P'boro + Brighton? edit: been said Be careful not to say things you cant prove in court m8, you are on thin ice
No one's mentioned this, but it's great to see Cardiff take a thumping at home. Mackay's late goal hoodoo has followed him to Wales.
No worries m8 Would be worried if I was a Cardiff fan though, both the club and the manager have a reputation for falling apart in the second half of the season...
I think this is spot on, the only thing I would add is, surprisingly, Eustace and Hogg seemed to have formed a sound central midfield partnership. Both cover for the other when one of them goes on the attack. I'm pleasantly surprised to see two holding midfielders complimenting each other. I think having the more Pacey wingers helps. Only complaint, once Deeney moved out wide, the ball never really stuck up front. That was the wrong decision in my opinion. Definitely got enough in this squad to stay up. Hogg is one of watford's best buys for years!
What a man Eustace is. Skipper of the club and left on the bench a few times earlier this season, hasn't let it bring him down. That's a proper captain and he's now showed exactly why he's in that role.
Well... this is the first i've heard of it, dont know if anyone who sits in the Vic Road End can comment but there are claims on a Barnsley forum that the away fans were singing pro John Terry and anti Anton Ferdinand chants yesterday.... :dismay:
Totally agree. Not many men would turn down a move to Leeds twice, get dropped by three consecutive managers and still come back with a brilliant performance like that. In fact, he probably should have had a hat trick today with his first half curler and missed header in the second. As for the game, at times we looked great but it's a bit of a shame we started to defend so deep after scoring the second. For all their possession Barnsley were blunt and hardly created anything even though we tried to let them. As a whole we defended well, but it's our decision making when winning the ball back which made the game awkward. There are times to hoof the ball clear if there is nothing else on but too many times today our players didn't think about what was around them, and just kicked it aimlessly away, returning possession to Barnsley allowing them to start again from the back. Made the last 10 minutes incredibly frustrating. Anyway, Eustace MOM. Mapps/Nosworthy looked very solid today. Doyley was great in the first half but his frightening left foot led to the Barnsley goal. Deeney/Garner look okay but won't consistently deliver goals in my opinion. And its great to have some pace on both wings for a change.
must mention Hodson again. He had a tough day, they clearly targeted him with a big man on his shoulder all game and every thing going down this side. He again stood up to the challenge and managed to get forward as well. His becoming a very good solid right back
Don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but SDs comments on the FLS last night were quite amusing - especially the bit about having targets lined up and then, when Mackay went to Cardiff, he took them all with him. Also Holloway commenting on the absurd attempt by Cardiff to tempt Matty Phillips away from Blackpool - something along the lines of 'he will only go to a top five team in the country, if he has to wait for Cardiff to get there, he'll have one hell of a wait... Rosenior spoke very highly about Dyche and what he's had to contend with, all in all, we came out of the summaries pretty well - much better than when that idiot Claridge is the supposed pundit!
Agreed, top man. And who need goal-scoring strikers when you've got JE? Best finisher at the club, post Marv.
I'm not Dyche's biggest fan but for the second time in a week I say Well Done to him. Nothing wrong with winning ugly and once again we've got a result against another side in the bottom half of the table. Wasn't at the match as I was 2,000 miles away so can't comment on the performance but seems there were several positives. It will be interesting to see if any new recruits arrive this week and lets hope we can carry our mini good run to what is bound to be an emotionally charged City Ground next weekend. By the way..for the record..our starting line up yesterday had 4 home grown players in it and just 2 of Dyche's pre/early season signings
Looking back at their goal, is it me or do we sometimes have a problem of leaving a spare man unmarked in the box?
I'm sure about that, but we certainly have a problem in the last 5 minutes of a match. We always give away a great chance, and normally it's converted.
I know, but it's bloody frustrating. Good to see Coventry and Cardiff have adopted our approach also though.
I think that depends on whether we play to their strengths. For much of the Barnsley game Garner was trying to win headers against two 6ft plus defenders. Give him the ball to feet in and around the penalty area and he might be more effective.
Fair point. They actually looked the most dangerous when the ball was on the floor in and around the area. I just don't think they have that final bit of quality to be prolific goalscorers, but it's very early days for those two, interesting to see how it'll pan out.
Thought Dyche nearly cost us the game to be honest by going to 4-5-1 and moving Deeney out wide. The one time him and Garner interchanged after that was the only time we looked like keeping possession. Baffled why you would stick Deeney out wide over Garner...or even why not take Garner off and put Keates on with fresh legs and leave the best target man on the pitch up top. Very odd. Taking that aside I'm starting to feel that we are a very hard team to beat, while we're not that creative we don't ever really seem like we're doing last ditch defending etc. We seem to let teams have possession of the ball in areas that we are comfortable with.
This maybe true, but no one is perfect. Look at Wenger or Fergie, they've made tonnes of mistakes, but get the majority correct. No manager will get every decision right, but you have to look at the overall picture. By rights, Watford should be in Coventry's position, the fact they are not has to go down largely to Dyche and the coaching team he appointed.
Of course, like others have said the football was absolute dross in the first 10 games but slowly but surely he's really making the team his own and to good effect. Would happily bet my wage on us staying up at the moment
Dyche'll keep us up. It was a slow start for us, but now, as 8yellow4 said, we're now a hard team to beat which I agree with. It's for this reason why we'll stay up and go on.
