Watford 1-2 Post Match Thread

[chapero82]

People called me all sorts of names over the summer for my worrying of lack of transfers.

 

Im not here to gloat but if I could see it why couldn't the management?

 

Every team that wins the league has to make changes otherwise for some reason this happens look at Chelsea last year!

 

[Foxhateram]

23 minutes ago, ian_marshall said:

I agree with your second point, we do indeed have some promising players that I'm sure with time will prove to be fantastic signings.

 

However, I personally wouldn't say Slimani has been a bad signing having scored a goal every other game, nor would I say that there seems to be question marks over his attitude. Admittedly I do think we could have done with strengthening in other areas, and I also don't think we've yet to find a system that successfully incorporates both Vardy and Slimani, but that in itself shouldn't be a reason to question the signing of Slimani as it was becoming increasingly obvious that we needed to add another source of goals as we were overly reliant on Vardy and Mahrez.

Yes I don't disagree with you there. Just a shame that Slimani and Vardy together just doesn't work right now. It's like the both want to be top dog. I think we need a CM so that we can commit to 4 3 3, with drinky in the middle, kingy attacking and an other to be the CDM and mop up. I think this will give drinky the time to pick out those forward runs and kingy the freedom to box to box, like he used to do. 

[ian_marshall]

6 minutes ago, foxhateram said:

Yes I don't disagree with you there. Just a shame that Slimani and Vardy together just doesn't work right now. It's like the both want to be top dog. I think we need a CM so that we can commit to 4 3 3, with drinky in the middle, kingy attacking and an other to be the CDM and mop up. I think this will give drinky the time to pick out those forward runs and kingy the freedom to box to box, like he used to do. 

I think you're right, we either bring in another CDM to free up Drinky, or we buy too pacy centre halves so the back four don't have to worry about the ball in behind and have to sit so deep which in turn will close the gap between attack and defence enabling the likes of Drinky to get forward more.

[Parafox]

16 hours ago, NeilLCFC said:

This is the product of moving away from all the things Pearson installed and Ranieri having a far more hands on approach.

 

Not a single sign that Ranieri can turn this around. During the great escape at least we made an effort!

So you're implying that last season we didn't make an effort? That's bollux, sorry.

The current run is f all to do with Pearson in the same way winning the PL is nothing to do with Pearson.

[suffolk fox]

1 hour ago, foxhateram said:

Because idiotic people say over and over again that he played no part in last season's success. Yet constantly bang on about Claudio's ability. With a third of the season gone and Claudio looking a bit clueless, people are starting to realise that it might have been Pearson and his back room staff's influence that played a huge part after all. 

 

To be honest losing Walsh (who is a scout but also a bloody awesome coach and man manager) is a huge reason for this season as well.

 Never read so much crap in my life.  He wasn't even at the club, when we won the premier league.  Walsh and Everton aren't exactly doing brilliantly either.  I credit Pearson for getting us out of league 1 and winning the Championship.  Not for having us bottom of the premier league for most of the season, when we made the great escape, after a players meeting that Pearson wasn't at Kevin Phillips has admitted this, Pearson was asking where the players were.

 

As I alluded too a lot on here need to get over Pearson his time has gone.

[MC Prussian]

Conceding after less than 40 seconds is unforgivable. Handing the ball to the Watford player in the middle of the park that easily stinks of complacency.

Having said that, Pereyra showed some nifty skills on the left and ate three of our players for breakfast before putting that cross in that lead to Watford's opener.

 

Their second goal, what can you say? Pereyra takes out Drinkwater with a little patience, moves into the box and uses the flow of his movement to bend it into the far corner. Very hard to defend from thereon.

 

It's just not clicking like it used to last season (which should in all honesty, be regarded as a one-off), but the general lack of focus and the attitude displayed on the pitch worry me sometimes. Apathy rules in our back four (especially with Morgan and to an extent, Huth) and when things aren't working up front, Vardy keeps throwing his toys out of the pram and sulks more when he should be carrying on and try to track back. We also look somewhat disjointed and don't perform as a compact unit like we did last season. It's more a case of everyone to his own and the team comes later. Some players (not all of them) are certainly more selfish - it's just painful watching Mahrez unsuccessfully trying to pull off his tricks when you know he's going to fail with at least two opposing players on his toes.

 

Urgency, timing, intent, precision, determination. We're missing something decisive in all of these departments.

It also takes ages for us to clear the ball out of our own half and for large parts of the game yesterday, Watford were sort of suffocating us near our penalty box - all we did was chase after their attackers and preventing them from getting a cross or a shot in.

And when we're for once able to cross the halfway line, we don't really know what to do with the ball...

 

Our transfer policy over the summer becomes more baffling with each week passing. What's the point in keeping Benalouane and Wasilewski when you don't use them and instead sign only one central (defensive) midfielder (who started out as a centre-back) in Amartey and two additional attackers when you can't provide the service to our strikers or keep possession in the middle? But again, that's just one side of the coin, as we'll probably never know why we couldn't sign some of the players whose names were floating around in July/August.

