sign that they cannot handle pressure and have no game management skills.
The worst thing is - there is absolutely no justification for not buying a decent centre back last transfer window. They are cheap as chips compared to other positions. Zero logic.
TL;DR but fair play on the win. We tend to only do the banter thing before games so your post will likely just disappear as we argue amongst ourselves. Cheers.
I love a giant killing, so congratulations on your win. I hope you get another big fish in the next round.
The honest answer is I meant it to reflect the earlier comment by someone I can’t recall that the teams we have beaten and had our great results against have all been basket cases of their own in crazy situations, and broadly speaking have also been down to ten men for good portions of the match - we haven’t just matched a similarly ranked (or indeed better) opponent in normal form and beat them by being better at various aspects of the game. There’s always an asterisk, at least. We clearly literally need them to compensate for the permanent asterisk that is our defence, but then again last night the midfield, goalkeeper and coach all brought their own to the party to add on.
I think our solid defence last year has knackered us, it's given the powers that be an excuse to hide behind.
Bloody frustrating as last night was, it's way too early to say relegation is certain. Despite all the pre-match bluster from Brentford fans about recreating 1970s levels of rivalry, last night was one of the most genteel football experiences I think I've ever had.
I believe this is true, but Sierralta was the main reason our defence was so solid. He had an outstanding season, and was a key component. He's hardly played this season because of injury. But to go into a season with just 4 CB's was always going to backfire. Even if WTE, Cathcart and Kabs were EPL quality, which none are, you wouldn't expect them all to stay fit because of their age. WTE was always going to go to AFCON after Boxing Day, so it was madness to go with that. My thinking, fuelled by what I witnessed last night I admit, is that by the time the January window comes along we'll be cut adrift. 11 defeats from 16 games tells you where we are as a club. I don't see any reason to expect that ratio to change.
I actually think we’ll stay up because of our ability to score lots of goals, but Claudio needs to stick with what works in that regards to compensate for what’s going on at the other end. Regardless of our shocking defence and defenders, if he’d got the team right last night we would have out scored them.
So, my thoughts. Bachmann - some routine saves, think he's trying to shake off the glued to his line label but went overboard a couple of times. Embarrassed for him and by him after the equaliser. Femenia - My MOTM - thought he was very good defensively Cathcart - don't think he did much wrong WTE - thought he did well until the brainfart moment Ngakia - looked uncomfortable, square peg round hole Sissoko - again very good, felt like he was the only one in midfield Kucka - below average, had the chance to clear the ball before the penalty - shouldn't be starting Cleverley - never got into the game - he's effective when everyone presses King - spent most of his time backtracking to help out Ngakia Dennis - had his moments, but something doesn't look right with him Hernandez - worked hard, showed some glimpses Subs: Joao Pedro - looked 2 yards off the pace, lacksadaisical in possession, seemed uninterested - CR70 having a go at him prior to coming on summed up his cameo. Sema - if Sema is the answer then it's over for us - I think he'd struggle against academy players. Tufan - did he touch the ball? CR70 - got it wrong, horribly wrong - selection, set up, tactics and substitutions. We needed someone to keep hold of the ball in midfield, why did he drop Louza - we were screaming out for him on the pitch. Last night gave me a migraine.
Oh definitely Sierralta has been a massive miss. We have known for three years the defenders we have are largely ineffective in the Premier League and would have been the perfect opportunity to upgrade this summer but I can only imagine that us trying to trim the fat meant that we didn't have adequate funds to do so. The Pozzos are going to have to pull a rabbit out of the hat in January. I think we have enough goals in us to not be adrift.
All that text and you failed to say anything remotely funny or offensive. I must admit I gave up half way through as it was so dull, so apologies if you saved your best work for the 87th paragraph. Imagine being so achingly dull and uncontroversial you’re the only troll the mods probably won’t even bother banning, please do better for the reverse fixture.
Disagree, I don’t mind trolls if they provide entertainment value, this one is just unfunny and dull, they need some constructive criticism otherwise they’re not only wasting our time they’re wasting their own time.
I thought the stadium looked like I imagine a Scandinavian one would. It also looked like they had bought it from a flat pack company and put it together a bit wrong. The atmosphere was fine, though. Getting away afterwards was a bit of a trial with the nearest stations closed. Some of the Watford contingent didn’t cover themselves in glory in the streets outside.
Watched it in a pub Was happy for around 80 mins Was then very unhappy for around 15 mins Got very drunk Passed out Woke up Remembered the score Now have a anger/sadness/frustration to go with my hangover don’t like bashing the players , am sure nobody goes out to play bad, however WTE should be nowhere near the pitch next week
I think you can see Kucka knows his way around the football field. But he appears to be the victim of old age and being too slow. I imagine he is being played because he is the nearest thing we have to put in a tackle, a bit like Hughes. And, a bit like that player, is restricted by being not quite quick enough to catch many of the opposition players, only more so.
If Brentford can batter us with a direct game, our meek lot will just be destroyed on a cold Wednesday night in Lanca****ingshire.
But why would the owner of a premier league club want to have excuses to not give his team the best chance of staying up? What sort of mentality is it when your owner and Chairman have to try and manipulate messaging to get away with crippling your first team, rather than just spending 5 or 6 million on getting in some competent players in key positions? Why on earth do our owners insist on defying all evidence and logic and pursuing a proven failure of a strategy which involves neglecting a hugely important aspect of the squad?
The only positive thing I can say about last night is that I don't have to watch that anti-football Brentford produce every week. WTF was sooooo bad last night it was actually offensive.
Was exactly what I was thinking on all counts. I would add to why Louza didn't start aswell. We were crying out for someone to take control of the ball and in all fairness he's shown that he can be very tidy with the ball. I'm more frustrated now than I was after the match. Add to that I'm not looking forward to watching Burnley pump balls Into our box and see the defensive line of clowns trying to keep the ball out of the net.
In football everything is complicated by the presence of the opposition. Brentford tried harder than Chelsea, City and Man U and they were much better organized than us. They knew what to do and what to expect of their fellow players. This showed in midfield, where, in the second half when they stepped up their game, they over-ran us. I didn't think their defence was all that good, but they treated Watford's attack with a good deal less respect in the second half. Their attack is a bit blunt and, by my reckoning, in some ways Watford's defence held them off heroically until absolutely everything fell apart in the last ten minutes. I realize that last sentence goes against the common narrative, but just consider the waves of attacks they had to repel. I would say, however, that the clearances out of defence and poor quality passing and poor running off the ball by some of our players needs to be given urgent attention.
There's no excuses at all. I still can't understand why people harp on about last season's SOLID DEFENCE. it wasn't that solid even though the stats do show that. There's no comparisons between Premiership and Championship forward lines. Now there's decent defenders out there it's just up to them to dig deep and get some in.
If we don’t press high and allow pressure on ourselves we are doomed on Wednesday. Need to set up as we did v the big boys. Louza to help us keep the ball, Clev and Sissoko to press, king IN THE MIDDLE where he is effective, Dennis one side pressing and either Cucho / Pedro on the other. It works. No need to tinker Mr Tinkerman
