[gerdm07]

What a finish to the match. Before Herrera went off I had the feeling we were going to score at least a couple of more. Just really too bad he pulled up lame.

Kudos to Schweinsteiger because he looked really knackered but he dug deep and gutted it out.

 

[Todd]

I turned the match off after the penalty because I was disgusted, and I thought to myself, there's no way these 11 players are going to score a winner.

I was half right. LOL.

 

[.Phil1968]

I was working last night and planned to get up at 2 to listen to the game came on here to check on the early kick off and bugger me it was us.Never done that before only caught the last 10 minutes but great to get late winner .I'm blaming old age.

 

[gerdm07]

Very pleased with the way we responded after the soft penalty. It seems like ages ago since we staged a similar come back.

It was a penalty.

 

[LLMU]

Take nothing away from the team. The way we took the game by the scruff of the neck at the end showed character.

 

[paulscholes18]

Wow saw a stat that was the 1st goal that Watford have conceded in the 1st half at home since January

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Wow saw a stat that was the 1st goal that Watford have conceded in the 1st half at home since January

Get in.

 

[acnumber9]

Give it a rest man, you are more boring than the cucumber cat videos now doing the rounds on the internet. You've been so negative towards LvG in general that it's difficult to take anything you post at face value.

Ok. You can ignore whether it's the managers job to manage the players if you like. I'll leave you to your denial.

 

[togg]

Giggs is a miserable bugger isn't he?

getting back to his seat checking the Salford score.....

 

[Trizy]

We had a lot of very good chances which is brilliant to see, we just need to work on putting them away!

Positives: 3 points, youth players, late winner.

 

[SalfordRed1960]

You've got this one wrong bud. Have a back look through my posts if you like and in the last month alone, you'll see me backing Van Gaal in the Everton match thread, the Paul Scholes thread, the Mourinho sack thread and two or three others (just off the top of my head). I'm a fan.

I agree it would have made perfect sense to put Rojo at LB and Blind in midfield but that isn't what he did. You could clearly see him point to the back and hold up three fingers. Immediately our shape changed and we were lined up with 3 centre backs, 2 wing backs, 3 in the middle and 2 up top. We lost all cohesion.

We had Ander Periera on the bench and he could have slotted straight in for Herrera. Young could have done the same with any one of Rojo, McNair or Darmian coming on to fill in at full back.

Again, the move to 3 at the back was tactical. It forced Watford to hit long balls from the center because Blind and Young had moved to stop the crosses from the wings. Our CBs were comfortable with that Watford attack. Watford were only dangerous when we screwed up, nothing to do with the formation in my view.

To me it would not make sense having an attack of Ander, Lingard and Depay. Not only have they little experience, but are also prone to making very poor decisions. Ander did nothing when coming on to suggest this was the platform for him to make a statement.

At the end of the day, lack of a leader on the park is far more an issue for us, than LVG's decisions.

 

[diarm]

Again, the move to 3 at the back was tactical. It forced Watford to hit long balls from the center because Blind and Young had moved to stop the crosses from the wings. Our CBs were comfortable with that Watford attack. Watford were only dangerous when we screwed up, nothing to do with the formation in my view.

To me it would not make sense having an attack of Ander, Lingard and Depay. Not only have they little experience, but are also prone to making very poor decisions. Ander did nothing when coming on to suggest this was the platform for him to make a statement.

At the end of the day, lack of a leader on the park is far more an issue for us, than LVG's decisions.

If the move to 3 at the back was tactical then it is the tactics that I disagree with. We were well on top with Ander, Lingard and Memphis up front for the first half hour. Herrera got injured and we then made the change. Tactical or not, we went from playing great football to looking nervy, negative and disorganised immediately.

Watford didn't get a touch of the ball until we made that change. Herrera played well but he wasn't the only one.

It's easy to point fingers at Lingard and Memphis for poor decision making while we were playing 352. But that ignores the fact that Van Persie, Rooney, Hernandez, Wilson, Nani, Falcao and others who all have plenty of experience, have all looked poor, isolated and hesitant when playing in that formation.

The attacker receives a long ball but is all on his own. There is no width in attack and his options are really limited. Unless he does something extraordinary on his own, he will invariably end up losing possession.

I can see your point on having 3 very young lads up front, but Young could have taken Herrera's spot or Scheinsteiger could have pushed up into hole with Blind or even Jones stepping into midfield.

They might not have been perfect options but Watford weren't very good today and any of them would have been better than altering the entire shape of the side, midway through a game and to a formation everyone and his grandmother knows doesn't work.

