Yup, if Gray couldn't get on today, I doubt there is much chance of seeing him in a Watford shirt again. He will probably end up going to one of the promoted teams & do ok.
That was frustrating, the better team for majority of the game. Woeful defending and woeful finishing Pope made some good saves and kept them in the game but some of our finishing made him look better on the day. I think Mapps was pushed in the back for their first goal which put him off balance and he should of been awarded a free kick. However 20secs Vokes was on the field obviously they were going direct they don't have the players to play any other way. If they continue to get results and qualify for Europe then I think they will struggle next season. As for Gracia his subs today were not very inspiring. It's easy to say bring Gray on instead of Okaka and why even bother with Carrillo. It would of been good to see Richarlison sooner I think he would of had more of an impact with more time. I think we deserved a point today hopefully sort it out and get 3 points next time out
The only upside to that is that Burnley might sneak into the Europa League for next year, and hopefully the extra games will see them relegated. Imagine having to watch that turgid, cynical, joyless ***** week in and week out.
Don't see that would have worked in the slightest. "Radical" would be putting a keeper up front, but that doesn't mean it makes sense to do so. If we're reduced to making shock plays to try and score then the squad's clearly just not up to it. The head coach can't win. If he does something radical and it doesn't work (which is highly likely), we see "the head coach is useless, what was he thinking?" and "did you see that ludicrous display last night?", which has been the response on these forums countless times before when the man in charge did something non-standard that inevitably didn't pay off.
Janmaat and Pereyra off for Cathcart and Gray and switch to 352 was the answer as soon as Orange son of Pulis bought Vokes on
Thought we played okay should of buried the match but **** defence same old story, pleased I don't do away games as last and this week is enough
With the overall team we have at our disposal (which is at very best mid table quality) the point is thankfully 'we are no worse off' & deserve our current league position. I doubt even Pep G would realistically get much more than 10-15th with this current squad. You might have fallen into the trap of thinking that we are better than we are. He has done the job he was hired for.
We totally outclassed them, but they exposed Watford’s soft centre. Predictable really. If we stay up we need to improve that defence big time
The defence is bad but imagine you're Will Hughes, you've dribbled past two people, you look up ready to play a killer through ball and you see Deeney standing still. Andre Gray is a poo striker but he's the most suitable poo for this team right now.
No surprises there really, same old problems we've had for a while now were shown up once again, fortunately the season ended a few games back. The only good thing is that the more times these problems are shown up the more likely we'll see an overhaul of the defence and strike force during the Summer.
Frustrating. We played well, very well at times, but that's only one part of the game. It's important to be able to defend well and manage the game to win.
See my other posts which are productive and add context. I don’t believe stating your post as nonsense was lowering any tone. Anyone can see that the two strikers we have put there aren’t working and we have another sat on the bench doing nothing. If you don’t rate him, fine. But don’t claim we don’t have another option when we clearly do.
But this is just it. Are we not allowed to want more? I am very grateful for what the past few years have brought. But that doesn’t mean I want us to remain static or go backwards which is what I see starting to happen. I bemoan HB1 at times for being negative pre-game but I can’t totally understand it post game and I share many of his sentiments at times. I don’t believe we are better than we are. The league below 6th is much of a muchness and we are firmly in them. I agree he has done what he was brought in for. But there are plenty of games left to play and I believe his remit should be now to not let this season peter out on the vein of the last two - do you believe that he is? I want to give him a chance, I don’t like sacking managers and when Silva went I was the biggest promoter on here of us hiring a manager for a longer stint and getting some stability. Sadly, I just don’t think he’s it.
I understand your concerns, but you are merely suffering PMT .."Post Match Tension" It will pass in a few days.
In every sport,at every level there is a team or a player who have a simple plan. They know what they are good at and they stick to it. Burnley are such a side. Horrid to watch and play against but very hard to beat none the less. Like many others,I believe we have to upgrade our defence or our strikers,preferably both. Some of our play was delightful but again we didn't take our chances. Build the team around Kiko,Hughes and RP and hopefully Chalobah will return in the same state as before his injury. I too mentioned to the chap next to me the number of quick doubles we concede. Weak. I have no idea why Hughes was replaced and Okaka only appeared to help Burnley. I like Gravy but can see why people are doubting his longevity. Here we go again! I'm right off carrots!
