I hate losing. I’ll never be happy or content when it happens. But there was some fight in the second half, even if it came when City stepped off the gas a bit. Joao Pedro and Cucho more than showed they have the brevity to play against these teams. I’m loath to go in too hard on Rose given his back story with mental health - maybe that’s a fault of mine. But there’s something not right - he’s not old/past it - and he’s played consistently before in games with a high level of ability…so I can’t figure out why he’s in the terrible shape he is and why the fundamentals are so sorely lacking. Either way, I don’t think he should be selected again until, as a club, they get to the bottom of it. He and WTE look mentally shot - but at least Rose comes with pedigree and known ability at this level. But I don’t want to see either of them again in a Watford shirt - Rose until he’s sorted out whatever is going on….and WTE at all. He’s just miles off PL ability and watching him chase shadows of shadows today was comical at best. It’s my first (and only) complaint about Ranieri -he keeps picking him. The fact his head is all over the place is obvious. Cathcart is Cathcart. Not up to it anymore. And the full backs just can’t string form together. It’s a huge flaw. Sissoko continues to be an incredible signing. Louza seems to go from good to poor to average on a regular basis, and Kucka really wasn’t up to it when coming on. Dennis just seemed to run of of legs which was understandable entirely. Bachmann as fantastic. King couldn’t do much more than he did really - but should have worked Ederson with his effort at the end.
Your google search history is gonna be something to behold for Mrs. Varney when she gets on your laptop.
Well only 2 goals in it the only thing I was disappointed by was in the first half particularly we gave them way too much respect and didn’t put pressure on them , in the Man U and Chelsea games once a player got the ball 3 or 4 of our team were on them , however this might have been intentional with their skill they could probably drag half of our team out of position and run down the middle. I know it’s sour grapes but Man City have to be the best example of why football needs a wage cap and transfer limits
**** me. That was worse than the cup final. Only difference was they messed up numerous chances in front of goal. Rather than castigating the poorer players in the team. I think Ranieri set us up wrong. Thats not really a dig at Claudio, for he's got us playing well, but it wasnt a game for Louza to be sitting in front of the back for on his own. Man City kept the ball at the start and we didnt press, didnt put 10 behind the ball and didnt get stuck in. Partly due to Citys quality on the ball, but ffs... Kick Grealish, barge Silva over and dont just let them have the ball. Was lucky it was only 2 at half time. 2nd half, the substitutions and change of formation helped, but they still dominated and we were lucky to "draw" it. Shame Jesus wasnt properly injured. Feigning *****. If Cathcart trips Grealish, its a penalty. But a clear trip on Dennis isn't of course. Bachman had his best ever game for us... I'm both suprised and hopeful for his future. He claimed more than one cross - ******* hell!
Joining us in January ? Maybe we can offload WTF and Rose the other way...... Would be a miracle if we did.
I don't really see how you can criticise CR for today, our least worst result against City in ages and even then, only because of individual defensive ineptitude. Claudio is the best thing that's happened to this club in 8 years and I'll stand by that if LR wants to dig this post up in 5 months.
Claudio's post-match interview is fantastic. That man has to be backed in January if Gino and Scott are serious about staying up.
I would not mind signing Billing and I said as much over the Summer, he has looked a much better player since he changed to a more attacking role IMO.
Not a bad performance considering that it was Manchester City. WTF should not play again, completely hopeless. Rose, I said in August that he was not interested in football any more and it shows. Something is not right with him and he needs help. Best of luck to him, but he does not want to play football so please leave the c!ub. Cathcart did his best, but it is clearly not good enough for the Premier league. Now can we put together a performance against the teams around us? We desperately need to show similar fight or we will fall into the bottom 3 and that will be psychologically damaging.
He's by far the best manager we have had in years. No disagreement there. He changed it in the 2nd half which backs up that it was wrong in the first half. We were continuously ripped through and passive in the first half. If we're digging into Rose then lets have the convo about being left exposed as a defensive group. Rose incidently was abysmal.
Thought he was marking two players / two bits of space simultaneously a lot of the time, given how he usually folds in tough games, thought he did really well.
Despite the results, we’ve offered a threat in all of the last 5 games. Here’s shots (on target) in each game. Arsenal - 7(1) Man Utd - 20(7) Leicester - 17(5) Chelsea - 13(6) Man City - 11(4) 68 shots in 5 games and 23 on target. There’s clearly a big difference in approach.
About as depressing as the Smiths though to be fair. I am a massive fan though, The Smiths not William.
Well that was a hard watch but the result was relatively ok . Especially considering after 3 minutes I’m sure we were all expecting a rout . We rodd our luck a bit and Bachman kept us in it, but the positive was we didn’t give up and at 3-0 and 3-1 we were still trying to get back in it. I thougt Cucho was excellent and deserved his goal and Jao Pedro had some moments of real quality . Let’s face it though we barely got near them and they were pretty ‘ press proof’ .At times defensively , we contrived to make it easier than it should have been for city though . The atmosphere was disappointingly flat in the EltonJohn stand , even at the end when we had a strong finish . I think a lot of people left early and there seemed to be quite a few city fans around. Shame as the players kept going and probably deserved a bit better .
Very encouraging. Teams that go 3-0 down to City usually end up losing by 4,5 or 6. Compare the character and effort shown today with the limp wristed Liverpool surrender to see how we're progressing under CR70. Big Sissy been outstanding since being made captain
No matter what is going on with Danny Rose privately it's very clear publicly he isn't enjoying his job, is ridiculously out of shape and out of love with football.
The camera on the pitch for the kneeling panned in that direction before kick off and it honestly looked like every other seat in the SEJ was empty.
Well that tough run of fixtures is over we are not in the bottom 3 that many thought we would be,showed plenty of encouraging signs to now push on under CR70 onwards and upwards COYH
