Edwards has taken responsibility as managers tend to do although isn’t just isn’t down to him .. Trouble for Rob is those in power probably will blame him and protect the players as usual!
All evidence points to the average Championship player, who plays in the first team for league games, couldn't care less about it, and we've been given examples of exactly that for over a decade, but you're entitled to your opinion. I'm sure he was rubbish. I'm also sure it has no bearing on how he'll do for us this season.
Gaspar wasn't a reliable performer for Villarreal last season, he only made 7 starts in the league for them. Entirely possible he's been regressing for a while in a more technical but slower league, playing in a position that requires less energy. He looks a baffling signing, particularly when Laird appeared to be done and dusted until we went for Gaspar.
Sorry, but anyone playing back up for a side at that level last season, isn't going to struggle against average League 1 teams without reason. Whether that's the fact it was a make-shift team with several changes, or because he (rightly) wasn't trying his best, I don't know. I certainly wouldn't have minded Laird plus Gaspar.
Hasn’t completed 2000 minutes in a season since 18/19. I actually like him too, not as a right wing back though.
It’s only pointless because of our approach to it as we seem to actively try to lose. If we want to take that approach then fair enough, but it doesn’t make it pointless for others. Crawley had a pitch invasion last night (!) and Villa went full strength for example.
If you could read what was written infront of you it would be a big help. We've been complaining about this from preseason. The recruitment of Bayo and Manaj does not look encouraging. I'll give them time but I'd rather have Archer with Davis. The recruitment policy is shambolic. IBB is right. Winning as GT himself said is a good habit. Seeing Bayo and Manaj unable to score against L1 stragglers is mightily concerning. Due diligence as with Kalu. Lessons learnt.
There were very audible boos throughout the game and at half time and full time. I just think fans have finally had enough of it. Supporters are tolerant but not stupid. They can see the players, especially some of the new signings, are just not good enough. Unless we start signing some genuine quality, the fan base is going to turn pretty quickly. Getting stuffed in the EPL is one thing, but looking second rate against struggling League One opponents is a totally different thing. Personally I’m not bothered about the Carabao cup, but I am bothered about seeing a collection of players who are largely not good enough. This is what the fans reacted too. I didn’t hear any descent towards Edwards last night though. The 1881 starting singing “we’re f&cking sh1t” which wasn’t helpful but was actually totally apt.
You’re right of course. If selected for these matches, regular first team players have no obligation to make any effort. We normally agree on most things but are you saying picking a strong team is actually picking a weak team in this competition? If we want to take it seriously we should only pick reserves who might actually bother ?
And that’s extremely embarrassing, probably planned on the school playground, as we saw with our pathetic planned pitch invasion before we conceded. Kids looking for an Instagram opportunity. Fulham made 10 changes. As many teams do in the league cup. It just makes an awful, awful standard of football, and despite some 2nd round surprises, it’s just won by the richest team’s reserves almost every year. I’d much rather ditch it and safeguard cup replays for the real cup, the FA cup. The calendar is stupid enough as it is.
Which as “fans,” they are. Not sure it would have impacted RE as their chants are barely audible to those not in the Rookery.
For me, the first half in particular was very depressing. We had a huge amount of possession, but most of it inside our own half and created next to nothing. Someone earlier criticised Asprilla for giving the ball away on occasion, but it was only him and Hungbo trying to make anything happen. I had hopes for Hungbo when he first made the team, but Ken Sema was far more dangerous in his short sub appearance on the left wing.
What an odd game for the power clappers to choose to turn on the team. But then odd folk do odd things.
Sema looked great when he came on. He is a limited player, but he's one of those who actually is good against inferior players. There were a couple of other good individual performances. Blake had a good cameo. Asprilla didn't play great, but still had good moments, Cathcart made a mistake, but generally was his usual reliable self. The rest were not up to it. Imagine having to rely on these players in the Championship. That team last night would see us relegated. There's no doubt about it and the worrying thing, it was full of first team hopefuls. Very few were youngsters. Just shows we cannot rely on any of them.
I think it's a double edged sword. If we pick players that are likely to be starting in the league, most won't go all out (rightly) through fear of injury or fatigue. If we throw out a random collection of reserve players, chances are there will be a lack of cohesion and quality.
I think people just knew it was kind of predictable. As someone said the performance more of a concern that the result. I mean least it saves us losing to a PL team by 3/4 next round .
I'd like to think Rob Edwards in his next hierarchy meeting will tell the board he cannot use some of these players. They are just not good enough. Simple as that. He cannot trust Manaj and Bayo to score the goals, he cannot trust Gosling to marshal the midfield, he cannot trust Gaspar as right wingback. He cannot trust Okoye to make basic consistent saves. He probably had better players in those positions at Forest Green. Last night it was laid out on a plate for everyone to see. There was no Bachmann to make those special saves to paper over the cracks. We were overrun? No, that would be unfair to say that, but we did everything badly. Lost the ball constantly in midfield. Made basic mistakes in defence, couldn't keep out saveable shots, couldn't shoot with power, couldn't create chances and basically we looked like the League One side. So, I'm hoping that conversation is being had. It's no good flogging a dead horse. The majority of the players on show last night will take Watford backwards. We don't need them, even those new signings. We need to loan them out or just don't consider them as viable options.
Bayo and Manaj looked absolutely dreadful last night, as did the much of the rest of the team. All for giving them a little bit of time but their performance against a poor League One side last night has surely got be a concern. While results have been good/ok generally this season and we’re somehow second in the first five games, none of our overall performances have exactly been very convincing or dominant which does worry me a bit going forward considering we’re a auto promotion hopeful team.
