Watford vs Sheffield United

vs.

Championship Week 1 - Monday 1st August 2022 - 20:00 - Vicarage Road
Please keep all discussion related to the match within this thread.


Matchday Stats/Player Ratings - https://www.s24su.com/forum/match-day/match/watford-vs-sheffield-united.604/

Officials:

Referee: Josh Smith
Assistant Referee: Matthew Jones
Assistant Referee: Akil Howson
Fourth Official: Gavin Ward

Coverage:

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Need a VPN? - https://www.s24su.com/forum/threads/vpn-usage.87094/

Live TV Coverage:




SUTV Live - https://live.sufc.co.uk/

 

[Antonb]

Wank , Lowe berge don’t want to be here

 

[Panini]

Thought we did well first half. Grew into it and looked dangerous on the break. Limited them to potshots.

Second half, went down 2 gears while they went up 2. Still should've got a point but for an awful goal to concede.

I know there aren't any easy alternatives right now but I can't deal with Fleck and Norwood any more. I age 5 years each game they play together and, with respect, I'm not having the Norwood is decent without Fleck / Norwood makes us tick argument.

You can't give the ball away so regularly, hit the first man so regularly, crumble under pressure so regularly. It might be worth it if they created, scored, tackled. Or if they were strong. Or fast. Or reliable.

They are genuinely a greater threat to our goal than our opponents', especially from corners.

If someone came in for both of them and said we're not paying you anything, you still have to pay their wages and you have to change your shirt to blue and white stripes with an owl badge... I'd snap their hand off.

 

[blades14]

Coulibaly needs to play

 

[haich1889]

He was just as pedestrian as the rest of them

I thought he'd gone off at half time!

 

[Nah den]

Why are we so fucking slow and pedestrian all the bastard time. Exactly the same as last season, slow, pedestrian, uninspiring and fucking shit to watch.

I do wonder what we do in preseason compared to every other club we seem to play at the start of seasons. We always look so slow and weak. Doesn't help that our midfield  is slow and weak...

Couple of positives, the players have got some minutes into their legs. Oh, and the kits finally arrived.

 

[Hillsboro Blade]

Early days but Heckingbottom needs to know that a run of displays like that and the crowd will turn, five year contract or not. Don’t mind losing but that display was insipid, thoughtless, clueless and inept. I was bored fucking shitless.

 

[wf9-Danny]

Same old problems as last year still persisting. Midfield is just awful with Fleck and Norwood playing together and when Berge has one of his anonymous performances.

On the plus side, should have taken a point from the promotion favourites with a ridiculous squad (and wage bill) for the Championship if it hadn't been for some embarrassing play in the the centre of the park from Fleck and Egan (could have also been offside).

I hope that Lowe was just nervous as that was one stinker of a cameo.

Watford won't be troubling the top six, not on today's performance - it strikers me that they are a set of individuals not wanting to play for each other.

 

[haich1889]

Thought we did well first half. Grew into it and looked dangerous on the break. Limited them to potshots.

Second half, went down 2 gears while they went up 2. Still should've got a point but for an awful goal to concede.

I know there aren't any easy alternatives right now but I can't deal with Fleck and Norwood any more. I age 5 years each game they play together and, with respect, I'm not having the Norwood is decent without Fleck / Norwood makes us tick argument.

You can't give the ball away so regularly, hit the first man so regularly, crumble under pressure so regularly. It might be worth it if they created, scored, tackled. They are genuinely a greater threat to our goal than our opponents', especially from corners.

If someone came in for both of them and said we're not paying you anything, you still have to pay their wages and you have to chance your shirt to blue and white stripes with an owl badge I'd snap their hand off.

Arblaster was a million miles better than Norwood all pre-season.

 

[chipsncake]

Buck stops with the manager, he picks the team. To pick Fleck again is unforgivable.

 

[haich1889]

Early days but Heckingbottom needs to know that a run of displays like that and the crowd will turn, five year contract or not. Don’t mind losing but that display was insipid, thoughtless, clueless and inept. I was bored fucking shitless.

Kevin Blackwell Mark 2. Cheap & enthusiastic but clueless & good at saying 'yes'.

 

[Alex Cheeseright]

Arblaster was a million miles better than Norwood all pre-season.

