I would have done the same! I don't think, in hindsight, we were in any real danger the whole game. It was just nerve wrecking because of our habit of throwing the rare leads we had away last season. I think the fact that Sheffield United were in a Brentford looking kit made my nerves even worse. I'm just glad WTE didn't come on!
I think a number of fans are getting carried away after a 1-0 win over a disjointed Sheff Utd side. They hardly threatened the Watford goal. Now, l am reading "champions elect" "promotion certainties ". Come on, wise up. Watford are openly touting the sale of Sarr and Dennis. It's a case of who will blink first. If they were to stay, then we have a good chance of doing well. Their pace and direct place frightens teams. If they go, then we may become one paced/stale upfront and teams will deal with this easily. A mid table finish is possible. I thought Cathcart was poor, but had no one attacking him so he got away with it. Kabasele was aggressive and up for a game. Not sure how hornetboy1 thought he had a bad game. Francisco dominated the back line most of the time. We all know that our midfield is weak. Cleverley looked knackered after 25 mins, Kayembe is not the answer, a spoiler maybe, but not a passer of the ball. Upfront we are a threat, but the season could be based on who stays and who goes. To top it all, Bachmann actually came out and caught a ball. Yes, it happened, check your lottery tickets now.
Missed the majority of the game on a flight back to Houston, but managed to catch the last 15 minutes or so. First thing I see is Kabasele slicing it down the line, to a Sheff Utd defender, who took a shocking touch that broke to Clev, who in typical fashion overhit a pass to Sarr, who in turn couldn’t control it. Then Bachmann slices a simple pass to Kabasele out of play and it felt like business as usual. Disappointed by our lack of control at the end, as we didn’t seem capable of holding onto the ball to run time down. Lots of aimless hoofs forward that didn’t really give out attacking players any chance to hold the ball up and get us upfield. Hopefully Louza coming back will improve our ability to progress the ball through midfield, especially in tight situations. JP looked noticeably bulkier. I think this might be the year he really breaks through and starts hitting the net consistently. Good to break the losing streak. Time to build on this now.
Thanks, I also have no interest in arguing about our astronomical debt and the scum who built it up and profited immensely from it. Anyone who defends our debt or those who created it are enemies of WFC plain and simple.
Dennis is a better player than Sarr, especially in the Prem. But championship defences can't handle peak Sarr. They just can't.
I thought that was one of Kabaseles best performances in a Watford shirt and he has had a few. I thought the much maligned Sema was also good last night and that Joao Pedro and Dennis were at times unplayable. Sarr looked as he had for much of his time with us which was ineffective, but then took the game away from our opponents with an excellent pass for the assist. He has the ability to do that and whilst being frustrating at times is an excellent option for us.
For me, there were too many opportunities where we could have brought the ball down and kept possession, but elected to head or spoon the ball forward aimlessly. As we’d started to drop deeper, the gap between midfield and our forwards was too big, and the ball kept on coming back at us. Not that they really created many chances, but I think with more composure at the back and in midfield, we’d have been able to keep the ball for longer spells and spend more time defending higher up the pitch. As I said, hopefully with Louza coming back, our ability to progress the ball through midfield will improve, and we’ll do a better job of holding onto the ball to see the game out.
