Watford (h) pre-match thread

[Gabriel]

Bit of a shit that Iheanacho has gone from matchwinner at City to benchwarmer at Leicester.

Perfect player to back up the situation, never complaind, scored goals regularly including a last min one at Palace, if I remember rightly.

If we could get Nmecha coming on & pinching a couple of goals it would be perfect. Irrespective of whether he makes it or not afterwards. Just having that extra body in there, to nick one at the right time, can be enough to win an extra trophy or two.

Agree. While we’re very much a collective team, it would be good if one of the fringe players came in and seized the opportunity.

 

[Gray]

Jesus is out.
Aguero's out of form and carrying an injury.
KDB is probably out.
Silva only just got back from Spain.
Stones' first game back.
Sané is out of form and moody about it.
Delph is probably still out.


At this point I'll take any kind of 3 points we can get.

Can I add B. Silva and Gundogan not cutting the mustard when they start.

Also Chelsea and Dippers playing better than us at present.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Nacho has nowhere near the level of skill Sterling has, let alone the speed of thought and body to deliver what pep would expect. We simply will have to agree to disagree

Nacho was a better finisher than Sterling, until this season. By some distance. In fact at one point, he was a better finisher than Aguero, when Aguero was in form.

Whatever his future holds elsewhere, nobody can ever complain that he wasn't in the right place to score & able to score, for City.

 

[BerkshireBlue]

I am concerned what the atmosphere / crowd would be like and whether that will affect the players. Given the kids went back today or (my son) tomorrow - the family stand is going to be half empty .

I am not going tonight as nipper has school tomorrow - given weather forecast for later as well hope crowd is ok.

Whoever heard of a game on 2 jan at night anyway - stupid idea.

Is Gill doing the scheduling.

The scheduling is a complete mess this year too many tv games has caused the issue in my opinion.
Also why have Spurs been lucky enough to get a winter break?

 

[mosssideblue]

Important we go out tonight and from the first minute move the ball with a quick tempo. We looked lethargic against palace and it seemed very easy for them defensively as we didn't push them around the pitch quick enough to create and exploit gaps. We do that from the start tonight and we should win convincingly. We can't lose that aura of invincibility we've built because of one poor game.

Agree. These last few games we have had a lackluster first 45 only for Pep to hair dryer them at the interval.

 

[Wooter]

Fairly straightforward game-plan for Watford tonight: kick the fuck out of our lads, get away with it and go home happy with a point. Let's hope the Pepmeister can work some magic again and get us the three points. CTID.

And which of our lily-livered titans do you think will be arsed enough to do this kicking?

 

[uwe rosler 28]

It is a gamble though, not because of the defensive side of things, but because Yaya kills our attacking game as well. He slows everything down, has zero movement and has even lost his threat from long range now.

Starting him is handcuffing our attack and putting the handbrake on. It pretty much rules out any quick start to the game, or keeping the game at a pace that Watford can't deal with, and would probably lead to us needing a late goal with Watford thinking they can get something from the game.

We should be starting the best team possible and then resting the players when the game is won, through substitutions and by killing the game and making it a keep-ball exercise.

So many different ways to look at it what if we fail to make an early breakthrough?

 

[deano ou812]

There was a cross KDB put in the other day which sailed past the near post with Aguero nowhere near it.

If you had never seen KDB play, there would be a slight excuse for it, but really, as a striker, you should guess it anyway.

Kelechi, for us, was a game winner with stuff like that. (Not at Leicester, he missed one he would score for City with his eyes shut)

For me it’s just having someone who the majority of time is a goal hanger,might take away slightly from the team in terms of pressing but I feel we need someone like that,can’t have players dribbling past three four defenders all the time and scoring,the type who scored in the derby last season at the shithole when everyone stopped playing as they thought the striker was offside the ball fell to him fortunately,but it’s being in them positions it’s something that you can’t teach, it’s an uncanny sense to be in the right position at the right time ..

 

[mosssideblue]

Nacho was a better finisher than Sterling, until this season. By some distance. In fact at one point, he was a better finisher than Aguero, when Aguero was in form.

Whatever his future holds elsewhere, nobody can ever complain that he wasn't in the right place to score & able to score, for City.

I'm not disputing that, but he would be useless in a pep system. I get we are all miffed as to why our front players are struggling to find the net as well as we know they can, but I just dont see any argument to suggest an ex player would have slotted them as it can only be a speculative call

 

[kaz7]

we'll be crap as usual at home until pep gets in their faces at halftime ,i know they are tired but try and get it done early rather than having to find a second wind in the last 15mins

 

[supercity88]

There was a cross KDB put in the other day which sailed past the near post with Aguero nowhere near it.

