Watford 0-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers - 11/09/2021

But then I could just post another photo, where in comparison to your photo, he looks absolutely enormous at Newcastle, or when he signed for us, couldn’t I?

 

I mean, he's still not anywhere near that physique right now, is he; let's be honest.

As I said on the shout box, I'm 100% #TeamRose, and he needs to be starting for us, but just as there wasn't for Deeney, there isn't a genuinely acceptable reason why he is around a stone overweight as a professional footballer playing a Premier League season as a starter, and there were times today when we could see the effect of that - chugging after Semedo as he was left with a gaping free one-on-one with Bachmann just before the half, for one.

 

I thought we might get hammered today so I'm slightly relieved (in a bad way) that it was only 2. I think we're lucky we have the bottom 2 up next as those games will either give us some much needed points or compel extreme immediate changes.

My biggest question (and I'm in no way an expert on tactics) is:
1. What is our system? Is it really 4141 and if so what the fook is 4141?? Wouldn't u need to have some kind of master CDM like Kante or Makalele to make it work?? who else plays 4141 in the PL or any other top league for that matter? We seem to be playing a system that allows us to concede easily and score rarely. Surely 433, 4231 or even 343 are better options??

and also 2: Is Xisco good enough to keep this squad in the PL. This question will be answered in 1 or 2 games.

3. Will some random, unknown Pozzo managerial appointment be able to keep us up?? Seems unlikely really....

4. If Josh King hasnt scored for Watford, Everton or Bournenouth since his injury, is it a good idea to rely on him for goals?

5. Can JP playing either as a false 9 or a 10 save our season?

It's hard to pick 3 teams that will get less points than us this season but it's not impossible. I do believe we have good enough players to stay up but we have to get the tactics and management right and all the players need to step up. It's a tough league and we're not really doing ourselves justice at the moment. At the beginning of the season I thought it was 50/50 whether we'd stay up, that's looking very optimistic right now....

 

Glad you enjoyed the experience. Sorry it wasn't a better performance or result and that you didn't see a Watford goal. I think we've already used our allocation up for the rest of the year. Berlin's a great city, have a beer or 3 for all us Watford supporters.

 

I'm merely saying that he looked chunky at Spurs as well so maybe he's not as massive as everyone thinks. I'm sure he's been working hard and has now got himself in a position to start and play 90 minutes which is good news for us and him.

 

Not good.

All hope from the opening day totally snuffed out.

I feel there is the potential there to get goals, but having an entirely new midfield and attack bar one player makes us look disjointed.

Not much that you can say really. I hope Xisco can dig us out of it but today was poor not just in the performance but in the tactical execution.

The reality is that his job is already on the line, and I think ultimately it will be the easiest sacking Gino makes if it does eventually come. I think they wanted to (rightly) give him the benefit of the doubt, but this is a cruel league.

 

I can definitely see a slight bulge there. It could be Jose arousing his emotional fortitude.

 

The relegation dog fight has begun in earnest.
Massive game next week. Not just for points, but confidence.
Norwich will be feeling in a similar way.
Lose and we would seem doomed.
A Big game.

 

We need to go to 4-2-3-1. We need someone up behind the striker. Whoever's up there is far too isolated and we have no one making anything happen from midfield.

Drop Kucka, he's looked like a useless old man since Villa, sit Etebo and Sissoko deeper and put Either Cucho or Pedro behind King and see if we can actually create some chances.

 

Quite a few people are expressing the sentiment that we do have the quality of players required to stay up, and I'm not necessarily questioning that - but what's interesting in light of it, as it stands, is that it's the players in the most theoretically high-quality and abundant areas of the pitch/squad that are really misfiring/performing below expectation - our attack looks toothless and can barely fashion a clear-cut opportunity, despite the riches of Sarr, Dennis and Cucho among the rest, and similarly, our midfield, which is clearly the theoretical jewel of the squad, can't create chances and can barely link or progress the ball between defence and attack, and yet they also often find themselves bypassed with extreme ease.

As I said, these are the areas we are supposedly rich in - what happens when one of those problem areas, like, say, central defence, starts either being diminished in numbers, or in performance?

 

Wasn't a good performance, but I thought we shaded the first half, then lost the second half badly.

But, Wolves have been a side that have played well against better teams, having 25 shots at goal against Spurs, for example. They also had more attempts on goal against Man Utd and Leicester, than against us. I thought we coped quite well in defence up until the own goal, and their second was messy too - they got lucky. But our defence is relatively settled and I thought they played pretty well.

