Davis plays like he thinks he’s a nippy , skilful winger but is stuck inside a big man’s body and can’t do anything about it . He’s the footballing equivalent of Tom Hanks in the movie Big.
Should have been done in the summer not mid season. First part of pre season training is conditioning. The season they should just remain at that level. Sadly our level wasn’t good enough
Don’t buy them. Or don’t pick them. Can’t be convinced that Blake wouldn’t have been worth a go tonight. But no…Sarr, Davis and Bayo get the nod to lumber about.
Didn’t say he was any good but I believe he’s miles better than the others. WTE is amongst the worst footballers I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen Keith Dublin and Steve Butler
Of course, that’s obvious. But we were given a golden opportunity to rectify that with a months break that was something that hasn’t happened before. And we did sod all with it. Crazy how people want to point to the shortcomings in the summer but forget about the perfect opportunity we have wasted to fix it.
He was never going to pick a kid who has played about 20 minutes of 1st team football over Sarr and Davis at least. Probably would have ended up like Hungbo the other week - subbed off again.
TBF whilst I know Sema was missing tonight the injuries to Pedro and Choudhury weren't down to a lack of fitness. I am not sure if Manaj was ever really that fit so yes as situation where question can be asked s of the medical /fitness team.
WTE is terrible. But what little you get from him, you get by giving him regular game time. He was passable before the WC break and was being picked regularly…then we resumed and Bilic dropped him without reason for Kabasele (who was a disgrace when he played before the break). That’s not a defence of WTE - but Bilic has to take blame in the situation too.
Which is, again, part of the problem. We have a youngster who has shown he knows where the net is and is in form. But he simply won’t be considered over players who don’t give a damn. And fans okaying the choice because of what ‘probably’ would’ve resulted.
Pretty much most were already injured by then. Bilic himself said Pedro and Sarr before Bristol City were struggling. Pre season is after the players have had six weeks or so off so is very different to what we’ve just had. Damage had already been done in the summer
A few more than that did. Can’t blame those that didn’t when most of those fans still there were screaming blue murder at them. I understand the “I pay my money so am entitled to say and do what I like” but why should the players have to come over to be on the receiving end of it? Unpopular opinion but I also don’t believe anyone on the pitch didn’t care or didn’t try. They all looked suitably devasted during and after the debacle. (Not saying I’m delighted I made the trip mind).
You forget it was a truncated summer. Sorry, but I don’t buy it - they’ve just wasted a month off. Injuries happen. Yes we have a lot of them - but we are hiding behind them and excusing the fact we have built a squad that’s totally imbalanced, unfit and not prepared for any kind of shortage. Lazily blaming what happened in July for what’s happening in December is exactly that - lazy.
Coach? They'll be tucked up in a top hotel, probably after a post-match massage and a light snack of their choice.
Certainly no excuse for the injuries, but a month off wasn't nearly enough to turn these spineless, hiding tossers into mentally strong players.
So I’m lazy because my opinion doesn’t match yours? Rectifying lack of fitness is very difficult to do and even harder when you are also trying to prepare for a match. I know the summer was truncated but there was 11 weeks between end of one season and start of another. Yes work could and may have been done in the last few weeks and for me Davies looks fitter but as I said the damage is done. We already have a ridiculous number out through injury not all to do with being fit to be fair but we just look lethargic and have done all season, the scum game aside
To be clear, Bilic has not impressed so when he is sacked (and he will be) I will not care. Apologies if I was unclear. I meant Bilic will be sacked due to the scattergun, misguided views of those in power. My original post was sarcastic and I appreciate it may not have been easy to identify that.
25 games of football over 5 months including 1 month off to purely work on fitness - yeah, I think it’s a lazy opinion to think that’s not enough time etc to get up to speed after a lazy summer. It’s not personal to you but I’m baffled at anyone still pointing fingers at this summer. Carried weight pre-WC but it’s crazy to still pin blame there. We had the chance to rectify it and clearly haven’t done so. I also have no idea what you’re watching if you think Davis looks fitter. The guy is showing zero effort since the break and is jogging around 90% of the time. Another one that people are desperate to believe is better than he is. Like Bilic, like Kamara, like Kayembe… The whole thing is rotten.
I just can’t lay blame at Bilic’s door. In Bilic’s defence, does a team with Louza, Pedro, Choudhury, Sema, Gosling & Kamara get trounced 4-0 tonight? Highly, highly doubt it. It’s the squad depth due to what Gino has assembled, squads have injuries, Watford more than most, the replacements are such a BIG step down that it changes the whole dynamic of the team.
