Was Sarr The Handbrake?

I like Sarr but it’s not as linear as that. The team he plays in is built for him, hence why he gets the contributions.

There can be a belief that collective effort is better than individual brilliance, we’ll find out tomorrow. Wilder may even make Sarr work in this team but a side without Sarr is the most cohesive our attacking side looked in a while.

 

There's an awful lot of conclusions being made from one half decent performance against a poor side. We are Watford, remember. We have a track record of things clicking in one-off games and looking good, then returning to usual - regardless of whether Sarr is in the side.

 

Weren't able on him to come up with something - as unlikely as it would be maybe.

Meant we had to actually work as a team and even Davis played well first half - had a point to prove as a Villa player?

 

I agree and Sarr has been struggling for form and confidence.

But this new narrative based on one home game against Birmingham that Sarr is the root of all problems is just nuts. Ridiculous scapegoating.

 

But the whole discussion has been about how Sarr's absence made the performance "half-decent" and there have been pretty persuasive arguments.

Clearly we can't leave him out altogether because he has undoubted flair and at times can make the difference in tight games and against the better teams and he's not finished like Deeney basically was, but Tuesday showed we need to switch our style of play a bit so we aren't overly reliant on Sarr (like England became on Shearer and later Rooney, and Man Utd was on Ronaldo last season) and don't become too predictable and one-dimensional.

 

Yet most of the comments ignore the fact we had a new head coach, a new strategy and a new style and instead focus on one player not playing.

Essentially the issues have been: Bilic liked anti-football with zero risk taking, we played with a midfield 3 made up of a player who wants to play as a striker, a player who thinks he's a CB and whoever else is fit struggling against a solid 4 on his own. That's not a dig at those players, that's a dig at the tactical ineptitude of the head coach and awful recruitment. If Sarr is to play as a winger we need a solid midfield 3, if we have a weak/positionally unaware central midfield we shouldn't be playing with wingers. To blame it on Sarr is shortsighted, in my opinion.

 

Sarr was playing against QPR too tbf, now our insipid performance might be put down to getting to grips with Wilder-ball, but Sarr himself was nowhere

 

No. Close thread.

 

What’s the excuse now?

 

Too slow and passive trying to walk the ball in

 

Damn, we'd really convinced ourselves that we're not all *****, huh?

 

It doesn’t matter if the handbrake is on if the wheels are missing and the car is balancing on bricks.

 

Sarr being absent might have played a part in Davis scoring two in two, but I think Wilder went too far in leaving him off the bench altogether, he should have been one of the subs and brought on instead of Assombalonga, he would surely have given us some fresh impetus to regain our lead.

 

Apparently Sarr isn’t going on international duty with Senegal because he’ll be receiving treatment at Watford. So presumably he’s still injured. Either way nothing we’ve seen from him in recent months suggest he’s capable of providing impetus to our side.