Match Thread Watford (a) - Sat 14th Sept (15 Viewers)

[Matt smith]

Today reminded me of that Bristol away game last year where it was nearly there in terms of a performance and result

it’ll come

 

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[Perennial Lurker]

Well... I get why you might not but I do think it is legitimate to. That is our league form. Some of the things we were doing wrong Cardiff City onwards (not showing up, throwing away leads etc) have carried over to this season and most of those games still had something riding on them.

In isolation this game, this performance even the result - all good; win against Swansea and this could be considered the game where things turned around. But the reality is that no one was surprised when Watford equalised. No one would have been that shocked if we had lost. We just need to get back into the habit of winning games and a lot of this negativity will go away.

Of course confidence brings a winning mentality both from the players and fans alike

 

[Skybluekyle]

I think the negativity of the day was summed up by a conversation I overheard at Canley Train Station this morning. Some older supporters seeming to be annoyed at posts of City players pronouncing their names, playing head tennis and laughing and seeming to be having a good time.

They would prefer the social media posts to be the players training hard, seeing Eccles practicing taking corners etc... Our fanbase are so fucking weird sometimes...

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Would definitely take Cannon

If we want to convert MVE into a right sided wide attacker I'm all in favour. But to do that we just can't rely on Lati at RB all season.

Cannon would be worth it on a free

 

[mrfang1987]

Cannon has already gone to MLS hasn’t he.

We’re not signing any free agents

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Cannon has already gone to MLS hasn’t he.

We’re not signing any free agents

Which is the kind of stubborn thinking that will leave us playing Kai Andrews at CM

 

[Perennial Lurker]

Which is the kind of stubborn thinking that will leave us playing Kai Andrews at CM

I want to see more of Andrews but not right now while we're scrapping for points

 

[alexccfc99]

Much better today! Open game, should have buried them first half, let them back into it second but we grew back into it after their goal and on the whole a fair result

Our ‘League One Standard Level Shite’ Midfield did a decent job and JDS is getting better and better

Free hit in the week and hopefully break the Swansea hoodoo next week - Onwards PUSB!

 

[Old Warwickshire lad]

Thought our as you put it “ lg 1 std. shite mdfld “ did well. Especially the brilliant goal saving tackle Eccles put in.
Eccles,Torp and Rudoni all had good games.

 

[alexccfc99]

Thought our as you put it “ lg 1 std. shite mdfld “ did well. Especially the brilliant goal saving tackle Eccles put in.
Eccles,Torp and Rudoni all had good games.

I was being tongue in cheek calling them that!

 

[samccov1987]

Not sure many teams would be happy with 5 points from 5 games. It’s not slit the wrists time but it’s not inspiring.

Im sure we will look better with Sheaf but even then I’m not sure we have the x factor in midfield to go up. We have let Kelly, OHare and Kacey go and only brought Jack in.

Appreciate we signed BTA and Basssett but they look strange signings given where we’re short.

There was a lot of talk about hitting the ground running and it hasn’t happened despite the back room changes so not surprised some supporters feel flat.

My concern is that if we’re not challenging for playoffs this year Milan, Wright, Simms are off and whilst we may get good money for them momentum in football is a powerful thing. We have been on an upward trajectory; if we start dropping off the rebuild becomes harder.

 

[MalcSB]

First half a real positive. Just need to kill teams off early and be more ruthless in the final third. It will come.

Trouble is, that’s been the case for quite some time.

 

[StrettoBoy]

They're near the top of the table because they beat Millwall stoke and Derby

You say that as if Millwall, Stoke and Derby are poor teams.

Millwall are only a point behind us and Stoke are above us in the table having beaten us. Derby have nearly twice as many points as we have and are only out of the playoff places on goal difference. I’d love us to be where Derby are.

 

[Evo1883]

You say that as if Millwall, Stoke and Derby are poor teams.

Millwall are only a point behind us and Stoke are above us in the table having beaten us. Derby have nearly twice as many points as we have and are only out of the playoff places on goal difference. I’d love us to be where Derby are.

Il bet you we are above derby in may , by some distance

 

[MalcSB]

There aren't too many managers that don't have a flaw .

