Kucka was a constant threat carrying the ball out of defence and up the pitch, especially when we broke. Once that was removed, they could impose themselves on us more heavily, combined with the caution-to-the-wind desperation they were feeling being multiple goals down. Hopefully, given some of the stats layouts I have seen on Twitter, Louza might be able to replace/work in tandem with him on that when he comes in and negate the absolute vacuum of that effect that occurs when Gosling comes in as a sub.
I’m sure I even heard him shouting loudly before claiming the ball near the end of the game on my dodgy river. He’s obviously been stung by @LaClusazSki’s criticism.
What an afternoon. Crawled round the M25 so slowly (why was traffic so bad today?) that it took me two and a half hours to get to Vicarage Road and my sister and I didn’t have time for our usual pre-match lunch and coffee so had to make do with a sausage roll and water at the ground. I worried that this was a bad omen. How wrong I was. Not only was the match itself a welcome surprise (despite the very watfordy wobble at the end to ensure we didn’t get too comfortable) and not only did I finally get to see 3 Watford goals, after seeing none for the whole of our last season in the Premiership, but also the whole afternoon was very moving. There were several points when my sunglasses had to make a hasty appearance - from the montage of fans who had passed away since we were all at Vicarage Road together last, to the NHS walk around and lastly the various Graham Taylor tributes. And to top it all, the sun was shining, the atmosphere was great and everyone just seemed so happy to be there. I know it won’t always be this way and that this season will probably be a hard slog. But never mind about that for now. This evening, let’s just savour what a great afternoon today was.
I know it won’t happen but next summer when we lose a pre season friendly that is completely meaningless let’s try to remember that it is exactly that, meaningless. When the team is announced for a league game, view concerns if you have them, I think we all did today, but maybe the end is nigh style posts or phrases like state of this club are slightly over the top! I must admit to being a little nervous when I saw the line up but years of being wrong means I just wait and see what happens. Top draw performance by everybody especially those that have taken a lot of stick on here, Clevs, Cathcart and Sema. All 3 put in a really good shift and although they may not be everybody’s cup of tea, we do need grafters as well as the Sarrs of this world. Today looked like they will be valuable members of the squad. Kucka looks like somebody that has played at a higher level and looks like he’ll ***kin murder ya. The result and performance were fantastic but being back in the ground, the atmosphere, the beers before hand at West Herts Cricket Club was the best thing. I’ve really missed it. Great to see you all!
It was jumping. I can’t rennet the last time Z Cars was drowned out by the noise. Villa’s fan were silent.
Dennis also comes across pretty louche/cool/a character in his postgame interview: https://twitter.com/WatfordFC/status/1426604784476360704?s=20 In all my doubting his ability to ever make any kind of impact, I think his addition to our handsome lads committee was unfortunately overlooked - we are still somewhat lacking, so his is a welcome one.
delighted, a fantastic 3 points to start Everyone played well and looked comfortable with the system. Kucka & Etebo were outstanding, If we are going to play that tempo, then we are going to improve our fitness, we looked knackered in the last 15 minutes 3 points is exactly what we needed, 10 more wins or 27 points to go !
I don't fault Gosling's commitment I don't think he has that edge in quality to match Kucka and Etebo. Louza may be better playing off the front but he also gets stuck in. I'm sure he will get his chance especially against sides that will sit. He will be needed to unlock those tighter compact defences.
Bachmann did look very assured indeed today, how much of that is because he's got more assertive (and he certainly has since his debut for us!), and how much because Villa's crossing into the box wasn't as dangerous as someone like Derby last season, I'm not sure
They are still building fitness. We have that performance expert from Spain working with the squad so unlike the shambles we were in Javi's second season the fitness will be exemplary. @reids has the statistics on how many goals are conceded minute by minute but I expect quite a few are down to tiredness, teams having to force a result. We seem to be carrying on in one regard as in the Championship by starting with an aggressive press and scoring early.
Cleverley pleasantly surprised me today, although Gosling looks like he's lost a step since his prime. Louza might have a challenge to get in the side, although the good thing from him is that he's versatile
Also, refs are subjected to dogs abuse when they’re bad so I think it’s only fair to add that I think Mike Dean was superb today.
Would be great just to get one of those three. Rodon perhaps being forced out the picture by the arrival of Romero.