But can he point and run around aimlessly? I don't think so

 

[coaxingstar71]

Very predictable losing our first game 1-0. We now haven't scored in the first game of the season for 3 consecutive seasons. Last goal on opening day was Billy's v Bournemouth.

 

[Blade58]

The more they replay that goal the more of a joke it looks

 

[Lawrence]

All in all poor, ok we were playing a team tipped for the top, although apart from their front 2 look average, but we didn't show any urgency or movement, the passing was woeful, ndiaye played well, jebbison looks to be coming on but not quite there yet, fleck needs replacing, hes a squad player at best

Jebbison will never be a footballer, ran around for 60 waisted! minutes but never got on the ball, We could all see it wasn’t working up front, and the defending was poor, but Hecky couldn’t see it until it was 1-0

 

[BarnsleyBlade]

That was absolute dog shit!!! Can't pass, control a ball, looked disinterested. They need a rocket up their arse in training, and go back to the basics, else I can only see another defeat on Saturday!!!!!

 

[haich1889]

Thought we did well first half. Grew into it and looked dangerous on the break. Limited them to potshots.

Second half, went down 2 gears while they went up 2. Still should've got a point but for an awful goal to concede.

I know there aren't any easy alternatives right now but I can't deal with Fleck and Norwood any more. I age 5 years each game they play together and, with respect, I'm not having the Norwood is decent without Fleck / Norwood makes us tick argument.

You can't give the ball away so regularly, hit the first man so regularly, crumble under pressure so regularly. It might be worth it if they created, scored, tackled. Or if they were strong. Or fast. Or reliable.

They are genuinely a greater threat to our goal than our opponents', especially from corners.

If someone came in for both of them and said we're not paying you anything, you still have to pay their wages and you have to change your shirt to blue and white stripes with an owl badge... I'd snap their hand off.

Thought we were very average in first half & much less than average in 2nd.

 

[Weasel]

I am absolutely baffled how the fuckity fuck does Fleck after having another mare of a pre season where he looks totally unfit/out of sorts, keep getting picked. Genuinely I do not know. Osborn isn't the best but fuck me is is currently better than Fleck who looked like his race was run a year ago. What does he have over our management teams to keep getting picked? Why didn't we go with Arblaster Osborn tonight as he's an experienced head and then brought Arblaster on for him after 60? Instead we keep with Fleck who unbelievably was piss poor again. Who'd have thunk it.

Fleck isn't the reason we lost tonight but the continual picking of him year after year is now fucking bizarre. I've no doubt the injured Man City lad will replace him but what was that performance and team selection? Both awful from start to finish.

 

[BouncinBlade]

It was a strange display. It was like a team who hadn’t played together before. RND nowhere near good enough & I do believe berge wants out. No spine, grit & absolutely no creatively. Below par performance against a Watford side who will go up

 

[Antonb]

Berge needs to go , so does Lowe, Osborn another! Fleck another. Still a lot of work to do in the transfer market! But hecky and this board think we’re done!

 

[SuperSonicBlade89]

The more they replay that goal the more of a joke it looks

And the more it looks offside in the lead up just saying.

 

[robbiez666]

Well, not a pretty game to watch. We were rather lifeless apart from the two upfront. Second half went downhill and despite having the odd chance never really got our foot on the ball. The defensive frailties aren't surprising giving the absences but Watford looked pretty poor apart from a few sparks from the front free. Not the greatest start but not the end of the world. Midfield is the big worry.

