A back three of Cathcart, Sierralta and Hause would be alright. Cathcart isn't terrible with the ball but being on his left just isn't helping us at one bit. I'd back him to pick passes better than Kabasele on the right.
Think we need 2 of the 3 to be capable ball players and comfortable moving forward, which none of them are. Kabasele looked lost today and passed backwards nearly every time he approach the halfway line.
Odd game. Was in the away end so kept a keen eye on Asprilla throughout. Thought he was bright and intelligent when he got the ball and was often keen to lay it off to a teammate (a great way to build trust and to get passed to in the first place) but one thing I noticed was this only really happened in transitions when we won the ball quickly - when we had the ball in a good period of possession he didn't look comfortable in trying to find space for himself (first half especially) and took up a lot of positions where nobody was ever gonna pass to him. Think it'll open his eyes as to how tight players get to you in the Champ, a far cry away from games in Colombia where there seems to be a lot more space on offer. But an encouraging start nonetheless. Gaspar really lacks the legs to play wingback, at least 3 times he failed to continue his run and was played in which broke down our attack. Was fantastic defensively and when he did receive the ball though. Don't remember Deeney touching the ball other than beating Asprilla in the air which isn't much to shout home about. Pretty sure Kabasele won every single corner we played in, the decision to take a short corner in the 80th odd minute was stupid considering that. Get it in the mixer! Another poor quality game though, although at least we dominated a bit more and felt we were unlucky not to come away with the win.
Hause I don't think is the best ball-player, but surely having a natural left-footer would be better than Cathcart. As for the right side, Stephens is a better ball-player than anyone we have at the moment, although I think the question mark is his heading ability, Kabasele for all his faults isn't bad in that regard
I disagree with this. I thought Kabs played really well. Very solid defensively and completed lots of well-placed passes forward. I like Gaspar a lot. Very unlucky not to score, with the clearance off the line. Excellent defensively too and seems an intelligent and classy footballer. This year's POTS if he stays fit.
Can’t really add much to what’s been said. But I will say that normally I like to give players a while - I’ll give Gaspar time as there’s obvious quality, but he just has to tailor what he can and can’t do. But what he can do, he’s great at. …but Bayo and Kayembe just looks like utter, utter duds to me. Can’t see how we go up if they get regular game time. Financially weakened with few alternatives or not - I fail to believe there isn’t better than them affordable and attainable.
It was alright, although you can certainly see the drop off in quality from the opposition compared to our first three games. Not that Birmingham where bad, they set up pretty well and didn't exactly fluke a draw against us by any means. The signs are there that we can move the ball with a lot of fluidity, however there is a lot of room for improvement. £5m for Bayo - it's almost as if there was an overinflated value put on a player to the benefit of someone. Poor bugger, not his fault. Should have scored in the first half. Frustrating night for JP. He could have won it, and a few passes didn't come off when we could have gone onto score. Still, he's an absolute joy to watch.
So it’s a routine point away at an average Championship side. Pleased Deeney didn’t score but he did influence their goal with a quick throw in. I thought we played within ourselves, but considering we were without Sarr, Kamara, Clevs and getting used to life without Dennis we did well. Controlled the game for most parts but we’re wasteful although unlucky with the post and shot cleared off the line. Could have lost it with the last kick though, so all in all I can’t complain with a point. I thought Gaspar was better than his debut and I hope he grows into the role. He’s no Kiko, but he can be an effective replacement by using his intelligence on the pitch. Sadly Bayo looks as poor as most of us thought he’d be. Should have scored with an easy header then the rest of the game spent chasing shadows. £5m poorly invested, although I just can’t get away from the dodgy dealing thought over that particular transfer. Made no sense at the time and still doesn’t. Thought Bachmann was back to his bad self. Made a couple of really poor choices, especially coming for a ball Sierralta had totally under control. Bad with the ball at his feet too. Mixed bag with Sierralta. Had some iffy moments as well as good. Probably his least assured performance of the season. Pedro worked hard and was in total control in the early stages of the game but cut a frustrated figure at the end making some erratic passes and finishing. Sema was good tonight and is putting together some very decent performances. Not perfect, but was one of our better players. Asprilla can be very proud of his first start in a Watford shirt. Was a bit of a passenger at times, but gave a lot of promise too when on the ball. Once he gets to grip with things I can see only good things for him. Manaj had an impact from the bench and got a touch for the goal. A good cameo from him. Everyone else was a 6 out of 10 I’d say. Take a point and move on to the next.
Yes, the verb to of, how can any intelligent human being think that this could possibly be grammatically correct. I can understand why the error occurs, could've sounds like could of, but the apostrophe indicates the missing ha. No body, for example says "I of been shopping" but they are quite happy to say "I could of been shopping".
100% in agreement. The co-commentator was so painfully biased and unable or unwilling to be close to objective, that I had to turn the sound down.
