roonst83

Was hit or miss in the Championship. Same goes for in the Prem. Im just always deflated when I see him starting.

Blimey, where to start. Terrible start to the season. I mentioned the other day how I feared we’d start poor due to a disrupted pre-season; change to back room staff, Grealish saga, and cancelled pre season games. It showed. But let’s not let the staff and players off the hook, this was garbage. We lacked any sharpness and intensity all over the park. I felt the worse when I saw our starting three were Young and El Ghazi supporting an isolated Ings. Not good enough I’m afraid. Watford played without much more tempo and desire. We were second to every ball in the first half and sadly left too much to do in the second. I don’t even think we looked good in the second 45 but it certainly wasn’t worse than the first. Targett was torn to shreds down the left and wasn’t given any support from Young. Cash had a terrible game by the standards he set last season. Buendia tried to do way too much when a simple pass was on. Ings was well off the pace I felt in the first half but granted he had zero to feed off. Our main issue was our central midfield. We were simply walked over by Watford. Nakamba and McGinn can’t retain possession well enough and we were left exposed throughout. But this is no surprises, it’s been our Achilles heel for a few years and was this weakness exposed today. We’re desperate for someone who can control the midfield. I’m a huge believer in the team that controls and wins the midfield will invariably win the game. Luiz is better than Nakamba but neither win the midfield well enough. Sanson is still a mystery and is more of an #8 anyway so we must address this. Bailey looked bright and has some power on his crosses. Really like how he’s clearly not the one-trick pony that Adama was for us with just pace and looks to assist at any opportunity. Not sure what the solution is ahead of Newcastle as I fear the same set up will leave us exposed again. Watkins should help us massively as his press and energy from the front should mean we have times when we win the ball higher up the field. Desperate for his return next week. Ramsey looked bright and he usually does when he’s a sub. Rarely does when he’s a starter bizarrely. We moved the ball better in the second half but still couldn’t carve open clear chances. This has been Smith’s Achilles heel whenever we’ve been left without Grealish. It needs seriously addressing. Disappointed today. Very disappointed. Not too surprised in all honesty and I do think it’ll take a while to settle as a group. Issue is if we haven’t picked up points in these early games then the team may gel just in time for the very tough games which could get messy. On to next week. Put this down as a training exercise (for fitness and for how not to start the season) and get a full VP behind the boys next week for what feels like a huge game already. Seasons can hinge on certain moments. It may sound a tad dramatic and reactive to say but if we win next week then there’s instantly positivity back. Lose and pressure mounts and things can turn ugly fast. Get them sorted Deano.

Fair enough. I meant it’s a huge blow to the start of our season and the fact that the season hasn’t started yet is why I used the term “pre”. Either way, it’s a huge dent to our plans for the start of the season having lost both JT and R’OK so close to the first game(s).

Mings. No question. No doubt.

If its for personal reasons then, naturally, wishing him all the best. From a (selfish) footballing perspective, this is a devastating blow to pre-season preparations and adds more and more disruption to an already heavily fragmented pre-season set up. Smith and R'OK worked brilliantly together. A great shame. Really do worry about the knock-on affect this will have on the team and will take a lot longer to settle the group, I fear.

Something isn't right with this.

I'd be very surprised. Wasn't training last week and didn't play on Sunday either.

Saints would be mad to sell Ings and JWP. Was never gong to happen.

Will probably be something like this I agree. Just lacking any true creative nouse to feed the likes of Watkins and Ings. Without the craft of Bailey and Buendia I fear we’re back to dealing with our Achilles heel in not being able to carve open clear chances without Grealish.

I just watched the clip back for the first time in ages to refresh my thinking. Smith referring to Grealish as an “encyclopaedia of football” is strangely worded. However, having watched Grealish’s reaction and response again, I’m n it so certain now that he does know what an encyclopaedia is. So, chances are, upon reflection, that Grealish doesn’t know what the analogy from Smith meant or what the word meant too.

Correct.

There’s a reason there’s been loads of interest in this kid. He looks so composed and assured and likes to hunt and press too. Big season for him. Hope to see more of him.

Completely agree and yet this isn’t an area we’ve seemingly prioritised. Games are won and lost in the middle of the park, I believe. When you win and control the central midfield you invariably win games. We need to address this to progress.

If we could merge Luiz and Marvelous then we’d have one hell of a player. Luiz is calm and composed on the ball but not good off the ball. Nakamba is excellent off the ball but poor on the ball. I would therefore pick one or the other with McGinn pushed a bit further up in rotation against teams that suit more of an enforcer role for Marvelous against teams where we won’t have much of the ball and utilise Luiz against teams where we’ll likely have a fair bit of the possession. Edit : completely forgot about Sanson. Could be used as a double pivot with one of Nakamba/ Luiz with McGinn pushed further up too behind the attacking three.

Thought Traore isn’t match fit yet?

We absolutely need this guy for Saturday. Will be very worried if he’s not playing as I’m not expecting Bailey to start due to his late arrival.

This is part of my problem. Watford will have faced Arsenal and Palace and therefore been put through their paces, both in terms of fitness as well as competitively. We played United last game before the season started last season and it put us in good stead for a great start. I’m just disappointed.

I should clarify, I wasn't calling this incident a shambles, just our pre-season as a whole, through no fault of our own but losing the Forest game and then Sevilla in amongst the Grealish saga just feels like our whole pre-season has been disruptive. But I'm not placing any blame with us at all. Out of our hands completely, but disappointing nonetheless.

Shambles. Really needed this game to fine tune for Watford next week.

Keep forgetting we signed this guy. Such a great signing. Exited to see him play for us. He never gives defenders a moments peace, much like Watkins. That hard press was such a key to our offensive success last season so to have two strikers who play that way is just so valuable for us.

Saints fans appear adamant JWP won't be going anywhere this window, unless a crazy bid (£60-70m) is made. It would be very damning for them if they sold their two best players in one window this close to the start of the season.

Do agree. Our midfield (centrally) was our weakest part of the squad last season and didn't offer enough protection for our defence. I really want us to address this as a priority.

From what I've seen of him he's very tidy and neat with the ball and likes to drive forward positively. Norwich will try and take us to the cleaners for him no doubt but we shouldn't be paying too much for a Lidl version of Grealish.

Saw the link to the YouTube press conference. Tuned in and saw two middle aged blokes trying to work a laptop on an old wooden desk. I was expecting a slick set up and then realised this presser isn’t in any way official. Now there’s 2k Villa fans waiting for this shambles to begin going nuts in the online chat. Couldn’t make this up. I’m waiting for George Weah’s cousin to turn up next.

There was me worried it wasn’t legit