 

I'd also point to the psychologic aspect of other teams, especially the mid-sized ones like us, taking enormeous pride in playing against the Champions with the intention of winning against us by all means. That's nothing new, I think it can be said it's been proven that you up your game when you play against the current title holders. In that effect, we've also failed to instill a (winning) mentality that copes with the type of opposition we'd be facing in the league this season.

 

This has the signs of one freak of a season, just like last season was. I'm not that concerned, I'm more concerned that a portion of our fanbase has expectations this side will and can never meet.

[Gazza M]

My Observations of our set up after yesterdays game:

 

1) The players appear to be severely lacking in confidence. Our players are confidence players and when this is high we pick up momentum and then roll on. Last year it rolled on in to the ultimate snowball effect and we couldn't be stopped. We have now hit the brick wall and need to find a system that can suit our players and get us going again. I don't expect to see the levels of last season, but we need to make sure that we have a comfortable mid-table season and don't get dragged in to the s**t at the bottom.

 

2) Some of our players have literally "gone off" overnight. Almost like a block of cheese or bottle of milk!! I am thinking Huth, Morgan and Fuchs(amazed 3 year deal given.) They are half a yard slower than last year and I think this should have been recognised in the summer that these players needed younger competition for their place. We are now suffering as a result.

 

3) 4-4-2 is no longer working. We need to go right back to basics and become harder to break down. Our away form is abysmal. How many soft goals have we conceded this year? We cant defend set pieces at the best of times, but our players seem to give away so many fouls within 25-30 yards of our goal, it is criminal. We need to get solid again and grind out some boring away points. For me, we can only do this by going either 5 in midfield or going back to great escape 3-5-2 as we have the personnel to play this system. For me we should go straight in to this system in all competitions now. We are going to need this resilience in Europe now as our next opponents will be much better than the Championship quality opposition we are playing in the group stages. Forget the hoof ball up to Vardy on the break. It was sussed long ago and is now looking desperate.

 

4) Claudio is worryingly in denial or even worse blind to the ability of our players. I think he seems to think that they will just click and then it will roll back to 12 months ago. I didn't like his post match comments yesterday, however I think it seems worse with his broken English. To say we played well I think almost came across like Paulo Sousa "I am proud of or players" after the 6-1 drubbing at Portsmouth. I don't honestly believe Claudio meant that the way we would interpret it. However if he becomes stubborn and keeps going 4-4-2 with the same what are now shoddy tactics, we could fall in to a scrap at the bottom. I just hope he isn't too loyal to last seasons players. He could fall on his sword doing that.

 

Overall we need to get hard to beat again. Even with the below par squad we now have, 40 points should be straight forward and I would expect us to get nearer 50 comfortably, with a finish 10th-12th in the league.

 

We must strengthen in January with a young CB to go straight in. We need a new CM to give Drinky a rest some times. Some may need moving on. It is easy to panic on here and I think some people are. We just need to move on from last season now and get on with the challenges ahead.

 

[tyfox]

We look lost when attacking and clueless when defending. Wes and Huth look awful and mahrez thinks he's messi. So many times mahrez needs to play the ball earlier but just keeps dribbling into players or getting the pass wrong and it's so infuriating to watch. When we attack I don't feel excited like I did last year, last year whenever we attacked you kinda expected something to happen but this year it just seems the spark has gone from the players. I would try and steady the ship with 5-3-2 and rebuild some confidence

[WigstonWanderer]

12 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

 

Our transfer policy over the summer becomes more baffling with each week passing. What's the point in keeping Benalouane and Wasilewski when you don't use them and instead sign only one central (defensive) midfielder (who started out as a centre-back) in Amartey and two additional attackers when you can't provide the service to our strikers or keep possession in the middle? But again, that's just one side of the coin, as we'll probably never know why we couldn't sign some of the players whose names were floating around in July/August.

 

Never understood the Benalouane thing. The original signing seemed to come out of the blue for what at the time seemed a lot of money.

 

Totally baffling though is that he wasn't given a squad number! What on earth would prevent that when there are spare places in the 25? The only thing I can think of is that there might be some money saved on some clause in his contract or in the deal with his previous club.

[MC Prussian]

Oh, and to the people having a go at Zieler:

 

May I direct your attention to the fantastic save against Pereyra in the 65th minute?

Thankless, classless bunch of hyperventilating lemmings you are.

[Bayfox]

7 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

Oh, and to the people having a go at Zieler:

 

May I direct your attention to the fantastic save against Pereyra in the 65th minute?

Thankless, classless bunch of hyperventilating lemmings you are.

Ah calling people lemmings.

Yet forgets we signed amartey in Jan not the summer and ignores the fact we signed mendy to make his point 1 post earlier.

 

That said. Most the other points are fare. Mahrez had 3 players on him yesterday and vardy seems to have forgotten he made it to the top due to his work rate.

[MC Prussian]

1 minute ago, Bayfox said:

Ah calling people lemmings.

Yet forgets we signed amartey in Jan not the summer and ignores the fact we signed mendy to make his point 1 post earlier.

I also didn't mention Kapustka, as both he and Mendy haven't played too often (or not at all) as part of the first team to make a statement about their impact this season so far.

