| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing 07:46 - Nov 5 with 1129 views | Dubtractor |
We barely gave them a kick, game was played almost entirely in their half, and we created plenty.
That lack of finishing is a big problem though, and has been a common theme all season, albeit last nights chances were really big chances. That none of Taylor, Nunez or Azon even hit the target with their chances was woeful.
I'm 100% certain we will click in a big way soon, but we can't leave it too much longer as the gap to the top two will keep growing otherwise.
That said, a win on Saturday would mean 10 points from 12, so it's not all doom and gloom! |  |
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| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 07:50 - Nov 5 with 1075 views | Steve_M |
There's still a question of intensity for me, there are nice bits of football but we don't sustain them quite enough at the moment. We really needed to be creating big chances before the 80th minute too.
And if we are going to continue giving one bad goal away each game from one of the very few chances the opposition have then it makes it that much harder. |  |
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| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 07:53 - Nov 5 with 1053 views | RIPbobby |
Yes we played fine. We just didn't test the keeper until really late on. In fairness this season we could have left quite a few newspapers in the back of the net for most keepers to read while we test how far we can kick a ball into the upper teir. Watford managed the game so well. They tried every trick in the book and the ref fell for every one of them.
Wouldn't it be great if we got to see all the reports on the ref. Our report on him, the oppositions report on him and also the assessors report. I think that would be fascinating. |  | | |
| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 08:01 - Nov 5 with 1013 views | Herbivore |
At times it felt more like us for sure, we kept them penned in and were on the front foot. But the 2023/24 side would have found a way to win that game I think. The subs gave us fresh impetus but maybe came a bit late, we started to get leggy around the 55th minute after a strong start to the half and could have done with some fresh legs then. The finishing was criminal and we seem to concede from almost every meaningful chance against us at the moment. The defending wasn't great for it again and if we are going to concede every game, which we seem to be, then we've got to be more clinical at the other end. I know Nunez can do no wrong for some but you just can't miss a chance like that, you have to hit the target there. Azon and Taylor both needed to do a lot better too. |  |
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| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 08:24 - Nov 5 with 901 views | SWLondonBlue93 |
I was interested to see what the reaction would be on here as I walked away quite satisfied with our overall performance. We created plenty of chances and Watford offered nothing, I can barely remember them cresting anything beside the goal. As you've said the finishing was woeful and that was the major downside. |  | | |
| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 08:26 - Nov 5 with 865 views | Churchman |
| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 08:01 - Nov 5 by Herbivore |
At times it felt more like us for sure, we kept them penned in and were on the front foot. But the 2023/24 side would have found a way to win that game I think. The subs gave us fresh impetus but maybe came a bit late, we started to get leggy around the 55th minute after a strong start to the half and could have done with some fresh legs then. The finishing was criminal and we seem to concede from almost every meaningful chance against us at the moment. The defending wasn't great for it again and if we are going to concede every game, which we seem to be, then we've got to be more clinical at the other end. I know Nunez can do no wrong for some but you just can't miss a chance like that, you have to hit the target there. Azon and Taylor both needed to do a lot better too. |
I don’t disagree with this. It does feel like the opposition need just a chance or two and they’ll score. Even Norwich did. Odd for the Championship and maybe just how it is at the moment; a phase.
At the other end, it’s got to be better. We are ok defensively, left is good, Egeli and co on the right are improving and threatening and we have good players in the middle. But two goals from the last three home games? That’s not enough. It says the opposition are setting well but we are not playing Italy’s animals from the 1970s here.
The front of the team doesn’t look quite right and there isn’t enough bread and butter goals like Hirst’s on Saturday or the first scrambled cannonball v Norwich..
Nunez? Yes he should score that. It was poor as were the other attempts you mention. However I’d play him week in week out, fitness permitting. He’s a pain of a player that gets in good areas.
Overall we were ok last night. We are getting stronger and will hopefully start smashing teams sooner rather than later. [Post edited 5 Nov 8:28]
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| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 08:31 - Nov 5 with 821 views | mellowblue |
Azon forced a good save with his second chance. The least said about Kipre's shot the better !! | | | |
| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 08:52 - Nov 5 with 744 views | homer_123 |
I really enjoyed last night, played some really good football, thought it was a good game. |  |
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| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 08:53 - Nov 5 with 736 views | ZapatasMoustache |
| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 07:50 - Nov 5 by Steve_M |
There's still a question of intensity for me, there are nice bits of football but we don't sustain them quite enough at the moment. We really needed to be creating big chances before the 80th minute too.
