Not sure the effort wasn't there. I think they just don't know what to do. I for one would want the Liverpool players complaining about the tackles coming in from the dogged Watford players, but nothing. The coach can tell them to get stuck in or sit off. I think we need to get a grip of the game in some way or another and we can fall back on being tough and aggressive. It's why Troy kept playing despite being past his prime, he gave us a mentality of getting involved, give the defender a barge. Troy occasionally went too far, but there was nothing today at all. I would have taken 5-0 if VVD or Salah snapped their ankle in two. (they got revenge for the 3-0, we didn't get revenge for Geri missing the rest of the season). Call me an arse for wishing an opposition player injured, it's born out of frustration in not even putting a challenge in.
Which is fine but doesn’t excuse lack of effort and heart from half the players. Get outclassed fair enough. Don’t match Liverpool’s effort from minute one is unforgivable.
As bad as anything the PE teacher served up. No plan, no intensity, no clue Particularly baffling was the decision to deploy Masina to man mark the empty space between Trent and Salah for the first 45 minutes. Sarr also bizarrely played as a number 9 in a position we know he doesn’t like and isn’t effective in Easy to overreact after games like that but honestly doubt I’ll go to many more games in person this season, we’re so far off the standard of this league it’s just a waste of time. At least during the Taylor and Boothroyd Prem season there was a novelty factor to it
Yes should have bought 2 new CDs instead of King and Dennis ? Or splashed out a little and been accused of being reckless with our finances again ? We don't belong in this league, though the performance, tactics and effort today were dreadful.
It also doesn't explain summer transfer business which involved stubbornly driving out Hughes and Chalobah to bring in Louza and Kuzka, for a net financial and talent loss. Utterly ridiculous.
Which we know from experience does not work...let him play mainly out wide and then drift centrally when the situation presents itself.
What you cannot excuse is a lack of effort and fight. Brentford got into their faces. We just sat off. Claudio was shouting from the touchline for them to press higher and get stuck in. Did they ? Sissoko apart the midfield was limp. The same sort of effort against Brighton and Leeds. It's disturbing. When you pull on the jersey of whatever club you play for at least don't let yourself down. Most of these clowns did today. And in doing so let the manager and supporters down. It implies a lack of pride from some players that what they put in is enough. Need a clearout of the huge amount of deadwood in the side and players more suited to Ranieri's work ethic involved like Nkoulou. Lacking CB as predicted has come to bite Gino in the bum. As has the lack of depth at fullback. Team fitness is concerning as well. Some of the laboured efforts to reach the ball were embarrassing for so called professionals. No doubt all the Scouse twunts will be lapping it all up most of whom do not even live in Merseyside. Plastic pillocks.
Absolute dogsh*t that will be heartily consumed by the usual suspects. The fans were essentially silent today but for a few moments where they basically mocked their own team, I guess they’ve stopped caring. Mission accomplished I’m sure. The people in charge don’t care, the players don’t care. I doubt Ranieri will care for long. Do we have anyone left who gives a **** about the club?
Well at 0-4 I didn't honestly expect ex-England international Danny Rose to vaguely waggle his fat leg to prevent a 5th but that's what we got. The icing on a very s*** cake. My god if that bloke is allowed to play for us again I'll be fuming. And yes I know Masina was equally as bad, in his case he simply isn't Premier League standard. In Rose's case he just couldn't be bothered during the game. Sissoko was easily our stand-out performer even though he fluffed a couple of crucial passes near the end to get us a consolation. Without him plus Foster we could have been on the end of 8 or 9 quite easily. I can only hope that the team will publicly apologise to us fans for approaching a game like that and all volunteer to pay a week's wages to a charity of our choice. I've seen some abject efforts in my time from far less talented Watford squads. But the lack of commitment was truly breath-taking. That must never happen again. To have the likes of Jermaine Jenas and others accuse us of "giving up" hurts because, for once for several players it's true, whatever spin our PR machine chooses to put on it. The usual answer to a game like this is to force the team to come out all guns blazing the next time. Let's hope they get the right kick up the a*** from our management team. Possibly no free pizza on offer tonight I'd imagine.
