Lillehamring

But you have to remember what we're up against - like most teams we've played (especially at home), these teams are simply standing off us - they're not trying to get the ball of us, so we're left in a situation where we're trying to draw them out, but they're not budging, as such it inevitably means that we have to try to find a way through and the only way to do that is to be patient and keep moving around until we get that chance. It's like a boxer - he'll prod and jab, he'll move around the ring, looking for the moment his opponent lets his guard down. Today, like a lot of these games, that's how we approached the first half - and i get that it's slow, that it seems like we're not doing anything, but we had 11 shots in the first half - so it does work, tactically speaking - so i disagree that we were awful, at least in our approach play - the problem was that due to poor finishing there was never any end product - no KO - and so it leaves the impression that we didn't do anything. At the end of the day, we can only play in a way that gets results against the tactics of our opponents.

Jesus - can't you at least leave your misanthropy in the post-match thread? Do you really need to drag it into a tactics thread, with out even bothering to explain your negativity from a tactical perspective?

And yet, read the match day/post match threads and people aren't enjoying it! God knows what they expect or dream of but, as you say, compared to what we witnessed last year, this is just wonderful. I can't remember the last time i was this relaxed watching us play.

Feel like we'll see a raft of changes. And to be fair we could probably make 11 changes and still put out a team capable of winning. I'm inclined to think that letting some of the bit part players have a run might compensate for the inevitable complacency we'll get if he goes unchanged. I can see coady and souttar getting a game, winks will be back having 'rested' today, nididi will get some minutes and kdh will be rotated with casadei or yunus.

I think he hit the cross from the goal line so technically it was going away from the goal. even though it forced a save from hermansen.

Ah, the old 'but-i-go-to-the-game' snubbing of all non-attendees opinions. I'd love to be there week in, week out - but the round trip would kill me and yet, funnily enough, i have absolutely no interest in reaching for the off switch, unlike the 100s who leave games early.... Yes, 90 divided by 23 is 3.9, so on average that's a shot every four minutes: but, of course, 23 shots in 90 minutes must bore you to death, maybe you're not looking in the right direction, maybe the game moved too fast for you? And the reason that there is frustration in the stadium is that half the people in there are people like you who can't seem to appreciate the nuances and tactical nous that has brought us fourteen (soporific, apparently) wins out of 17.

No, it was Porteus' screamer towards the end.

It is if you don't manage to kick the ball at your feet. Something that doesn't exist can't be superior to something that does exist. The free kick was not far off target and the keeper was never getting to it, the watford chance was a great ball into the box and nothing more. A header that is saved on the goal line is a better chance than a shot that wasn't taken that still had to get past a defender and a goalie, had it actually been taken...which it was not. At bottom, in the first half, we had 11 shots and forced 3 saves, watford had four shots, none of which hit the target - if you feel that merits a claim of having had the better chance of scoring, then

I can't say i'm sitting on the edge of my seat for 90 minutes, but there's a certain serenity about our comfort on the ball that i find wonderfully pleasing, a real joy in knowing that no matter how sluggish we may seem, we'll still run teams ragged and get 3 points. As i said, today we averaged a shot every fourth minute - my frustration is not because of the pace we play at or the alleged lack of chances we create, but our inadequacy in the final third. FWIW i watch it online, so the groans are clear to hear - but if they are coming from the sort of person who considers today's performance as that of a team that struggled to win then i couldn't give a monkey's about their/your dissatisfaction. If you can't see the function of the lulls and inertia then surely you can appreciate the movement and the way that we are managing to create so many opportunities against teams that have parked the bus. None of us want to be playing against these awful teams, but we are and we've found a way to beat them with an unprecedented regularity - if that is what it takes to get out of here then give me excess of vestergaard standing still!

That's just fantasy - it's so far from being a goal it's almost not worth mentioning - he didn't get any contact on it, let alone good contact and he still has to get it past faes and mads. Even if he did connect, and it was a decent shot and it gets past faes and mads isn't able to make a save and they score - i genuinely don't believe it would have made the slightest bit of difference, other than give us a kick up the arse - we'd have played the same way, created the same amount of chances and in all probability have scored the same goals.

Fixed that for you - seriously, what do you expect when teams set up like this: I'm not sure what passes as comfortable for you, and i'm not sure how this was an exercise in 'adjusting' to anything - we've played like this and dominated teams like this pretty much every game since day 1. If you are bored by us taking a shot on average every fourth minute then i've no sympathy for your wasted money - as enzo says: if you don't like it go and support Leeds.

But the thing is, when teams sit as deep as watford did, there's not much else you can do. Besides we didn't need to go at them any harder - even at 30% we created 11 shots in the first half - there were more than enough possibilities to 'win the game early' - you can't blame the tactics for poor finishing.

Hardly lucky, even if he'd actually managed to have a shot, Faes was standing right in front of him - it was barely even a chance, more like the opportunity for a chance....

Trouble is, 1st half seemed a drag but if one of the ELEVEN shots we had in the first half had gone in, no one would even have noticed that it was slow going. As a way of creating chances against teams that sit deep it's a brilliant system, but there's no accounting for substandard shooting.

Not true - our chance from the quickly taken free kick was closer than the airshot, arguably kdh's freekick with the keeper rooted to the spot was better - but the best chance by a mile was mcateer's header.

What was your take on the vardy 'foul' - your guy was certainly doing his best to make it seem like it was brutal?

Watford boss seems to disagree, saying he should have yellow carded vardy. I thought it was a good tackle followed by their guy making a fuss trying to get the card - anyone seen a replay of it?

Yes. booked in the 83rd minute. Watford players were arguing about a lot of stuff at that point....

Got a first yellow after 83, apparently for dissent

Oddly, first half, when nacho was coming deep, ricardo was pushed out almost as RW - must have had something to do with trying to beat their heavy man-to-man tactic.

What a bizarre analysis. Apart from the fact that winks isn't really a creative player, certainly not in the context of the system we play, today we had 23 shots - I suspect that's more than we've had in any game this season. I mean TWENTY THREE shots - how much more creative do you expect us to be?

Certainly came out livelier and more focussed second half. xG 2.68, apparently I get that it's our way to start games slow and steady, but that's no excuse for not being much better in the final third - even with the lethargy of that first half, we still had enough chances to have scored. But we did - eventually - and that breaks a 266 minute drought - hopefully that's an end to that blip. KDH man of the match for me, even through the first half he was easily the most up for it. No real criticism of the team, still feel we need doyle back to start playing how we did earlier in the season, but definitely a clear demonstration that we are, simply, the best team in this league, nonetheless.

Thing is, we've played ok, no one has done anything wrong, we've created a load of chances, even forced some saves, but it's all just so...meh. Just seem to lack any passion or flair. It's like we're just being there, sure that we'll do just enough to get just enough points to go up, and in the meantime....

Definitely need to see some improved focus and effort from nacho - can't understand how he keeps his place after his showing at boro - it's ok to have a bad game, but looking like you don't give a shit is unacceptable.

Same here. Couldn't understand why he was getting slaughtered on here - other than that everyone ended up playing poor last year.