You said this far better and more comments more comprehensively than my earlier attempt. I totally agree.
The original urgently, dances and soars through the key of Em. Watford fans have jumped up and down on it until it’s a barely recognisable, one note, dirge. Good work.
On the note of stats: I'm very much in favour of us out-fouling Burnley. Payback for past games. Sierralta v Barnes was not polite. I know they've changed coach, but not all the players have changed and it was all there in the background.
Reminds me a bit of when De Boer went to C Palace and tried to turn them from a team of scrappers into a beautiful footballing side. Failed miserably and was out within a month. Unlikely but hopefully Kompany is equally unsuccessful.
Yes and no... We'd struggle, but there would be fight, commitment and unity with the fans. The lack of that is what I hated.
Watford have a touch of Sergio Leone about them right now. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. The Good is the collective attitude and never say die spirit, the huge resilience being shown, the wonder goal from Sarr, back-to-back performances of Cotonesk qualities from Bachmann, and a wonderful debut from Hamaz Choudhury. The Bad is how we're being dominated by our opponents, how we're having to rely on a keeper who is having a purple patch of form, how poor our midfield is, how few chances to score we're creating. The Ugly......well he's just been sold to Gothenburg.....sorry Pontus. So, lots to enthuse over. We're top to the league FFS. Results have been brilliant, but performances have not been. So, what is it? Are we riding our luck or are we so good we can play poorly yet still win? Bachmann has been overused. He's had to make 13 saves in his three games. Add the goal conceded and the one off the bar yesterday, that's 15 shots on goal, not including poor misses from West Brom from reasonable positions. 15 shots on target (well 14 and a crossbar) is far too many. This tells me we're riding our luck and relying too heavily on Bachmann. Our midfield, even though we looked better with Choudhury, is still getting overrun and we're not linking well with the forward line. Far too much backs-to-the-wall stuff for my liking. But the points are in the bag. 7 from 3 very tough opponents. That's good going, and no matter how much they were/weren't deserved they've been secured. We do need to improve massively though. We cannot expect to survive too many games where we're under so much pressure. Birmingham will present another tough match for us. They've started surprisingly well and of course there's the Deeney factor to contend with. So it's not going to be easy. I thought our shape was better, playing with a 4-3-3. Until we have good wingbacks on both sides, we have to ditch three at the back. There's no advantage to a back three if your wingbacks are not causing the opposition problems. Kamara is out for the next match, so makes little sense to switch back to 3 CB's. We may find RE prefers the 4 at the back, which no doubt would delight Gino. LCB and RWB would not be needed if that was the case. I still think we need something else in midfield. Gosling is not good enough. He was hopeless yesterday. Clevs is a good guy to have around and useful from the bench. TDB is out for a while. Kayembe is ok, but I'm still not convinced by him. Choudhury looks like a very good acquisition and Louza should really be class at Championship level, although wont be available for a little while yet. But if we're looking to play three in midfield, which I think we need to, then we need another big player in there at the level of Choudhury/Louza. That's where I'd spend my money now. Obviously, we'd need to replace Sarr if he goes with another top level striker.
True. It seems the benchmark for a good manager is to be only one or two games behind the fans in terms of realising what needs changing. Being ahead of those unpaid morons is the stuff of absolute greats.
Yep. Watching on a water course was no substitute. An evening game, a win, really gutsy performances, fans backing the players - football feeling a bit fun again. Sad I missed out but could feel the buzz through the screen.
What a gotcha moment! 2 **** players who are usually and unequivocally **** did their jobs in one game! Silenced the critics who thought players bought for significant fees at a higher level should be more than just capable once every 3 years!
You should have introduced yourself. I met @With A Smile and @PowerJugs that way at a preseason friendly years ago.
I've been one of the most negative on here, not least when every starter against Sheff was one of the players who let us down last season. I was unimpressed with our first two performances but I enjoyed last night's, despite our lack of a goal threat. Didn't want Chauds to come, but he was very good, and did none of his trademark nasty fouls. Super Dan (never heard him called that before) was as good as at WBA and Asprilla looks really exciting. But above all there was great spirit in the side, especially during the backs-to-the-wall last ten minutes. A lot of U-turns there but I'm not Liz Truss, honest - she supports Norwich (or Leeds or Oxford, or Scotland).
Indeed. A relegation season taking thrashing might not be fun, but if you feel like your players are taking the hits and giving their best, then you support them as a fan. It's what we have been doing our whole lives. Watching them strategise about whether to try in order to get in the shop window but not get injured, or down tools to get another coach sacked, or just go through basic motions and wilfully submit to humiliation - one can't get on board with that.
It is a big step up, but I will remain 100% convinced that we would of/have stayed up last season if we bothered hiring a proper manager. Got so many decisions off the pitch wrong which the board have acknowledged.
What a breath of fresh air on here. We've all been moaning for months (read: 2 yrs) on here, we start the season OK, still see frailties around the team, and yet... At long long last we (mainly) all feel like we've finally got (the makings of) a team we want to watch and cheer for, regardless of the fact we had some tough phases during games. People moan a lot about lack of decent players and whether Sema or Clevs should be playing, but last night took me back 10 years... watching an energetic bunch give their all, warts an all...! We suddenly all seem more connected with our team, and for me that's 90pct of what I want....
