Decent performance, scoreline flatters us; Sarr and Kamara in their correct positions helped, though until Louza came on, we saw the same old shortcomings. Thank God we were 1-0 when Louza came on, he made it look so easy when he came on when it could have been much stickier had we not been
Excellent result away from home. Great start by Bilic. 4 at the back clean sheet say no more. On to the next one.
Easily the best performance and most enjoyable game this season. Played well for 70/75 minutes of the game. The gamble of playing our right back at left back today paid off (bit of standard forum sarcasm for you right there!) 4 of our forward players on the scoresheet. And if Louza plays like that every week we are going to take some stopping! £9m wasn’t he? Bargain.
Couldn't ask for much more from Bilic's debut if you tried. Definitely helps having players in their natural positions and maybe a more simple message.
That was a strong 2nd half. Need to keep performing as such Helps having key players back or in their right position
The first genuinely emphatic victory we have had this season, which is lovely to experience, spurred in large part by Bilic's coaching/decision-making and the fact that Louza is available. We began by following a very familiar pattern, with a patchy and pretty lacklustre first half outside a 10-20 minute period of strength - Kamara and Choudhury the only two standouts to come out of that period with real credit. But unlike many other recent games, we managed to surmount that in the second half, with intelligent substitutions coming at the times they were needed and Louza's introduction confirming what we all already knew: that he will be key to any chance we have of promotion. Before he entered we still had huge problems linking midfield and attack and progressing the ball through the middle, with players failing to show for the pass and far too much turning and playing it straight back to defence by default. When he came on, there was suddenly not only a ball player and progresser, but someone who was always available and constantly moving, dragging their players about and stopping it being so easy for them to just stonewall and force us back to square one. If we can get to a point where we're adding Hause and JP to that and with Louza back to being a starter, we might be able to see a few more of those kinds of results, and even perhaps overall improved performances throughout any given 90 minutes. Even Gaspar seemed to have re-learned the ability to pass in a forwards direction by the end of the game, which was encouraging. Props to Sarr for his movement and finish for the goal, as well as his ball for Davis'. There was the start of a blueprint for success there, and as Keith Andrews said in his immediate postgame comments, we're still in a situation where we could play a lot better. Not everyone will be as accommodating as Stoke were, so hopefully that is realised. Also credit where it's due to Bayo for his instinctive reaction to whatever it was that Louza did and managing to squeeze it in quite comfortably for his goal in the end.
Just what the doctor ordered - but we couldn't have asked for a better opponent to start the Bilic era, because Stoke were steaming garbage. Truly atrocious. Albeit that's much closer to the typical level I remember from last time we were in the Championship than most of the games we've had so far this season. For a while in the first half this didn't seem that different from a common Edwards game so far in that we seemed fairly solid but lacking in quality on the ball, with only another moment of Sarr popping up out of nowhere giving us an edge. But it was reassuring to see that Bilic was constantly vocal in wanting us to keep the ball better, and eventually the message started getting through. Bachmann - 6 - didn't have much to do, but Bilic was annoyed he wasn't passing the ball more rather than hoofing. Kamara - 8 - excellent game, got forward well Sierralta - 8 - closer to his early season performances. Beast. Kabasele - 7 - actually did alright. Gaspar - 7 - solid defensively, some dodgy passing in the first half, but some quality in the second. Def more a RB. Choudhury - 6 - fine, not the best passing Kayembe - 7 - some extra quality in helping to bring the ball up the pitch for our first goal Asprilla - 5 - not his day. Again, shouldn't really be starting most games yet. The fk for his yellow card was harsh. Sema - 7 - good determination for the goal. Typical dogged performance. Sarr - 7 - a typical performance from him so far this season as well, doesn't really do much, but pops up with a key goal. Davis - 6 - had a tough afternoon most of the game isolated against their back 3. Pleased he got his goal at least. Louza - 8 - very reassuring comeback, kept the ball very well and ensured we finished the job. Bayo - he's a poacher. An aside that Wilmot gave a useful reminder that for all our defensive woes he's not the answer and is weak defensively. Got beaten for our 2nd and 3rd goals. Was sloppy in possession like most of their team.
I know this is only his first match and it is too early to draw conclusions, but I thought the improvement in the performance was clear. From the first minute, we didn't look clueless in attack or defence. Sure the performance was far from perfect, but we looked more positive. I agree that Louza improved us a lot, but I thought we looked better even before Louza came on than in any game under Edwards. Recruitment has been poor, some of our players are sh*t, but sacking Edwards was the right decision. Hopefully performances will improve further under Bilic.
Poor performance overall, the scoreline flatters us. The lack of basic passing ability is shocking, if Bilic wants to play out then we'll be in big trouble most games because we aren't going to play many teams worse than Stoke this season. Good start for Bilic though, Louza improves us massively. Pozzo out.
A huge improvement, and with more time on the training pitch with the new boss, It will get even better. The right decision to get rid of Edwards
Nice, hopefully that will help morale and give us the confidence to live up to our obvious potential. I reckon the bed sh@tters, or whatever they call themselves, are happy with that result.
Good boost to morale. Louza makes a huge difference at this level. Good to see players playing in their correct positions as well!
A reminder that we didn't even have João Pedro today. Bilic had about one day with most players. Hit the post twice and Louza and Sierralta should have buried their chances. Finally looking forward to football again.
Incredible what a change in formation can do. Few of of us geniuses on here called for it a while back. Papa Gino does it again.
