Super Rajo goes ballistic Rotherham are atrocious. The lads did well, nullified them and took their chances. 6 games unbeaten now, comfortably midtable. Interesting run of games after the international break, not expecting much from them though so should be fun because of that.
The last months progress has been good and we are now looking up the table, not a million miles away from the play offs. Rajovic has shown that with service he will score. I think VI and the players seem to be more aligned with the playing philosophy, but there is still much work to do. Ending on a positive note before an international break is always good and im looking forward to seeing how we get on against Leicester. This will show how far off the pace we are.
Strangely I thought that was a solid performance but still lacked a lot of desire to drive forward don’t think I would criticise anybody (maybe Porteous for pointless fouls, and Martins for always trying to bring the ball in from the wing, rather than cross it). Sema when he has the ball in the right place is deadly , Rajovic whilest not the best striker in the world can hit a barn door and takes those kind of goals well. Defence pretty solid but not tested, Hamer only worried me once. we deserved to win, we did win, but am not sure 5 goals tells the whole story, if we had tried we could probably have score double figures good to see Louza not start , good footballer but just isn’t working for us at the moment
So 5-0 despite the fact that, as per the Hive Live commentary (when it wasn't trying to destroy my eardrums), we didn't really get out of 3rd gear. In the case of Lewis I don't think he even left 2nd gear - the amount of times he turned down the opportunity to put a cross in, only to take an extra touch and pass the ball backwards, was bizarre. But thankfully King Ken has no such reservations about whipping a cross in, putting two on a plate for Rajovic who showed again that he's good in the penalty box, even if he does little outside of it. Rotherham in general were atrocious. Their right back in particular will be having nightmares tonight. Even from set-pieces they didn't really look much of a threat, despite it having been one of their fortes in the past (we did do our worrying habit of leaving one of their players unmarked at the back post from a corner mind when 3-0 up, but even then Ayala couldn't do anything with it). Pleased for Kayembe to finally get his goal, considering he's already had a good one unfairly ruled out for us before at home to Millwall last season. He's really improved us coming in for Louza in central midfield. I must say that Livermore has also improved quite a bit since his opening games for us when he looked very creaky. Porteous though was shaky for us today and especially early on gave a few reminders of why he'd been dropped with some iffy passes and losing a few duels. Asprilla also didn't really do much today and most our chances when he was on the pitch came from elsewhere. Healey gave a couple of demonstrations why he might not have been given many minutes when he came on in completely mis-controlling the ball the couple of times he had good chances. Andrews had a good game and seemed a bit less erratic with his passing than he has been in some other games. Kone provided lots of energy. Thankfully Hamer didn't have much to do, but actually dealt with everything fine. The team spirit was very much in evidence from the players in celebrating the goals and at the final whistle. Even though we're still not great, this was a reminder that I think there's more to like about this team than the one we had last season.
Really good positive performance today against a side that were absolutely toothless. Two goals from Raj with two excellent assists from King Ken, Martins, Kayembe and Ince Jnr. also got in the scoring act. Today was the sort of game for a "Watfordy" show before the international break but credit to VI. Before kick off the lack of Bachmann and Serraltra looked bad, but Hamer was hardly ever troubled and we dominated the game from the first minute to the last. Six unbeaten now, three win and three draws. Could of got even more points had we done something last week but we go into a two week break in good form. Rotherham fans' must be worried already as they are shipping a lot of goals and look like dead certs so far for relegation with Wednesday who also got tonked 4-0 today at home to Millwall. We still have a very thin squad, but the good vibes are still there and the confidence this will give us going into the game against league leaders Leicester (who have now lost two on the spin). VI has got us playing with a good tempo, and even after going 5-0 up we were searching and hunting for a sixth goal. Also done our GD the world of good and blasted us to 13th in the table, so top of the bottom half. Still a long way to go of course, but as we enter the long Winter fixture list, we do know one thing; perhaps we could get a respective finish if we play with high tempo and try to stay clear of injuries - which could still hurt us with the Window still over two months away.
When he’s on the left he’s an inverted winger. He’s going to cut inside every time. I don’t even know if he can cross with his left!
Say it quietly, but we look very well coached. Can’t remember the last time I thought that. Maybe under QSF the first time? Or Joka.
I didn't watch any of the game today (!) but that's why I really like the Sema + Martins combo on the left. Martins drives in centrally, leaving Sema out wide to cross the ball in. With Lewis + Martins you have 2 players trying to do the same thing and things get bunched up. Would really like to see Lewis dropped and Sema replacing him in the LB spot.
Goes to show Pozzo stopped throwing the driver out of the bus at the first sign of traffic maybe they’d be able to find a new route and get us to the destination on time
Now and then we are capable of such results. I feel really happy tonight and Watford it’s all because of you. If we had to have a re-boot this summer, if we must start again, then it’s nice to have the unbeaten run we are currently on. Oh Watford tonight I love you. * this post in honour of the big entertainment news this past week. Except today we were the Fab Five!
Andrews, Livermore and Kayembe were superb today. Two more goals for the Danish goal machine. No complaints from me tonight.
As well as no VAR the nice thing about the Championship is every now and again you get to play a really sh1t team like Rotherham
They were just as bad at points last season and our cloggers only took two points off them! This season they do look devoid of any ideas which is a worry I am sure for their fans.
I was going to say him but then actually we looked god awful at the back under him for the vast majority of his tenure. We just tended cover for it with our good attacking play.
Zola's first season - football was electric. But to be fair we had a fantastic team of attacking flair players. We have much less quality now, but I think the belief is there again and it's something we need to keep strong during this difficult run of games.
Cannot complain about that ! 5 goals and subs having an impact again . Ok Rotherham were poor but still got to the the business. Nice to see Rajovic take advantage of the crossing and Ince /Kayembe getting their first goals .
Only the 2nd home game I’ve missed this season. Typical! Mind you the other was Plymouth so swings and roundabouts.
He is still paying off the spoiler, neon lights, and go-faster stripes he added to the bus at some dodgy backstreet autoshop
I’ll be honest hadn’t contemplated that , so well pointed out. But it does screw up the play we go from wide in to the center where we come up against 4 defenders and the play breaks down without a ball in the box or a shot on target. To be fair s9metimes he runs into the center shoos and scores but not enough. if you take Sema, two goals came from him crossing into the box , he is also able to run into the box and cause trouble , with Rajovic and Bayo , ball needs to come in so they can just run and try and hit it. When we cut into the center our attacker for some odd reason is normally facing away from goal then they get it at their feet and can’t turn.
Proper good performance today with everyone putting a shift in. Granted they are a league one quality team but still. MOTM Kayembe, absolutely ran the midfield and capped it off with a great finish.
Was it QPR last season where Kayembe went through a phase of turning everyone and running the show for about 10 minutes before hammering one in from 30 yards only for Sarr to be offside? He was that player for near enough a whole game today and if he'd scored with a back heel flick I think that would have been the peak of football for me. Great to see a good team performance with everyone working hard for each other (and celebrating together too) and pleased that we seemed to learn the lesson to get the ball wide and fire it in to see what happens. I thought Livermore had a good game too, he's looking a more sensible purchase now he's getting up to speed, and I think he's a good teacher for players like Koné and Kayembe too. Also thought Hamer looked fairly comfortable with the ball at his feet - but it was probably the easiest game a goalkeeper could wish to start in! Bring on Leicester!
