Strange Interview

[robbiez666]

Just had a listen to Wilder's reaction to yesterday's game and I find it slightly strange.



He's critical of the way Watford play (without quite putting it into words), but they play like we have been playing in most games. Sit deep. 5 across the back. trying to counter.

Feels we played well and created (we didn't produce 1 clear chance)? Feels they caused us no problems (they missed 3 sitters). Feels we played well, based solely (it would seem) on the fact we dominated possession. Which seems to equate to us dominating the game?

Over the last few games, I find his (public) opinion on our performances slightly odd. Surely if they'd have scored one of their chances, Flores' system would have been a success? In the same way that if we'd not made mistakes in previous games, our system would have been a success. Or when we've played on the counter, ceded possession and missed the one or two chances we've created, then we've played well but just not scored.

Not a criticism of Chris, but just something I'm struggling to get my head around.

 

[Antonb]

Couldn’t slam the players because he had a little pop last week at some of them. And we come away with a point away , so carnt be too critical. He will watch the match back and see that we weren’t that good. He pushes the players everyday to be better and improve there game. Whether they are good enough remains to be seen at the end of the season

 

[Roygbiv]

I don't think we've played anywhere near as deep as Watford did yesterday. Certainly not at home. I actually think wilder was surprised by how they approached it. I think we all thought they would come at us all guns blazing so to see them set up like an away side against a top 6 club was very surprising.

I agree he's being kind when he talks of us creating chances but I don't think they "created" any chances either. Their chances came directly from us.

It was a weird game played by two sides who seemed to be more than happy to take the point when either could have won it by being a bit more adventurous.

 

[Bladesman]

I don't think we've played anywhere near as deep as Watford did yesterday. Certainly not at home. I actually think wilder was surprised by how they approached it. I think we all thought they would come at us all guns blazing so to see them set up like an away side against a top 6 club was very surprising.

I agree he's being kind when he talks of us creating chances but I don't think they "created" any chances either. Their chances came directly from us.

It was a weird game played by two sides who seemed to be more than happy to take the point when either could have won it by being a bit more adventurous.

I think Watford just wanted to stop the rot and get a clean sheet.

 

[Roygbiv]

I think Watford just wanted to stop the rot and get a clean sheet.

I understand that but you'd have thought it would have been a game to target in picking up 3 points at home. I certainly expected a bit of an onslaught from them but the match just never got going.

 

[robbiez666]

I don't think we've played anywhere near as deep as Watford did yesterday. Certainly not at home. I actually think wilder was surprised by how they approached it. I think we all thought they would come at us all guns blazing so to see them set up like an away side against a top 6 club was very surprising.

I agree he's being kind when he talks of us creating chances but I don't think they "created" any chances either. Their chances came directly from us.

It was a weird game played by two sides who seemed to be more than happy to take the point when either could have won it by being a bit more adventurous.

Agreed in terms of not dropping that deep, apart from at times against Liverpool.

 

[Mad Mick]

I think Wilder plays a lot of mind games. He's extremely astute.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

I don't think we've played anywhere near as deep as Watford did yesterday. Certainly not at home. I actually think wilder was surprised by how they approached it. I think we all thought they would come at us all guns blazing so to see them set up like an away side against a top 6 club was very surprising.

I agree he's being kind when he talks of us creating chances but I don't think they "created" any chances either. Their chances came directly from us.

It was a weird game played by two sides who seemed to be more than happy to take the point when either could have won it by being a bit more adventurous.

One good point was how often a white shirt had the ball and how little Watford got into our box.

We're developing all the time and doing it in a tough league.

 

[BushBlade]

When Flores says publicly it’s a must win game for Watford then I can see why Wilder was surprised at their tactics. They did to us what we tried to do to Liverpool but they’re supposed to be an established PL team and we’re not Liverpool.

As has been already said, Wilder can’t criticise the players every week, that would be poor man management, especially when we’ve got a point away from home.

We’ve got an international break now, so CWAK can review all the players’ stats, the DVDs of the previous games and properly analyse where we are, what we’ve done and what we need to work on. I doubt they gave that much thought pre season to teams parking the bus against us at home in early November.

 

[yorkshirecoast]

It is an odd interview. We were poor. Yes, we dominated possession but they let us have the ball and tried to play on the counter. Our lack of attacking threat against such a poor team was worrying. And whilst our defence generally looked ok, we still gifted them 3 great chances.

 

[Houston_Blade]

The interview I saw he was making a big point of how well Hendo reacted. It was pretty much “told you I know how to manage my players”.

 

[Bladesman]

I understand that but you'd have thought it would have been a game to target in picking up 3 points at home. I certainly expected a bit of an onslaught from them but the match just never got going.

They nearly did get all 3 points. So I think from their point of view their plan worked to a degree.

 

[Akinbiyi]

We weren’t poor by any stretch. Not that adventurous and didn’t make the right decisions in a lot of areas but as an overall away performance we were good, better than against Everton to be honest. There were a few defensive lapses that maybe could’ve been punished but that’s what we have a goalkeeper for.

 

[Grizzly blade]

Simple.
He’s been concerned about our control of possession when we have the ball. He’s asking his players to keep it better, control games in midfield and take a few risks.
They did what he wanted.
Yes, we made errors and got away with them yesterday, but how would that equate to the players if he hung them out to dry when they are doing their best to do as he’s asked? Mixed messages?? Lose respect of players??

Fact is, we need to start controlling games and possession in midfield so we can commit our defenders forwards and get into the positions to deliver better percentage balls into the box for the forwards. If this doesn’t improve, we will probably go down. It’s great being tight at the back but we won’t gather enough points that way alone.

