Don't worry Giaretta and Gino have it all under control. One phone call to Uncle Mogi and we'll be able to rustle up two wunderkinds from the Jupiler League or out of the Bayat closet. Lessons were clearly learnt by Fuxbury.
Contrasting emotions tonight: Nervous about how the rest of the season will go if we’re relying on Cleverley and Kayembe in midfield. They were non-existent! I’ve never seen a pairing that was so afraid of having possession. That issue is exacerbated by also having outside CBs who can’t kick a ball properly. Have to say that the point is very undeserved. I would’ve taken a draw before the game; nevermind after watching attack v defence for 90 mins! Very, very lucky indeed and I should feel jubilant that we got away with one. And yet, I think mainly I’m very frustrated we didn’t win. That has to be one of the worst penalties I’ve ever seen. I wasn’t at all confident when Sarr stepped up, so I don’t think it is hindsight to say he should not have taken it. Pedro was good from the spot 2 years ago. Dennis would probably have buried it as well. Huge opportunity missed to win. Based off of tonight, when Sarr and Dennis leave we’ll be bereft of the quality needed to give us opportunities to win very often.
I’d blame Cathcart for the goal as he is the side of the attacker to see his run and the ball. Looks to me be half goes to step forward but clearly hasn’t communicated that with Sierralta. This means he can’t get back in time as doesn’t have the pace. Poor from him. If Sierralta didn’t win the header from their crosses then we lost them, if they had a decent striker who could head the ball it would have been 5 or 6. The team had zero connections throughout the side so I’m judging Pedro on what he did as an individual, his work rate alone deserved our outfield mom. Well that’s all my opinions anyway
The press was hilarious. Have they even practised it? Claverley disgraceful. Kayembe is a competition winner. Defence the same shabby mess its been for 4 seasons. The worst thing of all...? We are still so bad to watch. I just want to enjoy watching us again. I'm not asking for 80% possession but just for once it would be nice to see us have the ball a little bit after last season.
What an awful performance . Sarr’s magnificent goal apart , there was zero quality from Watford . The main issue seems to be we have virtually no midfield . Our wingbacks were pegged back the whole Match so we had no attacking threat. I think we had Similar issues in our last championship season, but this feels a lot worse .West brom are clearly a decent side but The 352 doesn’t play to our strengths at the moment , which is surely down to Edwards. We could do with another body in midfield and playing Sarr in his natural wide position at least ( though he was wasteful the few times he managed to break away ). Clearly with the front three we are likely to beat a lot of the championship dross just by way of that bit of quality , but we look a long way from an auto challenging side . Joao Pedro one of the few bright sparks . He was dropping very deep to give us a bit of an out ball , but couldn’t do it all on his own . On the positive side , Bachman looks decent and a couple of decent saves though . I also thought Manaj put himself about a bit and did more than Dennis did in bid short cameo.
Give JP some better midfield behind him and at times a less selfish Dennis or over exuberant Sarr and he would flourish. He has immense ability and played as a team player all ninety minutes. Very mature for his age. Shame the ball kicked up with his sole chance from Dennis's flat cross.
This isn't Rob's squad, we can only judge after seeing what he can do with the crock of sh!t squad he's left with when the window slams shut.
I said last week, we have a mid table Premier League attack, but mid table championship everything else. If we lose Sarr and Dennis this window, we're a mid table team. We won't sign any quality to improve us, as our last run of singings have proven.
Fair enough. As I said in my post, that's just my opinion. I agree that both of them were definitelly our top 5 performers which isn't saying much though. Only Bachman actually had a good game I think.
Generally, it's a division of dross. You just have to be less bad than the other teams. The magic of Steve Bruce. Still can't beat a badly performing Watford side.
Good result but a shocking performance. We need a captain who can actually get up to play and speak to the ref rather than trying to catch his breath. The role Rob is asking him to do would be a hard one for a fit player, and Cleverley looks knackered by 50 even in a normal game. I am dreading what Burnley's midfield will do to ours as they are levels above the quality of West Brom; and Cleverley and Kayembe looked leagues away from them. Unless they are both replaced there is no chance we are competing for autos. Its frustrating as there is quality elsewhere in this squad. Swift, Wallace, Okay and Josh Cullen together cost less than players deemed not good enough for our bench yet waltz into our starting 11. Just another reminder of the sheer incompetence of our recruitment team.
Do not let Sarr take the penalties. Absolutely no faith in that he will score from the spot. A hopeless penalty taker. A point is ok.
Edwards is supposed to be improving players. Has he not asked Kayembe to learn how to use a right foot ?
Just seen Edwards interview on Sky - fair play, he’s admitted we were miles off it and didn’t deserve anything. Says he was happy with the workrate but not much else. Suggested he tweaked the game plan twice - but must’ve missed what they were!
