The sheer neglect of our first XI, zero academy players, zero communication, using our club as a commodity to showcase assets from their network first and foremost instead of what we actually need. The club has never felt so far away as it has done under their reign. I’m struggling to see what identity the team has left?
Very good analysis. TBH I questioned the need for you to do this sort of thing after the Man City game, because as you said City are miles ahead of us (and most other Prem teams for that matter) in every department, and they're very good at forcing errors or exploiting mistakes that would have looked minor at best against other teams. But when we're playing a West Ham team who've been in bad form (5 points from their previous 24) and lose 4-1 after being 1-0 up, certainly it's necessary to critically dissect our performance especially the defence, as an illustration of how bad we are to lose in that fashion, COVID or not. This game reminded me of the situation with Rotherham last year, having to postpone several games before finally coming back half-fit and losing 4-1 at home to a high flying team (us) and not being able to cope with the fixture backlog despite it being in their own hands and having a number of chances to get out of the relegation zone. I hope to god the same thing won't happen with us, but for the first time this season I am fearing the worst. I didn't see the game, but funnily enough despite the result, the stats suggest it was an even match (we actually had more shots than them despite having less possession) but it seems the problems lie deeper than just defensive failings?
West ham are a good side, top 8 comfortably. They had 3 of their starting back four missing, plus Rice. Watford will be okay if they can get some decent British defenders in. Maybe dip into the championship for the likes of Worrall or ****ie??
I didn't think imo west ham were great yesterday I Lost count the amount of times We got out of there press and committed men forward and made the wrong decision ,we could of had a training session everyday since the brentford game but if individuals make mistakes you have no chance
I can tell you that at no point whatsoever in the game did it look like we were even competing - what it looked like was a cup tie with a plucky lower-league upstart facing an established Premier League stalwart, only we forgot to bring any of the pluck. That shots stat was shocking to see, because as I remarked on the Shoutbox at one point, I can only recall one single shot we even had in the second half, and it was when Sissoko did very, very poorly with what should have been a guaranteed goal having received it about 8 yards out in the opposition box, only to close his eyes and inshallah it straight into Fabianski's outstretched mitts.
I think most of our shots came at the end when it was 3/4-1 tbh. Dennis had that shot saved but then Bachmann also did one from Antonio around the same time.
Yes, they were clearly the better side in the first half and I was surprised we ended up having so many shots!
Watford’s ball retention and passing was very poor and completely negated the great start we had. It was the same at Brentford and if it doesn’t improve we will never get the best out of our excellent forward players.
And the trouble with that is the fact that his main strength is negated by the awkward truth that PL attackers are quite good at putting the ball into the corner of the net so he never gets near the shot.
And I hope he’ll have the guts to say he’s resigned because he inherited a defensive unit that was clearly massively sub-standard and the unwillingness of the hierarchy to address that issue during January makes the job impossible.
Much as I don’t like the system, were it not for Dennis going to AFCON, I’d give 4-4-2 a try again with King & Dennis up top, Louza & Sissoko central midfield, Cucho & JP as wide midfielders. Choose the defence via a raffle. We might then actually get the ball into the front 2 in the final third.
I think the main issue may have been their insistence that Munoz was a muppet they had no desire to play for. As Gino had decided Munoz would stay on as manager, the 2 malcontents had to go. Wind forward a couple of months and….Gino decides Munoz is a muppet and doesn’t want him as Head Coach. Too late to play Hughes & Chalobah now, of course.
The highlights (mostly for West Ham) were finally uploaded to the West Ham official YouTube channel. Don't like the female commentator, sounds like she's trying too hard to be masculine - would have preferred the co-commentator to be the main one. A couple of comments on the most notable defensive mistakes: (1) Kiko for West Ham's second goal - didn't think it was that bad a mistake as others are making out, because he did make a genuine attempt to win it back. Unfortunately this has been a fundamental weakness in his game for some time. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt though because maybe he was affected by COVID and/or lack of match fitness and wasn't up to pace (which is usually one of his assets). (2) Masina for WH's third goal - can't argue with that, what the hell was he doing going back upfield? I don't think this is necessarily due to a lack of footballing intelligence as some have said, I think like with WTE his brain melts under pressure (like him giving away the penalty in the dying seconds against Villa).
Are they from Amazon Prime ? Commentator sounds familiar. EDIT: Having heard the whole thing maybe not ! Got more and more excited after each goal. Some very weak or poor decision making on our part .
I agree he will walk but probably after a ‘must win’ loss to Norwich or Newcastle. We’ll get all the usual press statement that they have come to a gentleman’s agreement between the two parties. I think the transfer window should be given to the new coach who will be given some leeway for the rest of the season with the inevitable result of relegation. His task will be immediate promotion. We are really dead and buried this season. I look forward to more drivel from Duxbury stating they have learnt from their mistakes. His and the Pozzos mistake was not seeing the bleeding obvious back as far as 2015 that the defence needed urgent attention.
Pozzos will make no profit on defenders so will only invest in midfielders or attacker. I seriously think they don’t care about building a team but just want a 1 in 10 result from their signings. Although it’s been great to see Sarr at Watford, he really is a player we could have done without, the 30 odd million could have been invested where we desperately needed improvement.
And yet, as long as football remains a team game, the value of your individual player assets will remain inextricably linked with the fortunes of the team! Boggles the mind how the Pozzos seemingly haven't grasped that!
I'm sure they, and probably others with longer contracts, had no faith in Xisco, however the chances of Munoz lasting 12 games was always remote. And we only have to look at the relegation season and the way the squad was divided in two, early in the preseason, to see how Wfc treats transferable players.
Yeah, this is the thing. I remember early in the season people talking about individual errors for our conceded goals, but when you make 7 or 8 of those per game, shared amongst 5 players, it's not individual errors anymore, but a culture of poor defending.
