Match Threads Watford vs Spurs

Chimbo! · Jan 1, 2022

Royal is getting unfair criticism. His crossing in the first half wasn’t up to scratch but he improved it in the second half. He’s also a very solid defender and offers bit more going forward than your average right back. He’s not as good as Aurier at attacking but he’s way better at defending. Royal also links play up nicely and is better than Doherty and Tanganga. So these calls for dropping him are utterly ridiculous.

Our attacking woes are because we only have 3 truly attacking players, which makes it hard for them and allows defenders to double up. The solution is either a midfielder who can defend as well as Hjojberg and Skipp but can attack better. Or one of them becomes so good at defending we can play a luxury midfielder. Or we just get better at moving the ball more quickly to stop defences getting into position to close off all opportunities to play our attackers in. The fact that Royal had all that space to play crosses was a problem; crosses aren’t an efficient way of creating chances against low blocks. We moved the ball too slowly and took the easy pass into space when it was to our least effective attacking outlet.

davidmatzdorf · Jan 1, 2022

mil1lion said:
Our quality at home is top 4 but our quality away is mid-table

I think home vs. away is a bit deceptive. We're effective against teams that come out and play or hold a high line, because our counterattacking is top quality. You don't need a creative magician of Eriksen's calibre in that kind of game. When we want to unlock a packed, organised defence, the lack of reliable delivery from the flanks or inspired passing from a no. 10 shows where the squad needs reinforcements.

It's partly chance that we happen to have played teams at home who gave us a bit of space since Conte arrived.

PCozzie · Jan 1, 2022

DanoCanuck said:
Kind of odd seeing Sissoko in Watford colors.

It was kind of odd seeing him in our colours. Watford, not so much.

GutBucket · Jan 1, 2022

Jamturk said:
I see a lot of complaining about Royal but at least he is getting on the ball and defending properly.

However Reguillon on the other side puts in a 2nd piss poor performance in a row and is a far bigger problem

He had a shot on the target and defended Dennis well. He wasn't good but he has done well for us since Conte joined.

Trix · Jan 1, 2022

sundanceyid10 said:
My fear is Levy having a mentality of ‘well we are winning, one or two changes will do’. One or two will certainly not do, we have so much bland everywhere.

I know everyone is still dubious because of past history etc, but he's really not the one making those decisions anymore.

I mean yes he has the power to overrule in principle, but FP and AC have been told in no uncertain terms the budget is theirs to do with what they will. If he goes back on this he will lose both of them for sure. He knows he can't afford to back down on the promises he's made now with pressure from above after the Summers debacle.

Russ1201 · Jan 1, 2022

Jamturk said:
But he's right, we were very poor in the final 1/3.

Very few chances, we're a lot better team against opponents that we can counter.

Shit commentator bit like when he was a player ?

chas vs dave · Jan 1, 2022

People moan about lack of creation, yet we have had 21 shots on target in 2 away games.

It seems to be more of a finishing issue.

wiggo24 · Jan 1, 2022

AtoubaToothpaste said:
The criticism isn't particularly insightful or creditable, though. He knows way more about the state of the players and the squad than we do. If he feels the bench players would have been better earlier on, he'd have done that. The fact of the matter is we massively dominated Watford, kept a clean sheet, and won the game. As for his system, this isn't *his* system rather than a system that he's decided best suits the squad. Beyond that, blame the procurement. He's doing the best with what he's got.

Mate, I love Conte as much of the rest of us and I think he's going to be a success. My opinion that today wasn't a good performance doesn't make that not true.

Applying your logic, we shouldn't have been able to question Nuno or Jose either as they knew far more about the state of the players that we do. I'm not asking for a 5-0 win but this is a Watford team who've won 1 out of their 10 and conceded 4 to West Ham four days ago. We scraped through with a win utilising a broadly similar group of players to the players who have consistently struggled to create quality chances against low blocks for over two years now, and in my opinion we could have made it much easier on ourselves by making changes earlier in the game.

Also, this is broadly Conte's system. We're not particularly good at it but we're trying to play it. The space today was exactly where Conte's teams always find space - in the wide areas of the final third. It was clear after half an hour, though, that we weren't using these spaces due to (a) the inefficency of our WBs and (b) the number of players Watford defended with in central areas and in the box.

This is a common struggle with Conte teams. Ask Inter fans and ask Chelsea fans. I'm delighted with three points and I think we're capable of challenging for top four over the second half of the season, but I think today could have been made easier by making some fairly obvious changes. I'm a fan so I can have that opinion whilst also knowing that Conte is obviously a better manager than I'll ever be

sundanceyid10 · Jan 1, 2022

Trix said:
I know everyone is still dubious because of past history etc, but he's really not the one making those decisions anymore.

I mean yes he has the power to overrule in principle, but FP and AC have been told in no uncertain terms the budget is theirs to do with what they will. If he goes back on this he will lose both of them for sure. He knows he can't afford to back down on the promises he's made now with pressure from above after the Summers debacle.

I hope to god that’s true.

doctor stefan Freud · Jan 1, 2022

Rob said:
Hope everyone got new underwear for Christmas as a lot of pants were wet during this thread

synththfc · Jan 1, 2022

Fuck Watford and fuck Ranieri. They came out of their shell for a small ten-minute segment in the second half, and other than that they had no intention of trying to win that game. They sat in a deep block from the first minute and even after we scored didn't try and press us!