 

[Nik70]

If the move to 3 at the back was tactical then it is the tactics that I disagree with. We were well on top with Ander, Lingard and Memphis up front for the first half hour. Herrera got injured and we then made the change. Tactical or not, we went from playing great football to looking nervy, negative and disorganised immediately.

Watford didn't get a touch of the ball until we made that change. Herrera played well but he wasn't the only one.

It's easy to point fingers at Lingard and Memphis for poor decision making while we were playing 352. But that ignores the fact that Van Persie, Rooney, Hernandez, Wilson, Nani, Falcao and others who all have plenty of experience, have all looked poor, isolated and hesitant when playing in that formation.

The attacker receives a long ball but is all on his own. There is no width in attack and his options are really limited. Unless he does something extraordinary on his own, he will invariably end up losing possession.

I can see your point on having 3 very young lads up front, but Young could have taken Herrera's spot or Scheinsteiger could have pushed up into hole with Blind or even Jones stepping into midfield.

They might not have been perfect options but Watford weren't very good today and any of them would have been better than altering the entire shape of the side, midway through a game and to a formation everyone and his grandmother knows doesn't work.

I agree. I'm not one to bash LVG usually but I thought it was a strange decision to switch formations.

 

[Bastian]

what does this even mean? The league is very competitive this year.

I mean simply that we've not looked comfortable and we've not looked like we've found any proper form (defense has been good for the most part).

 

[SoCross]

Think we can all agree that the 3-5-2 should be binned!

But all ended well. Hopefully we'll never ever see three at the back again.

 

[Sereques]

This LVG boring side continue to stay in the mix.

 

[Michael T]

Phew, watching our second half performance was nerve racking to say the least. However, its certainly turned out to be an excellent weekend of results for us. A win against PSV on Wednesday please, and we really must put Leicester City to the sword next week.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Phew, watching our second half performance was nerve racking to say the least. However, its certainly turned out to be an excellent weekend of results for us. A win against PSG on Wednesday please, and we really must put Leicester City to the sword next week.

I hope it's PSV we are playing.

 

[Oneunited26]

The worry is? more injury's, its great now a good win second in the league, but if we going to go from strength to strength we cannot be having these injury's. So it is bittersweet, but we have a fixture list that could see us surprise a few, wonder how merson feels its another win

 

[Dominos]

We had a lot of very good chances which is brilliant to see, we just need to work on putting them away!

Positives: 3 points, youth players, late winner.

So many people are saying this that I'm thinking I must be wrong.. What chances are we referring to?

We had the Lingard one which we had to wait til the 85th minute for the chance to kill off the game. I didn't see us miss any golden chances other than that?

 

[2mufc0]

Our game went to sh1t after the 352 switch, we were all over them before that. We did have our chances though and should have put the game away much earlier.

 

[Question234]

If the move to 3 at the back was tactical then it is the tactics that I disagree with. We were well on top with Ander, Lingard and Memphis up front for the first half hour. Herrera got injured and we then made the change. Tactical or not, we went from playing great football to looking nervy, negative and disorganised immediately.

Watford didn't get a touch of the ball until we made that change. Herrera played well but he wasn't the only one.

It's easy to point fingers at Lingard and Memphis for poor decision making while we were playing 352. But that ignores the fact that Van Persie, Rooney, Hernandez, Wilson, Nani, Falcao and others who all have plenty of experience, have all looked poor, isolated and hesitant when playing in that formation.

The attacker receives a long ball but is all on his own. There is no width in attack and his options are really limited. Unless he does something extraordinary on his own, he will invariably end up losing possession.

I can see your point on having 3 very young lads up front, but Young could have taken Herrera's spot or Scheinsteiger could have pushed up into hole with Blind or even Jones stepping into midfield.

They might not have been perfect options but Watford weren't very good today and any of them would have been better than altering the entire shape of the side, midway through a game and to a formation everyone and his grandmother knows doesn't work.

He made the change because herrera got injured and he figured we may be even lighter going forward.

Watford were always going to try and get back in the game, and didn't all of last season disprove the myth that 352 makes us worse ?

it even allowed blind and young to get further up the pitch at times.

 

[bosnian_red]

So many people are saying this that I'm thinking I must be wrong.. What chances are we referring to?

We had the Lingard one which we had to wait til the 85th minute for the chance to kill off the game. I didn't see us miss any golden chances other than that?

Lingard had 2 great chances, the attempted lob and then before that Memphis put him one on one kind of from the left side on his left foot that the keeper saved. Gomes had another few very good saves, and we had a few nearly moments. We created a decent amount of chances though, more then the usual amount at the very least.

 

[diarm]

He made the change because herrera got injured and he figured we may be even lighter going forward.

