Freezing conditions were not helped by another awful performance in front of goal yesterday afternoon, the third in a row with not only zero goals, but a severe lack of opportunities to actually score. THE GAME Well I don't think there is any doubt that we didn't completely dominate the game. I haven't seen any possession stats yet but we had a huge amount of possession but once again created very little. Watford had little time on the ball, but what they did have they didn't create much either - however their build up play was much faster, and more energetic than ours which continued at a snail's pace. A great turnout by the Rangers fans, and in loud voice couldn't spur the team on to a win though, in the first half our best opportunities were a couple of off target edge of the area shots from Kranjcar who played in the lone 'striker' role ahead of Phillips, Benayoun and Hoilett. In the second half we managed our now usual single shot on target of the game - a good strike by Phillips which Almunia in the Watford goal could only push away. Other than that we continued to enjoy possession but rarely force Watford into much of a scare. Traore came on towards the end and won a good free kick opportunity but that was too late too little once again. THE RATINGS GREEN - 7 - had virtually nothing to do bar one good save. ASSOU-EKOTTO - 6 - did his usual good work supporting the winger but as has crept into his game in recent weeks he was lazy in getting back to defend - at one point just jogged back after he gave the ball away in the final 3rd. DUNNE - 7 - overall defended well, bar a few dodgy moments. had to move to the other side of the centre back slots to accommodate Onuoha. Both had a good understanding. ONUOHA - 7.5 - defended very well throughout and slotted in nicely. allowed us to move further up the pitch but that didn't solve our scoring problems. SIMPSON - 5 - has been poor in recent weeks and i think he wasn't great yesterday. didn't run for the overlap for the winger much at all, and seems to getting beaten a bit too easily defensive wise at the moment. BARTON - 7.5 - MOM - not his best performance but he made some unbelievable passes across field to try and open watford up. our best midfielder by far though. CARROLL - 4 - I have said for weeks he isn't good enough, and unfortunately proved again that is the case. A terrible performance, agreed by many around me. Gave the ball away most of the time and so much for his apparent always forward looking passes - most sideways or backwards. Far too lightweight for the middle of the park as it gives control to the other team. PHILLIPS - 4.5 - only once did he successful attack his full back and that resulted in the shot which was saved. often lost the ball. BENAYOUN - 6.5 - our 'best' attacking player of the attack minded front 4 with some clever runs and good passing overall. but had little support. HOILETT - 4.5 - same as phillips, rarely used his good pace to good effect, and was tackled most times with silly runs or cut backs at the wrong time. frustrating. KRANJCAR - 5.5 - played upfront on his own and had a few shots that went wide in the first half. tried to look forwards but often had to come deep to get the ball. struggled with his lack of pace and poor fitness. faded out of the game in the second half. SUBS: JOHNSON - 6 - tried to make an impact with some nice runs but caught offside twice and had no support. O'NEIL - 4.5 - not on for that long but struggled to make any real impact. TRAORE - 5 - caused watford problems and gave them more to think about than hoilett did using his pace a few times. won a free kick which came to nothing. FINAL WORD We are completely toothless up front at the moment - and rely on clean sheets to pick any points up. We had one single shot on target which is pathetic. We are now sliding down the table - 5 points off 1st now, and as I said it has been a sorry end to the year with no goals in our last three. Using the fact that Austin is out is a non starter for me - we have pacey wingers who should be attacking their full backs. I don't know if this is a 'tactic', but our full backs don't seem to be as attacking as they should be at the moment - rarely making overlapping runs. It is incredibly boring watching us at the moment as we don't have the capacity to attack with speed or in numbers which is the reason for our awful shot count. We are easy to play against and too predictable. This simply has to change, and fast, as we have now slipped 5 points behind Leicester, 3 games after holding a 3 point lead over them - that is pathetic. An 8 point swing! And Derby are looking pretty good at the moment. For me, if we continue playing like we are we can kiss goodbye to promotion. A bit of an over reaction some may say, but we have now played everyone once, and they will learn from the way we have already played - and in my opinion our recent form shows we have been found out. Our squad doesn't seem to be as good as is made out by outside people - we have so many midfield options but none of them are really performing. Tactics or individual performances? In my opinion, we don't only need to add a couple to the squad in January, but we also need a change in tactics.
I actually thought Phillips looked decent yesterday. He's improving, and his hold up play seems pretty strong. You'd have to say our wingers are the biggest disappointments this season though, particularly Hoillet. We looked at them preseason and though "wow, they're going to blow championship defences away". They both look very "incomplete" players though, particularly junior. A promotion-push season isn't really one to accommodate too many "works in progress", we needed confident ready-made wingers. Look at Leicester with Dyer + Knockaert, they're doing the business and chipping in with a few goals- 5/3 and 3/2 respectively, in League/LeagueCup. It's astounding that after Charlie's 11, our second highers scorers in the league have 2. Leicester have Nugent on 11, and his strike partner Vardy on 7. That's where the problem is, no goals from the wings, and no goals from a second striker.