Agreed. Although I think Mings yet again got away with one early challenge before knocking over Cathcart.
I imagine like the rest of us you enjoyed 2018/19 quite a bit despite the late collapse, the first half of 2015/16 and the Arsenal cup game from the same season, and of course the near miss of 2012/13 and 2014/15. But yes, if you were to do a compilation of highlights from our five Prem seasons before relegation, it wouldn't be very long and the overwhelming majority of it would come from the first halves of them. It will be great to stay up by whatever means, but hopefully it won't be a crawl to the finishing line and there are plenty of games we can enjoy after Xmas.
Would absolutely love this guy at the Vic. Exactly what's needed. Couldn't fault the effort from everyone, but looked poorer after Kucka left the pitch. Dennis, Sarr, Cucho, Etebo, Kucka were an absolute joy to watch long may it last.
I like your positivity, but I'd say your prediction of 9th is pretty bold rather than bad! I'm one of the more optimistic fans but I'll be delighted if we just stay up, something we've only managed to do four times in this division in the last 34 years (and it wasn't even close on three other occasions).
Yes, when it goes against the majority, with a large proportion thinking we will go down, then it could be seen as bold. But I think our squad, and the spirit in the club is chalk and cheese compared with 2018/19. We are better all round.
I had a feeling we'd cause Villa a lot of problems and expected us to win today, however, I did not think we'd destroy them. The first half was as dominant and as satisfying as I can remember in recent memory. 2-0 flattered Villa, and Target couldn't come on after half time as the medical staff couldn't get the knots out of his legs in time. Sarr was unplayable in that first 45 minutes. What a joy. Dennis full of tricks and really impressed me. Cucho is every bit the star I expected him to be and that goal he scored today.....get used to it folks.......the guy is brillaint (ok I'm biased...but he is). Second half was always going to be a bit of a different game as Villa had strips torn off them, but they created next to nothing. The McGinn goal was their first shot and it was just a great finish out of the blue. They continued to do nothing until those final few minutes, when Watford tend to get nervous and wobbly. Villa were close to getting another penalty after the one they scored from which would have been very damaging to morale had we thrown this game away. But we didn't we got a richly deserved victory and Villa got a respectful scoreline which they must be grateful for. It wasn't perfect for 90 minutes though. I thought a couple of the substitutions weakened us. The drop off with Gosling for my MotM Kucka was too great. My assessment before today was we need another midfielder of equal quality to replace Hughes and we need another central defender as we played three of them today, so it would be crazy to think we don't need someone else in. Overall, a brilliant start to the season. Vital to get points at home, as this will be key to staying up. We have enough quality to stay up, I've always felt this, but we do need a couple more additions just to make the task a little more likely.
Lots of compliments for us on at AV forum like:- Personally I think we've had a very disruptive pre-season and it really showed today. The Gresford saga dragging on - Terry leaving - ROK leaving - Friendlies cancelled - Bailey in the door late - Watkins injured. Not making excuses but I think we are 2-3 games behind where we need to be. At least Deano took Targett off at H/T when he was clearly having a mare but part of it down to having no protection down that side against a very good Sarr. Not hitting the panic button just yet but Watford won't be in the bottom 3 and we won't be in the top 7-8 on this showing.
Something I think really helped us today was Bachmann's ability to play measured balls when finding a player. He rarely took a long punt but aimed for a fullback or kept It short when possible which massively helps reduce the pressure on our players to win it back. Giving away possession cheaply is a death sentence and this is an under rated value. His handling is also of a very, very high standard. Foster, although not helped by tactics employed previously is not good enough in the Premier League for this reason as he cannot play a decent pass, especially under pressure (In a league where this is common place) which in turn puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on the team to reclaim it when he inevitably punted it forward because he either couldn't see or wasn't able to execute accurate passes under pressure. Going long with Dennis etc would not end well. I do think Foster is a marginally better shot stopper and a marginally better cross claimer but this gap has been reduced by Bachmann's progression with his game time. Today Bachmann, although I think he could have been more dominant in one or two moments stepped up when needed and took crosses well. He's the first "Modern" goalkeeper I think we've had whereas Gomes, Foster, Loach etc were of the more old school approach which stands out a lot more in the modern game.
