The problem isn't even that we have had loads of injuries, it's that if you take just one or two players out of that XI and we're in trouble, let alone 5!
I understand that but the trouble is we have too many players for whom the football is akin to the Black Death. Kabasele, TBFC, Kayembe, Hamster, sometimes Cuddley Ken. The ball bounces off them like nobody's business. So many teams in this flimsy league have so much more technical ability,more leadership AND more desire. This has been evident for far too long. This has to start from Pozzo and that gormless twerp Duxbury.
In fairness, part of this impression is thanks to the endless contract extensions for the worst shyte we can rustle up at London Colney allied with the refusal to in any way adequately reinforce the squad sufficiently - it means when these few golden boys that we're forced to live and die (so far, mostly die) by get injured, it's all the more stark, because their replacements are not fit for any kind of purpose and show it game to game, minute to minute, on the pitch. Their absences are then felt so much more keenly, and it causes even more damage to the team, shape, and tactics, because our plans are literally 'hope one of the better players magically gets the ball and does something with it' ad infinitum.
We sacked Edwards because we weren't looking like a promotion team, we had obvious issues that he wasn't mitigating, but considering those issues aren't just going to go away like that, you really do think what's the point? The Pozzos might hold on to the hope that we go up under Bilic, but are we really any more likely to go up now than 8 days ago?
The shouts of "what are you doing?" "Move it quicker" and suchlike were very noticeable. No bravery. The only time we did we scored.
Well he cannot change the squad till January at best so has to work with what he has got I guess. Most of whom seem to be injured or error prone. Wasn't even like you can say well we went 1 down and lost confidence or they scored right at the end and we had no time to react. Shots should have been raining in during that injury time to try and get a goal.
How slowly and with how little intensity we look to play/move the ball, every time, is just utterly, utterly inexplicable. It's nothing new or ingenious to be aware as a team that all the best and, indeed, successful, teams, move the ball quickly - whether that's through incisive passing or smashing it up to a target. We give the opposition nothing to think about, nothing to react to, nothing to counter, nothing to adapt to, nothing to fear, as a team. It's genuinely maddening to witness, and I don't see how it isn't a very clear symptom of a far far wider, totally embedded malaise. It's literally unacceptable.
Every time a manager is sacked, we get a player coming out saying they didn't try hard enough and suggest that tools were downed on the previous manager. I've come to the conclusion that many players aren't downing tools on the managers - they have downed them on the club, many of them a long white back. But when contracts are dished out like candy to players no one else would touch, then they are happy to stick around and down tools some more. The likes of Louza, Joao Pedro, Sarr? They need new agents. Decent ones would have had them out of here already rather than signing new deals.
It's almost as if we sign players regardless of their football ability, mentality or injury record. Do that year after year and you're left with what we're currently watching every week.
A toxic culture throughout the club. Players who are signed and traded as a piece of property, with no sense that the club invests in their long-term development. A hire-and-fire coaching set-up that means regardless of how many times you down tools, or don't pick them up, you will never receive the blame. An owner so closely connected to a dodgy agent that many of these players probably know nothing about Watford and might as well be trafficked here. And through it all, Gino Pozzo sits in silence. This club has no soul and no conscience.
The only good thing to say if that we still have Pedro to come back and Louza to play 90 mins could have made all the difference to the result.
