Watford Away 09/08/2014 - Match Thread

[davroduk]

Off to the usual "Flying" start again.

Long hard season ahead.

Mid table at the very best is all we can hope for.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Positive start to the season. The only way is up......

Tango, I know you mean well, but just stop it...

[Harry Genshaw]

Just on the way back with Bruce, Bijou, BP & Will. Awful performance. We've learnt nowt from last year. Us, a random selection of individuals, them, a proper team all knowing tbeir jobs and working hard for each other. Moxey making the worst debut I can ever remember

[TANGODANCER]

Positive start to the season. The only way is up......

Tango, I know you mean well, but just stop it...

I'm not exactly laughing right now. Have to motivate myself somehow...

[TANGODANCER]

Just on the way back with Bruce, Bijou, BP & Will. Awful performance. We've learnt nowt from last year. Us, a random selection of individuals, them, a proper team all knowing tbeir jobs and working hard for each other. Moxey making the worst debut I can ever remember

Care to give us a run-down when you get back HG? First half against second performance, and who Barcelona will want to buy from us etc....?

[Vertigo]

Well the second half sounded a bit better. A couple of sitters missed perhaps, definitely created a few chances.

However, conceding 3 goals when the defence isn't the part of the team we are trying to fix...

[Gooner Girl]

Have managed to get on the wrong train home, have no idea where I am and currently sitting next to some strange man who keeps trying to talk to me, but journey home aside, I had a good day (other then the result.) Was great to meet some lovely forum members and you played some good football in the second half. I watched Arsenal lose 3-0 on the first day of last season and we went on to lead the league most of the season (did I mention that today?) so don't despair just yet!

[Prufrock]

"Uncharacteristic lapses in concentration presented them with two opportunities and, when you're dealing with the best two strikers in the division, you can't do that.

"In the second half, I thought we gave it a right good go and created opportunities but we didn't take them."

[Annoyed Grunt]

"Uncharacteristic lapses in concentration presented them with two opportunities and, when you're dealing with the best two strikers in the division, you can't do that.

"In the second half, I thought we gave it a right good go and created opportunities but we didn't take them."

Copy and paste from last season, pretty much.....

[bobo the clown]

"Uncharacteristic lapses in concentration" ... firstly, it's the first game, so how uncharacteristic can it be ? Secondly .... isn't the defence supposed to be the 'sorted' bit ?

[TANGODANCER]

"Uncharacteristic lapses in concentration presented them with two opportunities and, when you're dealing with the best two strikers in the division, you can't do that.

"In the second half, I thought we gave it a right good go and created opportunities but we didn't take them."

Not being there, I can only imagine, but the truth as I heard it was that two long balls evaded the defenders and they scored from both. Moxey almost presented them with a goal inside the first thirty seconds, they hit the bar and missed a couple of sitters. Be interesting to hear what the match goers have to say.

[Worthy4England]

"Uncharacteristic lapses in concentration" ... firstly, it's the first game, so how uncharacteristic can it be ? Secondly .... isn't the defence supposed to be the 'sorted' bit ?

I was going to make the first point too. Good news is, by next week, he can change to "as usual we got punished for individual errors. Some of these players will be out in this transfer window."

[TANGODANCER]

"Uncharacteristic lapses in concentration presented them with two opportunities and, when you're dealing with the best two strikers in the division, you can't do that.

"In the second half, I thought we gave it a right good go and created opportunities but we didn't take them."

Copy and paste from last season, pretty much.....

That's the most depressing thing about it, it all sounds so familiar.....already.

[gavlat2872]

post match DF...“Defensively, our performance was very uncharacteristic of us,” Freedman said after the game. “That’s where we have lost the game today.
Read more at http://www.bwfc.co.uk/news/article/doug ... SOfy2K4.99" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

seriously?! don't p*ss in my pocket and tell me its raining

[officer_dibble]

Mmmm moxey
I wouldnt like to be a full back in douggies team thats for sure.

[Mar]

What really irks me is that we've got 4 players in defense plus 2 defensive midfielders doing arguably the same job. So I count 6 players doing defensive work for the majority of the game and yet this is the area that gets highlighted the most when we fail.

Attack may be the best form of defense but doesn't look like Dougie can do that with our lack of funds.



As for the game today....

It's the same formation and tactics that managed to do very little against Vitesse. The personally may have changed slightly but the end result is the same, no end product.

[thebish]

just back from the game - might assemble some thoughts about it tomorrow...

rode 440-odd miles - saw bolton get stuffed - plus ca change! also - got absolutely fecking soaked on the way home at this end of the M4 in a monsson of utterly biblical proportions - then blew dry with an 80MPH blast down the M5 - only for it to fecking tip it down when i reached Newton Abbot...

Nice thing of the day - to sit next to someone who (for a change) is as knowledgeable about the finer points of the game and its various strategic variations as I am! LeverEnd! bravo!

[Bijou Bob]

Right, just back in. First things first, thanks Bruce for driving and Mrs Paddock for cakes. Now for the sh1t buy-in

Moxey- I never thought I would see a worse left back than Gerald Cid. I have now.

First half we allowed a midfield four to run rings round Our five. Medo was awful, Pratley seemed to be unsure of where he was supposed to be playing and chungy was woeful. Four nil down at half time would not have been unfair. Lonergan was badly at fault for the ffirst and poor on the second and third. The only person willing to take responsibility was Spearing.

Second half we looked better once we brought Feeney and Beckford on and took off the still awful Moxey. We then failed yo convert five chances, two of which were complete sitters. Every time cyl picked up the ball he stopped, turned his back to their goal and passed the ball backwards. Utterly clueless, so much so I had a rant on 5 live about him.

Poor selection, poor tactics, woeful execution. I really don't see us getting any more points than the first ten games last year unless we make drastic changes starting next week.

[William the White]

It was as grim as it gets in the first half. The 'system' allowed us no width going forward. Craig Davies is not superman - he sweats willingly enough but to little avail in the first half. Moxey was scary - from the first minute until his substitution he was a disaster in the making. Medo was particularly poor and CYL even more so. I don't want to talk about Pratley - i don't want to remember anything about it. Our five man midfield was no such thing, it was a 2 and a 3 - Watford passed through it with ease - especially wide. We couldn't pass, didn't have a shot, were slow and their goals were a defensive disgrace. Only Danns and Spearing earned any credit - for working hard.

We improved in the second half and had more of the possession than Watford. Feeny's arrival gave us a genuine outlet and a boost. Poor attempts at goal, and an outstanding save from their keeper left us with nil. But we did improve and did compete. Defensive sloppiness gave them their third (arguably all three of theirs came from weak defending).

We have a weak team that will not compete for the top half. Or so it seems. I fear worse than that - but am refusing to make judgement 90 minutes into the season.

Apart from the football it was a really good day. Good company, good chat, good just to be with fellow Wanderers.

[Bruce Rioja]

so much so I had a rant on 5 live about him.

And here it is, live from the back seat of my car, from 44:35

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04d4mn3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;