They deserve everything they got. Football is a better place when Ranieri isn't managing and when Watford aren't in the Prem.

easley91 · Jan 1, 2022

davidmatzdorf said:
Next time we get the familiar pre-match litany that the team(s) above us have lost and surely we'll blow the opportunity to take advantage "the way we always do", please recall today.

We did the same last season to go and stay top of the league until that Liverpool game. We don't mess it up as much as we used to.

keithtighe93 · Jan 1, 2022

Chimbo! said:
Royal is getting unfair criticism. His crossing in the first half wasn’t up to scratch but he improved it in the second half. He’s also a very solid defender and offers bit more going forward than your average right back. He’s not as good as Aurier at attacking but he’s way better at defending. Royal also links play up nicely and is better than Doherty and Tanganga. So these calls for dropping him are utterly ridiculous.

Our attacking woes are because we only have 3 truly attacking players, which makes it hard for them and allows defenders to double up. The solution is either a midfielder who can defend as well as Hjojberg and Skipp but can attack better. Or one of them becomes so good at defending we can play a luxury midfielder. Or we just get better at moving the ball more quickly to stop defences getting into position to close off all opportunities to play our attackers in. The fact that Royal had all that space to play crosses was a problem; crosses aren’t an efficient way of creating chances against low blocks. We moved the ball too slowly and took the easy pass into space when it was to our least effective attacking outlet.

This is simply not true about Emerson.

He is atrocious with the ball in the final third, crossing and otherwise!

The refusal to cross first time and to take a hundred touches first is bewildering as is his continual farcial efforts to go by the opposing defender, which is abysmal!

He’s good defensively which is a plus but fuck me it’s close to having 10 men out there at times in attack. Surely Doherty or Tanganga are better at crossing? I refuse to believe they couldn’t be

wrd · Jan 1, 2022

I said I want to give every player to the summer so they have a fair chance but even I'm not as deluded to believe that Ndombele is not fancied by Conte. I'm disappointed and especially after the struggles we've had vs Southampton and today at Watford as I feel even with his limitations off the ball, we were screaming for what he can do. However Conte is Conte and if he doesn't fancy Ndombele then I accept that Ndombele is not good enough for whatever reason.

With that being said though, we desperately need a creative player to come into this team. I can't see how we make top4 without somebody finding those passes because the front 3 respectfully I don't think are doing enough to create chances for eachother and the midfield 2 do not have it in their locker so one of those 5 probably needs sacrificing for a solution.

Also in the summer as I said in the traore thread, I didn't want the club to pull the trigger on that eyewatering sum on his head. Having watched us enough now under Conte, in this system at RWB, he would make a tremendous difference and I hope we can bring him in.

glacierSpurs · Jan 1, 2022

stormfly said:
That game really reminded me of the old Poch days when teams were a bit worried about us so just defended for their lives and we struggled to break them down.

Great to have that feeling back..

Zippy1980 · Jan 1, 2022

Chimbo! said:
Royal is getting unfair criticism. His crossing in the first half wasn’t up to scratch but he improved it in the second half. He’s also a very solid defender and offers bit more going forward than your average right back. He’s not as good as Aurier at attacking but he’s way better at defending. Royal also links play up nicely and is better than Doherty and Tanganga. So these calls for dropping him are utterly ridiculous.

Our attacking woes are because we only have 3 truly attacking players, which makes it hard for them and allows defenders to double up. The solution is either a midfielder who can defend as well as Hjojberg and Skipp but can attack better. Or one of them becomes so good at defending we can play a luxury midfielder. Or we just get better at moving the ball more quickly to stop defences getting into position to close off all opportunities to play our attackers in. The fact that Royal had all that space to play crosses was a problem; crosses aren’t an efficient way of creating chances against low blocks. We moved the ball too slowly and took the easy pass into space when it was to our least effective attacking outlet.

He is good back up for RWB but longterm we need a better alternative for our best 11.

DanoCanuck · Jan 1, 2022

PCozzie said:
It was kind of odd seeing him in our colours. Watford, not so much.

Ouch…Brutal ?

shoggy33 · Jan 1, 2022

Conte has turned us from a team that needed to be completely dismantled into a team that just needs tweaking. We are still lacking quality in key areas, especially the wing backs, but are not far off a top 4 challenge.

JerryGarcia · Jan 1, 2022

Danny1 said:
Yeah I don’t disagree to be honest. You know what, the reason they have improved is because of Conte and his back room staff.

It’s the comments on here that just make me shake my head and laugh at the total ridiculousness of them.

I try to remember that quite often when you see a stupid comment online it’s actually been made by a tetchy 15 year old who’s had too much screen time. If it’s an adult then I generally just feel sorry for them

Trix · Jan 1, 2022

piedpiper said:
I'm gonna keep to squad Trix...we couldn't even bring anyone else on to turn the game around. So more than just 3. I get you with what you say with 3 required but off the bench we couldn't effect this game.

Yes but bring 3 in and then you have 3 players to bring on.

The back 3 look good with Romero still to return. We NEED an attacking RWB a playmaking CM and another attacking option. Get all three and we are set until the Summer. In fact I'd happily just take two of the three in Jan if we can't do all three because it would change us dramatically just having more attacking threats from 2 more areas of the pitch.

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