Mark robins has given this fanbase the best years since the Premier league , it's that simple really

He took us to within a penalty kick of the Premier league , that would be 3 promotions with club that looked dead and buried 7 years ago and one that's out performed financially by many many clubs at this level .

He's revived the fanbase and turned us into a club that has a good reputation with recruitment and young player development and one that has a good style of play .

I think some fans should remember what he's done for us and stop being overdramatic twats

All true.
He is shit at using subs though,

 

[Evo1883]

All true.
He is shit at using subs though,

That's all opinion , that's assuming you yourself know what player needs to come on more than the manager does .
Fans rarely call for subs in a rational manner

 

[Sky Blue Pete]

Anyone saying they’ve lost trust in robins is a knob

 

[Evo1883]

Anyone saying they’ve lost trust in robins is a knob

We've lots of knobs that support us Pete .

There are still 123 points to play for

 

[fatso]

You say that as if Millwall, Stoke and Derby are poor teams.

Millwall are only a point behind us and Stoke are above us in the table having beaten us. Derby have nearly twice as many points as we have and are only out of the playoff places on goal difference. I’d love us to be where Derby are.

Your talking as if we're a good side.

We haven't had the results that show we are a good side yet.

Hopefully that will change, but as things stand we don't look good enough,
However we have a habit of starting the league slowly.

 

[SkyblueTexan]

Part of the problem is we’re asking so much of the few central midfielders we do have, they’re going to fall away at some point in the second half. If Eccles is out now for a while, surely we need to add someone to the squad.

But they are against adding free agents. Silly if you ask me.

 

[Perennial Lurker]

But they are against adding free agents. Silly if you ask me.

None of us know what these free agents are asking for in terms of wages or contract length ?
If signing a 33 year old on a 1+1 contract on 15k a week stops us having the freedom to sign a younger ,better option in January then I'm against it too

 

[SkyblueTexan]

None of us know what these free agents are asking for in terms of wages or contract length ?
If signing a 33 year old on a 1+1 contract on 15k a week stops us having the freedom to sign a younger ,better option in January then I'm against it too

Fair enough, but I’m concerned if we can make it to Jan with a threadbare midfield. If we are still in the bottom half at that point, will we be able to attract the kind of talent to drive us toward the playoff positions? Also the pickings are slim in the Jan window.

 

[Earlsdon_Skyblue1]

If we want to convert MVE into a right sided wide attacker I'm all in favour. But to do that we just can't rely on Lati at RB all season.

Cannon would be worth it on a free

To be honest, it seems utterly ridiculous to me for us to do that. We've got attacking players, particularly wingers, coming out of every orifice.

Like the system we played today. Essentially an admition by default that our transfer policy and team set-up aren't working the way we intended.

Central midfielder aside, as I don't know the details, most of this at the moment is on Robins. Yes, the players have been too soft and aren't helping themselves with application (although by all accounts it sounded better today), but the team management/selection, lack of reactions, pre-cooked (or not) subs, and Latibeaudiere love-in are not doing us many favours at all. Switching MvE would only be to accommodate the latter into the team - which to me again seems like absolute fucking madness.

 

[Perennial Lurker]

Fair enough, but I’m concerned if we can make it to Jan with a threadbare midfield. If we are still in the bottom half at that point, will we be able to attract the kind of talent to drive us toward the playoff positions? Also the pickings are slim in the Jan window.

We signed Torp and EMC in the last window and the midfield performed well today and will look less threadbare once Sheaf is back .
And will have a bet with you if you like that we won't be bottom half come January , £50?

 

[Perennial Lurker]

To be honest, it seems utterly ridiculous to me for us to do that. We've got attacking players, particularly wingers, coming out of every orifice.

Like the system we played today. Essentially an admition by default that our transfer policy and team set-up aren't working the way we intended.

Central midfielder aside, as I don't know the details, most of this at the moment is on Robins. Yes, the players have been too soft and aren't helping themselves with application (although by all accounts it sounded better today), but the team management/selection, lack of reactions, pre-cooked (or not) subs, and Latibeaudiere love-in are not doing us many favours at all. Switching MvE would only be to accommodate the latter into the team - which to me again seems like absolute fucking madness.

