For those who missed the excitement yesterday, fear not. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...y_Live_2011_2012_Watford_v_Nottingham_Forest/ The "Around the BBC" section has got me riled though.
Forsyth was a bit of a nightmare. Kept getting caught offside, messed up our best chance and largely ineffectual. Team showed signs of some decent stuff in the middle 1/2 hour but clearly if any team comes and closes us down (as most will away from home) we just end up launching it. I'm confused by their goal as well. Tiny must have got a call as it seems totally out of character, especially as he and Mariappa were pretty much on everything ariel, for him to duck under that ball. Actually thought Yeats and Doyley worked the flank pretty well. Main problem is that a lot of the players seem to be running around half asleep. No aticipation, no movement to make space, no invention. Unfortunately it does look like Dyche is trying a safety first approach and getting everyone behind the ball. However we do not have the quality, pace and quickness of thought to counter like we did last year. One final thing, great effort by TYO and the Rookery in general for helping create a decent atmosphere. Tough to keep going bearing in mind the performance but much better than recently and we even outsung the opposition (at least until they scored!).
Morning Norway, just thought I would give my reaction to the game. I thought both Forest and Watford were pretty poor, think the only difference between the two was that our defence was a little tighter then yours. Thought our strikers did ok but nohing to be proud about, thought Watford's biggest let down was Forsyth. I really thought before the game that he was going to be a problem for us but he rarely caused us any concerns. Anyway all the best for the rest of the season
Cheers Tricky I think too many performances like that by either side will see both of us at the wrong end of the table ! The words Watford and tight defence historically havent been used too often in the same sentence!
Firstly to those that have not previously seen our 2011-12 style of play, welcome & enjoy! A few points I would like to make, first on the goal - there is no way Loach is to blame - when Tiny ducked underneath it was at least 35 yards out so it's likely that Dickinson made that call but it then bounced very hard and caused the problem. Incidentaly, Tiny ducked out of at least 3 headers to my memory - maybe he had a headache?! Now, I have previously said (and others have too) that I am concerned that the standard of the new players is overall poor and my view has not changed (I hope I'm proved wrong) - numbers over quality - 2 or 3 class signings instead of the 10 would have been more beneficial. I do believe that Hogg may become influential and despite some I think Forsyth could also turn out a good buy if used better and with more than the one tactic. The main problem is the tactics - before the season started SD signaled his intention to play a more defensive way and long ball. This is one reason that Forsyth is looking as he is - because without Big Chris up front they discovered Forsyth can Jump so now that is almost all he is told to do which is why we aim for him constantly from distance. So we look to stay tight and not lose a game rather than attack with flair and break through the game line. We look to take as few chances/risks as possible. Earlier in the season we were creating more chances but they were never clear cut chances and now, playing at home our attempts were pi## poor frankly. There have been some that claim that Saturday was the one off but I would challenge anybody to name more than Reading (controlled away performance), Burnley (controlled away performance until late panic) as games that we played any better than against Forest - particularly Derby, Coventry, Bristol Rovers, Barnsley were poor with Birmingham & West Ham not far behind. I would suggest that if we carry on with these tactics we will have a reasonable away record but very likely be relegated or maybe just hold out. I do however think that if the tactics are changed we will have a better chance of survival with the standard of our squad The plus points from the game were Marriappa and Doyley who both played solidly.
Seems a fair summation in my eyes Chris and I share your concerns , the problems are with the tactics or lack of ,the blame for that must rest at SD`s office door!
You've let down an otherwise fantastic post here. We were infinitely better than that against Derby, by all accounts we did a decent job against Coventry, and I'd take a deserved point against Birmingham all season long.
A bit surprised by the posts on here - I have seen some very abject performances at Vicarage Road and that was not one of them. Plenty of effort and commitment with a few moments of quality let down by one defensive blunder. Despite the two good saves from Loach we deserved to win by a couple of goals and certainly not lose. Defensively we were sound and in midfield we won enough of the ball but we were not nearly clinical enough in the final third. Forsyth, Garner (2) and Eustace had clear cut opportunities and we should have expected some return if not all four of them to be converted. Certainly not easy to watch but I have seen much worse and I can't really remember Forest controlling any period of play. I agree that we played far too many aimless high balls and did not play to feet as often as we should have. The midfield were slow to support the front two and Garner was not as mobile as I had hoped consequently Marvin was double marked for most of the match. I am disappointed by the result but not over concerned by the performance.
I agree we weren't outplayed or anything but we did seem to lack ideas which Chris suggests in terms of creating chances but again agreed we had the better onces. As you say some sloppy defending let us down which was a shame as otherwise we were solid at the back.
The abject performances usually come when, after a run of good performances and few points, confidence erodes. There have only been 3 seasons where it was obvious we were going to struggle from the first match (the 2 Premiership seasons and 71-72). Otherwise every other relegation has been down to poor results gradually stripping confidence away from the players - with the supporters perhaps deluding themselves into thinking that once "the team beds down" or "we tighten up at the back" or "we sign an extra striker" or "we get players back from injury" and that perennial favourite "we get the luck that our performances deserve", that things will improve. 3 out of 4 defeats at home is not good - even allowing for the "performances". We probably have, say, another 8 games to start to put things right. 3 wins from those 8 (and that's being conservative) and I will put my hand up and say I'm wrong - but it's a big ask and I simply do not see the quality out there on the pitch to give me much confidence. I'm afraid that arguing about whether Forsyth had a good or bad game on here rather says it all. In my opinion he would not have got anywhere near our squad (let alone play regularly) even last year.
Well obviously - there's an age limit there (five) and surely you recognise that he's a good deal older than that.
