Not having a season ticket this year todays game was the first of the season for me and to be honest I'm lost for words.....boy, I hope we play better than that for the rest of the season. That was a really dire, excruciatingly bad game of football. That a Forest side that bad beat us says a lot. The funny thing is that the back four were excellent. Dickinson (man of the match in my opinion) looks like the left back we've so badly needed and the other three played really very efficiently, particularly Mapps who got a lot of praise from the TV pundits. Sadly the rest of the team lacks direction and quality. Eustace was ok and I reserve judgement on Hogg who was average but Yeates seems to run into trouble all the time and the less said about Forsyth the better - maybe he had a (really) bad game but I'd play Deeney over him every time. Marvin tried hard but he's not getting the support. Garner was a non-entity and Iwelumo was clearly a waste of money. And as much as I like Loachie as a shot stopper he has to get some training on coming out of his goal. Too many times he's a liability in that respect and clearly the defence are starting to lose confidence in him. To think we could have spent some of the money we've ploughed into the many players that have come in on someone like Mackail-Smith and continue to rely on the younger players who were doing so well last year in the other positions. Sadly it seems that some of the quality academy players that were being blooded last year aren't be used to our advantage and have been replaced by a bunch of average journeymen. Bas keeps harping on about fulfilling his promise to bring in players but it's quality not quantity that counts and I'm afraid 8 or 9 players (some of whom haven't even made the bench in a league match yet) is not a good replacement for DG and the Don. I hope we get a quality midfielder and a quality striker on loan before the window closes or I really worry for our chances this season.
I can not see the game today but I agree with your last paragraph. CMS was too expensive even at half what Brighton paid but not being able to buy a recognised and successful goalscorer was bad. Also I can not say anything about our new players until I can visit and see them play for myself.
I agree with most of what you say Berks. I'm glad you agree that Forsyth was poor (a direct quote from someone on the match thread is that he was "one of our best"), but in fairness he hasn't played anywhere near as bad at home all season. As for Loach, if he had stayed on his line would there have been a problem?
If it wasn't for the mistake I'd probably agree with Dickinson for MoM for being solid and for helping to disguise how spectacularly useless Forsyth was outside of the box. Taking the mistake into account it's a toss-up between Mariappa and Doyley.
To be honest I thought that all of our back four played well enough. Forest didn't really look to me as if they would score, in fact I said to my wife early on in the second half that the game had the makings of a classic 0-0 draw. Without the shambles that led to their goal that is exactly what it would have been.
That was the poorest game I've seen for a long time. What is most annoying is that Forest looked an awful side and we simply never got going. At one time JE would gee the players up but today there was no energy, no determination...in fact no-one seemed able to raise their game, as if mentally they were still at home watching TV. The defence, that awful mistake apart, looked good...but largely because Forest weren't good enough to exert any kind of pressure. Mariappa apart it was hard to see anyone who had a good game and most were frankly poor. Like others on here I can't see that Yeates is better than Whichelow, Garner better than Deeney or Iwelumo better than a telegraph pole.
I thought yeates was one of our better players today and all season. The goal was horrible to watch we beat ourselves. As for forsythe might as well hammer a 7ft post in the ground, no pace , no control, no skill no nothing. The whole side lacks pace Balls played to feet all the time rather than into space giving forest time to get back everytime. Sordel is a class above but needs service. Garner worked hard but our strikers were feeding off scaps really. Hogg isnt the player to partner eusstace- we need someone who can turn on the ball and pass forward, like mcginn and mutch did so well in our good run last year. And why why why why did we make an effing substotution in injury time when we should have been racking up some pressure
Poor goalkeeping for the goal and it is very worrying that loach just isn't learning and improving. As for iwelumo im sorry but he cannot be labled useless for being thrown on far too late in a game he may have had use in. He may well turn out to be a poor signing but give the guy a chance he got what 5mins 2day? He should have started ahead of garner as clearly the tactics were to either lump the ball up or play through the wide players with plenty of crosses into the box. Dyche got it wrong today. Was actualli quite impressed with Hogg and feel a bit sorry for him as right now we need a box to box midfielder but his distribution to forsyth and yeates/doyley was pretty good and more football-esque. Forsyth was terrible and yet to see a good performance from him other then Burnley away. Poor touch, lack of pace, lack of dribbling and awful delivery. Its worrying that the players clearly avoid passing to his feet as on one wing we have a player who loves touching the ball but has no physical presence and on the other we have a physical presence who hates touching the ball.... its just not balanced. Just hope that Marv keeps his chin up as he clearly has fantastic ability but suffers from the lack of creation from midfield. Still only a few games in the important thing is that Dyche learns quickly because if we are in the bottom 3 by Christmas he will struggle to keep his job no matter what our financial situation is.
Mariappa was the only one who had a great game...Doyley also shone for me...but other than Dickenson, who does seem to have a fair amount of skill...it was a pile of kack today..and a very sorry show. What's worrying is that up until now, SD has been very honest about games...today he thought the performance was a good one! That doesn't make any sense to me at all!
Whats worrying is this the worst watford side ive ever seen we have been tremendoulsly lucky with a few loan players last few year. This year none have come in (and its our only way of getting genuine class into wfc) And our best 3 players are gone And dyche seems to have based our game plan around hoofing it to forsythe- its amazing no one has thought of playing a tall guy on the wing before but the hoofing it too 5ft strikers is a bit obvious.::. I live in west wiltshire so coming up for the game took out whole day no evening as got in at half ten. Oh and the much hyped yellow order... Was it 5 or 6 of you in the ground....utter joke considering the media coverage they get
I think our luck over the past few seasons may have run out........ given the paper thin squads we have had ... .the loanees have really made a big diff in recent years.... plus the 2/3 class players..... now we may be back to square one..
What did he say about them? Are the YO on the pitch missing good chances or not communicating well enough in defence to deal with a simple thump down the pitch. Its a worry if the manager is blaming others for the faults of the team...could mean he isn't sure how to change things at home. I do think we should have a couple of the quicker more skillfull younger players in the sides. Agreed the defence was ok but in reality Forest posed very little threat and even Steve Mclarent seemed surprised they scored afterwards. Mariappa did well but Sordell looked frustrated and I hate Loach wacking the ball long to somebody who is offside every time. WHAT A WASTE!
At last. This is more like the old 606. Some good solid debate. I like Dickinson, but if you watch he is prone to costly errors. Mariappa defended well but his distribution was poor. Forsyth is there to win balls in the air, particularly that diagonal ball from the back or midfield. Take him out and you have to change tactics (no bad thing) but I agree: the rest of his play is poor. Sorrel seems to suffering yet another post England hang-over, but we are not playing to his strengths. At the moment we seem to have a half decent bunch of players, but do not seem to be able to find a pattern of play that fit their talents. I'm not suggesting we get rid of Dyche, but I did express the fear before a ball was kicked that he may be the weak link. I fear that this may prove to be the case.
hornethologist..........at least a telegraph pole is useful! Again, it boils down to Scott Loach making his usual hash up of being the Watford goalkeeper. In all my years of supporting the orns he is probably the worst keeper we have ever had! Someone made a point earlier about quality over quantity......Baz makes a big shout about how many players he has bought in, but quite frankly most of them are naff. Obviously we are in a pickle, because this team could well be relegated at the end of this season.......they are just not good enough. Having had this rant, lets get behind the boys and be the 12th man C'mon you ORNS!!!!
