Quality of our set pieces makes me sick. With the height of Fonte, Caulker, Yoshida, Pelle and Wanyama, you got to give them a chance to attack the ball. Bring JWP on.
They always go with quotes that are a bit controversial, always people who feel very strongly about things. You never get a "hmm, we looked okay today" tweet because that doesn't interest people, it's always "this team is amazing and will win the league" or alternately "meltdown! Relegation incoming!" etc. They're just a talking point, really. I don't mind them too much when they're balanced (ie. getting responses from both ends of the spectrum rather than just one) - I rarely agree, but at least then it's not like it's trying to push an opinion on people who can't watch the game.
Wonder if we're trying to "save" JWP for the Europa game on Thursday? He looked our main threat there (in terms of us looking most threatening from set pieces, which he delivered), so could make sense I guess.
I wouldn't be against Tadic for Davis at HT. (Wanyama is the usually the one player who Ron doesn't sacrifice when they're on a yellow card, so probably no need to consider him being replaced).
You know when you play a sport against someone, and you know you're better than them, but somehow frustratingly you play down to their level. This.
I'm not watching so I can't say how we've looked, but it's positive that we haven't conceded late in the first half again (we seem to switch off in defense with a few minutes to go). At least that's something. Has the formation helped us look a bit better defensively?
Not a particularly impressive first half. With five at the back, Watford was still getting a few too many chance. Not really sure what Caulker's role is, he seems to be all over the pitch. Not in a good way.
It's all a bit poor at the moment. Thought we looked good until Mane got kicked in the face, but haven't been cohesive enough since. Don't know where a goal will come from - particularly with the poor set piece delivery we're supplying!
Mm. It's not that bad, but it's not that good either. it doesn't look like we will score even if this game goes on for a million years though
0-0 HT. I didn't see much of Watford last season, I had no idea they were such a dirty bunch. And Marriner gave our players no protection whatsoever, even after Mané was kicked off the pitch. I'd like to see Tadić on second half, and Jay for Pellè, who hasn't been very effective. And I know that's unlikely to happen by the way.
Just don't see us winning . Still pleased we haven't conceded. Do we gamble or try not to get beaten?
Not really got a creative player on the pitch so hardly surprised at the scoreline or way that half went. Not keen on this formation or Steven davis playing ahead of JWP. Would like to see Juanmi introduced also.
The big problem with this 3-5-2 is that it relies on our full backs getting forward and causing havoc. That isn't happening. I can't imagine Targett bombing forward. He's got the acceleration of a double-decker bus.
Yeah I've noticed that Caulker just appearing in a number 10 position sometimes like he's just got lost, I'm not sure 532 suits us when 2 of the 3 CBs aren't that comfortable on the ball. Personally think we've looked the better team and seem to have a lot more attacking threat than Watford, we've got in behind a few times and the loss of Mane doesn't seem to have affected us which is good. Apart from their one big chance, which we got pretty lucky on, Watford haven't reaaally threatened, although they do seem to be exposing a gap between Yoshida and Targett which we need to sort out. I would predict that our superior bench will make the difference with Juanmi or Rodriguez scoring the winner in a tight 1-0.
We looked much better defensively, although there are some misunderstanding between out back five, which is to be expected all thing considered. It's also expected that, by having basically a 7 defensive minded players, we lack bodies in the attack which makes Pelle and Long too isolated up front. Long is doing a great job so far, but even he can't run for two player. With 0-0 at half time, we can either be happy with th e result, keep the formation and hope for a lucky punch, or we can go for it. For start, by replacing one of the defensive midfielders with Tadić or JWP.
