Watford 1-4 West Ham Utd (28/12/21)

[jastons]

We may have had more games but Watford have hardly trained for two weeks. Not an ideal situation for them either

From a Watford pov there isn't many teams in the league I would rather be playing tomorrow.

[bubbles1966]

One positive going in to this game is that the usual front three - Antonio, Benrahma and Bowen = have all scored in the last seven days.

Diop needs to redeem himself in this one.

[Wilko1304]

How about:

Fabianski

Coufal Dawson Diop Johnson Arthur

Kral/Noble Soucek

Vlasic Fornals

Antonio

Gives Bowen and Benny a rest while giving us firepower off the bench if necessary.

I'm gonna have to have my mod powers removed if Diop is made the man in the centre of a three and we rest Bowen, I just wouldn't trust myself on here.

My match report certainly wouldn't read as such

[Kialos]

Rice is the only midfielder to have given the defence real protection and he is not playing. Defending when the opposition are attacking does not start at the back four. If there is any player that needs to "redeem himself" in this game it's Soucek who has been poor all season. No doubt he's physically and mentally fatigued but if he can get back to the performance levels he reached last season that will take a lot of pressure off of Dawson and Diop.

[Samba]

If I had a table like Paddy O'Hammer, I'd be getting under it..

[goa127]

If your centre backs are poor conventional wisdom says play an e tra one. Johnson comes in either as right of 3 or in place o the hapless Arthur in a 4. The advantage with starting 3 is if you need to go more attacking it's an easy switch to 4. Never seems to work going the other way

[DM]

Rice is the only midfielder to have given the defence real protection and he is not playing. Defending when the opposition are attacking does not start at the back four. If there is any player that needs to "redeem himself" in this game it's Soucek who has been poor all season. No doubt he's physically and mentally fatigued but if he can get back to the performance levels he reached last season that will take a lot of pressure off of Dawson and Diop.

You contradict yourself in the same sentence! If he's physically and mentally ****ed how's he going to turn it around playing 4 matches in how many days?

[kitthehammer]

Am i right in saying watford have a lot of injuries too?

You could be forgiven for thinking that kral is never going to get a match and the sole purpose of him being on loan for us is a quick replacement for noble come the end of the season but how can he be happy never getting a match?

Saying that, i think noble needs to be played and probable should have done in the last two matches instead of doing the obvious like for like changes up top. We need to do something different if teams have sussed us out. Our biggest problem is we have lots of options in the right of defence and little to nothing on the left. But longelo looked excellent so play him.

Drop masuaku and benrahma for starters. Fredericks hasnt let us down this season and we have johnson and ashby.

Fabianski
Coufal, dawson, diop, longelo
Fredericks, Noble, soucek
Bowen antonio, fornals

Subs: areola, lanzini, kral, masuaku, benrahma. Johnson, Ashby etc

[ArtieTheIron]

I've always thought that three at the back is an option but we don't have the quantity to pull it off, never mind quality. Incidentally, that would also make Masuaku less of a defensive liability as he's always been more of a wing back. But I don't think it's likely to happen a lot under Moyes... unless we sign a great ball-playing CB to put at the heart of that three-man defence but where are we ever going to get one?

It's been a testing few weeks for sure, let's hope we can arrest the slide. I'll be in the low expectations corner waiting to celebrate us hitting the 43 point mark as usual.

[ironilunga]

The most realistic result imo is a nailed on 1-1. Trust me, this will be the result.

[funky chicken]

At the moment we are struggling to score more than 1 goal a game. Getting 2 goals for us is an achievement. Not only that, we are leaking in goals like a sieve. To be fair this isn’t just after the injuries. It was also the same problem at the beginning of the season. The only time we looked solid at the back was when our back 4 consisted of: Johnson, Zouma, Ogbonna and Cresswell.

Watford have kind of become another Bournemouth this season. Dreadful defensively, but always find a way to score goals.

With that in mind I can’t see anything other than a defeat. I just think their attacking players will have the edge. I reckon 2-1 or 3-1 Watford.

[Korea Hammer]

Rice is the only midfielder to have given the defence real protection and he is not playing. Defending when the opposition are attacking does not start at the back four. If there is any player that needs to "redeem himself" in this game it's Soucek who has been poor all season.

I really don't think that's correct. I don't have the stats but I think it was the blokes on the kumb podcast who said his defensive numbers are actually all up on last season.

[The Old Man of Storr]

If I had a table like Paddy O'Hammer, I'd be getting under it..

Samba and Paddy Under A Table

D R I N K I N G


Hope we win and Watford lose .

[funky chicken]

Anyone who thinks Soucek has been poor this season tells me all they ever rated him on was the amount of goals he scored. As other than give the ball away at Elland road, that’s literally all he has done wrong this season - score less goals.

[Crouchend_Hammer]

He hasn't been very good at tracking midfield runners or maintaining shape as a DM. He gave away a stupid free kick on Sunday leading to the goal

He is a good player but his goal scoring exploits did mask some other defiencies he has

[Turtlecharityracer]

Anyone who thinks Soucek has been poor this season tells me all they ever rated him on was the amount of goals he scored. As other than give the ball away at Elland road, that’s literally all he has done wrong this season - score less goals.

Personally, I don't think he's played below his standard, more like this is his standard.
Imo, a bottom half PL/top half Championship midfielder.
I think only the most ardent claret and blue spectacles wearer would deny Souckek and Coufal signings are turning into a bit of a nightmare. Both first choice by default as no other options and both really poor.

[Korea Hammer]

I think only the most ardent claret and blue spectacles wearer would deny Souckek and Coufal signings are turning into a bit of a nightmare.

[hammerman11]

More rubbish from turtle . Coufal and soucek are now bad signings ! Crap.
Soucek needs a rest as playing every game . Trouble is noble can't play many games as too slow now and kral hasn't looked up to it yet .
Both start in my team fir today

Areola
Coufal Dawson diop Johnson
Soucek kral lanzini
Bowen Antonio vlasic

Subs fabianski Ashby longello fredericks alese noble benrahma oxoflex fornals

Probably a draw , respect the point!

[Southminster Hammer]

:shock:

Anyone who thinks Soucek has been poor this season tells me all they ever rated him on was the amount of goals he scored. As other than give the ball away at Elland road, that’s literally all he has done wrong this season - score less goals.

And he's been unlucky not to have scored a few more, VAR and some good saves have prevented him.

[Roby]

Can see him throwing in Alese as an extra centre half and swapping Johnson for Masuaku but as a left wing back.

I’d take a point and I bet Moyes would too.