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Match Unstoppable force (Watford) vs Immovable object (Spurs) Sunday 2 September

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So annoying to concede off of 2 of their 4(?) set pieces. Simply unacceptable. I'm not sure we were bad offensively but we never looked like scoring. More fair play to them for being super organized without really parking the bus.

If Poch was upset about the Man U result bc he was worried about this match, the locker room better watch out.
 
We are pretty good at beating the teams outside the top six.

As I've said earlier on in the thread, when it comes to beating the "middle" teams we're the best in the league statistically - at least according to the video linked. We lost once last season against these middle teams - Leicester. 4 games in and we've already lost to one of them.

I was over the moon with winning the first 3 games, but this is a bit of a rough bump back to reality.
 
My stream must have gone down when Vorm kicked the goal-kick out for a corner. Now there's one for this Christmas's Danny Baker's Own-Goals and Gaffs.

2018/19 is the season of goalkeepers doing dreadful errors when trying to kick the ball. It's already been written.
 
Why not? Players bomb all the time. It's why winning the transfer window means fuck all.

My point in mentioning Serge was "once bitten...", but evidently you're not "twice shy"...

(Edit: In hindsight you don't sign Serge and just feed game time to KWP.)



Poch "loves him" for no reason?

Nah.... Not buying it... Last 2 years we were not a "stifled" team (see earlier comments: Intelligence and defensive awareness proving an effective counterbalance)....



You're still taking for granted how easily replaced he'd be. One doesn't just click their fingers and the perfect player becomes available to them at the right price.
Your unwavering confidence in the status quo is to be admired mate and I genuinely mean that, but if the club and scouting system can't find an upgrade at left back for Ben Davies then we really are in trouble. What are you suggesting, that we keep Ben and never attempt to upgrade out of pure fear that the replacement won't work out?
 
Apart from the back three no one played well but I thought Eriksen and Dembele were worse than Dele

Game was crying out for Winks just after half time

I don’t know why we even bother with Llorente
Apart from fluffing one good chance he offered nothing
Janssen still in the squad if I’m not mistaken without a loan.
So two reserve strikers we find to be inadequate yet didn’t look at one in the window...
 
Team had too casual an approach in this game

-Dele was extremely wasteful in possession and got done by Deeney for the first goal. I chalk this up to him being a kid and still not understanding how scarce chances are and how much wasting them can hurt your team.
-Davies was awful both on the ball and in striking it
-Dembele was good in the first but looked second best for most of the second half. I don't understand why Poch didn't hook him for Dier as soon as he got yellow'ed.
-Poch inexplicably dropped Dier, left himself no attackers on the bench, and left himself with no backup options. Moura was gassed by 70' and Dembele- surprise, surprise- not able to complete a back to back 90'. He should have started Dier and left Moura/Eriksen/Dele on the bench as an impact sub. Unless Dier wasn't healthy (he looked healthy), I don't understand why he didn't start.
-Toby looked sub-par in possession. I'm not sure it's worth it to play him over an extra CM if that is the quality/discipline he will provide in attack.

I'm not gonna bitch about no signings however it is true that we are really thin with Son and Lamela out right now. I don't think Poch maximized his available resources for this match though:

vlcsnap-2018-09-02-21h26m34s809.png


On the bright side, if this is the most injured and thin the squad will be for the rest of the season, we might have better days ahead where we can field more than three attackers at a time without exhausting our options off the bench.
 
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There's something off with Kane.

What made him world-class was a brilliant goal return coupled with a bulldozing all round game.

His goal return since the injury at Bournemouth is still very good but he's not influencing games enough. Today that failed pass to lay Lucas in for 2-0 summed it up - it was rather lame and I think he is playing well below his full capacity.

Critical moment.

A relatively easy pass fcuked up which indirectly led to the equaliser and shift of momentum.

Kane is quality but he ain't perfect and needs more challenge than Llorente provides to become better and to be able to be rested.
 
Really disappointing result, to say the least. Have to say this one’s mainly on Poch, for going with the 3 backs and not managing his subs and formations effectively.

Hard to blame Poch ... the team he put out had 66% possession created more chances just failed to execute ... we were always going to have loads of the ball we just didn't do enough with it ... to many players had a 'meh' day Poch is probably spitting feathers ...

We missed Son / Lamela to come on and win the game .... that's just bad timing and probably won't happen again all season ....

Credit to Watford, full pre-season with the entire squad all together, then played the same 11 four times out of the gate ... that's a big advantage and they've made it count ....

Play this game another ten times and we win nine of them ... we have a fantastic record against mid-table sides hopefully this was just a one-off ....
 
It annoys me more this morning, 'cos off the back of beating Utd 'andsomly (but the media totally forgetting to mention us, while they focussed more on Mourinho) today they can't WAIT to get on our backs and play the old "they can't win ugly, can they?" card...

Worse thing is, we allowed the headlines to be written, and the players somehow couldn't imagine a world where 'a team like' Watford would roll their sleeves up and come at us... it's all they had, but it worked!

We suddenly came across as a team of prima donas, who don't like it up 'em, and who had one eye on our upcoming 'glamerous' CL Games!

I know he didn't play yesterday, and isn't everyone's cup of tea, but SURELY Dier (or Wanyama) would've added a bit of 'beef' in the midfield that was getting bullied from the moment we scored... at least Dier comes across as someone who just 'gets' these games, and years himself up for them.
You get the feeling that some of our lot simply didn't expect the roughhouse treatment, and like it or not, it IS part of some teams' DNA, we shoulda known that before the off...

....oh, and I've coined a new word for Watford fans and what they're trying so desperately to be: tiFAUXsi

Yesterday was a real ballache, and the worst possible way to go into the Int. Break... unless it gives us a PROPER wake up and shake up... in which case, it'll be the BEST thing to have happened...
Only another 12 days till the next one!
So hey, chins up!!!
 
Your unwavering confidence in the status quo is to be admired mate and I genuinely mean that, but if the club and scouting system can't find an upgrade at left back for Ben Davies then we really are in trouble. What are you suggesting, that we keep Ben and never attempt to upgrade out of pure fear that the replacement won't work out?
King Cunate said it enough times and believed his own ultra hyper bollocks.
 
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