I think that is it for me for this season. We are going back to the lost years of the 90's, when anyone could get a game. Listening to the commentary and the criticism from the commentators, left me with the feeling that we are out of our depth in the upper regions of the Championship. A gutless, clueless and an embarrassing performance. Let's hope the snow will fall here soon and l can concentrate on something worthwhile. That was a bloody awful performance.
They're really not that interested even then, either, though, are they? We rely on one of our super mega talents pitching in with one decisive move that actually comes off a game and hoping that's enough, by and large. We don't create opportunities, and still, as ever, for year after year now, we have no attacking cohesion, patterns of play, or guile. What are we doing day in, day out, and what is being said to these players, as well as by whom? We move the ball at a snail's pace when we do a rare attacking manoeuvre, it's mental. The rest of the time we're strolling like uninterested guests at a cocktail party.
Defence a shambles, midfield incapable of passing the ball (Kayembe also incapable of receiving it under any pressure whatsoever), forwards kinda doing a bit of whatever they fancied. 4-2-3-1 is not a magic bullet. We’re a mess. No plan and no cohesion. Square pegs shoved in round holes and lapses of judgement/concentration from ‘senior’ players. We’re a mid-table team whichever way you want to slice it.
What absolute TRASH from the ref. It was like he had never seen a game of football before so he made it up as he went along. A Guy Goma moment (look it up). We weren’t at our best but against an in form team we were worth a draw if not a win had literally any professional ref been in charge. The injuries were unlucky too. There was a Sierralta shaped hole in our defence for their second goal. Once Louza is fit enough to start (Saturday I hope) we will waltz to the title. Awful night though.
I don't enjoy seeing Watford lose, despite my posts suggesting otherwise. However, the squad deficiencies being exposed yet again, this time under a different head coach, can only be a good thing for the 'Pozzo out' cause.
This is the one bright spot. The division is so random we could beat Blackpool and Norwich and feel good about things differently. It’s so hard to feel anything good about this club at the moment though.
Yep. Normal service resumes. It's almost as though neglecting your defence, having only 1 midfielder in the squad who can pass and having some talented but questionably motivated forwards to paper over it all, isn't the brilliant plan that it seemed a few days ago.
I'm going to call this now, we'll draw with Blackpool and get taught a lesson by Norwich. This team is awful, it really is - it just so happened thay Stoke were that much worse
That first 15 minutes has to be up there with the worst I've seen us play in living memory, absolutely horrendous. Special mentions for Kabasele, Kayembe, Gaspar and to a lesser extent Kamara who put in some absolute stinkers tonight. We either have to dip into the free agent market and see what dregs are left, or stay within touching distance until January and make up for the errors of the summer. Harsh on Morris and Pollock to be thrown in the deep end but doesn't look like they're ready.
If that does happen we are in for a bleak season. At least one asset sold in January and a slow meander down to lower mid table.
The game speaks for itself - the ref was dire, but we were far, far, FAR, worse. Wouldn’t be taking Choudhury on a free at this rate, Kayembe is the dud I always said he was and Asprilla is too raw to be starting every week. Sarr still strolling around because he scores a goal every other game, Sema having had his 1 poor game in 2 and Davis is so easy to play against if you nullify his left-foot. Kabasele - what hasn’t already been said? Kamara isn’t a RB and isn’t as good as he thinks he is. Morris was okay considering…same with Pollock. Gaspar looks lost whenever he has the ball. But the whole lot lays bare just how bad Gino, Mogi and Giaretta have been in recruitment…Duxbury is a **** but blaming him for recruitment is wildly inaccurate. But my two major gripes tonight are wider issues - someone needs to remove the voice box of every player…it would make no difference. I’ve never seen a ‘team’ so mute in my life. We have zero leaders and not one player on the pitch trying to set standards. It’s embarrassing. They all just stand around in silence, looking at each other and waving arms around. And last I am beyond bored of the lack of brain cells - deep in injury time and we are starting fights. We watch players run through us and never call over teammates for help. We consistently do the wrong things and make the wrong choices all the time. Yes, it’s 2 games in. And I felt like Edwards should have been given far more time, so I’m not really going to call Bilic out after 2 games. But we just haven’t looked any better really - a few better moments against Stoke. But then Edwards had decent moments in games so I’m not going to go too wild about that. Utter dross. Gino out.