A new season, a team scores from our corners. We really are terrible at that,

Wes: 7 - Made a couple of decent saves and looked fine throughout.
Stevens: 5 - Thought he did ok but looks his age now really. Not much going forward but stuck to his task. Another injury means he's out again. Looks like his race is pretty much run as he keeps picking up injuries.
RND - 4 - Thought he was poor with the ball and looked likely to drop a clanger. Struggled to cope with the movement. Terrible for their goal
Egan - 5 - Got an injury at the end, but hopefully it will just be saw. Nasty one. Thought he should have done much better with the free headers he had from our corners. Struggled to cope with the movement of their forwards.
Clark - 4 - At least he didn't get sent off. Looks slow but needs to get up to speed. Got totally sold and booked early on. Made a good interception but as with the others struggled a bit.
Baldock - 5 - Got forward a few times but cut onto his left instead of playing an early ball. Not the worst defender, but not great.
Fleck - 3 - Terrible from start to finish. Sloppy, slow, wasteful, doesn't give us much whatsoever.
Norwood -4 - Not much better. Looked slower. Made a good block but did little going forward. Never really got his foot on the ball.
Berge - 4 - Slow, ponderous, lacked determination. Got caught napping a couple of times. Looks good on the 5 occasions he goes forward every game. I'm not going to hold my breath for us getting anything near our money back.
Ndiaye - 7 - Was a handful first half. Should have done better with the shot when clean through and needs to stop looking for trouble. Seemed to tire badly and faded from the game but kept going. Trued to do too much far too often. I was hoping he'd be able to play 90 minutes this season.
Jebbo - 6.5 - I thought he had a good first half but faded. Did a lot of good work upfront against experienced CBs. Looks much better than his appearances last season. More composed and more at home there. It was the right call to start him.

Subs

Lowe - 2 - Everything he touched turned to shit. A very jumpy performance
Reda - 5.5 - Looked to get on the ball and do things with it but you can see he's not on the wavelength with others yet, understandably.
Osborn - 2 - Almost as bad as Lowe. Almost
Sharp - 5 - Looked busy but never really got on the ball
Brewster - 4 - Not at the races. Everything seemed to bounce off him

Hecky - 6 - Not great by any means but hamstrung by the number of injuries. He started Stevens over Lowe and in fairness Lowe was terrible. Jebbo did well first half and we moved the ball forward with longer balls to the front two. You can argue about the substitutions but it was fairly desperate by the end. We're clearly short in the centre. Coulibaly not making the bench is worrying.

Watford - I thought they started quite limply but their front three are a danger to anyone. They were better second half and dominated without really dominating. Dennis was a livewire all game but I thought Cleverley was their best player. Always organising, getting on the ball and they bossed the midfield. If they keep their front free, then they'll be up there.

 

[haich1889]

As well as the above mentioned, been saying for a while Egan doesn't seem interested to me??

 

[Hillsboro Blade]

Berge needs to go , so does Lowe, Osborn another! Fleck another. Still a lot of work to do in the transfer market! But hecky and this board think we’re done!

Sander Berge is now starting to boil my piss to be honest. Obviously wants a move, happy to be half hearted whilst on probably around £25k a week. I would now snatch Leeds hand off for £18 million.

 

[blades14]

This wil be our 4th fucking season without signing a CDM. We can all see it. It’s a disgrace. Norwood out of possession is a joke. We played better when he came off

 

[jono_t2000]

This wil be our 4th fucking season without signing a CDM. We can all see it. It’s a disgrace. Norwood out of possession is a joke. We played better when he came off

Coulibaly can play that defensive midfield role perfectly fine and has the engine to support attacks when needed

 

[blades14]

Coulibaly can play that defensive midfield role perfectly fine and has the engine to support attacks when needed

Hecky won’t see that tho because he’d rather play the same washed up players

 

[blades14]

Jebbison will never be a footballer, ran around for 60 waisted! minutes but never got on the ball, We could all see it wasn’t working up front, and the defending was poor, but Hecky couldn’t see it until it was 1-0

Don’t blame Jebbo. He did absolutely nothing wrong and does deserve to start until Brewster and sharp prove otherwise

 

[Toronto Blade]

I thought preseason was over, nope another insipid loss! Where is the motivation.

 

[Antonb]

I agree, if it means taking a loss on him but freeing up his wage and getting some decent money for him. We need players that want to be here . He is trying to be professional but is running on 60 percent of his best. Lowe aswell dreadful ! Needs to be moved on. Same with fleck . Osborn not good enough to be a regular. We still need changes to the team.

 

[ATL Recs]

how to ruin, what could have been decent point away from home & promising performance v title favs. with criminal defending fleck & RND cost us the game. footballers in Sunday league would be embarrassed by that defending. Watford thought all their Christmas had come at once. that will leave a sour taste

View attachment 140867

So a point would result in a promising performance it was on the cards the whole game we did not have a clue how to score and they’d get one at some point
That performance from starts to finish was bad