Capoue and Watson are dreadful in the current set up. Silva would be better off coaching some high energy youth midfielders to play the roles. They add zero and should be shipped out as soon as possible.
Whilst I agree Silva has no future with the club, I think the board did the right thing at the time. To lose Silva then, when we were flying, would have been very harmful. Unfortunately, it seems that his non-committal has seeped through to the team and it has been harmful anyway. So we are in a no win situation (no pun intended). We have to somehow get through this season, then start yet again. Unless it becomes absolutely unavoidable, I think it would be unwise to sack Silva mid-season. Although I suspect time is running out. Lose the next two, it could be the final straw.
Comfortably beat you today. I make that 4pts from our fixtures. Happy with that. Shame your number 11 is a wimp and deserved abuse.
We only conceded 1 goal in 180 minutes against you. For us, that's a huge achievement and deserves praise and recognition.
Like yours ? If anything Richarlison is one of our stronger players trying to at least make an effort and even tackle unlike so many others. Couldn't even blame the officials for this one ..
If Gino sacks Silva there is only one way to stop the media abuse, we’ll have to approach Saint Eddie.
I wouldn't be Considering we are far and away the worst side in the league at the moment, with a manager who doesn't want to be here and players who think if the manager doesn't care why should they... only winning 1-0 is a bit poor. Everyone else has been spanking us lately.
Today is the first game I've not watched in a while. Reading the comments I imagine I would be pretty annoyed right now, however I am remarkably much less stressed at the result than I would have been had I watched it. I recommend taking a step back. It's a good tonic. I will also be absent at Leicester so my Christmas will undoubtedly not be ruined by the Watford results. MERRY CHRISTMAS.
Silva will not be sacked, even though has not covered himself with much credit in the last two months. As a coach he looks like a busted flush with our squad. Look how well a clogger like Alardyce has done at Everton. Sometimes you have to prove you can have an impact as a coach. IMHO this is now that time for Silva. We need a minimum of four points from the next three games (in reality that means the next two games) as proof he can and wants to succeed at Watford. We have a top 16 squad and while Ultimately the loss of key players and the loss of form of others has contributed to a very poor run, the coaching team have to step up and compensate for that. However they have not and the team have lost to Crystal Palace, Huddersfield and Brighton - all of whom are going to be in the mix for relegation. That's something that will worry the club management. Turning to today. I am not convinced that Prodl and Kabasele are a better pairing at the centre of the defence than Mariappa and Kabasele. Janmaat seem to be the personification of the decline of duch football. Pereya looks a shadow of myself. Can we seriously think Watson should be in our squa after this season. Sinclair well it's a joke if he is here after January. Brighton were woeful in front of goal. I hope they survive as its a quick to get to away match.
Prodl is a shadow of his former self. Really really low grade now. I hope it is temporary but doesn’t feel like it.
I doesn't look like a single minute on the training pitch has been spent getting Prodl and Kabasele to work as a unit They play like total strangers
And people questioned why some of us are pessimistic?. Bahahahhaha. If you're not a pessimistic recluse hermit who quite correctly shouts that everything is anti our team ; then you're not a true Watford fan
Just seen some MOTD "highlights" which confirm what I saw at the Amex; Kabasele messed up twice for the goal - shocking clearance from our own free kick and didn't close down Brighton's only proper playing threat, Gross. After that Kabasele went missing and almost gifted them two more goals by giving up on defending. Too many of our players - Watson, Cleverley, Carillo, Capoue and Kabasele were just casually giving the ball away today.
There’s not much I can say that’s been said. Today with no stream I was fully reliant on the Shout Box so thank you everyone who kept me company too through that awful 90 minutes of our lives. Silva has to go. This is utterly pathetic now week in week out. The players don’t want him here we don’t either. He isn’t going to turn this around.
Today was an absolutely fantastic day out and a great way to kick off the Christmas Holidays, apart from that crappy bit between 3 & 5 pm.
Congratulations WF, you get to keep your scarf. If we’d come back to win 2-1, eating it would have ruined your Christmas dinner.
