Brighton (Home) Friday 20th 8pm (match thread)
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Comments
Before the season started, as with Brighton, how many Watford players wouldve been welcomed into our squad over our players?
If they played like that against us in the first half we'd have been overrun. I'm not saying that to be purposely negative or a doom/gloom merchant, its just worrying how inept and pedestrian we are with virtually no creativity.
Silvas stock keeps rising
I don't see our players regaining the belief that Watford are showing. Even when we win games, it's not as if we are playing with confidence.
Wrong thread sorry!
The problem we have imo is this, we are awful at movement and close control in tight areas, we don’t see or make runs like we should. Our crossing is woeful. Antonio last night looked like the player that Slav didn’t play when he first joined, bull in a china shop and with little end product, I really think he took a knock in the first half that affected him a knee to the ribs.
Barely saw a moan about the starting line up, can argue all day about whether Cresswell or Artur start, the only gripe I had was Martinez not being on the bench.
It’s hard to believe that side was almost the same 10 that played pretty well against Burnley, we’ve got little consistency in team or individual performances and a manager that is in a quite frankly ridiculous situation and the same that SA was in. You can’t spend 14m net in the summer and expect to get away with it, the owners are as much to blame. Slav cleared the decks for Carvalho and Sully thought he was on FM2017....the ground isn’t helping either imo, the atmosphere was still good at 0/1 but after that it’s toxic. The players are low on form and confidence and making basic mistakes, obiang was fantastic against burnley, apart from one offside through ball to Hernandez he was bang average last night, We’ve wasted big money on Arnie and Ayew (who has at least scored a few) either back the manager now (and with funds in Jan) or sack him, I’d actually prefer it if he walked with some dignity in tact. They probably won’t do either because they’re spineless individuals who’ll keep telling you what a great job they’re doing and to deflect any blame to whoever they can.
If i was him, with a heavy heart I’d resign, and if possible blow the whistle on this board.
Just my opinion
;ok
Clearly there will be various things going on in the background which we can only speculate at (transfers etc)
But slav should still have had more than enough quality available at his disposal to not be producing the horror shows like Newcastle and Brighton, etc
Agree with most of what you say SCHB but the stadium has little or nothing to do with it.
The focus for everybody at the club should be on matters which are controllable.
Bilic has to take some stick for the loss but we also need leaders on the field to organise, motivate and drive our team for better performances.
Before the game, Hammers chairman David Sullivan said you should "honour" a contract with an employee unless things were "desperate".
It's a shame our leaders didn't have that philosophy when they took over and sacked Zola despite him keeping us up and replacing him with Avram Grant.
We had good possession against Brighton but too many square passes and hardly any guile. I don't think Hart is an EPL goalie and makes too many mistakes. Hernandez is also a puzzle. He can't operate as the lone striker and does not lke being pushed to the left. Not sure how Bayer Leverkusen got the best out of him. May be Bilic should study those videos.
On paper WHU have a good team but it is not delivering and on pitch does not look like a team. This problem has been with us for nearly a year and Bilic has not found a way of dealing with it, or may be players, due to lack of ability or confidence, can't do what he tells them to do. In that case, the manager has to ponder what he needs to do to get the best out of them, or move on.
Whatever is wrong it needs to be addressed now, including possible change of manger, to have a realistic chance of avoiding the relegation scrap.
Hart, Zabaleta, Fonte, Masuaku, Arnautovic and Chicharito never played for us at the Boleyn. Obiang only played one season. Lanzini and Antonio the same. Only Reid, Collins, Noble and Carroll have legitimate grounds to need acclimatising and even that is a stretch IMO.
The owners are not going to sack Slav because they are not going to pay for a replacement we want (what we saw Friday was almost identical to what we saw last season when we lost 0-3 to Saints). They will want one who is the best ‘available’ option. Instead of saying to Newcastle or Watford or Huddersfield ‘here’s £10m for your manager’, they will identify someone like Mancini who isn’t in work. All three of their appointments have required 0 compensation.
That’s the first stage in taking us up the league. Identify the man you want, contact the club and find out what it’s gonna cost to get him. Once we do that, they get the man they really think is best for WHU and we can build a long term future. If we’re shopping at a market stall we’re only gonna find a selection of cheeses. We don’t want another cheese. Some of that left over cash from the Payet sale can now be spent on a new manager. We were gonna spend upwards of £25m on Carvahlo, right?
We need the best person for the job. Not the ‘best on the market’.
At The OS the pitch is obviously bigger and we are further away. It is not a case of "getting used to the pitch" - it is a case of having the right players for a bigger pitch. On a larger pitch we need athletes who can cover ground a lot better - players need a combination of being quick and having an engine/stamina to get up and down the field. The other factor is being good on the ball and able to pick a pass. A player like Noble isn't quick, he does have good stamina but can't run at pace which is a big asset on this pitch. He is also a good passer over short distances but isn't going to accurately spray the ball long with accuracy. On a bigger pitch you need more of an identity to your style of play. At Upton Park we could simply hoof it long and get a few players "in the mixer" and hope for the best. At the OS it's harder to get the ball the length of the pitch and get players in the mixer as it would leave us exposed at the back simply due to the larger pitch.
Then at the OS the fans are too far away to create an intimidation factor and therefore playing at home doesn't quite seem just that. There's also a negative vibe in the air from both the fans and the players during home games. The players probably don't even look forward to playing at home and would much rather play away without the pressure. We'd get behind them more wirh good performances but the players look scared and low on confidence so they aren't going to deliver these performances... This creates a vicious cycle.
The highest Everton ever got in the Premier League was 4th in 2005, their average finish is 10.3.
Our highest finish was 5th in 1999 and our average is 11.7
Southampton's highest finish was 6th in 2016, they spent five season in the Championship and were even relegated to League 1 for two seasons, average 12.6
OS: 115 x 74 yards
How much difference does that make in actual terms?