Match Day Thread Watford v Hull City

14 goals conceded in 7 games

the worst in the whole division, is absolutely a concern,
to get any points we need to score 2+

 

Hughes is desperately slow, but I don't think he realises it and it gets him into trouble.

 

this is why I question the defensive line up, needs a reshuffle and what better way to light a fire under a clearly promising players arse then to drop him for a champ stalwart

 

Unfortunately, we failed to press home our advantage when we were 1-0 up and created several chances but didn’t take them. McBurnie was unlucky with the one that hit the post but there were several other opportunities that we didn’t take. If we’d have got a second, their crowd would have turned even more against them and we would hopefully have been able to see it out.
Still some work to do.

 

Always disappointing to lose when you go in at HT 1-0 up. That said, sounds like we didn't turn up 2nd half. Not sure midfield balance is right yet and we are missing both Crooks and Ajai as much for their physicality as anything else. I'm expecting a season of inconsistency, Where we won't trouble either the top 6 or bottom 3, so results like this are no surprise. Let's hope its the City that turned up v Southampton on Tuesday night.

 

Disappointing defeat, as we saw. On another day we would have gone in two nil up at half time, at least, but......Watford filled the midfield in the second half and we were too slow to react.
Watford commentators saying we looked tired in the second half and the game was theirs for the taking. Tired, overrun or out thought? I thought the latter. We should have strengthened the midfield a lot earlier then we did.
Playing Drameh on the wing didn't work either and unfortunately a couple of our better scoring chances fell to him.
Still a lot of work in progress on that performance.

 

Not sure why we changed a winning team
and formation.

 

Not sure there's any lack of motivation or commitment. I'd say more composure.

Surely there will come a point where his position does come under threat though, if current form continues.

 

We're in for a season of this. We'll win some and lose some and draw some and end up somewhere around the middle. Odd game today...

If we score that second goal then they capitulate. That being said, at half time nearly every single stat other than goals scored, they were superior or at worst level with us. They were ahead of us in possession, tackles, aerial, passing accuracy - we were level on shots and we had 1 clear cut chance compared to their zero. Not that surprised it finished the way it did really as they just needed some of their quick play to click, which we kind of allowed it to.

What this team is good at is direct play but in the second half we became a bit sloppy and gave the ball away too much when trying to break. We also need to know when to reign in the combative side of our game. The foul Akintola committed near the end when they were trying to break was stupid. We were about to win the ball back in their half but instead we allow them to wind down the clock and gift them the ball back after applying pressure. We committed a few fouls and picked up bookings in debatably unnecessary moments and we're going to end up trying to plug gaps covering suspensions.

Looked like tired legs out there in the second half and although we made the subs a bit too late in my opinion, every sub came on and played poorly anyways. Akintola was ****e. Gyabi was ****e. Palmer was ****e. Slater was trying but we needed a bit of a quality injection late on and he's not going to provide that.

I also think we look shaky defensively. I don't think anyone that started played particularly poorly, but I don't think any of the back 4 played well today either. Giles wasn't quite as effective going forwards today but he did play well defensively. Coyle's crosses were miles off today and was too frequently outpaced and outthought at the back. Egan seemed off the pace and Hughes still looks like he's had his head turned and has recently become very irratic. In general we've become somewhat poor at defending set pieces as well. Still, it's a good trade-off for going multiple games without creating a decent chance to score like last season.

Each game is a dice roll for us - like a proper mid table side. We'll take chances in some games and brush teams aside when it clicks. Other games we'll lose with some shaky play. We're still missing some quality in Belloumi, Millar, Ndala, Matazo, Ajayi.

 

We didn't have a choice with Belloumi out, And Akintola's touch consistently lets him down.

 

What the hell’s happened to Pandur?


He’s a shadow of the man he used to be.

 

maybe hes back to his baseline

 

A tampon up your nose doesn’t help.

 

It's weird on here. A handful of games in and people are flirting with the idea of relegation already. Conversely, if we'd won that people would have been flirting with the idea of playoffs.

There's some quality in the side now. SOME being the key word. We're not the finished article yet and are a team that's building, or at least trying to. We also have some quality due back from injury.

We've been blessed with drama recently. We were right on the cusp of a playoff spot, followed by a season of barely staying up. It kind of makes sense why it can be so dramatic on here - but if people generally think we'll have a middle table-ish finish to the season then these are the sorts of games we're going to see. We go again on Tuesday.

My only immediate concerns are the defense, or their individual errors specifically, our set piece defending, and a slight concern - how tired they looked in the second half bearing in mind we're playing again on Tuesday.

 

I don't think anyone has mentioned relegation post match but there is some visible disappointment.

Some posters get a bit over excited at times and start mentioning the play-offs if we string 2 wins together nowadays!! I predicted 11 th in the prediction thread and from what I've seen so far I don't think we'll be far away.

We've got goals in us now but unfortunately the defence has decided to turn in some sloppy performances and that's costing us?

 

Then play Geldhart wide and put Palmer central

 

Not sure Palmer's done enough to warrant a start. Sure if crooks had been available.

 

When I heard Drameh was playing on the right, I did think that's not going to work....Once again injuries to our better players, Belloumi and Crooks have come back to bite us on the arse...But surely Sergj there's a better option than Drameh. Slater for instance or Palmer.

 

He's had his head turned by talk of a move to the Premier League.