The COGs won't mention all the players being 'unavailable' as it doesn't fit their narrative of their view of the owners. They'll just chuck out accusations that critical thinkers hate all the players. As usual.
Got the win at least, so delighted about that . We were poor from an attacking perspective . We are struggling to string more than 2 passes together . It’s credit to Vlad that we got a result really as he’s got them well organised and working hard . I know it’s only one matches, but there’s no way Quina is ready to play regular championship football . Too light weight , doesn’t know when to release the ball and I barely remember him finding a Watford shirt . Thought Chalobah was decent . Don’t think Ken is gonna pull I’ll any trees. At least this is a sign to the owners that that midfield is not good enough.m, if they were under any illusion it was . Jao Pedro looks promising too, especially as he was feeding off scraps ! We defended ok , but at times we were a bit hesitant which reminded me of last season a bit , which was probably the worrying aspect . I’m glad we got the win and I don’t think that this performance will have any bearing on our promotion chances as obviously the side we put out in a monTh will be completely different to this one .Not sure why anyone would think otherwise ? not much else to say except hopefully we’ll start to see some more if our quality players( or their replacements ) in the next few matches.
Fair play to the ones on here that weren't knicker-wetting after the line ups were announced. Cobbled together squad, with lots of injuries (some genuine, some maybe not) but got the job done. This, in theory is us in our worst possible state in terms of personnel and preparation, and we still secured 3 points and a clean sheet against the type of team we'll be playing against most weeks. Have a good weekend all!
Imagine Pedro and Sarr up top in this league. Could be great! Sarr, Pedro and Suarez could be something else... Not convinced Suarez is staying after tonight’s absence though.
Ivic says he enjoyed the three points but ‘not exactly’ the game and how we played. We have to improve ‘a lot of things’ in attack he says.
They will gel. The players that should stay will get integrated over the next week or so like Sarr and Perica. When Capoue leaves we need to fix that creative role in midfield. Cleverly is a terrier at this level, Chalobah comfortable but still not incisive enough. Quina needs to mature. Play it simple at times to keep the ball and sustain a move rather than rouletting your way to losing the ball or just misplacing passes. Capoue, Pereyra, Deulofeu, Deeney, Gray and Welbeck need to move on over the next month. Keep Suarez, Sarr, Estupinan plus another couple of signings we should be getting up there. The Ivic framework is clearly in place. Apart from not dominating possession. We need to do better in that regard and in the final third albeit depleted we look dangerous. Pedro is still only eighteen so will be rotated. Perica. Murray. Sarr. Hopefully Welbeck remains would be a good group with Deeney hoping to knock in more penalties for WBA and Gray bench warming with his chum.
Poor looking squad. Poor performance, outplayed by a very poor opponent. Great to get 3 points but we will have to be so much better if we are to finish in the top half.
1-0 win They didn’t lay a glove on us What are Middlesbrough going to be? Are they relegation fodder or will they be challenging at the top? Either way they couldn’t get anywhere near us
Three points is nice. Very nice. And in the slightly weird circumstances of having 17 players 'unavailable', with the recent torrid relegation hanging over the team, all is good. However, it was disjointed and pretty poor offensively in the second half (I thought defensively we were great throughout). Good to see players improve through the game - Chalobah, Cleverley, Kabasele were all fairly poor first half but finished very strongly. Pedro was absolutely fantastic throughout - surely he could have played more of a part last season?! Disappointed with Ngakia on his debut, and Quina. Benefit of the doubt should be given to both... Ngakia has a good reputation and I've seen enough of Quina in the past to know he can play a lot better. Wilmot started well but wasn't too convincing overall. Nice to see King Ken play well! Hopefully the squad gets settled, the want-aways go away, a few of the genuine injury concerns come back and we can improve - we certainly do need to improve if we want to get automatic promotion. All in all though, it's good to be back and I'm cautiously happy with the overall performance, especially the defensive shape. First tick for Vlad.
What exactly are people seeing in Sema tonight? Is everyone having a laugh? Bar the cross he literally did nothing.
Achilles. Achillies...... Worrying to see Sarr not fit to train with squad. Until this October window shuts many of us will be very nervous. There are several we need or want to get rid of but others I would hate to see depart. Sarr and Suarez being two.
For people moaning about how boring that was, don’t forget some of the painful games we had in the PL. The 0-0 against boro in the PL a few years ago was one of the worst games I’ve ever been to. I’d take a boring game as long as we win.
There was lots of worry in this thread in the days building up to this game that Warnock would do a number on us. That was when we thought we'd have the likes of Estupinan and Suarez playing. Despite having a squad available that was more limited than we thought, we still won. Middlesbrough didn't really threaten us much at all. Of course that doesn't suit the narrative of some on here. No-one is saying we were brilliant. No-one is saying it isn't laughable that we have so many unavailable. The over the top reaction on here despite us winning is embarrassing. No surprise it is the usual suspects though. I'll probably get labeled a 'COG' despite calling out the off the pitch shambles numerous times in this thread already...
They will be lower mid table for my money. You know we didn't have a meaningful shot second half right? Fair result was 1-1. Boro didn't deserve to lose, but I think you know that. I'm glad they did do obviously. Onwards and upwards, but I don't trust Pozzo at all anymore.
Fair play to Warnock. Bigs us up as the team to beat this season before the game, throws us under the bus afterwards. The man has a script and bless him for sticking to it.
