First thing first is that was a real positive away performance. Whatever people say about it, we were attacking Watford from the start. But for much of the game it looked as though it was going to be like the Aston Villa game all over again. We dominated the game in terms of territory but struggled to get clear cut chances and then Watford took the lead very much against the run of play. Mark Bunn, who was awesome today, must be the unluckiest 'keeper in the world to always come against a wonder strike every game. In the first half, Hoolahan was at the centre of everything. We always had the ball in wide areas, but we didn't quite look like scoring. The second half was really disappointing to begin with. Hughton who IMO must get alot of respect from his detractors for today's game tried to change it with Elmander for Garrido (who was unlucky to be subbed) and Hoolahan rapidly faded and for 20 mins (we were in total control the other 100) Watford bossed it. We made one mistake and it was punished (still needed a great finish). Then Josh Murphy scored a superb goal and from then on, we always looked like winning the game, although boy we left it late to force extra time. It has to be said the officials had an absolute mare. So many decisions went against us that it was really frustrating the players. In the end we had the best part of 20 corners and must have had about 40 crosses into the Watford box and only ONE made a chance to score. When you have that kind of domination, even if the crossing isn't great (and it wasn't) then you would still expect the defenders for the opposition to make a mistake but they didn't! All three Watford CBs had superb games which I guess is typical for us. My thoughts on the players: Bunn - superb. Couldn't stop either goals but made some top saves to keep us in the game and later keep us in front. Garrido - was ok. Dispensed for Elmander on half-time but I think he'll be starting against Stoke. Olsson - busy but not really so impressive. As both a winger and a full back his crossing wasn't accurate and given the pattern of play that was all he was doing. Bennett - brilliant game. Vital blocks and tackles, with Bassong out it is nice to know he is more than up the job. Martin - solid enough. Not much more to say really. Whittaker - mixed bag really, some good moments but let down by sloppy passes at times. Murphy - wow, he really changed the game. Of course he scored but he was a real, real threat throughout the rest of the game. He certainly hasn't harmed his chances of more first team action, he looked completely at home against a Championship side albeit a tired one. Johnson - effective as a ball winner, but really had to make way when we were chasing the game because he wasn't going to unlock the defence. Desperately unlucky not to score with the score at 1 - 0 to Watford. Tettey - very good game for this lad IMO. A few poor passes aside, he bossed the base of midfield with vital blocks, tackles and recycled our attacks very well. In contention for Stoke. Fer - came on with us in a rut and filled in the gaps superbly. Brilliant management by Hughton to bring him on, and he gave us real impetus to get the comeback. I guess on his day, he is like a Yaya Touré - a superb all-round player. Hoolahan - great first half linking really well with just about everybody, but out of his natural position faded and lost the ball everytime he had it so had to make way. Elmander - didn't have the impact Hughton hoped. He had a bit of a quiet game to be honest. Hooper - brilliant. Two goals from two chances and superb at holding up the ball and getting others involved. So to summarise, I am a bit miffed how can we have so many crosses and corners and yet not so many chances. I guess something for Hughton to fix in training. But I am alot happier now than an hour or two ago when it looked like a case of 'oh no, not again!' OTBC IHWT
Good to see some honest player reviews since the Pinkun ones are usually far to generous. I dislike the fact we always seem to cross the ball so much, the forwards need the ball at their feet, I really hope we start using through balls more often, it's a pity that Hoolahan the likely candidate to play them had a bad second half as I really think Elmander's place is up for grabs.
Take back that through ball comment...... [video=youtube;MAwj6lp4VV8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAwj6lp4VV8&feature=youtu.be&ac[/video] What a delivery by Fer!
That ball from Leroy is exactly what we need to see more of, linking the forwards into the play. Murphy's strike is awesome and Hooper is clearly an excellent goal scorer given the chances.
I'm now desperately trying to work "Ferx" into a sentence in the local accent, but failing miserably...
I keep hearing the first goal for Watford was "unstoppable" but after watching it a few times shouldnt Bunn have really saved that? it wasnt in the corner at all and was only about 2 yards to his left. He got a lot on the ball but just pushed it up into his own net. The second Watford goal he couldnt do anything about but I just think he should have done better with the first one. Not moaning too much but a win is a win, even if Norwich did cost me my £300 accumalator
agree marknemo. bunn seems to really struggle with shots from range. god knows how many he's conceded from outside the box. his reactions from close range are magnificent but i agree, he had little chance with the 2nd goal - ruddy wouldn't have saved that one but the first was very saveable.
Apart from the possibly savable first goal (still not easy to stop though), Bunn was brilliant. He made a number of top drawer saves and aerially was very good.
Agree JR, but it seems certain people on here have a big problem with Bunn. I think he is a top keeper,and IMO a better shot stopper than Ruddy.
When I first saw the highlights, I instantly thought Bunn should have done better, but I am still not sure if the shot actually got deflected a little. As supers noted above - he frequently struggles with shot from outside the box, which seems odd as in most cases there is more time to respond to a longer range effort.
i don't think i've ever been hard on bunn's ability! i do think he could have saved last nights first goal though and he does have weakness dealing with long range efforts. as a number two, there are few better to be honest and we are lucky to have him on our books.
The fact that he got at least one strong hand and it still went into the net suggests he was probably dealing with an unstoppable shot. I don't think he had any time to adjust himself so to divert the ball where he wanted.
I believe it's actually a fact that Bunn had the worst record against shots from range - I saw some stat about it last season. I'll try to dig it out. Bunn is a fantastic shot stopper, but unfortunately he is, quite simply, too short. Teams know his weakness and will pepper our goal from long range. Yep, here it is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22320499 See the stat box in the bottom left - I'm not sure where they got the stats from, but it sounds about right
I was intending to be harsh on Bunn at all - i only saw the highlights which are the goals but I got the impression he made other good saves. However, it comes with being a GK that if one goes in that you should save people will pick up on it. I am more than happy with him as number 2 to Ruddy for the record but I wanted to comment as people had said it was unstoppable and great goal - it wasnt in my eye. The second one was a worldy and I would expect any keeper to save that.
