In fairness, we are starting to score more goals away from home under Xisco, 3 against Blackburn the other day, and not too many blanks these days
Is Ngakia really a better defender than Kiko? Kiko sometimes gets caught upfield, but Ngakia's positioning is often iffy.
Under Xisco we've only failed to score in 3 away league games, two of those were 0-0 and the other was against the Tom Daley XI.
The CC fans are not impressed that Stroud is the ref. Is he any more of a nincompoop than the others?
Since Xisco took over Watford, Swansea & Brentford have all averaged 2 points a game, in fact Watford are best at 2.16 ppg so we have caught ever so slightly but it's coming down to guts and courage as well as skill. Whoever keeps their nerve will get that 2nd place.
I like Bachmann and would generally be happy to retain him as the Number One even with Foster back from injury and in full training this week. But I do think Foster and his aggression from set pieces would be a v useful asset in combatting Cardiff’s aerial threat in this one. A tough call.
It is difficult because Foster has the opposite problem, he comes for things he's never going to get.
Oh fabulous! I saw Foster on SSN either yesterday or Tuesday. He said he had returned to training this week and that the finger was much better but not perfect.
Fun fact: Cardiff have scored 16 (!) goals from corners this season - 2nd placed (in the corner goals table anyway) Reading have 8. Crazy. We're joint 3rd with 7. Harry Wilsons deliveries from Bachmanns left (above) will be the main threat - he's so good at hitting that area i've squared off - and Cardiff score loads from that area. We're vulnerable in that location as we have a zonal marker just in front of that (like most Championship sides do), but Cardiff are adept at exploiting that area just behind that zonal player perfectly.
There is no doubt we will concede from a set piece on Saturday, esp if Bachmann plays. If he does, I think it might be his last game for a while. He's had a great record since he came into the team but mainly due to the lack of shots on target from opponents (zero in 4 of the last 6 games !). He's always looked weak when facing corners.
My mistake - the above was all of Cardiffs deliveries from that side - this is just Wilsons (although that same area is still prevalent!) Personally I'd add another zonal marker in that area (so 2x central zonal markers + 1 zonal marker in the front post area), since they're so good at creating chances in that area you want to balance that out - one way of doing that is ensuring you create overloads in that area to give yourself the best chance of winning the ball.
You said you were offered a job by WFC last week, would you send your analysis for free for this match!?
Cardiff will have Perry Ng back. He’s been quality for them at RWB and was sorely missed at Huddersfield. But they’re a mess at LWB. I genuinely have no idea what they’re going to do. Joe Bennett is out for the rest of the season and his replacement, the young Joel Bagan is out with a dislocated shoulder. Ciaron Brown came in for his championship debut last week when Bagan went off - but would be a tough gig coming up against Sarr and Femenia with little support. I wonder if they switch to a back four? Or shift one of the CBs out to LB.
Haha I did actually give some advice for this match during the call so we'll see if there's any changes to counter Cardiff. If we end up in the playoffs though i'll offer my full reports up for free for those games!
Wow - what a gesture that would be (though hopefully unnecessary). Just a shame (from my perspective and I suspect that of many forum members) the club didn’t reach out to you with this offer a little while ago; they could have used your expertise for some time. But good luck with your new role. Very exciting!
If we lose this one so soon after the Bournemouth loss, I expect the Pozzos to act quickly and address the slide, by getting rid of Xisco
Also Ian Bolton against Derby. One of 6 Watford goals scored that night. Struck from near the left touchline and left me with the impression that it stayed at 1 foot off the ground all the way to the far corner of the net.
I don’t remember us scoring any goals form corners or free kicks in recent history , I would however accept that my memory is starting to go
We scored a few earlier in the season with the short corner to Sema routine, but I can't remember us scoring many of late
Derby on the 19th Feb and Bristol on the 13th Feb were the most recent ones, but then early December was the most recent ones before those
QPR away was the last one I could remember, were both Hughes goals the ones from corners? I remember a corner not too long before, but I didn't think they'd be classified as a set piece goal!
Yeah they were, the one against Bristol was cleared to the edge of the area where he smashed it home, the Derby one is more dubious but counts as a corner goal on both InStat + Wyscout!