I genuinely forgot what a home win feeling was. November. Bloody November was our last win. Thoughts on our team: Bachmann - Played well overall. Held a regulation shot and one that took a deflection midway through that could have fooled others. One acrobatic save that was tipped over well. It is incredible that we accepted Foster's inability to kick a ball for most of last Season given, one pass aside, Bachmann did well distributing it. He took unchallenged crosses well with a good degree of handling but there was one corner in the 2nd half I felt he could have come for, didn't and was on his line when the shot was eventually blocked and cleared. We won't get punished for that as frequently at this level. A very solid display overall. Cathcart - It says a lot he's our most suitable LCB option currently. Unlike others, at least he can use his left foot for simple passes and clearances but it's clear we are hamstrung getting faster attacks and fluent play down our left side with nobody able to pass down the flank reliably. We need an upgrade there but produced a decent showing in a non-natural position in the back 3. Sierralta - Pretty much what you expect from him. Dominant in the air, OK on the floor and didn't do much more. Back 3 suits him so much more than the back 4 we used last time around and it showed. Cements his position there for sure. Kabasele - Thought he had a very good game, brightest of the back 3 overall. Him and Kamara seemed to cover each other well when the other made an error and lead by example to try and bail out others when an error was made. I think every player in midfield and defence had an example of this which is hugely encouraging and shows meaningful buy in from Edwards' philosophy. Kamara - Definitely weakened playing out of position but can't say he didn't work for the team and played a role in the goal itself. Did a lot of running to help the defence but wasn't his best display I've seen from him. Need RWB sorted so we can get best from him as waste of his ability. Sema - Thought he actually had a pretty damn good game at LWB. We know his failings at PL level but at this level he could use his typical method of out muscle and use his only foot to create chances to good effect like the Pedro header. Worked back as expected. Would actually say one of best players on pitch that weren't named either Dennis or Pedro. Kayembe - Was involved in a lot of our good passages of play in the 1st half by trying to keep it on the floor and offering a passing option. 2nd half showed more of a defensive side like against Soton with some important screening and interceptions. He'll play an important role this Season despite the fact he turns like Prodl did. Keep him on left side on the pitch and make sure he's already pointed where he should be looking at, then he's fine. Cleverley - Definitely looked a step behind play to me exacerbated by being outnumbered 2 - 3 in midfield which was always a losing battle whoever was there. Corralled the team and encouraged with his work rate and commitment which I think is undervalued but we cannot rely on this for a whole Season. He'll have his place though. Sarr - The quietest of the front 3, couldn't take an early chance made by Dennis and seemed to struggle in the 1st half to make an impression. 2nd half he got into it more and provided the assist to get our Season going. Seen better from him but seen a hell of a lot worse so will take it. Dennis - MotM for me. Absolutely harried and harassed them whilst a clear step above the others on the pitch bar Pedro after he got going. Made defensive and offensive runs all game while terrorising the opposition with guile and pace. We won't keep him come window end but boy is he a joy to watch when firing on all cylinders. Pedro - Quiet 1st half overall but after that series of 4 bad calls in a minute involving him being fouled, kicking the oppo player and getting booked and then fouled again with the oppo not being booked seemed to spark him into life. Angry Pedro = Best Pedro. Physically, looked more robust but need more of that Pedro playing with some edge. Really happy to see the team work for each other all game. We did seem to lose our heads at one point midway in the 2nd half but recomposed and saw it out without much fuss thereafter. It's a long Season and one game isn't going to have a big bearing now, but the signs seem to point to a team who, as it stands, are up for it. What a stark contract to last Season, eh?
Probably guilty of not being expansive enough, but he consistently was above 85% pass competition last season. Completed nearly 90% of his passes last night as well. You would expect as a bare minimum a central midfielder can pass the ball, but I've seen plenty (including his midfield partner) that can't do this consistently
Just say you disagree. That's fine. It's my opinion of his performance on the night......and that doesn't mean I have a biased opinion of him.....I like him actually. I thought he was poor and by far the worst defender. I don't need to look of other people's score ratings. The one you have posted puts him higher than Pedro and MotM, so I wouldn't really consider that a very lucid judgement. I'm just going on my own personal view. He was shaky with the ball at his feet and made a lot of mistakes.
Nice to come on here and see mostly positive posts for a change! Many people see the game differently to others as proved by @hornetboy1 saying Kabasele being awful. Not arguing with you but I thought he was excellent, in fact the back three limited Sheff Utd to very few opportunities. I thought we controlled the game for the most part and the front three were a constant menace especially Dennis in the first half. Cleve for my part struggled at the start but did improve towards the end and Kayembe did ok. It is definitely our weakness though especially when playing only two in there. I would have had Gosling on earlier Nice to be back, nice to win, a decent atmosphere and in fact only one real complaint. Onlt tow bar staff at West Herts Cricket Club meant you probably had to wait an hour to get a beer! Onwards and upwards. It's only one game but plenty of positives and if we keep Dennis, Sarr and Pedro we will go up and will score a lot of goals
I am not sure that you were watching the same match as the rest of us. The game last night at Vicarage Road?