And if we are going to continue giving one bad goal away each game from one of the very few chances the opposition have then it makes it that much harder. |
Exactly this. First half was possession with no urgency, second half there were attempts at end product but the finishing was woeful and the build up play was often fearful and sideways. I thought O'Shea was poor at times, Azor and Cajuste had up and down games, Hirst was daft and Philogene spent too much time moaning (earning a rollocking from Azor which, while justified, shouldn't have ben allowed to escalate on the pitch - why O'Shea didn't immediately get in between them I don't know). Positives: Walton looked assured, Kipre provided a lovely pass for the goal (after a few mishits), Greaves looked great when he came on and Akpom had his best game so far. Dreadful finishing and panicky defending did us in though. |  | | |
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| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 08:57 - Nov 5 with 710 views | Reuser_is_God |
Anyone who thinks we didn’t play well last night is bit of a div. |  |
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| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 08:57 - Nov 5 with 709 views | BlueBoots |
16 shots with 4 on target makes you right... |  |
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| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 08:58 - Nov 5 with 713 views | bsw72 |
Agree it was a good performance apart from the finishing - felt we pretty much controlled the game, and apart from one defensive lapse which lead to the goal.
Even the goal conceded was a little unlucky as the deflection from the defender (O'Shea?) sent the ball straight to the Watford player past the other 2 defenders and Walton.
We should have gone in 2-1 up with Kipre's header in the last few mins of the 1st half, and then a combination of appalling finishing / good goalkeeping prevented at least 3-4 chances which should have produced a win.
On the plus side, I reckon a month ago that was the kind of game we would have lost 2-1, but we have improved our shape and discipline.
Finally - the cameo from Greaves at left back was pretty good as well, twice taking the ball past players and creating chances.
Disappointed not to win, but the performance was hugely encouraging. [Post edited 5 Nov 8:58]
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| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 08:59 - Nov 5 with 699 views | homer_123 |
| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 08:01 - Nov 5 by Herbivore |
At times it felt more like us for sure, we kept them penned in and were on the front foot. But the 2023/24 side would have found a way to win that game I think. The subs gave us fresh impetus but maybe came a bit late, we started to get leggy around the 55th minute after a strong start to the half and could have done with some fresh legs then. The finishing was criminal and we seem to concede from almost every meaningful chance against us at the moment. The defending wasn't great for it again and if we are going to concede every game, which we seem to be, then we've got to be more clinical at the other end. I know Nunez can do no wrong for some but you just can't miss a chance like that, you have to hit the target there. Azon and Taylor both needed to do a lot better too. |
I think, to be fair, we created more than enough to win it. We were just wasteful.
I'm note sure the 23/24 side would created many more chances or even better quality chances. So, I think the right observation would be, they probably would have been better at finding the back of the net. | |
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| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 09:01 - Nov 5 with 684 views | homer_123 |
| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 07:50 - Nov 5 by Steve_M |
There's still a question of intensity for me, there are nice bits of football but we don't sustain them quite enough at the moment. We really needed to be creating big chances before the 80th minute too.
And if we are going to continue giving one bad goal away each game from one of the very few chances the opposition have then it makes it that much harder. |
Yes, we said leaving last night, that the pace drops and we become a tad pedestrian at times.
Is that taking a breather, as much as anything? | |
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| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 09:17 - Nov 5 with 638 views | itfcsuth |
Watford were woeful, we created some big chances from crossing positions, but our general play is very flat.
The pace, tempo and intensity is so pedestrian - makes it easy at times to block up and defend against.
We are a long long way off levels we have seen before, to think we are anywhere near it at the moment is delusional. |  | | |
| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 09:18 - Nov 5 with 632 views | Trequartista |
Hmm don't think we created anything in the second half until the subs came on. It was really scrappy before that. You could certainly say we still dominated as Walton was pretty much unemployed. |  |
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| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 09:37 - Nov 5 with 560 views | cbower |
| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 07:50 - Nov 5 by Steve_M |
There's still a question of intensity for me, there are nice bits of football but we don't sustain them quite enough at the moment. We really needed to be creating big chances before the 80th minute too.