Wilder knows there is nothing to fear from 15 sides in this division. 2 require outright defensive discipline for 90 mins, the other three need us to plan tactically for key players that can win games from nothing.
The rest, certainly at home, are there to be beaten if we play the way we can and have for two seasons.

So leave the man management to Wilder, proven already to be possibly one of if not the best at managing his players in the country. (Hendo only a week ago)
It’s a long way to go, plenty of games to play and we’re picking up points away, but struggling to score.
Convert the chances against Southampton, win that game and all the results look pretty good. We were unlucky against Leicester and should have got a point.
So we should easily have been sitting on 14 points with a bit of luck, and Hendo doing the basics! IMHO we’ve not had anything go outrageously our way yet either, especially as VAR has already disallowed a goal on a gnats cock hair offside at a crucial point of the game.

 

[tincan]

The only statistic that matters is 0 0 against a team that shipped 8 last week.
No surprise they set up to counter attack, so Wilder should have known 8men behind the ball and their forwards sat on the halfway line.

 

[Niceguyeddie]

The only statistic that matters is 0 0 against a team that shipped 8 last week.
No surprise they set up to counter attack, so Wilder should have known 8men behind the ball and their forwards sat on the halfway line.

The only statistic that matters is we are mid table in the top division 3 years after being bottom of the 3rd
Try getting behind the manager

 

[Edinblade]

It is an odd interview. We were poor. Yes, we dominated possession but they let us have the ball and tried to play on the counter. Our lack of attacking threat against such a poor team was worrying. And whilst our defence generally looked ok, we still gifted them 3 great chances.

I don’t think Watford were as poor as some suggest. Their defence was rock solid, we never got close to scoring which isn’t like us. We normally create chances, we just tend to waste them. Watford were also very quick on the break and their forwards caused havoc running at our defence.

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

I think Wilder plays a lot of mind games. He's extremely astute.

What happens when you dont have a "mind" to play games.

 

[fuerstenberger]

He's learning as are the players. This PL appears to be one of the most open, Liverpool apart, for many years. wouldn't surprise me if the top six included some unfamiliar names this year. I have always said we will start to come into our own after Jan. Enjoy the ride.

 

[Russ]

What he says and what he thinks will be two different things. If I was him I’d be thinking about all the money that has been spent and has it been value for money...

 

[Cerberus Blade]

We controlled the game for the majority of it and if we’d popped a goal in we’d be calling that a totally professional performance. But we didn’t, so it wasn’t. And our inability to work their keeper is a real concern because they were poor. The best chance we had was another fine effort by o.g. our leading scorer so far this season.

It can all change though in the next game, especially if we can get a bit more attacking midfield threat in the side. So Didsy or Freeman for me.

Looking forward to seeing us plundering the goals in our next match and wondering where that came from?

 

[robbiez666]

We had almost no pressure on us. I really don't think the fact that they gave us the ball and we largely kept it, but were iffy at doing that, makes it a good performance. It's not that hard to keep a ball when the opposition make little attempt to get it and we made little attempt to actually play any penetrating football.

We basically created nothing against a team with zero confidence, 2 points and had just come off a pasting. Whilst, at the same time, gifting them 3 easy chances.

For me, it was probably our worst performance of this season.

 

[Sheffsteel]

You can see the game 2 ways.

The fact is we did control the game and looked the better team. Some of our passing in midfield was pretty slick.
Thought it weird to see Watford set up like the away team, defend deep in number to catch us on the break.
One could easily say that (for an away team) we played well....we certainly looked good on the eye and was the only team trying to win.

However the fact is they had the best chances and based on chances should have won.
One could argue we were lucky. Negative tactics from Watford but it almost paid off.

Wilder is normally pretty honest and quite critical....so agree it was slightly odd to hear him take the positives and ignore the negatives.

 

[robbiez666]

You can see the game 2 ways.

The fact is we did control the game and looked the better team. Some of our passing in midfield was pretty slick.
Thought it weird to see Watford set up like the away team, defend deep in number to catch us on the break.
One could easily say that (for an away team) we played well....we certainly looked good on the eye and was the only team trying to win.

However the fact is they had the best chances and based on chances should have won.
One could argue we were lucky. Negative tactics from Watford but it almost paid off.

Wilder is normally pretty honest and quite critical....so agree it was slightly odd to hear him take the positives and ignore the negatives.

And I think it's worth mentioning that we've played on the counter all season so they've probably not been practising possession football in the flat 3 very much. And let's be honest, the flat 3 didn't work with possession football last season, for the exact same reason.

 

[super_pig]

When Flores says publicly it’s a must win game for Watford then I can see why Wilder was surprised at their tactics. They did to us what we tried to do to Liverpool but they’re supposed to be an established PL team and we’re not Liverpool.

As has been already said, Wilder can’t criticise the players every week, that would be poor man management, especially when we’ve got a point away from home.

We’ve got an international break now, so CWAK can review all the players’ stats, the DVDs of the previous games and properly analyse where we are, what we’ve done and what we need to work on. I doubt they gave that much thought pre season to teams parking the bus against us at home in early November.

this. good post.. hopefully we can revert to our ‘normal’ style if teams park the bus.. that’s what it was designed for

 

[Mad Mick]

What happens when you dont have a "mind" to play games.

Then you become a Wednesday manager.

 

[Melbourne Blade]

Did he also say "I'm not one for stats" ?. If so thats a worry.

 

[Scooter_mcgavin]

Did he also say "I'm not one for stats" ?. If so thats a worry.

No.

 

[BushBlade]

Did he also say "I'm not one for stats" ?. If so thats a worry.

Yeah because CW, unlike every other fucker in the world, always talks literally and never uses figures of speech, analogies and white lies to dress things up or shithouse his opponents.

I’m very concerned that the bloke who’s won two promotions in three years is actually a simpleton who ignores stats and any other modern thing that helps other managers out.