The problems are from my analysis and I know I will be shot down for this
Toney. He is such a different type of striker than Watkins and it seems our whole play has slowed because he is coming so deep and staying central.
Winger/left forward . Benrahma wasn't replaced (and Ghoddos we were led to beleive was but is completely different type of player) and Canos has been too inconsistant
LB cover. Without Henry we have no drive down the left. I like Sorenson and he's improved so much this season but he is a square peg in a round hole.
Midfield box to box. With JDS injured our only other similar player is Baptiste also long term injured.
So some weaknesses in squad depth and couple with unluckiness on injuries to key players has hit us.
The last 7-8 years has seen the most beautiful football team in the world next to Barcelona play the most wonderful football, however our Achilles heel was the dark arts, being bullied/cheated/kicked/cheated/outmuscled/cheated on too many occasions to count.
Everyone was hand wringing, accusing the players of being soft and begging for an antidote so we addressed this with Pontus, Norgaard, Dalsgaard, Janelt and Toney so we rarely get beaten by the anti football scum any more. However this has come at a price, the tikka takka has gone, the quick counter has been eroded and we have become far more of a slow build up, play the %'s, sit deep at 1.0 up and try to do the dirty stuff kind of team.
Guess what chaps, you can't have it both ways. This is not easy on the eye, at times it is a slog but if you want to go up it is a very affective way of winning enough games. This is what we can call plan B.
TF has proven from the above that he is capable of completely changing the way we play, it is a turnaround in style and personnel and one many of us have considered a necessary burden should we want to go up.
After 2/3rd's of the season this was working magnificently and then the new kryptonite arrived, the dreaded high press. It completely nullifies our build up from the back and in fact it creates a huge amount of opportunity for the opposition and my only criticism of TF is he has not found a plan C yet to deal with this. We all have our ideas, take the wingers off as they are not in the game and put 2 CM's on to help the middle 3 who are outnumbered 5 to 3 and give us a chance to release the constant pressure. I keep waiting for TF to do do something but we see nothing as the clock ticks away and a won game turns into a draw.
This IMO is a flaw with TF at the moment but it has nothing to do with being unable to motivate. Our issues have as much to do with having to rely on 2-3 B team players every game and the godawful goals we give away always at the worst moment in the most important and tightest of games. If we could could give a gash goal away when 4.0 up but we always do it at 2.1 up when hanging on or in the first minute when we are playing a team renowned for being hard to break down in the first place.
Also lets not underestimate the value of luck, how many games have Watford won 1.0, how many awful goals and non penalties have they been gifted in these 1.0 wins. We have had a couple of pens that were probably 65-70% and on another day may not have been given but I bet we have had a good 6-7 that were stone wall not given. How many deflected goals have we scored, how many have hit the post.
Lots of reasons why we are not clear at the top of the table and it is not down to one mans team talk. The team talk is the most overrated tool in football anyway, nothing you say changes a game, it is preparation and tactics and being able to adjust tactics on that fly that wins games.
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