Well that was f**king dreadful. Our problems run so much deeper than the eleven players and the one chap who picks them. Tonight just reinforced just how awful our recruitment over the last two years has been. Bang average players signed in areas that were never a priority resulting in a squad that reeks of a twelfth placed first finish. I almost feel sorry for Kabasele, he’s clearly absolutely shot to bits. The pitiful relegations over the last 3 years have left Kaba and a fair few others with scars that will only fade with a fresh start somewhere else. Bar the Chilean it probably applies to all our CBs, throw in Cleverley too and they’re past their use by date for WFC. I’d love it if Slav could realise that our players are simply not good enough to think we can play out from the back. Kaba is so uncomfortable on the ball it’s plain scary, the Chilean is hardly a quality ball playing CB and the two in front of them have a combined passing range of about 8 yards(sideways). I’d genuinely love to know who watched Kayambe and thought he’d be a good signing, technically utterly f**king dreadful. There’s nobody to link the play, nobody wants to take the ball on the turn and drive forward or play through the lines with a bit of f**king intensity. Swansea were nothing special but at least they moved the ball around with some purpose and tempo. I thought Hamza was decent tonight, he’s there to break up play, win tackles and give it simple. Unfortunately we don’t have anyone worth giving it to within five yards and we certainly don’t need Kayambe there in exactly the same role. Gaspar through no fault of his own has the potential to be one of the worst signings we’ve made recently. Who’d have thought the old man who barely played last season, would pull up with an injury trying to play a second game within 4 days. Now we don’t have a fit RB, more superb recruitment. Kourtney Hause has somehow gone from “only fit enough for the bench” to unavailable within a few days. It’s no wonder Villa were happy to let him go, he’s made of f**king glass. I doubt we bothered reading his medical history never mind actually conducting a medical. Sarr is holding out for the World Cup and a potential move off the back of it, who can blame him!? Davis looked ok, force him onto his right foot and you can’t really go wrong. First touch often seems like he’s wearing concrete boots, jury is out for me. I was knocking on double figures when I stopped counting how many silly fouls we gave away tonight. Some of our lot are really really really quite thick, no footballing nous just pure stupidity. The officials were sh*t but pale in comparison to how sh*t our club is. Absolutely rotten, Gino out.
I very rarely post. But after some 56 years of following Watford, through thick and thin, I'm getting to the point that I've simply had enough. Tonight was dire. I've seen us worse, a lot worse, but I always thought there would be an improvement. I had hope. I've finally lost that feeling of hope and fear for our future. Not sure I want to put myself through the torture anymore.
Genuinely momentarily forgot about him, it's just spectacular - he is everything we are as a club, incarnate.
Swansea weren’t great. Officials were very poor. We were utterly abysmal. Apart from a 15 minute spell in the 2nd half it was as if we hadn’t have got rid of Edwards. Slow, no press, no movement, bland depressing football. There was more movement in Madame Tussaud’s than in our team tonight, if you can call them a team. Stupid, idiotic fouls constantly made by several players all over the pitch, yes some were soft, yes some could’ve gone for us but find me a team in the world that wouldn’t say the same thing. There was signs of promise against Stoke, but I’m now firmly believing that was down to them being utter tripe than us being any good. I’m unable to make the game against them lot up the road. Initially I was devastated, now I’m quite relieved. What on earth has happened to our club.
While the performance wasn't any worse than those we'd seen under Edwards, it was in some ways more depressing as I think most of us would have taken mid-table under Rob with the potential to stabilise and perhaps build for the future (even though at times it didn't seem like we were doing anything of the sort!), I can't see it being anything other than promotion or bust for Bilic, and I don't think promotion is very likely
Well, I thought it was great! Not the actual football (if you could call that pathetic excuse of a display 'football'). That was utterly abysmal. No, what is great is that I won't be throwing money away watching this team for a long time and will use it to buy candles to huddle the family around during the financial crisis / power cuts this winter. Maybe even buy an extra orange and a walnut for the kids' Christmas presents! Fantastic! Glad to see the ref came out in sympathy and was trying to outdo us in terms of total ineptitude. A 10-15 delay because their communications system wasn't working?! Wtf! What's wrong with a flag and a whistle, as the chant suggested? How the **** refs & linos manage to officiate Sunday league matches up and down the country every week without earpieces & mikes beats me!
That was an anger inducing performance last night. Our defence is comical. Both goals resulted from fourth tier schoolboy league football errors. The lack of effort and planning for the free header from the free kick is just unacceptable for professional players. Our midfield simply cannot keep control of a game nor do they have the ability to create chances for our attackers. Swansea played with more composure and passion. Our tactic appears to be for us to pass it back and fourth amongst the back five, before hoofing it and coughing up possession. Kamara playing in the right never works. A terribly frustrating evening for hornets fans, but we are getting used to it by now.
I was going to post something like: or But that would be unfair as I switched-off after the equaliser went in , so I didn't see the entire farce match.