I’m living in South Africa at the moment, which has meant I’ve been able to watch every match we have played since early October live. Now, I’m not usually one of the doom mongers - but - a side playing like we have in the past month gets relegated without a fight. And I’m sorry but it does stem from the manager. What really hurts is that it didn’t look like a relegation battle season for the first two months. Last week we conceded one goal to Huddersfield, one goal to ourselves and two goals to Michael F****** Oliver and his refereeing team. This week quite frankly Brighton embarrassed themselves by only beating us 1-0. I sincerely doubted that we could be worse than we were last week - and I was categorically wrong to do so. That was very hard viewing. With the exception of Richarlison, not a single Watford player looked like they could even be bothered to step onto the pitch. Defence is quite literally not a term you can apply to our back 4 (yes - I’m well aware we haven’t typically played a back 4 this season). To say they looked nervous is an understatement. It was almost beyond them to even hoof the ball towards the halfway line and call it a clearance. Holebas lets players past him for fun while Prodl and Kabasele have the facade of two Sunday league players who have never actually played together before but will laugh about their total inability to function together over 7 beers in the pub after the game. It said it all that our best defensive player was genuinely Richarlison, who, having realised that defending just isn’t something the back 4 have heard of before, made a point of getting back to help them and actually putting a tackle in whenever possible. Brighton should be prettt worried themselves that the only goal they managed to score was a goal that your average garden gnome would be upset with himself not to catch, let alone keep out. In terms of attack, I got the impression that we wouldn’t have scored in a month of Sundays. Most of our midfield had the touch of a rapist today. It actually looked like trapping the ball, (as opposed to letting it bounce 3 yards away from your feet on impact,) was a real effort. On top of this, the sheer amount of times we hoofed the ball into the air as though that it the extent of our ability to play a forward ball from the midfield area would embarrass a league one side aspiring to do no more than stay in the division for another season. Like so many people here, I’m pretty horrified by how terrible Gray has been for a record signing and yet how can you blame him when we are so incapable of even trying to play to his strengths of pace and running in behind!? What could he possibly have done to help out a team who are basically playing to spare themselves from a humiliating scoreline and keep the ball closer to the halfway line than their own box? I honestly believe I’m not wording it too strongly, or throwing a knee jerk/emotional reaction when I say that that performance was both deeply worrying and highly embarrassing. Yknow - I didn’t want to believe it and I gave myself a good month to watch and see before really considering it, but, given what we know this team is capable of when the ship is steady and all are committed to the cause, the blame must so clearly fall at the manager’s feet. Marco - I’m really sorry you couldn’t use us as a 7 week stepping stone to the Everton job - but do us a favour here. We might be a small club without an illustrious history behind us, but us little people down here who support watford because that’s where we happen to be from; those of us who decided when we were young that we would support our home team rather than justifying being Man Utd fans for the rest of our lives on the basis that our grandmothers were once trying to get to Edinbrough but got on the wrong train and had to spend the night in outer Manchester, believe it or not, actually do care about our football team and have this wild dream of staying in the top flight for another season, probably deserve a little better than your petulant, ‘I don’t give a **** about this club because they wouldn’t let me jump ship mid season reaction. I’m not one to go in for this kind of thing but honestly - I would can the guy tonight rather than waiting for Leicester to make us look like a conference team and Swansea to get their first league win since 1863. (Not to mention the record breaking cricket score City are likely to amass while they take the liberty of resting 6 key players!) I wouldn’t say that if I thought he was making honest mistakes; I wouldn’t say it if I thought we were going through a mid season blip; I wouldn’t even say it if I thought it had been a mistake to bring him in and he just wasn’t up to the job. But ... on the basis that he has shown us the tune he is capable of getting out of this (very talented) squad, and then shown us just how dramatically they are capable of nose diving once instilled with a ‘who really cares cos we are only here to party with the big boys for a few years and enjoy it while it lasts (and until I get the big job I so clearly deserve) vibe, I think he has to be shown no mercy. Would it help us to sack him now? I’m not sure and I don’t actually care all that much. It’s just that right now, I kind of feel like it would display a lack of dignity to allow him to pretend he is committed to any other cause than that of rescuing his reputation as one of the best managerial prospects of the past decade. (And, May I add: on what basis?) Please - (And I’m SURE you will) - tell me if you think I’m being unfair, because I’m really not the most vocal of our board members, nor am I the most prone to slamming the team.
Today was just embarrassing couldn't win a second ball couldn't string a pass going forward together, if we were playing a team that's going to stay in this league today then it would of been a cricket score. Brighton were ***** we were worse than the dog and duck, nobody gave a **** Silva had his excuses ready with the subs he made, just highlighting the fact he's down to the bare bones, why didn't he have the balls to change it or try something new? Instead of sitting there likea gormless ****. It reminded me of Stoke away last season, felt sorry for the away supporters that night and again today especially this time of year I bet there's plenty of things they could of spent that money on. Silva has made a right mess of things he had everything going for him until liverpools reserves came calling. Could of said No I'mve just started something here 12 games in to a new project and this bad run would of been more bare able as we would of known he was here for the cause, instead he's lost the trust of everyone. I hope he proves me wrong and turns it around but if he losses the next 2 he's left himself a mountain to climb and the board might just reassess their mid season policy of letting coaches go.