A load of waffle with an admittance that you didn't see the game today

 

[Earlsdon_Skyblue1]

A load of waffle with an admittance that you didn't see the game today

No, I had a match of my own, which is why I said it sounded a lot better today. That isn't important to the criticisms I have raised in relation to this season, with many also being relevent to today's game.

What of the below would you argue with?

-Robins loves Latibeaudiere
-We don't react to opposition changes well
-We don't often make appropriate substitutions
-Some of our better players have been left on the bench

 

[Perennial Lurker]

No, I had a match of my own, which is why I said it sounded a lot better today. That isn't important to the criticisms I have raised in relation to this season, with many also being relevent to today's game.

What of the below would you argue with?

-Robins loves Latibeaudiere
-We don't react to opposition changes well
-We don't often make appropriate substitutions
-Some of our better players have been left on the bench

Lati played well and shows leadership qualities
We made changes
Appropriate? Weird
And who was left on the bench in the game you watched?

 

[Paxman II]

You simply can not miss those golden chances like we had in the first 45 minutes.
And what the hell happened in the second half? Rudoni again faded away, Eccles did little, De Silva was consistently beaten in the wing back position. Dovin makes some strange decisions. Kitching completely loses his man. I'm not happy we gave it up so much in the second half. This game should have been over in the first 45 minutes when we were outstanding in our approach.

 

[mmttww]

I don’t think it’s entitled, it’s pretty much what Saddle said - DK, and by association MR and the club, have said we’re going to do something, built up that expectation, but then not necessarily actually followed that up by their actions to date

I'd say DK has followed-up. I get that we're short at CM but he's spent €40m and tried to buy someone in that spot. I think MR can and should get more from this squad than he has so far. I believe he will over 10-20 games and beyond because he usually does.

I get frustration can come but people seeming to forget that Wolves, Man Utd, Leicester, play-offs etc. are pretty recent events, and kinda losing their shit, feels like a bad look. Think the players, owner and manager have all earned better than that.

 

[Earlsdon_Skyblue1]

Lati played well and shows leadership qualities
We made changes
Appropriate? Weird
And who was left on the bench in the game you watched?

Latibeaudiere shouldn't be in the stating team. Kitching should be. That's two of my four points already. We frequently make subs too late, and we frequently concede goals after failing to react to changes made by the opposition. That would all be regardless of today anyway, but given Watford scored four minutes after they made 3 substitutions, I would say that you pulling this juvenile 'I watched the game and you didn't' is completely redundant, as you cannot have been paying attention.

You seem a little bit sensitive. You know criticising the manager for some of his downfalls isn't the same thing as calling for his head?

 

[procdoc]

Obviously I'll still watch every minute of every game ffs. I was buzzing for this season though and they've already managed to completely suck out all my enthusiasm. Its fucking shite and there's no real excuse for it.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

I didn’t think you were this much of a little bitch to be honest

 

[procdoc]

I didn’t downplay his achievements at all. Don’t put words in my mouth. I have in other posts actually lauded his accomplishments. But he has just overseen the spending of around 40M pounds or so and we’ve not performed up to expectations have we? We’re sitting in 14th. He’s done well with us but not very well with other clubs. I don’t recall any of his teams every starting seasons fast off blocks and his game management is sometimes slow.

Is that fair and more to your liking? Give it a rest will you?

We have played 5 games you melt. Stop being such a little bitch

 

[procdoc]

I really don’t understand the negative reaction to the game. We played an in-form team away when we are not in-form ourselves and on another day could have won at a canter. A point there isn’t a disaster and the performance was encouraging. Anyone saying otherwise clearly has no fucking idea how football works.

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

We were never playing 3-4-2-1

We have not played 3421 at any point this afternoon.

We didn't play 3421, it was always 4231 with Lati at right back, and Milan on the right wing

It definitely was and anyone should be able to see the difference in shape after Wright came on for Lati.

It was certainly fluid as Lati and MVE worked to overload that side of the pitch.

 

[wingy]

What happened with Wright after he came on he seemed to go out of the game somewhat after the initial five minute burst on the left can't really remember much coming from that side after his coming on,did he go more central , obviously he hit the post which was roundly criticised on here!
Wondered if it was the challenge where he came off second best?
Always mystifies me how fan's come to that conclusion !