If you had never seen KDB play, there would be a slight excuse for it, but really, as a striker, you should guess it anyway.

Kelechi, for us, was a game winner with stuff like that. (Not at Leicester, he missed one he would score for City with his eyes shut)

This is where Aguero is lacking for me this season. There was one that did reach him in the first half and he had time to take a touch and pass t in but hit it first time under no pressure and put it wide by some distance.

He looked sluggish and I have no idea what is going on with him but without Jesus we lose so much energy. Sanchez in the short term wpuld be a huge improvement due to his high energy levels. We didnt force errors from palace because Aguero barely closed them down. Sane did a lot of running but he was the only one until Sterling came on. That off the ball work is key to our success. Aguero needs to step up tonight because Watford have the ability to create more chances against us if we play with such low energy.

Perhaps tiredness is hitting but we have enough players who have played very little relatovely up to now. We have got through December and need our key players back. A successful January and we can be in the league cup final and have the league near enough tied up. Staying in the FA Cup too is going to be a push. This will be a challenging month.

 

[Blue Hefner]

what injuries (other than Jesus/Bendy) - gen q by the way

I should have worded it better, I should have said injured and tiredness

I can’t see De Bruyne playing, I can’t see David Silva being at the races due to his recent personal issues, whatever they are. Gundogen playing so many games in a short space is bound to have an effect given how little he has played. I’m not sure how fit/un-fit Stones is

 

[mosssideblue]

For me it’s just having someone who the majority of time is a goal hanger,might take away slightly from the team in terms of pressing but I feel we need someone like that,can’t have players dribbling past three four defenders all the time and scoring,the type who scored in the derby last season at the shithole when everyone stopped playing as they thought the striker was offside the ball fell to him fortunately,but it’s being in them positions it’s something that you can’t teach, it’s an uncanny sense to be in the right position at the right time ..

Sterling is doing this is he not?

 

[sir baconface]

Nacho has nowhere near the level of skill Sterling has, let alone the speed of thought and body to deliver what pep would expect. We simply will have to agree to disagree

That's not really the comparison though. The point was simply that Nacho often had the knack of being in the right place to finish moves, which might have been come in handy recently. It's not about whether he should have stayed or whether Sterling is more effective overall.

 

[Blue Llama]

it’s an uncanny sense to be in the right position at the right time ..

You mean like Sterling has.

 

[Blue Hefner]

I am concerned what the atmosphere / crowd would be like and whether that will affect the players. Given the kids went back today or (my son) tomorrow - the family stand is going to be half empty .

I am not going tonight as nipper has school tomorrow - given weather forecast for later as well hope crowd is ok.

Whoever heard of a game on 2 jan at night anyway - stupid idea.

Is Gill doing the scheduling.

The time and timing of the game is ridiculous but unavoidable given we played on New Years Eve

 

[mosssideblue]

I should have worded it better, I should have said injured and tiredness

I can’t see De Bruyne playing, I can’t see David Silva being at the races due to his recent personal issues, whatever they are. Gundogen playing so many games in a short space is bound to have an effect given how little he has played. I’m not sure how fit/un-fit Stones is

I may be wrong but I believe other than Bendy and Jesus, we Pep has all to select from (but as I say, I may be wrong)

 

[mosssideblue]

That's not really the comparison though. The point was simply that Nacho often had the knack of being in the right place to finish moves, which might have been come in handy recently. It's not about whether he should have stayed or whether Sterling is more effective overall.

A hypothetical argument no? Sterling has been in "the right place" quite often recently and still we are debating missed opportunities

 

[ninjamonkey]

Agree. These last few games we have had a lackluster first 45 only for Pep to hair dryer them at the interval.

It's very noticeable and it's no coincidence how often we've scored within a few minutes of the second half starting right after Pep has been in their ear for 15 minutes. I get sometimes the plan is to tire them out over the course of the game but given most players will have a week before their next game after tonight there's no reason not to go out and try and blow them away in the first 20 minutes. Just want to see a return of that intensity and relentless feeling of "we're going to run you ragged and not let you breathe until we score and decide we're comfortable" that we've not seen for a number of games now if i'm honest. Against Palace it wasn't really there, KDB showed it in glimpses inbetween trying not to get put in a wheelchair and Kyle Walker definitely showed it in the last 10-15 minutes but nobody else did.

 

[Wooter]

Deeney's only injury is fatty liver syndrome due to Xmas Turkey overdose.