I have to say, that was a good performance against a very effective side. But we end up losing because of ridiculously weak defending. It doesn't matter how well we play, if we are as soft at the back, as we are. We had control of the match, looked the more threatening side throughout. Burnley showed everything we are not. They were rocking, we piled on the pressure, but they stood firm. The defenders all did their jobs to stay in the match and defended with heart and desire. What did they do to score their goals? Was it a great move or a spell of constant pressure? No, it was a straight forward free kick, identical to Bournemouth's last week. I thought lessons had been learned. This is what we are constantly told every week isn't it? They hardly had a sniff all afternoon, but won a game they should have lost. Our defence is going to get us relegated, unless Southampton fail to get 37 points. I just don't know where the next point will come from. It's so depressing as we are a much better side than this. I'm sick of seeing how pathetic the defence is week after week, and it just ruins everything.
To add...& I don't like saying it, we are & will always be lucky to be a mid table side in this league. Just to maintain mid table in itself we will have to be continually improving, as the Championship is getting stronger each season with all the foreign takeovers. I understand & also agree with your thinking & hopes as a fan, but the two are not mutually exclusive.
I really like Pope as a Goalkeeper he made a couple of good low down saves and every time we crossed a ball into the box he stepped up and caught it. I thought that maybe Gomes would be better in goal as he would have punched the ball away when they scored the second. As for the first Burnley goal I always thought the central defenders should be the furthest back so I don't understand why Mariappa was on the edge of the box and not back man for man marking Volks.
We should have been out of sight by the hour. It is so easy to look at the result and blame the defence but our lack of success up front just makes every mistake at the back magnified. We kept them down to three decent chances and they scored two of them, whereas we had 61% possession, 14 shots and 11 eleven corners and didn't really look like scoring more than the one goal. We have a creative midfield, but no one worthwhile in front of them. Why on earth does Deeney keep getting a game? He must of had, maybe, three worthwhile performances the whole season and the rest of the games he has been absolute garbage, yet he keeps getting on. He hardly misses chances, because he hardly ever has any chances. Every time the camera gives him a close-up he is busy laughing and joking with the opposition. He does nothing else but foul, give the ball away, and stand still and moan for 90 minutes and gets away with it, whilst the defenders do most things right for 87 of the 90 minutes and they get pilloried. If we had a striker worthy of the name, our defensive lapses wouldn't matter half as much.
I understand your sentiments hornetboy1 and it is galling to see a carbon copy of last week,Swansea,Palace etc. However we will NOT go down. Matters need to be addressed as we all know and let's hope and pray that they are. I'm not sure Gravy is helping his cause at present with his selections and substitutions but hindsight is always 20/20.
Ok, you say we will not go down, and of course I hope you're right, but we have so many failings in defence, that no one can be confident of getting another point this season. Spurs (a), United (a).....no chance. Huddersfield (a), unlikely to be strong enough to not concede at least a couple of goals. Newcastle (h), they are now in good form. Palace (h), Zaha always destroys us. So it's a question of picking up a win, which is not impossible, but I don't think we'll do it, unless all of a sudden some of our better injured players become available.....or Southampton fail to pick up 9 points from their remaining 7 games. Right now I think we'll either finish 17th or 18th. Not too sure which way its going to go, but I can see this being another end of season implosion to go with the last two seasons.
We've dominated that game so what was the difference between the teams? The keepers. One who commanded his box & took everyone in the process and one who **** the same pants he **** last week when reversing to row Z of the family stand
The thing with the way Burnley play is if we had played exactly the same way against one of the top 5 and won then I’d be over the moon. The reality is Burnley turned up to today to play a team way below them in the table, a team still not safe from relegation and a team who have conceded the most goals in the league. Yet they still made absolutely no attempt what so ever to play football. They were content to sit back and just not do anything, then hope for a mistake or a fluke and then grind the clock down, and they got exactly that. At what point as a football club do you attempt to actually play football? Yes Burnley are effective at what they do, but shouldn’t football be about more than just joylessly grinding out results?
If you are that pessimistic and think it's 50/50 between 17th and 18th, you can get 200/1 on Watford to get relegated - surely worth £1,000 punt? (you absolute bedwetter)
Before this season, he had played half a season in the Championship and a few loan spells in league 2. If you want commanding goalkeepers who can kick and commanding defenders, we need to look at the football league more, as they will be used to this style of play. He was outstanding today, I am sure there are players similar to him down in the leagues who once they get the higher technical training in the Prem, will progress.
To be honest I'd rather be in 14th playing like we do than be 8th playing like Burnley. And I mean that.