As ever, some grievous overreaction and kneejerking going on after a run of defeats. Let's be realistic. Like Wally before him, Silva has the best part of his first team out through injuries and suspension. 6 injured and 3 suspended. If we'd got anything at all out of that game with such a depleted squad, it would have been a major credit. For a while we looked like we might squeek a point. Even after going 1-0 down, we pinned them back and there was always the possibility of an equaliser. We tried hard. I can't believe that anyone saw the match and thought the players lacked commitment or effort. They lacked composure, match fitness in some cases and premier league quality in others, but they tried valiantly enough. Pererya was OK. He overhit one or two passes and got robbed of the ball a couple of times, but he did also find some killer passes too. It was his little slide pass that set up Richie for his shot, remember. He certainly wasn't as effective as we know he can be and I wonder whether he's fully fit. I suppose even if he's only 75% you'd have to play him with the current injury/suspension problems. Considering Watson hadn't started since 2016 and had looked dreadfully off the pace in his last little cameo, he also did OK after a very dodgy opening 10 mins. He made some crucial interceptions and crunched into the tackle, winning the ball in midfield and making decent passes forward on several occasions. Great effort from Ben and he deserves credit. However I'd agree that I don't think he's one for the long term and we should be looking to replace him, if not in Jan then in the summer. Kabasele had a very poor game as others have mentioned. He looked like he did when he first came into the team. Panicky, rash and caught out of position. It was his rotten pass fired at Cleverley which led to their goal. Hopefully just a dip in form which'll turn around with the team's fortunes. Cleverley was pretty poor in general. Definitely below his standards. He again got robbed of the ball in midfield on quite a few occasions and misplaced a lot of passes it seemed too. Kabasele's pass, as I mentioned above, was poor, but Cleverley's control of it added nothing. Prodl is another who I wonder whether he's really fully fit or whether he's been pressed into service half fit because of a lack of other options. A very poor display indeed from big Seb. As others have mentioned his partnership, or lack of it, with Kabs during the opening 10 mins was evident to all the world. God knows how we didn't concede in that period. I would imagine Silva would have wanted to sub him off if he could, because his lack of mobility was obvious. But who could we bring on instead? Nobody off that bench. Gomes did OK and criticism of him for the goal is a little bit harsh. The shot was hard, low and towards the corner. You couldn't call it a 'blunder' or a 'howler'. More of a 'might have done better' one for me. Apart from that, he was his usual reliable self and made some good saves. Interesting that he went long with his kicks in the main, which we rarely did earlier in the season. Then we always, without exception, played out from the back. It's another indicator of the lack of quality at the moment I think. One of the few times he did play it short to Kabs was what led to the goal. You already know my opinion of Holebas and it's not changed any as a result of that game. He's a real drag on the team. A real weakest link. His attempts or half-attempts to stop crosses from his side are pathetic. Richarlison dug him out of a hole with regard to defensive duties over and over again. His set piece plays are very hit and miss and his crossing is average at best. We've got Zeegalaar coming back from suspension now and the transfer window opening, so I fervently hope that's the very last time I have to watch that spivvy loudmouth in a yellow shirt. Even in the Sky team lineup graphic thing where he walks towards the camera, stops and folds his arms he looks petulant, aggressive and insolent. Again in trouble early in the match for gobbing off at the ref. Lucky not to get booked for dissent - yet a-bloody gain. I can't wait to see the back of Holebas and I shall light a cigar when he leaves. Carrillo did reasonably and carried a fair amount of our attacking threat. As others have said, you can see he's got quality and he goes past a defender effortlessly at times. Can dig a dangerous cross out from the byline too from situations where you'd think he was completely boxed in. Does need to make some more killer passes or have some digs on goal though. Needs more end product. I'm convinced he'll start to shine once he's surrounded by players with a bit more quality and guile. Janmaat was also pretty terrible. He tries really hard and works like a trojan, but as Newcastle fans warned us when he came, he's OK going forward but not very good at defending. With halfhearted Holebas failing to stop crosses one side and desperate Daryl failing to stop them the other side, we were always going to be in trouble. I like Janmaat and especially his thumping shots when he gets the chance, but I'd rate his ability as only 'squad player' rather than first team starter. Richarlison did as well as he's done in recent weeks. People have previously hyped him up as the kid who's got it all, but he's still learning composure in front of goal. The free header he missed was far more of a chance than Okaka's kneed effort right at the end. Gray did nothing. Barely touched the ball. Looks hopelessly out of form. I was surprised the first substitution wasn't him. Again though as mentioned