Thanks Judo. From watching the highlights I thought Dunne looked a bit dodgy, but it was only highlights. Simpson really is struggling now and seems to offer nothing going forward when it's vital that fullbacks attack well when only playing one up front. I agree that things need to improve quickly or else our slide will continue.
Nugent has scored nine penalties. So Austin is out-scoring him from open play. Undoubtedly the midfield aren't performing to their maximum: Philips has done better than Hoilett, who has been pretty dreadful at times. As for young Tom Carroll, he tries hard and always makes himself available, but I think that he's probably suffering from the weight of expectation currently being placed on his shoulders. If Ale was fit, I would suggest that Carroll wouldn't have made the starting line-up as frequently. Mainly, however, I think we're slightly losing perspective. There's little point in stressing how far behind the current leader we are: we're only a single point off the automatic places and I think we'll have a strong finish to the season.
The problem is as much about the midfield as a lack of strikers. Im not an expert, we've got Arry in that role, but the tactics seem to be inept and more about not losing than winning. Lets hope something changes otherwise we wont be going up, if this continues. Personally I think the questions are more over the coaching and tactics than the players performances
The way I look at it we are in a good if not very good position (depending on who we get in) half the season gone with 1 and ahalf maybe 1 and 2/3s worth of forwards. We have a very good keeper. Our defence is above average for the league a midfield that has quality and with abit of luck can start to supply a few more goals. We NEED 2 forwards and probably a utility defender for cover accross the back. We are top 4 going into the new year without playing to our potential yet. A bit of luck a forward to click dont want to use the g word. and we could start another great run.. Lets be positive. who would of taking top 4 at new years stage. I dont care if we win most games 1 -0 or win ugly its the winning that matters. HAPPY NEW YEAR fellow posters U RRRRRRRRRRss
To be 4th one point off 2nd, given how we've played going forward for a lot of the season is unbelievable. I really think we will improve going forward in the new year and that we'll go up automatically, in fact I think we will be up with 3 games to spare, just an opinion! Heading back to Peru on Monday, fact! You Rsssssssss!!!
Good appraisal of the match and our performance Judo - I watched the whole game and agree with that observation of Dunne, I thought he looked weary, especially with some of his hacked out of bounds clearances - like Hill, he needs a break from the busy recent schedule, so would prefer to see Hill & Onuoha paired up for Doncaster.
IMO we have the best two fullbacks in this league by a country mile, supported by the fact that they both had 20+ appearances in the Prem last year, along with two wingers that are capable of playing at a higher level. Our wide men ( FBs and wingers) don't run at and past opposition defenders. We rarely create an overlap and force there defenders to turn SMS defend. It's not rocket science. Instead we pass the ball laterally in front of them until we lose it. We're not incisive and not playing at a high enough tempo to really trouble teams. It's like we're stuck in second gear.
Is Kane better than Hitchcock, I await to be convinced. I know it is a lower league, but H is scoring which is more than anyone else is doing right now.
Excellent report mate, many thanks. I've not seen the last few matches even though a couple have been televised. When you say that it is incredibly boring watching us at the moment, is that even more boring than up until now (maybe use the Brighton match as the benchmark), because it has been pretty dull all season (with a couple of notable exceptions)?
Thanks Judo, for me Philips looked better than Hoilett but agreed both were pants, shame with these two, as I really thought they would light up this league for us. Agreed toothless.
Maybe as I'm watching this on my sofa I have a different perspective but I thought we didn't look too bad, chances are being created but with no focal point. Yep, Johnson should have been on earlier, Hoilett not as effective as Traore, Krancjaer looked alright to me..apart from his fat arse, defence looked solid, much better with Onohua's pace. It was an improvement on the Forest game which wasn't hard to achieve. So another striker coming in I guess, wish it was Shane Long.
Yep, even more boring now. Virtually nothing being created, and we seem to be getting into the opponents penalty box less and less. At least before we could almost guarantee a clean sheet so nicking a goal would be ok. Now we are liable to concede and have almost no shots at goal. Both were equally as ineffective for me as neither seem to be trying to beat their defender and get a cross into the box. Its more hit and hope that it doesn't hit the defender (which it does mostly!). I don't think we are creating anything worthwhile at all really. The opportunities we get are often shots from the edge of the area which are no trouble or headers that go over. Good shout, but I think Hull will be after him. Perhaps someone like Luciano Becchio from Norwich - was at Leeds but isn't getting a look in at Norwich. Very good player at this level for sure. But I would like alongside an older (well not too old!!) more experienced striker someone like Nahki Wells from Bradford - a good young striker with something to prove.
I haven't seen the highlights (can't face watching us twice since the Leicester game) but I guess they picked out the moments I mentioned where he wasn't particularly good! One time he was running towards our by line in the corner and waiting to pass to Green but waited too long and got tackled - he then shoved the Watford player off the ball to recover. No idea what has happened to him as he was one of our most consistent performers up to a few weeks ago.
