As I'm an exile, this was my first game of the season, so I finally feel a little better informed. I'd convinced myself that we'd made progress, and that we'd conceded 1 goal in 3 games and were on the right track. Although I still feel this to a point, now I've seen it in the flesh I definitely feel more like the "only scored 1 goal in 5" stat is the more illuminating. I thought the players put the effort in, there wasn't any shirking and people wanted the ball. We just lack any kind of penetration, attacking game plan, or players in the right positions at the top end of the pitch. With the 5 in defense (albeit a second string 5) we looked solid enough, as you'd probably expect when you're effectively flooding that area of the pitch (as Quique has effectively admitted). Without any real ball playing CBs though the ball very quickly finds it's way shuffling along the 3 of them, before it's back to Gomes. The 2 wing backs were fine, although of little consequence going forward. I though Foulquier put a shift in, but neither him nor Femenia looked like they were going to pick the lock and provide an overlap or a penetrating pass. The 3 in midfield looked tidy. That's a good thing and a bad thing. Good because you don't want a midfield that's not tidy. Bad because you're probably hoping for something more. Shame that Quina went off injured, as many have been desperate for him to get more playing time, but Doucoure looked the pick of the bunch when he came on. Will Hughes looked neat, but could do with playing further up the pitch. Up front, I thought Andre Gray held it up better than I've seen him do before, but the problem is that's not a particularly impressive body of work to compare it too. I felt a bit bad for him, as he's being asked to do something which isn't his game in the absence of a better suited alternative, but he plugged away. Pereyra's probably our best player when Deulofeu's flattering to deceive. But again he's being asked to fill a role that isn't his, running the channels trying to stretch a team. The disappointment is that when he did get a chance to play a relatively simple through ball when we had a 2-on-1, which is what he's suited to, he couldn't do it. We're just lacking a focal man up front. I've thought for a while that Deeney's done his time and should probably move on, but with Welbeck injured he's the only person who could even possibly give us an outlet and bring others into an attack.
As you say stats don't tell the full story. We were terrible vs Brighton and deserved what we got. West Ham was better but we were getting slaughtered at the back. Sheff Utd did not have one decent chance throughout the whole game but we had 3 glorious chances. I tend to look at clear cut chances when the chances of scoring are high. Under Gracia - we played 4 games, had 5 clear cut chances but conceded 10. It's going to be a struggle to win games if that's what's happening. We scored twice Under QSF - The first 3 games which many thought we would get nothing from and when we kept with 4 at the back we had two clear cut chances but conceded 11, albeit 8 at City. We scored twice Under QSF - Since going to the 5 at the back system, we've had 4 clear cut chances to 1 conceded. We've scored once Which system of those 3 looks more likely to get results? Which system have we deserved more points than we have won. I would say we have deserved more out of the last 3 games than any of the other systems
49 shots on goal and only 7 were 'big chances' according to sofascore (someone more savvy with stats please feel free to correct me!). So we may be firing off shots from all angles but very few are in areas where we'd be expected to score. So we're having a problem getting into decent positions to score and we are awful at finishing. It's the perfect storm!
Yeah, but once we'd seen them off we could have looked forward to trouncing Colchester 6-0 in the final.
I don't think I have read or heard anyone, let alone everyone, say that. I'm pretty sure everyone who follows Watford thinks they are playing poor, unsuccessful football; but some of us think QSF has started to improve things by tightening up the defence - and he has. It's not enough, but it's a start. I think, unfortunately, that he will have more trouble curing the other problems in attack and, considering my memories of his team first time around, I would doubt if he is the man for that job. But, in his defence, he has been dealt a poor hand in several ways. Watching him when the cameras focus on him he looks a worried, frustrated man - different from his demeanour of a few years ago: He knows the problems he has inherited.
Don’t take the job then. Or better, should never have been offered it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
20 odd hours later still in a dark mood Would rather we win / draw at Chelsea than beat Everton yesterday , but would have been nice if we got silva sacked and can’t see us getting a win on Saturday. Can imagine QSF didn’t give a toss about yesterday’s result though. Sad thing is we didn’t really look like conceding until we did , Everton looked almost as **** as us until than 10 min spell that led to the goal. As others have said I think there is a rift in the team not sure Bobby P and Gerry D want to play together neither seem that keen on passing to each other. I really like Hughes but he seems to have lost his ability to pick out a pass. I thought doucs looked better was running around trying to get some spirit into the team and though Gomes did well for most of the game. With Doucs, Bobby and Gerry in the same team we should be nowhere near the bottom of the league. What we need is Deeney from 5 years ago (or the spurs game when we thought back) to come in and get the team going again but not sure that’s going to happen. Every time I watch a match the camera zooms in on Deeney who is having a larf and drinking coffee , he is still the captain he should be going mental at our team . Essentially what I am saying is I really don’t understand how we can perform against Arsenal with spirit , skills and real threat and then perform like we have in the last few weeks? I say bring Luther into a training session to explain what playing for Watford is supposed to mean
Well, yes, but he's not alone. The problem is that, in order to pick a pass, you need someone who has the nous, the confidence, and the ability to make a run. I don't see sufficient movement off the ball. As with defence, attacking takes organisation: You have to have the expectation that a team-mate is going to perform a particular movement and the confidence that he is going to make it. It's very much a circular thing: The runs aren't made because the passing isn't there and you don't make the passes because the runs aren't there. It's proving very frustrating to watch. [QUOTE="Ybotcoombes, post: 2795746, member: 5632"I say bring Luther into a training session to explain what playing for Watford is supposed to mean[/QUOTE] Now you're talking.