Well, that is almost a complete performance. We were sloppy in moments and Bachmann should get a BAFTA in the first half, but it's really hard to be too critical for once after we really did play well and showed how good we can be, with everyone on the same page. playing where they should. To top it off, that wasn't even our best eleven but Stoke were dreadful and we couldn't of asked for a poorer team really. First goal was well worked and finished from Sarr, but as per usual I was afriad we we're going to go back into our shells after that, which we did do for a bit, although we somehow failed to score right at the end by hitting the post TWICE in as many minutes. Overal pleased with the first half but I expected us to be cagey second half. Which is excactly what happened for periods of it. Some of our passing was sloppy and wayward and we sat quite deep. Then, Louza came on and changed the game. What a player he is, and what a miss he has been for so long. He ran the midfield, brought more players into the game and even Sema and Bayo bagged a goal each. We ripped them to shreads second period of that half and quite honestlty could of had five or six. A Watford side with a hungry Louza, Hause, Sarr and JP shows we can still be a threat to most sides. I thought Bayo did well with his goal, a proper "poachers" goal from the byline. Sema was excellent for large periods of that game, and even worked really well with Louza to set up Bayo's chance. Defence did their job when called upon and we never really looked in danger of conceding, although they did have that one good chance first half where he mis-shot past the post with Bachmann nowhere near it. Is Bilic the man to turn our season around? I don't know. All our new coaches seem to get a decent win first game then it goes down the crapper. I am hoping, for once, Bilic can distill a bit of grit into this side now. We are not going to win 4-0 every week now (although that would be awesome), and the biggest test for us now is how we respond to this. Another positive result against Swansea on Wednesday night will bestow a bit more confidence in the fans'. It's nice to win and play well for a change, feels like we actually deserved the win. All our wins this season have been last minute or back-to-the-wall jobs. Players will be bouyed by the win, I hope we can carry in into midweek.
Really did remind me of 2 seasons ago, chug along for most of the game not really creating much but not really looking like conceding neither, and turning on the samba style for a 20 min spell. Thought it was very interesting how one of the main criticisms people had of Edwards' time was the passing out from the back, and as soon as he got sacked, Bachmann took it upon himself to launch it had gets an earful! Kamara was immense, we have very little depth on either flank at full-back, but if we can keep him available, we've got quite possibly the best LB in the Championship (no less than you'd expect for £16m! ) The defence were fine, a few silly mistakes here and there, but with a proper team in front of them they weren't under as much pressure as they might have been in the past, Gaspar did a job defensively, and put in a few good crosses, but scared me with his passing. The midfield was much the same as we've seen all season for the first 60 mins, Asprilla didn't have the best of games, but hopefully won't be called upon as much when JP and Louza are available. Louza was indeed such a huge positive influence on the game, and Sema and Sarr were exactly what we've come to expect from them in the Championship they'll both chip in with goals and assists even if Sema looks ungainly and even if Sarr doesn't put his stamp on games as much as he should. Really pleased for both strikers, a good day when both score, thought Davis was good today, even apart from his goal he led the line well and possibly could have got 2/3, and Bayo is a proper striker, the game was won by then, but it was a brilliant striker's goal!
Puts the why did we sell Wilmot to bed finally. Shocking performance. Nice to see us scoring but let's be honest Stoke looked horrendous. Two big chances wasted by Louza and FS. Slav couldn't of asked for a better result and hopefully take this on to Wednesday now.
Played well for the most part, good first steps from Bilic. Although must be said, Stoke played their part in that scoreline. Still utterly despise the way the club is run. It’s a fairly long road to redemption for them (for me) - but I’m not one who wants us to lose so happy with the result, if little else. I’m sure some will take umbrage with me saying that - sadly it’s just how I feel about the club currently.
Could think of better uses of funds at the time, but £9m certainly isn't as much of an eyebrow raiser as other deals we've done!
I think rather than reporting, to me it seemed to be more venomous and personal. We are Watford fans and entitled to our opinions as we are invested in the club, they are commentators who probably read the crib sheet about us 10 mins before kick off. One of them seemed particularly delighted that the wheels would come of before to long. To me it seemed that they couldn’t understand the difference between the club and its fans., no mater how chaotic we actually are I don’t want to sit there watching a match where the commentators slag us off for 90 mins (unless we win 4-0 in which cause I’ll live with it )
they did fall apart once louza came on and made us start passing the ball properly reminders of us a couple of games ago
Forgot we were playing. Remembered that we had played. Dreaded checking the result. Shocked and delighted that we won. The end.
you are a harsh scorer I’d probably add 1 to most of the scores (if we don’t count the dodgy patch when we forgot how to pass) got to love a poacher , say what you want about Bayo , he comes on and scores
People have slagged off Manaj, but we actually miss him a bit, and did against Sunderland as well, as he can at least play with his back to goal which isn't really part of Bayo's game and could help us hold on to leads when Davis or Sarr are tiring. Neither of them should be first choice CF, but they'd have offered up two different types of options off the bench.
Always surprises me when people get upset about how we are covered. If the fans are vocally protesting, commentators will likely separate fans and club etc. Our fans don’t do that so stands to reason commentators will largely think we are okay with it.
Did enjoy Slav's post match interview with Sky, too, tbf - he's an enigmatic character and we haven't had too many of those representing us in the dugout in recent times. Hit a lot of the right notes about where we can improve and the reality of the performance too, as well as the good stuff - how we did play, but also how we want to be playing, and the importance of playing more boldly/bravely when we are 0-0, or even a goal down.
Well, that was fun. We were solid defensively, albeit I don't think we'll come up against a more toothless attack than them all season. That Liam Delap bloke was particularly useless, looked like a competition winner, just bundling into people late. Players looked like they were enjoying themselves. No surprise that a Kamara-Sema axis on the left is actually pretty good at this level, Edwards' stubbornness here probably cost him more than anything else. Louza in from the start and Pedro taking Asprilla's role and we suddenly look very tasty...
