Watford game and Conte rumblings.

3 points, which is great. Subs were the difference. **** defensively though.

 

relieved that I was so wrong today and we won. But.

Paper over massive cracks.
We could / should have lost it 1-4.
Cannot start with Holy trinity aka usual 3 Dummies in every game.

Pulling Alonso gave us 3 goals and Defensive Shape & Balance.
Conte please do the right thing in team selection and show us you want to stay.

I would love if you can stay and get us 4th spot somehow.

 

FFS Stan Fabs played really well today, if you want question marks look at Luiz and Cahil.

 

Issue is Cescy & Baka had to protect Luiz & Cahill.
Without that CBs will look poor. Mind our best CB is Dave, which says a lot of calibre we have.

 

Now you all go back to CP's OP.

That team WILL have walked it 4-1 today.

Yet Conte prefers a mare / undeserved 4-2, something is still not right?
So you all say, Conte wants to project midfield weakness to board by sabotaging (Playing Cescy)?

 

I think we had one of the best defences up until Kante got injured. Yoko and Fabs is not a good mix by the look of it. Was pleased for Batsy because he showed Conte that you sometimes need a bit of muscle to break down big strong defences, Deeney has made a living from it, Morata was out of his depth today but will learn from this. I hope Conte gets a chance to play Morata and Batsy together with Batsy punching holes that Morata can exploit.

 

Don't normally disagree with you Ginge but I thought Fabs was distinctly average today missed chances and passes in equal measure and lost the ball at least three times that I can remember two of which resulted in Watford nearly scoring. He was dallying on the ball too long.

 

The chance he missed in the first half was a really difficult chip on Gomez who is a lanky git also we could and should have been three goals up at half time. The wind at the bridge today made it difficult for both teams to defend efficiently. We got a bit lucky early on in the second half due to Richarlisons impersonation of Stevie Wonder in front of goal but the wind certainly played a hand in 4 goals today. Fab played some good through balls but some were short (for Stans benefit) but seriously I just don’t get his constant slagging off of him.

 

Very flattering final score,if i supported watford i'd be choked.Don't like knocking our players but Bakayoko?,
especially for their second goal was awful.Hope he just needs a bit more time...

 

Yes Baka looks like Rambo a lot. He needs some support. That support isn't Cescy.

 

From the looks of it Lady Luck was on our side and so was Richardsons finishing. We've got to look at building a cohesive unit at the back hopefully that will be partly resolved when Kante comes back to provide cover.

 

Providing cover is not the answer when you get to the upper echelons of the footballing world. These defenders should be able to defend no matter what is in front of them. They are paid massive wages to do a job that at the moment they are not fulfilling. Using the loss of Kante is just an excuse because every day they practise defending more than likely against Kante. To defend you have to be able to stay as a unit keep in touch and there needs to be a leader. All of these things I do not see in our back line since JT and The Rock that was Ivan departed. There are always going to be times when your midfield will go missing as in an attack that breaks down and we are forced to defend without the cover of midfield, please don't say there should be a midfielder holding as this is not necessary when the entire play is being played in the opponents half. All that is required is for our defence to act as one, as a unit, listen to the leader and do not take chances in our own third. Rant over.

 

Don't see enough evidence that Cahill has either the game or the wherewithal to be leader.I'm not going to lay into any players because they have had a very difficult week or so, and without doubt some are carrying niggling injuries.
Luiz is definitely not in top shape and was crocked a couple of times. I just don't understand why Conte thinks Dave, our best right back (and maybe left as well) should become a winger. Zappacosta needs game time and has all the spark we need. Those players regularly slammed, Fabregas was better than usual with his attacking game, but is a motorway straight to our defence against strong fast direct players.Nothing new there. Michy on the other hand looked a proper player for once.
Bakayoko is not the answer yet either. He lost ball after ball, provided very little in attack and is in need of some leadership. In his favour, he kept his chin up and keeps on going. He will improve with Kante back.
Pedro was great, Hazard not so great today and Morata today gave a passable impression of a petulant child who thinks he should never be tackled or rumbled by defenders.He was well off his game.
However, the TEAM picked themselves up and showed the fight and guts missing the past several games. Contes' changes worked, we got the win, we're back to 4th, and Utd showed they are as capable of a poor performance as we are.

 

CP. Will Conte have the balls to start the side that finished the game today. Willian, Batsy, Zappa, deserve a chance to stake a claim in the starting 11. As I said earlier Morata needs to be used as a support with Batsy and not as a focal point. Batsy should lead the line with Morata feeding off him, if you add Hazard and Pedro and Willian to the mix its a world class forward line. Defence and midfield is the real problem, we have never replaced our real workhorses ala Lamps Ramirez Essien even Matic to some extent those guys would run though brick walls for us and contribute to the attack as well, we seem to be so negative with no real creative heart in midfield. I however do not put the blame on Cesc, used in the right way he can be very effective. Like when he used to come on after 80 mins and dominate because the opposition had been nullified.

 

Exactly Abu's.
Cescy can be a great impact player. Or start him once 3 games or so. Not 3 games in 1 week.

But unfortunately he isnt ready for a part time role and sulk a lot. He thinks he should start all week. May be in Italy he could. Not in PL

 

Bakayoko was obviously still carrying an injury and he did well as the only defence based midfield player on the pitch. The 2nd goal was his fault and we also had a terrible ref so it wasn't the worst performance and you won't see many more teams throw themselves on the floor or waste time like Watford so not using today's game to berate anyone unlike some

 

Thats a good question. For the midweek game probably yes, because he has to rest and rotate more than a couple of walking wounded. Willian looked like his old self so that's a big positive and Zappa surely will get a run out with Christensen replacing Luiz. I wouldn't be surprised to see a youngster or 2 feature either. Trying to win the PL and CL is proving difficult with our squad, so the Cups seem a great opportunity to bring on the fringe players and rest the first 11.
Cesc has plenty to offer used sparingly, but we are bloody thin until Drinkwater is fit. Hope he proves to be the type we need to strengthen our midfield until a great player becomes available.

 

Yes shedend I had not got round to the ref and the Tom Daley tactics of the Watford team Yoko's booking was a farce the guy ran into him and dived over his leg add to that it was within 5 yards of the ref and it makes you wonder if the guy has any idea how football is played. It wasn't a isolated mistake mind he was constantly getting decisions wrong all through the match.

 

I sit Mh Upper and the first half was just dive after dive and then give the ref grief until he gave in .Also the tackle on hazard was yellow at least , funny thing is today's papers praising Watford to the hilt and no mention of they actually took 5 minutes to take 2 corners while players made out to be injured