previously, there was something of a lack of killer balls from the midfield for him to run onto. It's difficult to know what to do with him. Perhaps regain some confidence as a backup striker to someone coming in Jan for the rest of the season and then have a reappraisal in the summer. Sinclair's reappearance was painful to watch. Evidently and obviously not up to the standard required unfortunately, but he's still only a young lad. Needs to go out on loan to the championship in Jan and get some game time and confidence. Okaka looked like we remember. Put himself around and provided a target for balls forward, which Gray hadn't done. Has quick feet for a big man too. Was unlucky right at the end that he couldn't knee the high bouncing ball in. In retrospect he might have gone in with his head, but too late now. Wally was slaughtered for (apparently) falling out with Doucoure and not playing him. Silva, until now at least, has avoided getting the same for his (apparent) personal tiff with Okaka. It's a shame, because I've always thought Okaka is a decent striker who can add a different dimension to us when coming on as a sub. Capoue did reasonably well when he came on. Won the ball a few times and tackled hard. The amount of running he does is underestimated. It's what he does with it when he gets it that's the problem. It always seems to be three touches or so and then tap it sideways or backwards to someone in worse position than he was. Over all, despite the doom and gloom, it wasn't too bad a performance under the circumstances - especially after the lame capitulation vs Huddersfield last week. As I said, you really have to bear in mind the number of injuries and suspensions. You can't expect to field a team away from home in the Premiership against anybody with half or more of your regular starters missing and expect to come away with anything. We nearly did and that's to our credit. Things will change with those returning from injury. I was not in favour of sacking Mazzarri and felt he should have been given another season after his first was devastated by injury in the same was we're experiencing now. However I was in a minority of one. Fan power demanded he should go and he went. It would be plain stupid to repeat the mistake with another talented manager for exactly the same beyond-his-control reason.
While I'm broadly in agreement with your overall sentiment regarding Silva and the level of injuries, I must say that is an extremely generous assessment of yesterday's performance.
It's games like this where you need your captain, leader, talisman to take the team by the scruff if the neck and drag them through a game. We don't have anyone to do this anymore.
In what was a freezing afternooon at the Amex, we looked so poor once again heartbreaking to see us a shadow of what we were just a few weeks ago. Can see Leicester and City giving us a good hiding. We need to stop the rot and soon, regardless of what happens in the transfer window, Swansea game in between has now become massive for us.
The players injured are actually less experienced in general than the players who have come in when you consider there are International players and ones who have performed at the top level like Capoue/Janmaat/Pereyra and Carrillo coming into the team. That must be the biggest worry - its not like in most cases we are throwing in inexperienced kids or players who have never played at this level before.
Generally a lovely afternoon. A nice lunch, followed by a ten minute stroll to the stadium, avoiding the scrum at the station. Always like going to the Amex as it's very welcoming to away fans and yesterday was no different. An added bonus was chatting to the two policemen outside the away entrance and being allowed to make a fuss of their two gorgeous sniffer dogs. Nice too to bump into a couple of friends in the away end who I hadn't seen for a while. And, at the end of the afternoon, a quick stroll back to the car and then chauffeured back to Hampshire for Christmas by my sister so no driving. As I said, lovely. Now what have I forgotten? Oh yes, the bit in the middle. Well, the 8 year old next to me got her comic book out after 10 minutes and spent the rest of the 90 minutes colouring rather than watching the game. She definitely had the right idea. Happy Christmas everyone! X
Dreadful performance, the commentator said Richarlison has played 60 games this calendar year, no wonder he looks knackered!
Just a couple more points after reading the recent posts. I don't know how Kabesele can be blamed for his pass to Cleverley for their goal. Cleverley is an England international, a seasoned pro - he was making himself available for the pass and when he received it, he missed the ball completely! Maybe the pass was a little hard, but Cleverley was woeful. Then Gomes's attempt at saving the shot was woeful too. He struggles getting down to the ground, maybe it is his age. Then apart from the saga around Everton, I really would like to know why Okaka has been left out. He is the only player that seems likely to score at the moment, yet he gets a few minutes. That "miss" at the end, was unfortunate as it came at him so quickly, but he sprinted 30 yards from the right to get into position for that chance on the far post, something our other forwards just don't do. Deeney would still be trotting into the area with his arm in the air and Gray would be busy running to where the cross is unlikely to go. If it is a "personal" thing with Silva, then Silva is displaying terrible man management - you can't leave Okaka out when the other two are just so poor.