And if we are going to continue giving one bad goal away each game from one of the very few chances the opposition have then it makes it that much harder. |
Yep, we are too ponderous. When we do inject a bit of tempo, that's when we look good and open teams up. Egeli and Furlong starting to offer more balance to the team at last. |  |
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| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 09:41 - Nov 5 with 531 views | MrPotatoHead |
I thought we started the half really well, then let it become a bit silly for 10 minutes, then finished pretty strong. On the whole it was a decent performance, we're 1 goal away from us all being here in high spirits, 3 wins on the bounce and sat in 5th with a game in hand. It wouldn't have been undeserved but we weren't clinical enough with the chances we created, Nunez & Ivan especially had a few between them. Taylor's to a lesser extent. It's fine margins, on another day we win that.
The performances are more encouraging. |  | | |
| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 09:44 - Nov 5 with 508 views | cbower |
| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 08:01 - Nov 5 by Herbivore |
At times it felt more like us for sure, we kept them penned in and were on the front foot. But the 2023/24 side would have found a way to win that game I think. The subs gave us fresh impetus but maybe came a bit late, we started to get leggy around the 55th minute after a strong start to the half and could have done with some fresh legs then. The finishing was criminal and we seem to concede from almost every meaningful chance against us at the moment. The defending wasn't great for it again and if we are going to concede every game, which we seem to be, then we've got to be more clinical at the other end. I know Nunez can do no wrong for some but you just can't miss a chance like that, you have to hit the target there. Azon and Taylor both needed to do a lot better too. |
What's really criminal is that after 55 minutes Cajuste has run out of gas. The engine room of the team for God's sake! He's played enough games this season to be at it.
Johnson was shattered by 70 and Greaves should've been on earlier. At least Johnson can argue he's barely played for 2 months though! | |
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| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 09:51 - Nov 5 with 438 views | surreyblue |
| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 08:59 - Nov 5 by homer_123 |
I think, to be fair, we created more than enough to win it. We were just wasteful.
I'm note sure the 23/24 side would created many more chances or even better quality chances. So, I think the right observation would be, they probably would have been better at finding the back of the net. |
That was my assessment against the 23/24 side as well. That season, we would have won 3 or 4-1.
Similarly, if that season was like this one, Hutchinson would have dragged his shot wide against Rotherham, Davis' winner against Bristol city would have been cleared off the line, and neither sarmiento or Burgess would have been able to sort their feet out at the crucial moment. | | | |
| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 10:08 - Nov 5 with 359 views | LankHenners |
All round our attacking play was very jittery as it has been all season. Back in 23/24 the players had so much confidence in what they were doing and believed they were going to score every time they went forwards that they made finishing look very easy. This year we make it look the hardest thing in the world.
We struggle to attack with the right tempo and make it too easy for teams to get back into a decent defensive shape. When he came on the amount of times Taylor picked up the ball ahead of their midfield but waited so long on the ball that they all ran past him and made him go sideways or backwards was silly.
Don't know whether it's nervousness or trying to key too hard into 'patterns' but we lack a free-flowing element that was so successful for us 2 seasons ago. In general there's a lack of taking the initiative through the pitch both on the ball and movement off it to drag the opposition around. The boys at the back are too ponderous but on so many occasions there was nothing going ahead of them so they had little choice but to keep it between them. On a brighter note Walle Egeli is the one that's starting to counter that by wanting to get on the ball, drive at the opposition, switch the play, go for an early swing into the box etc. in a manner similar to Hutchinson.
Frustrating though as, like you say, we don't feel *that* far off but hard not to feel that 2 years ago we'd have strolled to a comfortable victory by a couple of goals at least. |  |
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| Actually thought we played very well 2nd half last night, apart from finishing on 10:11 - Nov 5 with 325 views | BlueBlood90 |
Fully agree. We did everything well except for wasteful finishing. We have to hope that Azon just desperately needs a goal to get him off the mark and some confidence. His finishing seems extremely poor for a striker. |  |
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