Don’t get me started on Kamara. I don’t care that we don’t have any other left back, he’s been awful and attitude is worse. We will have to agree to disagree on the fitness part
It's hard to know what to say at this point, and certainly that's any different from what we've been saying in varying numbers for the past 6 months/two seasons/4 years. The most annoying/baffling/bewildering/maddening/frustrating thing of all is, as plenty have already identified, watching each individual and the team as a whole inexplicably play at half-speed from start to finish; not even bothering to press, or challenge for tackles, 50-50's, or headers, or match the pace of their opponents. It's genuinely disgusting to watch. It's like a team who have never played together before, and yet, as Burnsy has said, we just had a full month with a full fuccking squad of players to rectify any errors and instil any kind of tactical or playing style whatsoever - something we instead clearly stuck two fingers up at and pissed straight up the wall. It's unfathomable - we've wasted a month's free time, just like we waste every other opportunity we are given - a game in hand; a match against an opponent who hasn't recorded a victory in 8 games; a smart obvious possible signing that would solve an issue we desperately need solving. What is the point? Who is this supposed to be serving? What argument can be extended that this is prudent/intelligent/a system that even pertains to function at this juncture? As I said on the Shoutbox, on a basic level what we are seeing is the natural outcome of a decision from the very top to place 'flying by the seat of your pants' as the prime driving ethos of the club, from injuries and medical treatment to recruitment and squad-building. When our only tactic is 'hope the overvalued stars we've managed to chain to the club strongly enough to still be playing at this level manifest their talent to the maximum degree every game' to compensate for a total lack of wider tactics, playing style, organisation, determination and mentality, our season hinges entirely on a single player's loss of form/interest, or a single injury. Guess what? We've got now got both. And we have no one to replace them, and no system to switch to, because we have been flying by the seat of our pants recruitment-wise for years, leaving us with an appallingly unbalanced squad which makes weathering an injury crisis so, so much harder. I can't imagine what those players in that dressing room actually think about each other, about the team, and about the club, if they are perfectly prepared to go out and put in those kinds of what they might claim are 'performances' regularly, even within days of each other, after the appalling nature of the first has been heavily highlighted in the press and acknowledged publicly by both players and management. Where do we go from here? It's hard to see. There's basically one option, and that's to have the greatest January window we've ever had, with a perfect set of wide and numerous recruitment targeted at basically every troublesome playing position we have. I think I could go back and find myself making the exact same comment probably every January for each of the past 4 seasons - and, of course, how many times did it come to fruition? A big fat solid zero.
This worries me. The fact that Bilic is reluctant to name players but also believes the majority gave their best! What does that tell us about how he judges their ability? Tonight was about far more than just a few players not trying. Also, admitting he had a strong word with them at half-time…tells me they aren’t bothered about listening to him or feeling his anger. He laid into them at HT, and then they chucked in that second half when there was still something to take from the game. Farcical from top to bottom.
In one ear and straight out the other. No point in listening to a guy they know will be gone in a game or two. I am not saying they are doing it on purpose, but it's obvious that the second half (as you said) was a total no-show. If they did in spite of what Bilic said, that would cause real rifts in the camp. Again, no proof of this, just my take on reading that statement. Thanks for posting that Burnsy.
We just have awful players available at the moment and no further bodies to call off the bench. It's a completely comedy team we finished with, Dele-Bashiru has never shown anything to suggest he's a Championship centre mid yet we're gutted he goes off because we have literally no-one else. We are having to play Bacuna for 90 minutes when he's blowing after about 15. We tried Ngakia and Gaspar in midfield to just stick a body in there. Old Man Kalu did his usual thing of one semi promising run when he first came on and then was absolutely woeful. Morris will be playing National League South in a couple of seasons if that. Asprilla is clearly talented but is a total waste of space in this madhouse. We obviously decided to go more defensive tonight because of our problems but as soon as Billy Big Biscuits Ekong decided to take a short goal kick and the punt it straight to their midfield, that was it.
Inevitable result but a brave underlying performance. We will still get top 6 which I know won’t be enough for our entitled fans who have been spoiled by Pozzo. If only we could jettison half our fans then Pozzo could continue his selfless work.
Tried his best but simply isn't good enough just has to be with Ngakia in mind. Fits the description perfectly.
Still people blaming Billic. Even him saying the players have no bottle. How can anyone still be pro pozzo and had a dig at Billic. Our fans our knobheads.
Guess some people just want to blame Edwards. Even though he only got 10 games and now is doing nicely at Luton. Can’t be Pozzo.
Weirdly Bacuna did too. I was so surprised he did, given how little he moved about during the match and this was the closest he got to our end all game. In my eyes, Bacuna and not for the first time, Asprilla, were hiding in plain sight, not wanting the ball for an awful lot of that match. Sarr does the same thing too, but I’m never surprised anymore by him. Worst “investment” ever.
