We don't have a bottom six squad. We are actually far from it. I have watched the bottom 6 teams play frequently and there is no way our squad is that poor.
Yes, I was there! I'm pretty sure you're describing the monumentally bad George Kirby relegation season 1971/72 which included a dismal home game (27/12/71) against Oxford Utd at the Vic. We had taken the ageing Scottish centre half, Bill Baxter on loan from Hull as you said, who had previously won the Division One title with Ipswich in 61/62. But a fading force with no stamina when with us, I seem to recall in a turgid and foggy match that day which was drifting towards a 0-0, late on came the key moment. As the ball was cleared upfield by us towards the Rookery there were 3 players left in the Watford area; Andy Rankin plus Bill Baxter and purely from memory Oxford's Irish forward Nigel Cassidy. Baxter and Cassidy who were beyond running by then were obviously in an animated conversation which ended with our Scotsman either kicking or planting a very obvious right hook on his Gaelic adversary who went down in a heap. Again I might be wrong, but my memory tells me that after flagging vigorously for some time, the linesman managed to attract the referee's attention and a penalty was eventually given. Duly scored - might have been Cassidy or someone else - and the Hornets were kept in 22nd and last place in Division Two, Hull were 20th and a place outside trhe relegation zone. Our Bill played in our next match on New Year's Day 1972 at Blackpool - presumably no sending off from the Oxford game - as we got turned over 5-0 and that season accelerated to relegation. Agent Baxter fulfilled his brief in his 11 appearances for us!
The last xG table that was shared showed, based on chances created at each end of the pitch, we deserved to be about 6th bottom, maybe a couple of places higher. We are sixth top due to luck of our chances being taken efficiently (which is amusing given the quality of our strikers ) and our opponents “missing” their chances. That luck won’t continue. Don’t forget we have a weaker squad than last season, a season in which we struggled, and were favourites for relegation at the start of the season.
When looking at a league table I then look at the goal difference to see which teams are over\under achieving points wise . If you couple this with what we have seen with our own eyes, fortunate home wins, added with a lack of focal point up top then we are very much punching above our weight . However someone must be given the credit for the elevated league position be it the manager , the rest of the squad, etc
Usually we keep going in games and try to get back into them or hold on but unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be the case yesterday . We surrendered meekly by the sounds of it .
Absolutely, we have won a lot of 50/50 and even 40/60 matches and shown good spirit, but even then generally per the xG table our opponents have had more chances to score than we have, and have missed the sort of chances that we have taken.
The bench was really weak yesterday as well, no real option to change it up. Baah would have been a great option yesterday but his stupidity cost us that opportunity. Losing Vata made it even worse. We created very little yesterday and what we did create fell to the dud from Bournemouth.
We do have a “bottom half” squad though. There are admittedly some promising players but spine of Keeper, centre midfield and central strikers are all dreadful.
Your post has made me think a little . Chak, Vata and Baah are the attacking options that we have , we have nothing much down the middle . When we were looking to throw the kitchen sink at Cardiff , there was no Vata or Baah , in other words we had no cavalry to come on to change the game .
In hindsight it does seem that way , I know Vakoun as scuffed a few in this season but I doubt that too many punters have him as an anytime\1st goal scorer!!. That said I don't think Raj is the answer to our lack of a centre forward who can get good possession.
Precisely. And with Vata injured, Baah suspended due to being an idiot and Giorgi bang out of form we look pretty blunt. It was telling that the chance Jebbison had came from an Andrews throw and Sierralta flick rather than any guile or skill.
Raj is far from a complete striker but he can do what both of our current crop cannot do. Move and anticipate a cross or ball in to the box. Give him the ball outside the box he turns into a trainee. Give him the ball in the box, or a loose ball, eight times out of ten it's in the back of the net. He has a "poachers instinct" which is one of the main qualities of a striker. Jebbison has proven recently he can create a chance, and can get into a position, but that miss yesterday (which I've now seen) was unforgivable. Raj isn't perfect, far from it but he's the best of a bad bunch that was loaned out, and I hope if we fail to get anyone decent in next month, we at least try to negotiate his return in the Summer.