Thought it was better than anything we saw under Rob at home personally, we created a bit, looked like we had some sort of a plan. Now the negatives. I am so so tired of seeing Kabasele in a Watford shirt, please at least play someone new who’s equally as bad so at least I have hope. He’s the cause of so many of our goals. Kayembe was terrible, Asprilla wasn’t much better but it should have been Louza for Kayembe, that sub killed us. Davis invisible. Glimpses but where is this “unplayable” striker. Game was an awful watch, no real football played. Refereeing was genuinely woeful. Haven’t seen that last minute handball yet but was it as clear as the players seemed to think? Grimes is very tidy, would’ve been a great signing. We were very, very timid, very weak, every 50/50, every body to body fight we seemed to lose. Then SO many niggly fouls in such non-threatening positions, the footballing IQ of this team is LOW and that’s a real shame as it makes it frustrating to watch. Lastly, shame on you Gino Pozzo & Scott Duxbury for leaving us with a squad that has to rely on Mattie Pollock and James Morris at any point, tragic. I still think we make play-offs but we need 5 new defenders if we go up, do we trust The Stability to do that?
Noone can predict this league in truth. Teams expected to win suddenly don't next game. And vice versa.
What a farce of a fooball match. Technology was one, we were the other. How many time, how many f****** times are going to do this? Play well for one game, get some confidence back, then play like utter garbage the next? When we did we last win two on the bounce? Our promotion season. Over a year ago. It's utterly pathetic - the mentality of this side stinks. I thought we started really sloppy and that continued through the evening. Deserved equaliser and then their winner was something you see Sunday afternoon at a kick about in the park. NOBODY MOVED to block the cross (which was actually very decent) and Bachmann may as well of been sat at home. I'm so frustrated with the team tonight, I really am. But then again, why should I be? I support Watford FC during the Pozzo era (sorry, the declining era) and we not once looked anything like the team we were on Sunday. Yet another Jekel and Hyde performance from the shambles in yellow in front of a half-full stadium. Credit to Swansea, they had numerous chances and should of won by two or three. Safe travel back to Wales for their fans. We've done it again, we give ourself a platform to build on and then kick the foundations out from underneath it, like it's made of blu-tac. Bilic cannot be totally at fault - you do not coach that sort of defending into a player, they are just naturally good at doing it. I do not think the massive stoppage in play is to blame either. We didn't seem to even want to score in the 17 minutes or so that where added on. What an utter crap show yet again after what should of been a morale boosting win. This team is not good for anyone's blood pressure, and we now go to Blackpool who we on paper should beat, but then again it depends if the players want to bother or not. We are not going up, not with Bilic and not with whoever else comes in after our next game. This team doesn't have the backbone to mount a challenge. Not even half way through the season and we look like a side who have given up already. I really miss the good old days. but this is where we are now, and the here and now looks like a black hole of debt and players not up to the task. I hate being so negative, I was really looking forward to this game tonight, I feel so let down. Sort it out Bilic, or you will be next out the door.
I've said it before, we have a very good first XI when everyone is fit, but we have very little depth, and in some areas none at all
I don’t get posts like this. No Fan wants to see their team lose. But some, maybe even most, fans see the ongoing business mistakes that Gino makes again and again leaving us with a totally inadequate squad, reliant on a bit of class from the one/two players that can do it when they can be bothered, with the highest debt that we have ever had in the history of the club, no medium term strategy and, quite frankly, totally limited enjoyment over the last 3 years that’s why many are questioning the owners
The attendances will only keep getting smaller. This team just is not mentally strong enough, we needed to do a more complete rebuild in the summer which meant removing players lile Kabasele (who has not been good enough for years), Gosling and Troost. We also then needed to bring in players who were on the up not tainted by injuries or recent failure (Gaspar). Naturally though Gino knows best so we do the opposite. I appreciate the positivity on some posters about us getting playoffs, personally I just don't see it. What I see instead is Newcastle coming back in for Pedro in January, and both Sarr and Louza off to Udinese or elsewhere also in Jan.
