To be fair, the Sierralta/Ince "shore up" doesn't work. Hasn't done so on a couple of occasions now, tend to sit deeper and bring trouble upon ourselves. The team is not good enough defensively for that.
Ince is used out of position - should just remain on the bench in my opinion as he doesn't seem to offer much anywhere. I wonder what instructions Sierralta gets when he comes on to replace the likes of Sissoko - they're not exactly a like for like swap, which really would be more appropriate rather than leaving a gap in midfield to be exploited.
I do wonder whether Tom Cleverly would benefit from having an experienced, old hand to advise him: GT had Bertie Mee and Aidy Boothroyd had Keith Burkinshaw. Paul Robinson has stepped back to do game analysis of the opposition and I am not sure what is the role of Zigor Aranalde. There do seem to be some areas of Cleverley's coaching which need improvement. The Sky commentators pointed out during the Sunderland game that Watford have conceded 3 more goals from corners than any other Championship team. Players are guilty of not doing their marking jobs properly, but Tom must also take some responsibility for how he sets up the team to defend at corners. Perhaps Cleverley also needs be braver at the end of games when Watford are in the lead. Twice he has brought on Sierralta as an additional central defender in the final few minutes of games (at Plymouth and Sunderland) and on each occasion the opposition has almost immediately equalized. Doumbia had gone off with cramp so there was no attacking threat and Sunderland were able to apply more pressure on the Watford defence. I know that there were no alternative striking options on the bench, but Nabizada might have presented an attacking threat as a tricky winger who could have caused problems for Sunderland rather than merely inviting pressure on Watford's defence. Tom is in a better position than myself to make these decisions, but attack is often the best form of defence and he does seem reluctant to give an opportunity to the youngsters.
It doesn't show what Scully is looking for though - the attempt immediately after the kick off after Sunderland equalised. I doubt there'll be any footage available - the TV cameras missed it.
I was watching on Virgin, they showed four reruns of the Sunderland goal from four different angles and then "Back to the live action" to see the Sunderland keeper just tip the effort over the crossbar for a corner and yes it was straight from the kickoff on the halfway line and no rerun of that effort as though it didn't matter
Because nobody at all was paying attention. Caught me out too, nearly. The ball was sailing over the D by the time the director realised. The journos were probably too busy scribbling notes. A shame the keeper wasn't about step forward, that's all it needed.