Watford were always going to try and get back in the game, and didn't all of last season disprove the myth that 352 makes us worse ?

it even allowed blind and young to get further up the pitch at times.

On your first point, I know that and it's what I disagreed with. Bringing a younger player on into a system that is working well, or moving Young up with another fullback coming on, are lesser evils than changing the whole shape of the side mid-game.

On you second, of course Watford were going to try. But they didn't threaten us once before the change, and we were all over the place for 50 minutes after it. Not sure how last season disproved the idea that 352 made us worse? It was pretty much universally accepted as a failed experiment - hence us leaving it behind.

To what benefit did Blind and Young getting up the pitch have? In that first half hour, we had 3 forwards attacking in tandem with fluidity and unpredictability. There was support from deep and everything looked cohesive. After the change, our front men were isolated and we were far less threatening until we went gung ho at the end.

 

[FC Ronaldo]

 

[Natener]

I mean simply that we've not looked comfortable and we've not looked like we've found any proper form (defense has been good for the most part).

On the flip side, it means we would have a great shot at the title when we find form?

 

[DeafMUFC]

Great result, performance was Okay but with the players we currently have out what more can you expect?

Positives - Blind was really good, Morgan & BFS top quality, young lads getting a go

Negatives - 2nd half tempo, Mata faded badly, injuries FFS

 

[Chesterlestreet]

Good win, that. Shades of old times, even.

Hopefully we can get back to answering in that style on a regular basis - it's something we've been missing for a good while now.

BFS knows how to do this, obviously - it's not in his genes to lie down and die under those circumstances. There was something almost Keano'esque about his attitude today.

 

[Michael T]

I hope it's PSV we are playing.

Ha ha, thanks for the heads up! Changed it now.

 

[Bastian]

On the flip side, it means we would have a great shot at the title when we find form?

If. For sure. But the fact we are where we are I think is down to two factors. Our defense and the league being mediocre so far, with no team looking really sharp (bar Leicester).

 

[Sid234]

Our level of play dropped off after a good 15-20 minutes in the 2nd half, effects of the international friendlies was showing on the likes of Mata, Schneiderlin and Schweinstiger. I'm worried how we'll handle PSV midweek and that followed by the game at Leicester. LvG can't even rotate the midfield with Carrick injured and Blind playing in defense.

I hope he takes a chance vs PSV and plays Pereira in midfield, gives BFS a rest. We need him at the top of his game for Leicester

 

[.Rossi]

Quique Sánchez Flores is what Phil Brown thinks he looks like

 

[Lennon7]

Smalling nearly scored a goal like Ronaldo's vs Valencia! brilliant effort.

 

[mu77]

Again, the move to 3 at the back was tactical. It forced Watford to hit long balls from the center because Blind and Young had moved to stop the crosses from the wings. Our CBs were comfortable with that Watford attack. Watford were only dangerous when we screwed up, nothing to do with the formation in my view.

To me it would not make sense having an attack of Ander, Lingard and Depay. Not only have they little experience, but are also prone to making very poor decisions. Ander did nothing when coming on to suggest this was the platform for him to make a statement.

At the end of the day, lack of a leader on the park is far more an issue for us, than LVG's decisions.

BFS

and LVG could have and should have just move blind to midf. 4 at the back , simples.

 

[Nik70]

BFS

and LVG could have and should have just move blind to midf. 4 at the back , simples.

Or put Mata in at 10 and brought Pereira on as the wide man.

 

[Asger]

Where the hell was Wilson today?! I really doesn't understand LVG sometimes.

 

[pseudo_canadian]

Bastian is a really funny guy.

He's just such a great character to have in a team.

I bet the players really respect and look up to him.

 

[Riz]

Where the hell was Wilson today?! I really doesn't understand LVG sometimes.

Injured, swollen knee after training.

 

[SalfordRed1960]

BFS

and LVG could have and should have just move blind to midf. 4 at the back , simples.

He could have done lots of things, even moving Young to the Left. However, moving an international LB to LB, and a utility player than can play left midfield is not a bad decision. Even the formation change, as strange as it was to some (and let's not forget this was in the 25 minute), did not stop us having total control in the first half.

As for BFS, if he is the leader on the field, then he should be pushing the young players that took their foot off the pedal in the second half. There were a number of counter attacks that should have resulted in goals, but didn't because of players fecking about and not going for it.

 

[Riz]

I hope he takes a chance vs PSV and plays Pereira in midfield, gives BFS a rest. We need him at the top of his game for Leicester

Carrick and Herrera injuries have buggered us in that respect. The only way we can rest Schweini is by playing Blind in midfield but then that would mean McNair at CB.