Blind to reason are those who do not see that Watford FC is true champion of this league. It is clearer than distilled water. When there is a claim for a win, there is a commission that is made up of a group of specialists from both parties and it is very strange that the decision that proceeds, the one most affected by it, allows reaching the concession, but remember that the victory was resounding 2 to 0 and none of Milton Keynes even claimed it! If this game with so much unnecessary controversy has been awarded to Milton Keynes, WATFORD CHAMPION continues because the superiority that was what was seen without claim, was clearer than water.
Birmingham was definitely a dominant performance in all but result - we just had no idea what to do with the ball when we had it.
These are my thoughts right now, and I do stress the ‘now’ part because I’m well aware things can and probably will improve, and I’m trying hard not to over-react to one defeat (especially a cup one) as I’m aware I’m always cautioning others here not to get too carried away with one result, and to try to see bigger pictures instead. But I feel we are a bit of a mess right now. Give or take, we seem to be bereft of creativity. We don’t seem to have many goals in the squad. We still don’t know if our two ‘best’ players are going to leave before next week. We’ve signed three decent looking players this past fortnight but two aren't currently match fit, so we have no idea when they will play. We’ve now not won for three matches, or scored in our last two. We seem like a team of cloggers, not entertainers. We don’t dominate, but reply on our keeper and defence to keep us in games, and then hope to nick a goal on the counter. Edwards is very likeable and I’m right behind him, but is he starting to appear rather limited? Wedded to his preferred formation etc? Has our recruitment so far matched that system he wants? I stress again, this isn’t a panic message, merely a summary of where we sit this morning. I’m old enough in the tooth to realise that a win on Saturday and everything looks rosey again. But I am getting worried about our ability to score goals. Dons are a good side, doing well in their league and with a terrific coach (I’d have loved him here) but nonetheless you’d have hoped our two summer arrivals in attack would have been able to score last night. So far, as feared, neither are looking impressive signings in an area where we really needed smart recruitment. Louza has never scored for us (even with an open goal), neither has Kayembe, and Choudhury is hardly prolific. We don’t even have our centre backs popping up with the occasional goal, as they once did. If Pedro leaves, Davis struggles with fitness and we end up having to rely on Bayo and Minaj, this could be a very long and dull season. Last night could be a portent for the future, or a meaningless cup tie where Rob will have learnt lots about who isn’t up to standard if we are to challenge. Let’s see which!
This 100%. I gather from someone who was part of the discussions that a few years back there were suggestions that the League Cup excuse the clubs that have qualified for Europe, partly to re-energise a dud competition. But, of course, the sponsors would never go for it. For the betting companies or beer or fizzy gut-rot drink that sponsors it, having a combination of Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man United, Arsenal and Spurs in the semi-finals is the absolute dream. It's what they are paying for. Having said that, the way some supporters can gloss over a woeful performance because the competition doesn't really matter shows just what a number the Sky-driven, Premier League-obsessed RACE FOR THE TOP FOUR cult has done on us. One of only two opportunities for a cup run and some glory and it's just willingly eliminated as a going concern by the customers. That's it, sonny, you concentrate on the Championship and leave the three-handled flowerpot to the big boys again.
I'd agree with all this bar Okoye. He could not have done much for either goal. First is ball across goal that takes out everyone following Kayembe and WTE not taking charge and clearing a few seconds earlier. Second was defensive laziness not closing down and allowing player to take time and pick out strike into bottom corner. He made all other saves he could have done including good handling from strong curling effort and also came out bravely at players feet more than once. Didn't have much influence with crosses and distribution in either a positive or negative capacity. Although I will defend Bayo based on him doing the right things and getting shots off, it's hard to defend his lack of output so far.
Regarding the front two I will remain patient, albeit pessimistically. Players are human after all and take time to settle in a different country and league. However time is not a commodity that is readily available in football and I think fans will direct their anger, quite rightly, towards the Dangerous Brothers in Pozzbury. Lessons indeed.
I understand it could be seen as harsh criticism of Okoye, but I'm just not convinced by him. He should have saved the second goal IMO. He seemed to dive late for it. A bit like Scott Loach, who always dived but rarely made the save. I see Okoye like this. His reaction speed is just not quite quick enough. Once you see more of him, I'm sure it will become a lot more evident. IMO, had Okoye been in goal for all our league games, we'd probably lost 3 of them. I just don't see him making the saves that Bachmann makes. I'm not just going on last night's game, but since we signed him I watched him closely (from afar) for Rotterdam and Nigeria. He may well improve, but right now he would cost us goals in the Championship. This is all just my opinion though.
Which presumably explains why he’s currently our number two, not our first choice. A good call by our coaching team.
I think we need to conclude on the effectiveness after the window closes as a lot is outside our control at present and there may be work in progress that we can't see. It's going to be an interesting and possibly ultimately frustrating week. Who knows if Newcastle will up their offer and what we will do if they don't. What will happen if, having said that Sarr won't be sold, we receive a £30m+ offer ? If we could keep Sarr and sign Archer I will be very happy. If we don't sign a goalscorer (given that Davis is a great CF but not really a scorer) i will be worried. Maybe we WILL sign Archer as soon as Pedro is sold but can't risk being stuck with both, or reducing our bargaining position on the Pedro price by announcing Archer ? Who knows....but we will find out in less than a week !
Early days, but Gaspar doesn't look good enough for a wing back. 400 games for Villareal is impressive, but it means you are getting old. (Of course, it probably also means you couldn't care about the Carabao Cup). He looks to me like a player who knows his way around a football pitch, but who is too old and too slow. As an out and out defender he'll probably be OK this year; but he threatens to be the slowest wing back ever. Mind you, possibly he is taking time to adjust to playing with team-mates who are well below anything he is used to.
It's clear he really can't play RWB. Edwards either needs to drop his system or play Kamara, our new loanee, out of position if we don't get anyone in.