100% mate. The criticism of QSF is entirely unfair. People are questioning the injuries, well perhaps if the previous regime hadn't allowed the players to do whatever they wanted they may be a lot fitter and less prone to injury! The first thing that stood out to me 12 months ago is how fit we looked and we won/drew games late and played all the way through at a good intensity for 90+ minutes. This season the players look f**ked after an hour! That's not QSF's fault that's Javi's for not ensuring the players have a base level of fitness going into competitive action like we did last season. We had no issues with injuries in QSF's first season, we had a small average squad compared to what we have now and he kept us up with plenty to spare, despite the fact at times it was like watching paint dry! I remember very similar complaints early on in his Watford career when we drew 0-0 with the likes of Southampton and West Brom at home playing a 4-2-3-1 system. We looked great defensively but had nothing upfront at all. Deeney totally isolated and Ighalo being used as a sub most weeks. He found a way to change the system to a 4-4-2 which kept us solid defensively but also meant we were more potent in the final third by playing 2 strikers. He knows where we are going wrong, he WILL address it, but I think Deeney is a big part of that and currently he's out injured! He has to work with what he's got and currently that's keeping clean sheets in a 3-5-2/5-3-2 system off the back of shipping 12 goals in his first 3 games! Not sure what people expected him to do?! We had to plug the leak which is what he's done, conceding 1 league goal (which should never have stood) in 3 games! It'll come. Quique will find a way to sh*thouse his way to 40+ points this season.
The trouble is Deeney is well past his best and nothing like the player he was 4 years ago. Plus we don't have a finisher like Ighalo this time. We have a Deeney who can barely get off the ground and offers no goal threat, Gray who at the moment doesn't even resemble a footballer, Deulofeu who can be a threat but put him in front of the goal and more often than not he won't score, Success who I actually think is the closest thing we have to 2015 Deeney but without the goals and Sarr, who knows about him? Quique's teams rely on a solid defence and the strikers to be able to take the few chances they can manufacture for themselves. The last two seasons have shown that we just don't have clinical enough strikers for that plan to work. Quique is clearly a decent coach, but is he right for this squad and this situation? I hope so but the signs aren't good.
I reckon he is, for exactly the reasons you mention above. We all know we haven't got the personnel to score many goals, in which case to get any points we need to be as solid as possible defensively, which QSF has so far had us doing. Until we get more strikers back he's doing all he can with the incredibly limited resources available.
Nope. He was blessed with a fully fit squad for almost the whole season. It was Mazzarri and Silva that got stiffed by injuries.
that is exactly what I have been struggling to describe , when we play well all the little back heels , tricks and passes are working because everybody is in the right place and the team is all on the same page , the way we are playing now we are passing into space but nobody is there so it just looks like we haven’t got a clue what we are doing
we have been missing a goal scorer since Ig lost it, I hoped that Sarr would do the business but has barley been on the pitch , Question is will Joao be our saviour and can we stay in it until January with the players we have. Of everything that has happened this year , Sarr has been perhaps the biggest disappointment
Liverpool 4-5 Arsenal, still 20 minutes to go. Not quite the drama that we witnessed last night, but passable.
Imagine the meltdown on here if we had scored five goals away and still failed to progress to the next round! Just shows that scoring lots of goals does not guarantee a win, anymore than keeping a clean sheet does.
They both scored as many goals as we have in the league this season so far, without their main strike force.
He's been making excuses from the day he arrived. All this crap about the players only being 30-40% fit enough or whatever - they are tested every day throughout pre-season by well paid sports scientists, I don't believe for one moment this is true. It smacks of someone getting their excuses in early as he doesn't really believe he knows how to turn it round. He pretty much admitted yesterday he didn't send us out to win that game, what sort of a message does that send to the players?! I don't give a **** if it's ludicrous, we need a head coach to inspire us and get the confidence back, not someone whose every word appears to be covering his own back for when he inevitably fails.
Well if they are meant to be fit why do we keep getting injuries? Maybe that is what he is asking .. Lack of general match fitness? I agree they must be fully fit at the start of the season though and tested regularly- you'd think . Did we change the whole fitness team when Flores came in?
The lack of fitness has been apparent during games, for me. Hughes and Deulefeou incapable of a full 90, Holebas visibly tired after 60 every game and a general lack of any attacking intensity at the end of games. Plus the amount of injuries that are suddenly piling up and it seems clear to me that there is a massive fitness issue. Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
No different to last two years for Hughes and Deulofeu. Or indeed, Deulofeu's whole career. And Holebas is now 35, not surprising that a wing back role is too much for him, particularly as he has to sprint back from every one of his free kicks or corners when they're invariably headed clear...
I thought Holebas last year was at the peak of fitness, which coincided with his best season for us. Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
Gracia's relaxed approach to pre season has really ****ed us over, alongside squad investment. Sounds like QSF has got them training properly but as a result they're all dropping like flies. Absolute shambles. We'll probably have a great finish to the season once we get everyone up to speed and a few additional signings in January, just hope it's not too late by that point.
I understood that training data was all logged and recorded centrally. If so, the blame goes higher than Gracia.