I don’t think we do. We have a bang average midfield and defence at this level. This squad needs a RB, CB, LB, 2x CM and a ST in January. For depth and first XI reasons. And even then I suspect we will be too far behind for it to matter and probably staring down the barrel of another manager being sacked regardless.
It was exactly the ******* same as we saw under Rob, we took about half an hour to register a shot, upped it and could have gone 2-0 before half-time and then hardly threatened again. Louza I'm sure will be a fantastic addition in time, he certainly was on Sunday, but it turns out your second game back with the game well in the balance isn't as easy as coming in at 1-0 against a ***** Stoke team
Bachman 6, ok actually. Very harsh to suggest he might have come for the 2nd goal. Kamara, 6 at left back, 1 right back. Looks like a decent player on the left. Woeful on the right. Also spends too much time diving around for fouls. Sierralta 6. Left a huge hole at the back where the 2nd goal was headed in from. Kabasele 4. Was below average. Looks scared. Gaspar 3. When you watch under 11's they sometimes can't kick the ball up from their own box into the opponent's half. Also slow and unlikely to make 2 games in a week without doing his muscles in. Sema 6. Our best outfield player. Tries. Setup a goal. Sometimes tries things he can't do. Sarr 5. Scored. Hardly did anything else. Preserving energy for the world cup. Kayembe 1. Had a mare. When he wasn't kicking it off the pitch or to Swansea he was getting caught the wrong side. Choudrey 3. One trick pony. Can tackle. Can't do anything else. Asprilla 5. Game passed him by a little but could have scored and was outmuscled. Will have some bruises to show his mates when he goes back to school in the morning. Louza 3. Was a bit off the pace. Pollock 2. **** haircut. Morris 4. More limited than Kamara at left back. Davis 4. His worst performance. Cross between an off form Heskey and an off form Benteke. Hope he comes good and isn't the immobile lump he was tonight. Bayo 2. Just head it into the net mate. Referee - 1. You've embarrassed yourself there almost as much as the Watford players. Overall I thought we did well to stick to our hierarchy of gameplan. 1 kick it off the pitch 2 if you cant kick it off the pitch kick it back to someone else to kick it off the pitch. 3 if you still cant kick it off the pitch, give it to the opponent's. 4 if you cant kick it to the opponent, kick it sideways until the opportunity arises to kick it o backwards. Or off the pitch. 5 if you have time slow it down and pass into our own half. Do not run into space ahead. There were so many moments that typified our performance. None more so than Mooney suggesting there must be a chance in the last 17 minutes to get "near their box". Not score or have a chance. But get "NEAR" their box. We were miles away from scoring apart from that farce at the end. (We handballed it, but possibly due to a foul or 2 from them? Who knows? Not the ref.).
Troost-Ekong (GK why not); Gaspar, Cathcart, Sierralta, Hause, Ngakia; Cleverley, Dele-Bashiru; Kalu, Manaj, Joao Pedro So maybe not “decent”
I'm pinning what remaining hope I have on SEJ's words in July about how he will be involved. The governance of our beloved club has been non existent in the last four plus years. Thanks Gino,for the ground,the upgrade at LC but it's time to go.
Bachmann Kamara Hause Sierralta Ngakia Louza Choudhury Sema JP Sarr Davis I think that is a very good Championship team there if we can get them all fit and firing (right-back is still the weak link), the problem is that if basically any of them get injured, the drop in quality is considerable
100% there was no difference between that and what we saw under RE. Players looked clueless, passing was a shambles, taking 3 or 4 touches to get the ball under control. Kabasele a disaster in the first 15 mins set the panic in our defence. Maybe just maybe it could be that our team is cack regardless of what coach we have in place