Our squad has glaring holes in it in terms of quality in certain positions but overall It's not as bad as some people on here are making out
Trouble is, based on yesterday's lethargic showing, those glaring holes areas could well be described as: in goal, the defence, midfield and attack! Hmm, a tricky problem for our Tom
Judging by Cleverly's interview with WO, there are no plans to send Jebbinson back to Bournemouth despite how ineffectual a striker he is
Just a reminder that people were saying we had a decent squad when we had the likes of Kucka, Kabasele and Josh King stinking out the PL, when the reality was it was every bit as bad as others were making out. I'd say the starting XI has at least 6 glaring holes in it.
It's just a ridiculous situation we've got ourselves in. He's not our player, so whilst it's admirable on a human level we want to help his confidence, fundamentally we're under no obligation to do so - and I'd argue that it is more detrimental to the progression of someone who is contracted like Doumbia that we contine with Jebbison.
Yep. At this point should just cancel the deal and let him rehabilitate in Muff reserves before a lower league loan next season. Bring Rajovic back, sign someone or give Doumbia some minutes (all better long term options for us). Feels like TC doesn’t want to admit his error on this one.
We all have different opinions obviously, but if it was that bad we wouldn't be 6th in the table surely.
With regards to Jebbison, I have no basis for this claim as I'm not ITK. But is it possible TC is hedging his bets? If he comes out and says "Jebbison is rubbish and I don't want him anymore" and then Jebbison stays with us that's a bit of a problem. Maybe he's trying to keep Jebbison onside in case he ends up staying but there are different conversations behind the scenes?
I’m not saying it’s bad - I’m saying it’s massively overachieving and has holes in it. I think the constant tinkering of the starting XI and the fact TC can’t settle on a line-up or shape tells us that. We aren’t going to fill all the holes, that’s unrealistic. But I’d say it’s 2 CM’s, a CB, LB and RB short from being really competitive for promotion/playoffs.
I just find it all so confusing. In my opinion, there’s clearly a better to Jebbison than we have seen. Now, how much better is open to debate but I’d guess a confident Jebbison wouldn’t look out of place in amongst our current squad. But I just don’t understand TC’s management of him or comments really. On one hand he’s saying it’s his job to build up his confidence etc - but in the very same paragraphs, he’s pretty much admitting Bayo will always be first choice and he dropped Jebbison despite a ‘strong’ performance against Portsmouth.
So far it looks like an overall wasted summer window. Again. We signed an injured player (always a mistake) who we’ve barely seen, and a free agent of whom we can say the same. We signed a senior pro who has been an embarrassment on the whole. We signed a decent young midfielder but prefer to play the underachieving older boys ahead of him. A striker who has been competing exclusively with himself to win the Miss of the Season trophy. We’ve seen flashes of good play from Ebosele and Larouci, while Vata looks the one real shining light from the summer arrivals. Oh Lordy only two more days and our recruiting team can start messing up again.
Look at the xG table which shows just how lucky we have been (or it did last time it was shared). We all suffer from basing our view of the squad on where we sit in the table ignoring how well we have actually played and assuming that our relative luck will continue. Had we started the season in the form both we and the bookies expected, based on a weakened squad from last seasons struggles, and then gradually risen to 14th or similar, we would be calling TC a hero. The fact that we are now 6th with those same players means we've now decided we have the 6th best squad in the league and TC will come under pressure in the second half of the season when we finish mid table or below, for failing to keep such a good squad in the PO spaces !!
A team that hadn’t lost at home all season vs a team that hadn’t won away all season. End result? Walking out of the ground I heard someone say “we got exactly what we deserved- nothing” and that is spot on. From the get-go it was so poor, so many misplaced passes. It’s so important to start games well as it lets your opponent know you want it, but how many times this season have we started badly? Too often to count. The defence was a shambles- Porteous rightfully hooked at half time was he was rubbish and Andrews’ lack of defensive awareness was exposed (Larouci didn’t cover himself in glory either to be fair). Pollock is a warrior- late on he got sandwiched between two Cardiff players and went down, I could hear the sound from my seat but he just picked himself up, shook his head and ran off. Louza was good but he can’t do it on his own, god only knows how Kayembe played the full 90. A game that was crying out for Baah to run at them.