3 of them were promotion material literally 2 years ago, and the other is a similar level to Chalobah/Gosling/Sanchez, who were also promotion material.
Thats interesting. Stoke are a bigger club than us but we are clearly bigger than Muff and Rovers. So that would still mean we have the 3rd biggest debt for a club our size or smaller in world sport!!!! Any Watford fan who doesn't find this terrifying is quite frankly living in lala land. Gino has increased our debt by a factor of 10 in 10 years and we can only speculate how much of that debt is now happily nestling in his offshore bank accounts via these dodgy looking transactions.
Again, just say you disagree. You say "us" as if you represent the entire view of the fanbase, just stick to your own opinion. I know a lot of people were saying he was poor, in and around me also during the game.
Not surprised by those stats, he was brilliant last night and many others around me seemed to think the same.
Don’t really think Stoke are a bigger club. And those three are not the only clubs in world sport, they’re three in our division. If I delved deeper I could find other clubs similarly marooned in debt. Doesn’t mean it’s a good thing or that we’re well run but this is not far outside the norm for riskily run sports teams and football teams more specifically.
Bournemouth and Fulham are comparable size to us. And bigger debt. Whatever happened to them last time they were in the Championship?
Well, we disagree. Read the posts, all of them. You are not 'burnsy' in disguise? For once, l thought Watford did OK and ok was enough to beat Sheff Utd.
I expect you would have appreciated the time when SU 5ft7 player dominated him at a corner so much that Bachmann was about 2 ft behind his line when the ball was struck.
You keep changing everything back to our owner, his DOF and his main agent, the post was about the back 6 that played last night. I'll go back to the actual subject, if you wanna rant about the owner etc again, crack on, it's not relevant in the aftermath of one game and people commenting on the performance. This is the Championship not La Liga. I think our back six from last night with their 120 collective caps will be more than competent in this League. Half were part of the defence that 2 years ago, kept 23 clean sheets and conceded only 30 goals in 46 games. Though they will be woeful inadequate if we go up, same as the last time. But worry about that in May if need be. Rotherham got a draw with Swansea on Saturday with a back six aswell, one has one cap for Jamaica, and about the most you could say about the others is one has played over 100 times for QPR. All about perspective and as S-h-ite as they may be a level up they'll be more than adequate for this level.
I took your oriognal post to be a 'be grateful for our owners rescuing us from the likes of Wayne Brown.' Apologies if i misunderstood. Our ***** is adequate for mid table at this level, for sure, but unless we have a mid table premier league strike force to bale us out, I'm not sure they are close to promotion material. It's a game of opinions and my opinion is that Catchart, Kabasele, Sema, Cleverley etc. Are middling championship standard and lage the quality to sustain a promotion push if we sell Dennis and Sarr. We shall probably see who is correct.
Would we have won the game without Dennis on the pitch? Would Sarr have got his assist? If both Sarr and Dennis stay are you saying you think Sarr will get more goals and assists this season?
You are buying into Scot's strategy and narrative of deceiving the fans by trying to normalize our extreme debt crisis. You claim we are 'not far outside the norm' while at the same time admitting 21 of the 24 other championship clubs have less debt than us! Many of them are bigger clubs too. We only have about 30,000 active fans. We're a tiny club with a premier league debt and we need to be honest about this and instead of burying our heads in the sand we must at the very least insist all debt is removed from the stadium immediately. You are basically doing Scott and Gino's dirty work tor them with your misleading comments. If you believe you can find other clubs our size or smaller facing a similar financial armageddon please tell me who they are, Im all ears.....