You wouldn't have thought so! However I don't understand the way football coaches think at the best of times so I won't hold my breath. At least WTF managed not to do anything ridiculous I suppose!
What about the uncoachable Bachmann though? Came off his line more than once, was confident all game, and won us the point pretty much single-handedly? Not bad for a player with no confidence and is unable to learn.
Louzza should make a big difference to our midfield when he returns ( similar to Hughes in our last championship season ) but we need to recruit some more quality in this area . There is little depth there as well. Surely that was blatantly clear tonight .
Not sure I can add anything that hasn’t already been said. Genuinely astounded we’ve come away from that without shipping five goals, let alone taking a point away with us. Cannot name anything I liked about that performance other than Bachmann’s heroics and Sarr’s wonder goal. And even then, putting the “entertainment” aside, I would rather Bachmann had nothing to do for 95 mins! How bad is it that when the camera flicked back to the penalty spot and it showed Sarr placing the ball down, the overwhelming emotion was that of deflation knowing what was likely about to happen? Edwards has work to do. Quickly.
Feels like a draw was a fair result. We used up a lot of lives so felt lucky and yet we had the best chance to win. Poor performance but at least we didn't completely throw it away
The only tweak I saw was Sierralta's hamstring. Burnley Vs Kabs, Troost and Cathcart with Kayembe and Cleverley ahead. God help us.
Edwards clearly shouted several times for players to look up and keep the ball. Unfortunately our back three treat a football like the proverbial hot potato. Kayembe can only play one direction and often gifts the ball away . TC cannot get to the ball aside from his one early double challenge which drained the batteries to even keep it. We constantly gifted the ball away and the fact we were under the press but had players who had no idea how to escape it forced us long losing the ball time after time and making Pedro drop deeper and deeper. If RE cannot see this duo are a disaster in the making and is too stubborn as JB says to do the right thing by dropping one or both then he has it coming. He has to be fair not been helped by appalling recruitment. Which is hardly a surprise.
The manager has a problem. For that system to work, you need three midfielders (better than the two we have) and only two forwards. But RE seems compelled to play Sarr, Dennis and Pedro. Playing Kamara on the right is just wrong.
I think he’ll make a difference in so much as he will do what Kayembe does but far far better. And is capable of playing the opposition half. But we desperately need a ball-winner who can be composed on the ball and settle the defenders behind him - this will also help as he will be the one helping the WB’s on either side. This formation is a disaster with Kayembe and Cleverley as the options. Neither are anywhere near good enough to be starting in a team desiring promotion.
No idea how we came out of that with a point, and it would have been ridiculous had Sarr scored the pen, {please put JP on them}. It was obvious to all bar RE that the formation was not working. At half time should have gone to a 4 at the back taking Cathcart off and putting another mid fielder in. I would have taken Sema off, put Kanara on left and put Gaspar on right. Although Clev and Kayembe looked poor they were outnumbered and had no chance in the system used. I really hope RE not a one trick pony, he got lucky tonight. Thought DB in goal and JP were the best of ours this evening.
To be fair, you can get away with it if you play 2 better quality CM’s, one of whom is adept at screening the back line and winning the ball - Joao Pedro can drop deep at times to make up the numbers out of possession. The shape in midfield isn’t really the problem, it’s the quality and profile of players we are currently using.
God. Early signs are that Edwards is another cheerleader type manager, in the mould of XM. That only gets you promoted if your players are amongst the best in the league in every position. They aren't. Can't see us getting anywhere near promotion this season tbh.
Whilst I totally agree about the back 3 being horrible with the ball, in fairness to them they have to pick out Kayembe or Cleverley. Think i'd just bang it long as well!! This is where we haven't replaced Will Hughes who would show for the ball and take it off the defence!
It makes me laugh that we've spent somewhere in the region of 20m, which is not insignificant at this level, on players who aren't even good enough for us. And yet the owner still has his defenders. There's no way Bayo, Okoye and Kalu were signed with our club's best interests in mind. Whatever the real agenda, and I don't care what it is, I wish Pozzo would **** off and us get an owner who put Watford first.
Perhaps i didn't explain properly or you've leapt on one sentence. I agree we were terrible so deserved to lose yet we also had the best chance to win it with the penalty. Therefore whilst i feel lucky and happy with the point part of me feels frustrated. We've probably all watched Watford long enough to know we will continue to win or draw games we don't deserve to and lose or draw games we do deserve to win
He was referring to game of Fifa 2022 he was playing at HT. His FGR side battered Morcombe after a round of subs.
We were dogshit tonight from the first minute. Need to get these first three games out of the way against the tougher teams then hopefully we can marmalise some of the weaker ones where we don't actually need a midfield. At least, that's what I think the plan is from the powers that be.
