Stoke City 0-4 Watford Fc - 02/10/2022

Bilic immediately produces the performance we were never going to see under Edwards. The team had a plan, was organised and players were being used in their strongest positions. Funny how much of a difference that makes...

Perfect? No, but he's only been at the club a matter of days so expecting perfection is lunacy. We are nowhere near the finished article yet, but a very good first step for Bilic today.

 

I had a feeling. I just wish I'd put more than £2 on Watford to score 4 or more at 22/1.

 

It’s important to note that as well as we played, Stoke totally collapsed after the second - I’d be concerned if I were a supporter of theirs.

 

Seemed to me that they'd checked out the Forum, where we've been saying what the commentaters said. Is it illegitimate for anybody else to say what Watford fans think?

 

Still don't understand how Kamara did that bit of skill in the first half. Didn't realize he had that in his locker

 

The scoreline flattered us? 8 good chances, 4 goals, 2 hits of the woodwork, 2 missed. Against which, Stoke created just a couple of chances. Yes, our passing was terrible for much of the match, but we created the chances and made them count.

 

Definitely not getting ahead of myself, as it's a squad game and our squad is still very thin, but if bring in Hause for Kabasele, JP for Asprilla, and bring in Louza from the start for one of Choudhury and Kayembe, and maybe Ngakia for Gaspar, do we have the best XI in the league?

 

He's on a wind up. Hopefully, at least.

 

Very but they would have been above us had they won. That’s why Edwards had to go.

 

And just like that Gino is off the hook.

 

Not a chance.

 

Pleased with the result. First time we’ve had a comfortable victory this season ! Until we got the second goal it resembled an Edwards performance with a decent spell in the first half where we could have had a couple more goals. Then we looked like we could concede early in the second half and not sure if it’s just because Stoke are fairly Shoite that they didn’t manage to score .

Then Louza coming on undoubtedly had a very a very calming influence . He made a big difference and we need to keep him fit . Still feels like a work in progress but then Bilic has barely had any time to work with the side so very positive signs so far .

 

Who does then?

 

Like this?

 

Which of those statements do you disagree with? You could insert "sitters"into 2 missed, obviously.

Of course Stoke were absolute sh1t, but that's one of the reasons the score didn't flatter us.

 

Also I liked what Edwards stood for - and I won’t lie (I thoroughly accept this next point is just my opinion and not one widely shared), but he embodied everything on a human level that I’ve wanted a Watford manager to be in the last decade. I sense he just got ‘it’ and what the fabric of the club used to be / and wanted to get us back there.

BUT.

I can’t deny Bilic had us better set up than perhaps we have been all season. Gaspar as a RB, Kamara as a LB. Simple changes that Edwards never got.

I think Edwards will have a good career. And one club somewhere will be lucky to get him for the long haul (at whatever level) - but today does tell me that on the actual pitch and over football matters, he shot himself in the foot.

 

I said 'he', referring to RS2. That's why I didn't say 'you' were on a wind up.

I agree with your post.

 

Bilic just lucky that Louza came back and Stoke were poor.

With Louza in Edwards' team we'd have won 0-6.

 

Not off the hook at all. Firing Edwards was clearly the right decision. The guy was clueless. It’s not his fault, but we shouldn’t have given him the job in the first place.

Bilic in charge from the off and I’m confident we would be top 2 right now.

 

Very easy to say that, but arguably the best player on the pitch today has just played his first 30 mins of the season having been unavailable for the entirety of Edwards' tenure--minutes 1-60 we looked a bit better than we had (against one of the worst teams we've played this season), but not significantly so!

 

I would have taken a 1-0 own goal victory, so pretty pleased

 

Funny how it’s how bad the opposition were instead of how much better we were

 

Granted, we do look fairly weak at RB/RWB, and Choudhury (or Kayembe possibly) and Sema are good at what they do but limited, but who else from any other club would you look at and say is a definite step up on what we have?

 

OK, sorry - but I think of myself as a "he" too!

 

Ah I see, you're one of those woke, pronoun-using millennial snowflakes

 

I liked what Edwards stood for too, but if he's going to have a good career - as I hope he does - he's got to learn from the many mistakes he made at Watford.

 

It’s easy to say it because it’s true.

If Edwards had stopped being so stubborn and obsessed with playing a back three, he would probably still be in a job. Just a very simple tactical decision but he couldn’t do it.

This will be a good learning curve for him as a manager that you can’t be married to one system. You have to adapt.

 

He wasn't married to one system though, he did play 4 at the back on a number of occasions, but it turns out that whatever your formation, when you can you can call upon one of the best midfielders in the league when things are getting a little tough (up against one of the worst teams in the league at the moment), it makes things so much easier

 

I think apart from Edward’s insistence on 3-5-2, my main criticism of him was how slowly we started games, which is something he himself said. The minimum you can expect is to get some effort from the team, which he failed to do.

 

Quite. The players you have are far more important than the players you want. Rob Edwards didn't seem to realise this.

If you're not happy with the tools you have been given then by all means, ask for what you need from your boss. In the meantime, though, you leverage the tools you do have in the best way possible. Edwards simply wasn't doing that.

 

Yes you absolutely didn’t get the impression the players were playing for him. Very little passion and commitment, which Edwards had claimed he would bring.

 

Spot on.

I hate that we had to yet again make fools of ourselves, but let's be honest, the notion of having time to build something died out years ago. If you're in the Prem or have your sights on promotion, then either you hit the ground running or you're fair game. We're very much the extreme, but it's how most clubs operate these days.

Rob conducted himself impeccably, but showed no innovation or tactical nous. He didn't get the best out of any of them, and confidence was at rock bottom, playing ultra nervy football.

Today was a win by a side who's confidence was absolutely shot, against a side who's confidence was absolutely shot. Couldn't have picked a better game for Bilic, but it definitely felt like he gave them that bit more belief

 

Well waddayaknow, this learned chap was just about spot on yet again.

 

Bet365 are doing a goals giveaway, get bet credits if a certain amount of goals are scored. I didnt think I would win anything with that match before kick off.