Sema had loads of the ball in the first half, he tried in the second half, but he's nowhere near as effective on the right, Martins for Asprilla would have been the logical call. Not sure if Louza has staked a claim for a place back in the team, did **** all apart from the match-saving contribution
Our chances to go 2-1 up didn't fall to our striker(s) though. And the one good chance which fell to one of our strikers they actually scored from, unlike the good chances which fell to our other players.
No idea what to think of that. Thought Lewis was very good, Rajovic gave us something when he came on, Martins a show pony - although I like him.
In fairness to Ismael, I think Bayo for Rajovic was pre-arranged, Bayo had run his socks off. Rajovic is a horrible footballer, but he's finished the chances he's had for us very well, just a shame we can't combine Bayo's ability to press and get chances with Rajovic's better finishing!
How cr ap must Healey be if he's being kept out of the team by Bayo and Rajovic? A good game which we would have deservedly won had Louza and Sierrelta not fluffed their lines, but I'm beginning to enjoy watching Watford again. 18,000 crowd? My ar5e!
I definitely could have run faster (in my prime at least!), but I think we've seen more than enough from Bayo and Asprilla this season to suggest that not everyone in this squad would have taken that lol
I think today was the perfect match for summing up exactly where we are right now. We don’t have a prolific striker, so we find it hard to win matches even in which we are dominating. We remain below average on our own set pieces too. That said, we are capable of getting goals from all over the pitch. Ten different players have scored this season. We are still prone to defensive wobbles, especially from our opponent’s set pieces. Our keeper pulls off good saves but still gets beaten when maybe he shouldn’t. So you can never relax much when we are leading. We have players who have disappointed in the past but who are showing they can perform well when given a solid run of games. And we may still have the odd bad apple still left from the mass summer clear out, one who turns up late and doesn’t play with the air of a person happy to be here and to give his all for the cause. I’m sure you know who! We have a Head Coach who is fairly robotic during a match, and gives the impression of knowing exactly what he’s going to do two hours before actually doing it. BUT what he does seems to have done is have fostered a very good team spirit and a never say die attitude. Better fitness levels too I’d suggest. We’ve now scored after 80 minutes three matches in a row. So I believe today in a 90 minute timeframe we saw the best and worst about us right now. Some things to applaud, some to work on, many things that show we have moved on from last season’s disinterested disaster zone but other things that show why we are just below mid-table right now. Very much as it says on the can right now imo. A hard-working bunch of players without any real quality or hopefully not too many big egos, errors at one end but moments of quality at the other, a coach trying hard to get the best out of a limited squad but maybe one who isn’t a great thinker of the game. It’s still more fun than last season (post Christmas) though.
No. Not waiting till they're properly healed before exercising/stressing the joints/tissues to their full extent with a structured and phased increase of exertion on the damaged areas is what I think you meant in your final sentence.
Played well first half, not so well second half. Still more than deserved the win - really enjoyed watching our build up play at times today Appalling on set pieces and lucky not to concede a third thanks to Healey's Pusseto moment (will have a similar legacy at this rate) - Bachmann glued to his line as usual throughout Thought Kayembe and Ngakia were particularly good today, Livermore decent also. Rajovic took his goal well, might have looked easy but exactly the sort of one that Bayo would have shouldered or headed straight at the keeper's face
In fairness to Bayo, Rajovic is a good 4 inches taller than him, would have been a lot harder for him even with his ropy finishing!
I can’t be bothered getting into an endless back and forth and I know you don’t rate him - but you only need see the range of Healey’s finishes over the last 2-3 years to see he’s more accomplished than the 2 Ismael prefers.
Lay off the Pangalactic Gargleblasters Skyla! Plenty of ice and elevation. RICE. Best wishes The poster formerly known as IBB.
I really do not know what he was doing. I've just seen the highlights and he really should of saved that. Stuck on his line as per usual, Dracula is back.
Showed a lot of fight, played some good stuff at times but didn’t take the chances we created and let ourselves down with the set piece defending . I’m pretty sure we would have lost that last season. Good finish from Rajovic who has shown himself to be decent finisher , but not good at much else Thought Kayembe was decent and prefer him to Louza ( despite the dry decent assist from him)
I'm still hopeful for Healey, but based only on the evidence of this season, Bayo is comfortably our best option, and as VI said this week, he's pretty important for any press that we want to play. He's still not getting much quality service but keeps getting into good positions, and making his own opportunities with his workrate.