In midfield and upfront we are completely the opposite from settled, and it showed. We are probably the most unsettled team in the Division, and I believe most of the new players are an improvement on what we had and I also think we have more depth in the squad than most our "rivals" in this league. So, we just need a little time, and I think that we will see improvement over the next few weeks.

I like Sierralta, but it was a disaster of an own goal and his distribution wasn't great today. I shudder to think what this thread would have looked like if Cathcart, WTE, Ngakia, Kabasele or Masina had made the same error that effectively cost us the game. Sierralta, in contrast, gets a free ride.

 

People were strangely quite excited by our forward line at the beginning of the season. I couldn’t understand it and hopefully they will have a rethink. Cucho tries and may get a couple this season. King at least tries to hold the ball up front but again not a reliable goal scorer . As for Dennis I give up. He is a winger at best but certainly not a striker. Xisco taking king off when it was obviously Dennis that should have gone off was baffling. He really shouldn’t be anywhere near the first team. I still stick to my prediction that Xisco will be gone before the clocks back but I don’t think he has really got many tools at his disposal.

 

We need a lot of quick work to make a team. Disappointing to see how ineffectual Kucka was today and he Etebo and Sissoko were thoroughly outplayed. Sarr seems to have gone back into his shell and both Dennis and King were easily contained. We don’t seem to have decided upon a method of play.

Enjoyed the day though, even if the mental anti-vaxxers made the town centre seem even more unhinged than usual.

 

Disagree about Dennis not being up to it. Works hard, plenty of pace, goes at his man and already got a goal and an assist for us. He's also only 23 and will likely get better.

That said, today, it absolutely should have been him off instead of King. Either way though, the sub was made far too early. I literally have no idea what Xisco was thinking.

 

Oh dear, was that something that seriously happened???

 

For me, the two worst players for us today were Kucka and Sarr. Kucka didn't shy away but nothing really seemed to come off for him. Sarr frustrated me massively though. Didn't press as hard as Dennis, King or Cucho whilst not doing much on the ball today I thought either. Also sulked frequently. Not good enough and if he think that is acceptable he needs to think again. Best player talent wise in the team but I'd drop him if that carries on. We needed the front 3 pressing effectively, not 2 and a passenger.

However, this loss for me falls more on Xisco than anyone else. We were not at the races for the first 15 minutes today, and then didn't take off Kucka for Louza or Tufan and Sarr for Cucho. Would even have taken a Fletcher to give them something else to think about down the middle as were winning nothing in the air today. That first goal was a case of when, not if. Bachmann didn't stand a chance for the 2nd goal but I want another look at the first as to whether he could have come for it before it fell to Sierralta. Hard to see at the ground but otherwise I thought he played well. Edit: I think he could have done

Rose and Ngakia impressed me, especially the former. It took him a good 20 minutes to get into gear, but after a great ball with his weak foot he suddenly settled in and produced some moments of real quality. Ngakia looked good going forward and acceptable defensively, with both putting in a shift.

 

It seriously needs our owner to go to Howe and offer him a decent deal to tempt him out of his self-inflicted temporary retirement.

He’s kept a low expectations team up in the PL for 4 seasons. He’s got the best out of King. He’d hopefully get us playing some decent football and give us half a chance, although I fear the writing is already on the wall.

Norwich owe us one, law of averages, and they must be licking their lips. When you’re bottom without a point, a home match against us at the moment must feel like the ideal scenario. We might well sneak a point against Newcastle, and then we hit that run of fixtures. Getting nothing today or at Brighton has already put us behind the curve ball. This could be all over by the end of the year.

 

Fraid so. We left the pub late as the loons were amassing (about 20-30) around Market Street just before kick off.

This is a tweet from fellow nuts showing them holding up pointless signs around the ring road.

https://twitter.com/brexitlondon/status/1436728591853756418?s=21

 

It felt like a cup tie today & that we were a lower league team playing a premier league team, just trying to hold on from word go.

I’m more disappointed with the way we set out from kick off, it was very negative. It felt like a matter of time in the second half before Wolves scored, and I really felt we needed a change in the central midfield long before they got their first, Instead, Ken Sema comes on to save the day.

Worrying decisions today in my opinion, and a big one next week against Norwich. If we lose, mentally the team are going to struggle. If we win, then we’ve a great chance to build upon it against Newcastle. Could swing either way.

