Exactly, but as Dyche knows and admits, we're very much work in progress. He knows where he's going with his team, and i firmly believe he will get them there. I'm very excited for next season, and if not next, if he's still with us, the season after that
So do I. If we can bring in a winger and sharpen up Deeney and Iwelumo then i cant see who can stop us!!
IMO our biggest issue/problem is not being able to keep hold of the ball. This season, in almost every game (even the ones we have won) the opposition have had more ball possession than ourselves, this means we have to work even harder as a team than we need to. If Dyche can sort this out, just improve on it a little then I think we will improve and be even harder to beat (even more so when we take the lead). Just need to only play defenders who will and do play short passes and midfielders who are comfortable on the ball.
Garner will get better, Forsyth is my big hope ...and who knows what might happen when Mensah gets in the team!
i agree with this. It's very frustrating to see us lose the ball so easily and so often, it's definitely something that needs dealing with.
Yep. Time after time you see Eustace or Hogg win the ball off the opposition only to see us give the ball back to the opposition 5 seconds later due to a sloppy pass. And time and time again you see one of our defenders hoof it to see it either go straight to the opposition, or, to see the opposition defender win the high ball. Lots of aspects of our game is decent, but in a lot of games we really do make it hard for ourselves.
Agreed, and sadly, Eustace is one of the worst culprits. He works so hard to win the ball, and then gives it away straight away! I'm sure Dyche sees the problem though, he does seem to be 'sweeping up' the problems as he goes, so hopefully this one is fairly high up the 'things to do' list!
I actually think Hogg is the worst culprit for sloppy passes. But like others on here, I also think it should be Eustace OR Hogg not both. Me Id go with Eustace and Bauben till the end of the season. Id really like to see us go in for Colchester's Anthony Wordsworth. He's a tall central midfielder who is a decent passer of the ball and has scored 12 goals this season. Im also hopeing that next season Martin Taylor is either a sqaud player only or gets sold as he is the worst culprit for hoofing. Dyche has hinted though that he would adopt a different system if the pitch was better. So hopefully if we get this new pitch and the egg chasers F-off then we wont be so wasteful with the ball nor as direct at the back.
It's a close call i suppose between the two and definitely we shouldn't be playing both. I still think Hogg and Buaben aren't a bad twosome, but Eustace has been great too, since he came back. I don't know Wordsworth, so take your word for it, he sounds perfect. You're right about Taylor, he hasn't been the player this season, that he was last season. However, he's kept us in the odd game or two, but Mapps and Nos cope very well together...that is, if we can keep Mapps. i've heard the egg chasers are staying for the beginning of next season, which sucks big time! I can't see Bas going back on the pitch though, it really needs changing at the end of this season.
I thought it would not take long for Swampy to start bleating on here...just goes to show that stealing another club does not buy success..
I have not seen Hoggs tackle on Conway but MM is being very critical of Hogg, saying leg breaking tackle etc etc! anyone seen it yet?
I agree with you Mitch, but I don't think that was an option this season. It's not as if Dyche didn't try, but Jenkins isn't the man to be the more attack-minded midfielder, McGinn was injured, and Buaben was inconsistent when he got the chance. I'm sure you're going to tell me that there was a loanee we could have brought in, but bringing that loanee in would in my opinion have been the end of Eustace's Watford career. If at all possible, we don't want to lose him as an option. Much better to give him the chance to prove he can play out of position, and sit down and discuss his future at the end of the season. If he knows that the manager has complete faith in him to do a job but sees Hogg and McGinn (for instance) as a better combination, he just might be persuaded to stay on as player-coach, knowing that Dyche sees him as competition for both of those players.
agree mitch but at home where the surface is bad has to a degree dictated how we play ,that said away from home we have had trouble cheaply giving away posession
Yes, but it's not easy to simply switch on, switch off how you play. At home the opposition is almost always going to close you down quickly and, coupled with an awful pitch, will make a passing game a nigh on impossibility. Away from home you are always likely to see less of the ball but possession was nearly 50/50 for the Cardiff game. I do agree some of our players lack some finesse of touch. We have to realise though that other clubs simply have better players than we do. However, clearly many clubs do not have better teams than us.
A lot of our problems are caused by our lack of creating space and running off of the ball, often there is just not an option of a pass as there is not a player free in space to take the pass. So the defenders pump it up and JE does those little flick up's into the air and hope someone has predicted and ran into the space the ball will land in. It usually a sign of a team trying to hold it's shape too rigidly and not being creative with their running. For me the worst culprite is Doyley.
Just watched the goals on SSN, deft touch by Nos for his goal Looks like our defence was asleep for theirs though.
Nail on head there - he's the biggest culprit and not only with his feet. He has the same predilection as Danny ****tu had for 'hoofing it with his head' and gaining height but no distance. Don't know about Mensah, but amen to the others - especially Forsyth. He has struggled a bit with the huge step up from Scot Div1 but, I suspect like McGinn before him, he has what it takes to make the grade. he simply needs to do a Stephen Dobbie and build a bit more body strength IMO.
I think all our problems will be solved if we always score more goals tan the team we're playing against, simples now wheres my application for the England job...?
Taylor does a hoof a bit, but late on in games he is quite good at going on a little run forward with the ball! I think what we need most next season is players comfortable on the ball. I doubt even a new pitch is going to make Eustace and Hogg pass masters...it'll still be sideways/backwards passing or hit and hope "curlers". That, or good wingers...as that has seemed to reduce the negatives of the Eustace-Hogg midfield. But ideally...you would have both. I wouldn't be against a 4-3-3/4-5-1 formation next season...Eustace + Hogg + *attacking pass master* in midfield...so we would still get Hogg's defensive cover, but not be limited in going forward. Then have two wingers who are capable of getting at the fullbacks, but also able to help give the midfield width. Then have Deeney spearheading the attack. We have Iwelumo and Garner for extra options, and maybe we could use Massey next season too. More and more these days....this seems like the more effective formation, in comparison to a 4-4-2 When I think of how much our team pressures others, I think that the formation could really work. I think we would probably need 3 or 4 new signings, Yeates and Forsyth are squad players at best....maybe if McGinn proves to be the player we've been missing in midfield, then that would effectively be a new signing. I'm not sure that Buaben is the right player. It's only his first season, but maybe he's more of a squad player than a starter. If we don't plan on using our youth as wingers or if they are not ready (Whichelow, Assombalonga, Mingoia)...then either we need to spend a little, or make use of the loan market again...but hope we can get them till the end of the season.