I’m loving McManaman and Cole. I’ve never seen a punditry lineup absolutely tear a team apart like they have. Liverpool would beat most teams today but the malaise of our players todays was absolutely disgraceful. The only positive is it was 5
We spent £9m on a player who doesn’t play. You’re truly king of the Cogs if you think Cathcart is the best we can hope for in defence.
Awful from the opening minute to last. These players are for the most part mental midgets. Beaten by the sight of a red shirt and indeed any of the other so called top six before they set foot on the pitch. That we need a team psychologist is a must.
Yup, a half-baked performance from a half-baked team. I hope they get them in early tomorrow just to emphasis that a performance like that is not acceptable. The namby-pambied over-ego'd tw@tts really need the book throwing at them.
Or even get some minutes when a game is over when our resident 34 year old is blowing out of his arse. He must be truly terrible lol
I’m still annoyed, why did we just stand off for 45 whole minutes? Why didn’t we get in their faces, hurt them, make some tackles!! Ahhhhhhh, that was just so terrible.
Love to know what the podcast underlings think now. Brentford have a successful talent identification model. What has happened to ours. Keeping over the hill players on long contracts and not managing and developing kids properly or never getting to see them at all. Brentford seem well drilled, hungry and without fear compared to our scared cats. And aside from Ajer who was recommended by Heia or Chumlax a while ago have not spent that big. That is three awful awful performances this season. GT would have kept them on at half time I would think and made them come in for extra training tomorrow and a good talking to. Simply unacceptable effort and determination today. Again.
As much as blame needs to be put on the lack of effort, and the incompetence of Foster, Masina, Cathcart, Ekong etc, I don't think Ranieri should be let off the hook just because it's his first game. Bizarre set up and tactics, and showed no sign of being able to change the tide of the game, even slightly. Bad start.
Nope, billionaires cost you goals like the Salah one. Stand up and applaud that, sheer genius and a footballer at the top of his game. He has a very viable shout to say he’s the best footballer in the world right now. Masina shanking it into the middle for no apparent reason or Cathcart touching a ball towards his own goal with no real immediate pressure around him isn’t billionaires fault, it’s negligence and arrogance of the highest order. Simple as that.
Brentford’s recruitment is based upon improving the squad and getting better overall. It also seemingly has a coherent strategy and includes defenders. Ours is, and has always been, a scattergun approach laced with last minutery, agent favours and bare faced hope. We stumble across the odd player like Richarlison and Doucoure and sell them on and don’t replace them or rely on old timers and castoffs filling the space. That’s why we still have a defender from our original promotion winning team starting 7 years later against Liverpool. It’s best not to remotely compare the two recruitment teams. At all.
Lots to work on for Ranieri. All of the subs performed far better than the replaced. Sissoko easily our best player. Some decent bits of play towards the end. Rest was complete garbage. Even the stadium stank of garbage.
To add to my previous post I also think we brought in way too many players in the transfer window. Yes we had a few leave, but, excluding Norwich, a promoted team generally performs well in their first season if they keep the core of the team that got promoted. Its the 2nd season that this falls apart if they don't add quality, such as Sheff Utd. By changing too many faces we have undone the good work and team understanding from last season. From Ranieri's perspective I would go back to basics and start with players from last season where possible and add in players he see fit. Personally on this basis my lineup would be (taking into account injuries) Foster (Bachmann not 100%?) Femenia WTE Kabasele (Sierralta injured) Rose (upgrade on Masina) Cleverley Sissoko (for Hughes) Gosling Sarr Pedro Cucho (for Sema)
Helped that he was up against Milner for the second half, tried hard and was at the centre of much of our good work, but a lack of real quality from him tbf
