The kid is raw and makes mistakes sometimes, but he's definitely got far more upside than Kiko. Unfortunately, Kiko is probably slightly better now, so even though it could greatly benefit us in the long run to play Ngakia, unless Kiko is injured or suspended, he'll get the nod
We let in three against Stoke B. There’s no indication that Sierralta is about to keep us up. Let’s hope that changes and he can look as good as last year at some point. He was clearly Munoz’s preferred. But if he’s not right it would be doing him no favours to start.
Reflecting on the game, could have gone either way Rose had a great game, been impressed with him so far Tufan looks a game changer for me. Quick feet and can pick a pass. Need him to start asap.
Were any of the goals his fault? Bearing in mind we're not exactly a squad of amateurs going up against world XIs every week, someone like Sierralta could make the difference
Your faith in Xisco's selection is bizarre and unfounded. He's an idiot so there's probably no logic behind him dropping our best defender.
They did eventually score from a corner though. We may be doing a bit better at them, but it appeared a bit like Dad’s Army in full Jonesy panic each time.
Gomes every time. Best keeper I've ever seen play for Watford, though that's only from the very early 00's. Holebas only does extremes so depends if you want to chance that coin toss.
He’s not the only coach. The coaching team are with the players all week, have data coming out of their ears about fitness, weight, strength and output. They also see the behaviour and discipline and the ability to fit the team’s play. Munoz is not making bizarre decisions on a whim. It’s not the 1970s/80s.
Yet despite all those coaching aids, he picks Cathcart and Cleverley. Truly a triumph of idiocy over data.
As others have said we started quite well, forced their keeper into a double save early on and it all looked rather promising. Unfortunately the rest of the first half would be some what different from the first ten minutes. Newcastle kept their shape well, kept their width to deny space for the diagonal out ball that we like to play, were physical and pressed high - which is something we have struggled with this season already and as before there just wasnt any forward momentum beyond the deep lying midfielders. Cathcart to Wte back to Cathcart forward to Sissko/Tractor out to the full back who cant turn so it goes back to Cathcart. Its all too easy to close down. Not helped by a very static front 3. Seems to me that part of the problem is that Sissko and Kucka are very similar types of players and if your going to play them together then you need someone more creative in the third midfield slot who moves about abit and can link play. It was noticeable the difference Tufan made when he came on because he looked to make himself available and get on the ball, and along with the game becoming more stretched it was a better second half performance from us. I dont blame Foster for their goal, it had been coming. Twice previously we had struggled to clear our lines and Longstaff was given far too much room outside the box to have a crack. Unfortunately we didnt seem to learn from those misses. In fairness to Foster he kept us in it at times. All things considered it was a decent point given that Newcastle could have scored another 2 or 3 today and both sides had chances to win it late on. I think it was a point Watford deserved, they kept fighting, kept trying to get back into the game and didnt give up like previous sides might have done.
Agreed. And if we keep showing the same sort of mentality then it will earn us some valuable points at times this season. I actually think we have the makings of a side that can do ok at this level, we just need to figure out the best selection/system to get the most out of them.
Yes, I agree about Kabasele. Cathcart is struggling and Kabasele has more pace which could be useful IF he can cut out the 'Kabasele had a good game except for that one error' tag he has at the moment. Also, think you are spot on with Cleverley, that ref was never going to make a decision to sub him but our own staff should have acted far quicker. In general play, I don't think our players look up to see what's on around them, there is more movement off the ball from our players this season but whoever has the ball needs to 'look up' and play 'em in!
Cathcart increasing looks over the hill. We know Kabs is prone to the occasional ****-up, but Cathcart's are now way too frequent. At least Kabs has the pace to get himself out of trouble most of the time. If Xisco's not gonna play Sierralta (because of reasons unknown), Kabs should be playing along side WTE. Hopefully we won't be seeing too much of Clevs now Tufan is up to speed.
Not sure how we got a point but I'll take it. Our only hope now is Xisco getting fired ASAP and Tufan getting game time. He's decent.
We turn to Sierrelta who is the only one of our measly four centre backs who is even slightly up to this level
Sierralta was our best CB last season. In the Championship. Before then he had managed only 6 top flight games in Serie A. There will be reasons why he has started so few games and maybe those reasons have surfaced again. Maybe training against Dennis, King and Cucho exposes flaws that training against Deeney and Gray didn’t? Maybe there is an attitude/application thing? I don’t know, but it won’t be because Munoz is irrational. Let’s hope he can come in soon and impress like he did last season. We need the height and strength, especially if the three in front of the defence are going to play like headless chickens again.
The reasons are, our manager is an arse. If Sierralta comes in, and shows himself to he superior to Cathcart (which he will, given a chance) will you admit that it was a mistake or will you assume that he had gangrene or something.
And what flaws of Sierralta's will be exposed in training that we won't see from anyone else? It's totally irrational from a football perspective to drop him, although in fairness to Xisco it's impossible to say how much say he has in the matter
Funnily enough, this is where the early season back line did have some plusses - Cathcart/WTE/ Sierralta/ Masina provide more aerial ability although I am not suggesting for a minute that that's the way to go!
If Sarr had stayed on the wing, where he is most effective, he'd either have achieved more or would have got somebody sent off. (Well, maybe not with this ref.)
Only seen a few highlights. Foster should have saved that shot without a doubt. He went to push it wide, but completely missed it. Cathcart should never play for us again...Never. He is totally out of his depth. From the highlights, it looks as if we got away with a 1-1 trashing. We need to know why FS is not playing, especially as Xisco has a love in with Cathcart.
I get the feeling Sarr came off his wing in the first half just to get in the game as we didn't have much going for us
With both of their fullbacks on yellow cards relatively early on, I cannot for the life of me think why we didn’t get Sarr and Dennis running at them.
We played well until they got those four corners in succession. That seemed to knock the confidence out of us (after all, how often does that happen even against a top team?) as they were able to regroup and assert more control on the game.
If Cathcart is now deemed the first choice centre back then it just underlines the idiocy of not addressing this in the summer.
Is this the first public sign of the hierarchy being unhappy? Cristiano Giaretta @CGiaretta · 2m Watford - Newcastle 1 - 1: it’s not enough, we must grow up quickly guys because we know how to do better
Gomes also loved the club. His enthusiasm was infectious. Very rare for that to be the case from one of our better players
Yep. The guy should be drafted in as an emergency. Maybe getting a couple of sub appearances over the busy periods.