Last night was as bad as anything under Edwards. We seemed flat all night. There was no energy. Seemed like the game at Stoke took it out of them. I've watched back the highlights and we were a bit fortunate with the disallowed Swansea goal. It looked marginal at best. Their first goal came because we kept backing off. No one went to the man with the ball. So he had a pot-shot and it deflected in. Having said that, the deflection took the pace off a little which should have allowed Bachmann to make the save. I was disappointed he didn't get to that. The second goal was just dreadful. A routine cross and no one marked the scorer. Such basic defending. If the cross is good, we'll concede every time. Kayembe didn't track his runner and Pollock was marking no one, just standing in space. Space won't score a goal. Had Sierralta been on the pitch I doubt that would have occurred. So many injuries now. This is a big worry. We don't have a right back. Ngakia was struggling with injury all pre-season. All the club did was sign an aging right back and no other contingency. Gaspar is now injured. So, we're back to having to play Kamara in an unnatural position and are forced to play an U23 player in Morris. To end the game with Morris and Pollock on the pitch is a reflection of poor recruitment. Nothing against these guys, but when you're chasing promotion, unless they are exceptional (which they're not) then they shouldn't be used like this. No anti-Gino protest, but the way the game went frustration probably wouldn't have crept in until right at the very end. I did hear a bit of booing the team in the first half though when the score was 0-0 and the CB's were constantly playing across the backline. Fans showed frustration then but it was an isolated incident. The stop-start nature killed the game as an event. Tim Robinson was appalling in his handling of the match. Just far too whistle happy and unsure of everything. Not sure what happened at the very end of the game. I thought we'd scored, the ref signalled a goal, then had a chat to his assistant for another couple of minutes before deciding to disallow it. I even recorded the game on Sky so tried to watch it back, but of course it stops recording after the Swansea goal on 98 minutes. A fitting end to a pile of dung of an evening.
A good summary and assessment. Bilic (from my recollection) was a no nonsense CB, so at least he might get some defensive solidity in place, but we are lacking in midfield. Not hopeful after last night.
That was a horrible performance and frankly it defies logic to see a team sweep past Stoke 4-0 away on Sunday and then come back home just 3 days later and default to low-confidence dysfunctional attempts at looking like a coherent football team. Not that there was anything new in that - it was the same brand of football as under Edwards (no surprise given how little time Billic has had to influence things). I don't think I've seen as much under hit passes by one side as we pulled off last night. Swansea were poor opposition too. They deserved to beat us but they're the Jurado of Championship sides - neat and tidy and inoffensive but no obvious outlet. I'm struggling to see where we go from here. We have a chunk of the squad that are clearly completely shell-shocked by the constant thrashings they took last season and have been left as shadows of the players they once were. Bachmann spilling easy shots and can no longer kick accurately, Kabasele unable to control or pass a football, Sierralta looks like a lumbering waste of space, Kayembe who can't pass, do anything other than on his left and is unable to drive forward or cover effectively at the back and Sarr who is happy with providing only fleeting glimpses of his ability. All need to move on but obviously can't for now. I'm also concerned about Davis, who admittedly made a great run to trigger the move for our goal last night but otherwise looks about half the target man / striker Deeney was in his Championship pomp. Some of his positioning is woeful and for a big man he doesn't win a lot outright in the air. And he's not a leader. Asprilla will be a lovely player when he matures but clearly shouldn't be starting Championship games. He just doesn't offer enough and frankly with the two non-footballers next to him he's being asked to do too much. I imagine him starting is just an injury thing and as soon as Louza is fully fit he'll be back on the bench. @hornetboy1 mentioned the booing (which I think happened around the 28th minute). I thought the Rookery was pretty patient waiting that long all told. The constant recycling of the ball back to the centre backs / goalkeeper and then inevitably not getting out of our own half or giving away a dangerous freekick was dire. It happens to every team once or twice a match but we somehow pulled it off into double figures inside half an hour against an opponent that really wasn't pressing that hard. Billic looked furious on the touchline. And although the goal soon afterwards nipped the dissent in the bud, the patterns of play that caused it continued. It's brainless but sadly we've seen that sort of low football IQ stuff for the best part of 2 seasons now.
