Val needs to start playing our best team. Ken Dennis Asprilla Kone Livermore Kayembe Lewis Hoedt Whoever Andrews
Is Whoever a trialist? Are you really that confident in that defence we don't need a keeper Joking aside, that looks a line up worth trying.
Only reason I can think for playing Sierralta over Livermore is that he offers us more defending set pieces, at a loss for the continued selection of TDB. Happy to see Kayembe back, didn't expect to see Dennis make a start, hopefully he comes off the bench and looks a bit more lively like he did against Cardiff and Leicester
Typical VI playing 2 players out of position over 2 fit players on the bench. I’m not going to bother watching until this shitshow stops
Asprilla, Kayembe , Sierralta and Pollock in - first two are positive changes but not sure about Sierralta. Definitely had a falling out with Andrews hasn’t he and showing he didn’t want Dennis ?
Andrews has surely done something to get on Ismael's bad side? Has he said anything to the press about why he's been dropped to the bench? It surely needs explaining. Good to see Asprilla start on the right instead of Martins, and Kayembe back instead of Chakvetadze - two positives, with Martins and Chak having been our most wasteful players during our poor run.
I want to defend VI as he has a thin squad and he's not been given an easy hand. It's not his fault he has been given a squad that's not fit for purpose beyond mid-table. But it's increasingly hard to as he had the perfect oppurtunity to rest key players recently v Soton but didn't and then complained he couldn't rest players enough. Resting Andrews based upon medical advice is absolutely the right decision but then TDB should not be the 2nd choice RB because we didn't plan for having him and Ngakia unavailable, the latter who is consistently unavailable and was obvious based upon years of previous precedent.
He said yesterday that Andrews is in danger of burnout. We should have signed another right back if that was the case but I don't know why people are blaming Ismael for taking the guidance of the medical staff. I'd rather TDB played than Andrews get an injury that sets him back a few months.
Well maybe but players can have poor games .. I mean Lewis is still there and TDB. Unless Sierralta plays right back and TDB into midfield.
Val has to be sacked!!! I’m sorry but persisting with playing Dele-Bashiru who is our worst player, is an insult to the fans who pay money to go watch games. Playing him is insulting enough to fans, consistently playing him at RB is sticking two fingers up to fans and smiling about it.
Okay, I just had a quick search and there is actually an article on the Wobby from yesterday with quotes from Ismael: "Although he’s been on the bench for the last three league and cup games, Ryan Andrews has not been injured. Valerien Ismael confirmed that earlier today as he discussed the players available to him ahead of the game at Rotherham tomorrow. “He was not injured,” said the head coach. “We assess after extra game the numbers of every player, and the data for our full-backs is especially important. We saw with Ryan that with every game the data was going down, down, down. He wasn’t able to push anymore. “That’s a sign of fatigue, and it meant we needed to manage him. It’s his first full season, and my job is to manage the workload for him and all my players. That is the reason.”" https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/s...coach-ismael-explains-andrews-recent-absence/
Best game to give Livermore a rest I guess, the TDB inverted full back experiment isnt working Val, please stop.
I'm no sports scientist, but surely giving him a complete rest for a few games is better than a partial rest?
What if Dennis and Andrews need to come on earlier than excepted ? Are they fit enough for that ? Bet they hoped Ngakia would be fit by now .
Pretty sure VI is determined to transform TDB into a RB. Kayembe back in is a plus. Asprilla should have a better game in his more natural position. Wonder how long Dennis get's today? Andrews either has a niggling injury or he's been banished due to being late.
"We saw with Ryan that with every game the data was going down, down, down. He wasn’t able to push anymore." That's all well and good, but there's players he's starting that never had data that showed up, up, up..
Would he be on the bench though in that case? Are his fitness levels that bad then than he needs to be rested (but still on the bench) for 3 games?
My question is, exactly how much rest can 19 year old ingenue Ryan Andrews need? This is the third straight game he's been dropped, right? If it really is down to the dreaded 'red zone' assessment, exactly how long does it take to come out of it? He's played 1300 minutes fewer than 29-year-old Wesley Hoedt, and overall he's only 6th in most-minutes-played across our squad, behind other young sprites like Jake Livermore. It smells of something to me, frankly. Tin foil hat is firmly on.
Amazing how most teams can start their best most games, yet we always seem to have problems. Zero reasons for Andrews to not be starting. He’s had more than enough time to recover. He’s a professional athlete. Val saying he’s managing his minutes just feels like a an excuse of I can’t be bothered with this season anymore.