Just because I throw a couple of names into the same paragraph, doesn't mean they are consistently inter-connected.

[NotTheMarketLeader]

14 hours ago, Col city fan said:

I think I'm right that we've picked up a single, solitary point away from home this season?

It's more than a confidence issue. That's relegation form. Converting opportunities into clear cut chances is essentially what football is all about

Agreed. 

 

We have the worst away away record in the division. 

 

We are in a a relegation battle - as I said last week - for defending Champions that's embarrasing. 

[Guest seanfox778]

We seem to have two signature moves... hoof it as far as we can and fanny about on the edge of the box without ever attempting to get a shot away. I'm struggling to remember us forcing any keepers into making good saves recently, Mahrez seems more interested in trying to win a foul then actually making an assist. 

 

That's literally all we do, it looks like the players have completely forgotten how to play football. It's really heartbreaking considering the highs of last season.

[Jimothy]

17 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

Oh, and to the people having a go at Zieler:

 

May I direct your attention to the fantastic save against Pereyra in the 65th minute?

Thankless, classless bunch of hyperventilating lemmings you are.

Now I'm not saying Zieler is doing this, but if a keeper drops 5 goals in in a 5-1 defeat, would you pull out the fact he made a world class save to defend him? One save doesn't make a great keeper.

[MC Prussian]

To end my post-match analysis, I can say I really loved the way we performed in the last 15 minutes of the game, with Schlupp (sic!) and Gray on the pitch. Suddenly, the whole outset changed and we penetrated Watford's back line and their box for a prolonged period of time and I think were unlucky not to score an equalizer.

 

Shame about the performance in general in the 75 minutes that preceded this very good and dominating spell.

 

If only we could've put one of those chances away, things would look a bit rosier today. Alas...

[lee7]

31 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

Oh, and to the people having a go at Zieler:

 

May I direct your attention to the fantastic save against Pereyra in the 65th minute?

Thankless, classless bunch of hyperventilating lemmings you are.

The save your talking about most keepers would expect to save that considering it was straight at him. 

it is clear to see that Zieler himself lacks confidence and neither does he fill the players with confidence! 

[blueharmie]

We need kasper back ASAP and build from the back. Need a leader. 

[MC Prussian]

21 minutes ago, lee7 said:

The save your talking about most keepers would expect to save that considering it was straight at him. 

it is clear to see that our centre-backs lack confidence and neither do they fill the keeper with confidence! 

I found Zieler's timing and reaction - quickly coming back to his right-hand side - very good.

I simply can't stand people having a go at a keeper who clearly is first team material, yet seems to be downplayed or ridiculed, whilst Schmeichel is put on a pedestal and somehow not allowed to be criticized. Neither keeper is infallible. That's my point.

 

I agree with the second part of your statement.

[lee7]

20 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

I found Zieler's timing and reaction - quickly coming back to his right-hand side - very good.

I simply can't stand people having a go at a keeper who clearly is first team material, yet seems to be downplayed or ridiculed, whilst Schmeichel is put on a pedestal and somehow not allowed to be criticized. Neither keeper is infallible. That's my point.

 

I agree with the second part of your statement.

Hahaha I like what you did there.

 

Personally I'm not putting kasper on a pedestal, he has his downfalls as a keeper but it's clear to see that out of the two he is the better keeper. 

 

As for Zielers save he was naturally moving back towards the centre of the goal and it literally came straight at him. I would expect any premier league keeper to save that. If anything it was a poor finish from Pereyra.

[foxfanazer]

Garbage again. Sick of hearing we're too good to go down. We're not!

[tyfox]

3 minutes ago, foxfanazer said:

Garbage again. Sick of hearing we're too good to go down. We're not!

Agree we certainly can and will go down if things don't change

[ARM1968]

They are all playing like they know last season was a fluke. Reminds me of first season in PL under Pearson. We should have kicked on then after the 5-3 Man Utd game - we didn't. Certainly should have kicked on after winning the bloody league. We haven't.

 

We need a spark from somewhere but blowed if I know where right now. You don't go from champions to relegation fodder for no reason. 

[DelBoy73]

Goals wins you points, yet we are the squad with the lowest shooting attempts in the league.

Actually we look like a gun without bullets.

Sure we got some pretty decent attack-minded players upfront, but they hardly get any service : check-mate.

When you have a PFA wasted on defense duties for 95% of games, something is awfully wrong.

It is all on Claudio's shoulders.

He has enough personnel at hand to set-up a balanced system that would offer security in the midfield yet would allow us enough potential

to feed decent service to the men up-front.

The sooner we throw off the hoof and chase soccer, the better.

[Milo]

1 hour ago, MC Prussian said:

May I direct your attention to the fantastic save against Pereyra in the 65th minute?

Thankless, classless bunch of hyperventilating lemmings you are.

I managed to get a ticket in amongst the wheelchair users behind the goal and was about a foot away from that save. Was incredible. Saw it later on MOTD and it didn't look quite as good...

 

...saying that, Zieler does look a bit like a 6th former...