Enjoyable stuff but subs were all wrong. We have so much more energy and solidity in midfield without Louza. Quality cross from him but rest of his performance was awful, pulled out of challenges, missed a very presentable chance and game generally passed him by. No idea what Ismael was thinking on the hour - brought Martins on in a position he can't really play then had to swap him with Sema who had been our biggest threat but was totally negated on the right. Rajovic did a little better than usual in general play although the bit when we were breaking at their back four and he plodded forwards and got robbed instead of giving it to Martins was very frustrating. Louza for Kone was a massive downgrade, which I didn't think I'd be saying a few weeks ago. One of Kayembe's best displays, Kone, Lewis and Ngakia all did well too.
Entertaining game, draw was about right. We controlled more of the game but I don’t recall us creating a lot of real chances, even the first goal was a lucky ricochet. Subs killed momentum but it can’t be denied they were impactful. Healey nodding one off the line, Louza assist and Raiovic goal. And Martins stupid backheel that led to a corner they scored from - he’s a particularly thick player. Without the subs it finishes 1-1. I see Walter Mitty on Twitter is trying to turn his gormless disciples against VI but he’s doing a good job. Three games in a row where subs have assisted and scored - that’s impressive. Kayembe, Livermore and Ngakia were very good. Four unbeaten, 7 points in a week. Solid week.
T There's no way Bachmann could get to that cross, there were players in the way. The fault was with Louza who let his man go for an unopposed header.
[QUOTE="Burnsy, post: 3287741, member: 4686"]I can’t be bothered getting into an endless back and forth and I know you don’t rate him - but you only need see the range of Healey’s finishes over the last 2-3 years to see he’s more accomplished than the 2 Ismael prefers.[/QUOTE] Oh go on, it’s always entertaining. I haven’t got the paper to read this evening.
I don't know if he's an excellent finisher, but he seems quite efficient. Just seen he's had 13 shots for us, and now scored 4 goals. That seems a good ratio, is it @reids ?
I'm not sure why people are so critical of the subs. I think the momentum of the first half was never quite regained in the 2nd so I'm not convinced the subs killed that off. The Millwall second goal was against the run of play. 2 of our subs contributed to the equaliser which is a plus point as in previous matches. It's pre planned for some players to be subbed and this probably facilitates some of the high energy pressing ie. Bayo knows he's not gonna play the 90 means he can expand more energy. In Asprilla, Martins, Sema, Chalavedetze (?) we've got 4 players who can all contribute something so it makes sense to bring on a couple around 60 minutes imo to inject freshness and a new challenge for defenders. Martins didn't quite work today but it was possible he could have been a match winner. I'm less convinced by Ince which is a shame given the season he had for Reading. I wasn't at all convinced by Rajovic coming on but he scored.
Why did Sema get booked when the Millwall players contrived the gamesmanship with the second ball on the pitch for the corner? Anyway, it was a reasonable display against a team that spanked us last year. I think the team without Louza looks a lot more effective. Hopefully a January move to Udinesse is being worked on. I am not as enthusiastic about Sieralta as many on here, but I thought he performed solidly alongside Hoedt. Even Lewis grew into the game. Really though the team needs an effective number 9. Bayo works hard, but we need a better first choice. That really needs to be the focus in the January window.
First game for a while and really enjoyed the day, thought we were very unlucky. A decent striker was the difference between us. The Millwall keeper was awful, I don't know why we didn't test him more than we did. He literally sh@t himself whenever the ball came near. Ref was appalling.
The game really didn’t need the 3 subs on the hour mark. We were in control and the changes made us worse. We are so much better with Sema in the team and on the left wing. Playing him either left back or right wing restricts him. I know he scored but I’m still not sold on Rajovic. His general play is poor but at least he was in the right place at the right time to head it in. Millwall I thought were rubbish. Their game plan was get set pieces and lump it to Cooper. That being said, it worked. We should have been aware of their aerial threat.
This link gives the stats for top championship goal scorers relative to shots on goals. Show's hes not the best but is certainly up there in terms of goal conversion. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/championship/top-scorers It's too early to draw any firm conclusions about whether he is an excellent finisher.