Well done to Wolves though, they’ve got some really good players & I think they’ll do well this season.

 

Not sure what we do collectively, really - there just doesn't seem to be any combatting aggressively entrenched wilful gullibility/stupidity.

 

Agree with this and it showed at times today, we just look so static and almost totally reliant on Sarr/Dennis to make something happen. Having said that I dont think the current system is doing us any favours, especially in midfield and would agree with Nath that 4-2-3-1 would suite us and the players we have so much better.

Taken in isolation the result today isnt necessarily a bad one, Wolves are a much better team then the start they have made previous to today would suggest. They lost to 3 teams likely to make up part of the top 6. The worry is thats now 3 league games in a row in which we not only havent scored, but also struggled to create chances.

After a slow start I thought we did alright in the first half. We defended well and while we might have had less of the ball we did cause Wolves some problems at the other end - and King really should have scored. There is certainly some promise there. The second half was only ever going to end one way and our subs actually made us even more toothless.

 

I put this in the Xisco thread, Howe negotiated with Celtic for months and it eventually broke down because he couldn’t bring the exact back room staff he wanted.

I’m all for Howe in theory, but do you genuinely believe Gino will give more concessions to him than Celtic were willing to?

 

While I agree with the sentiment and this forum, I thought Sierralta was unlucky with the own goal. Two watford players went for the ball and somehow missed it which left him totally stranded.

I thought our defence would be our achilles heel this season, but so far its whats infront of them thats the issue. I would agree with your assesment of this squad, unfortunately time is a limited commodity at this level

 

We really didn't. It was a close game. Wolves were clearly worried about their start, but they worked out how to pressure us after we took off King and the game looked increasingly like it was turning their way. They didn't look particularly good but we didn't look like we had enough up front. It's a cliche but the first goal was always going to be important.

 

That was pretty flat . At half time I thought we’d played ok as we defended quite well and limited them to very little whilst having the best chances to win it ourselves. We did start incredibly slowly and we’re second to everything , similar to Brighton though .

But the second half was a non event. We simply didn’t compete and the goals were coming .

It is a bit worrying as we neither look like we’re gonna keep many clean sheets or create a lot . Wolves are a decent side though despite their position and moved the ball really well . Although I think they may struggle for goals a bit.

trying to find some positives , I thought Ngakia grew into the game after having a torrid start vs Traore . Sissiko looked good and his passing improved as the game went on . Kujka didn’t look as good as he did in the villa game and I think Rose will improve .

I also think Sarr and Dennis will create . I think I prefer Dennis through the middle but we were ineffective when he moved there .

the next 2 matches are vital. I think 4 points would be a good return but any less than 3 and it’s bad start and we’ve dropped points against sides that we need to pick them up against .

I know many will disagree with me , but one thing also to note is I thought the number of people that walked out at 2-0 was a disgrace. We are 2 matches in to our return to the premier league and as bad as we were it was 2-0 . Must be quite demoralising for the players to watch the ground empty by about 25% with minutes still to play .

 

Anyone asking why Sierralta isn't getting the stick for his mistake that others might, ask yourself why exactly he might have more good will and leniency shown towards him? The answer is very, very obvious.

Our best centre back last season, who is still very young and who has made very few mistakes overall, versus players who have repeatedly let us down and made mistakes over and over again, whilst not showing the same level of general performance either.

 

Calling for Howe after four games is peak Watford panic.

 

No @a19tgg I don’t believe for one moment we would go for Howe or that he’d come, but I wish we would as I think an experienced PL head like his is exactly what’s needed.

I think most of dread the firing of our coach, because we then seem to usually seem to go for some totally left-field replacement.

@Moose i don’t see myself as a panicker. I’ve always rated Howe and suggested him last season too. You might also recall I was a big Xisco fan last season, occasionally one of the very few on here. But clearly he’s going to struggle to keep us up.

 

Well we only go for unemployed managers, so the more you got to the well of unemployed managers the drier it gets.

 

People have had issues with and reservations about Xisco for a lot longer than four games.

He's not a Premier League manager.

 

Need to get the tactics right to give us a fighting chance ,as 3 in midfield against a 4 was never going to work ,was hoping for a 0:0 but they finally wore us down ,next week norwich play a 4231 so would be a good start to match them to get a foothold in the game

 

Football is a game of the people. However, people are idiots.