It should be. Pedro plays #10 and Chalobah/Beckenbaur type player slots into the 3 without the ball. They then have 2 CBs alongside and we have a ball player at quarterback. Also think Dwight Gayle or Tommy Mooney in that 1 season, or Steve Palmer who could easily do both CB and CDM. Anyway, we're wasting a player by putting in 3 CBs so was just thinking outside the box
Only saw the second half, but I felt like there were some fleeting glimpses of some repeatable patterns of play, working the ball through Choudhury, and occasionally Kayembe, out to Gaspar who had the quality to thread it through to JP or Asprilla. Sadly, we’re going to be limited until we have at least one, but preferably two, central defenders who can carry the ball into space and pick a forward pass consistently. If we can add that, I could see us really starting to control games much more effectively. Given what I’ve seen of Davis, I think he’ll link up really well with JP. If one of those could really pick up the scoring mantle, we might be capable of putting together a really decent season. Oh, and I’m not sure why, but I really like Manaj. I’m not sure he’s particularly good, but I like how he puts himself about and gets involved in things. I reckon he’ll be a useful option this season.
Don't really understand the Kayembe hate. Won most of his tackles and passed the ball around pretty much perfectly. If anything I think he's really gaining in confidence in that role, and looks a solid base alongside Hamza.
Simple fix for last night was a different right wing back. The one time Gaspar made an overlap we scored. He'll be excellent as one of the 3 at the back, much like Cassetti, but out wide he's either ultra cautious or just isn't capable. Bayo I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt, however for his size he got absolutely dominated by Sanderson. Joao was terrible. Had one of those games where he attempted all the most complicated skills in his repertoire and none of them came off.
They did. and oddly they also shouted “your just a **** Crystal Palace”. Also “Premier League you’re having a laugh”
He’s just incredibly ordinary at this level yet laughably was signed for the PL. He doesn’t seem to have the engine to get from box to box and he’s so one-footed it literally dictates his whole game and which passes he makes, even if it costs the team momentum or means not passing to a teammate in space. And while you’re right last night most of his passes were completed, he lacks vision and so a lot of them were short recycled passes back into a centre back or wing back. A couple of the long passes he tried sailed straight into touch. He’s Championship squad filler at the very best. If he was playing for someone else he wouldn’t stand out.
The issue with Bayo is he’s really only a £1m player, signed for £5m. It’s not his fault but a £1m player signed from Belgium, 9 times out of 10 is going to be rubbish, it’s just common sense.
Totally agree. If Sarr leaves and we play 3 at the back Gaspar should be RCB and only RWB if we're trying not to concede towards the end of a game. A rapid RWB makes a huge difference with 3 at the back but if Sarr stays its not such a big problem.
I think If he 28 and playing like he does then I'd agree. Reckon he's got the potential to be a good player for us
Unbeaten in 4. We need to be patient. Give it time. Thought it was a good move to put Asprilla in to a tough game like that. He needs to learn quickly what this league is about. It’s all a bit square pegs in round holes but we knew that would be the case. Don’t think Sarr would have made a difference. He would have been choked for space and got frustrated. On the plus side, doubt Newcastle will up their offer for Pedro.
It would be nice to think Pozzbury have worked out some kind of formula for getting promoted from the Championship. If keeping it tight as a gnat's chuff for the first 10 games is Part 1 of that formula that's fine by me.
Yep, I had to suffer through that too. The co-commentator was ex Brum Darren Purse and it was like listening to Danny Dyer have a conversation with a Shelby brother https://twitter.com/bcfc/status/1559474167229071361?s=21&t=SQiklclAAu38-28A0QV-NA
I’m not sure how that theory holds up to scrutiny when that’s exactly what Ivic did and then got sacked. Unless the strategy involves having at least two managers a season.
If we had signed him on a free or up to 1m I'd be saying, he's a potentially useful option at this level but should he jettisoned if we go up. For 5m it stinks. It absolutely stinks. There's something rotten in the state of SW Herts.
That’s the sort of player we should be buying. Someone who’s value is going to appreciate at that sort of rate. Will be rated at £20m by the end of the season. Good business.
Interesting game, if not particularly entertaining. I think it was telling how a Birmingham team - at home - set up to defend deep and try and catch us on the break. It tells us how they view our quality. And we still could have, arguably should have, won it. Hopefully we’ll learn how best to break down these teams as the season goes on. It certainly wasn’t something we faced last season! A settled team will help that. So far my start count reads: 4 - Bachmann, Sierralta, Cathcart, Pedro, Kayembe, Sema (3 x LWB, 1 x LW); 3 - Kabasele, Cleverley, Kamara (2 x RWB, 1 x LWB), Sarr; 2 - Gaspar, Choudhury, Dennis. That’s a reasonably settled central defence but quite a bit of churn in the midfield and up front. When you are also learning a new system(s), that will inevitably lead to disjointed performances. Taking all that into account, we’re doing OK so far, not least compared to the other two relegated sides. If we can land on a reasonably settled side soon, I have optimism. One last thing - I don’t think it has been mentioned anywhere on the forum. How much did we pay for Bayo?
