It was almost a game of two halves. Almost.
But almost was not enough. And the first was so poor, it would have been nigh on impossible for the second to be as bad.
To make it doubly disappointing, Watford are not the Championship galacticos Mick McCarthy would have us believe. They’re an okay side that contains a couple of outstanding attacking players.
But even by trundling along in second and third gears, they could have comfortably gone in with a 4-0 halftime lead. That’s how poor it was.
It was the usual … a performance lacking in energy, tempo, and precision, and one riddled with misplaced passes, missed tackles, and defensive uncertainty.
For good measure, there was also that thing that always happens when we play Watford: we were bullied. The one thing we all agreed mustn’t happen, happened.
But no one needed a UEFA Pro Licence to see the problem when the teamsheets were released.
While Dean Smith’s hands are partly tied due to injuries etc, a midfield three of Marcelino Nuñez, Liam Gibbs, and Kenny McLean, with support from Kieran Dowell, was never going to be physically strong and combative enough to control a game against a team known to be both of those things.
It was too early to start Isaac Hayden, of course, but after Gabriel Sara’s first goal and tidy performance last week, it felt odd that he didn’t get a start, especially when Dowell was afforded one.
For all the ex-Everton man’s quality on the ball, he’s not the man for the job when you need someone with mobility and who can mix it.
I’m sure Smith’s reasons were well thought through and logical to him – hindsight is wonderful etc – but that midfield looked ill-equipped for the job even before a ball was kicked.
That things improved when Hayden and Sara came on tends to suggest it was a mistake but all of the first-half travails were exacerbated by carelessness in possession.
The only way a lack of energy and oomph can be mitigated is by having and keeping the ball, but right now, for a team that Smith wants to be possession-based, we’re not very good at it. Possession is coughed up very cheaply amid the lack of fluidity.
I’ll not delve too deeply into the two goals conceded as errors were plentiful and obvious, but a common denominator for both, and many other first-half problems, was Max Aarons being the topping on Ismaïla Sarr’s toast.
It’s not the first time Max has had a tough time at Vicarage Road but, generally, what was once an upward curve is for now a plateau. That he was eventually hooked told its own story.
But while the obvious questions mark over the starting XI remain, one change made by Smith that was vindicated was Angus Gunn for Tim Krul.
Aside from the ironic penalty save (given that Krul is regarded as a penalty king), it was a performance of composure and calmness from Angus – good enough to see him retain the jersey.
Another obvious plus was the sight of Hayden getting some game time. For the 20 minutes or so when he was fresh and before everything started to tighten up, he looked like the player we desperately want him to be.
We now just have to cross everything and hope that knee doesn’t react badly to 45 minutes of high-tempo Championship football.
What he probably didn’t need was a 40-yard foot race with a fresh João Pedro but that’s what he got. It was no surprise it took him five minutes and a visit from the physio to get up.
But a fit Hayden will hopefully make a positive difference to that midfield and its ability to withstand the physical stuff while offering a more solid base from which to go forward.
To ask him to impact positively the staccato passing may be pushing it a bit, but I’m a dreamer.
A left-footed left-back will also be a blessing when either Dimi Giannoulis or Sam McCallum are fit to resume. It becomes more obvious by the game that having no left-footers in that back line badly hinders the collective ability to work that ball out of the defensive third.
For me, it’s the one area where it’s hard to get away with a ‘wrong-footed’ player. Even a right-footed left-winger has the option of cutting inside (just ask Hucks) but not so a left-back.
But there are things wrong that won’t be just fixed by the inclusion of Hayden and Giannoulis, like the lack of penetration, the scarcity of shots on goal – just two last night – and the painfully slow, deliberate build-up that invariably ends with a loose pass.
The nine-game unbeaten run was good while it lasted but that’s gone now and we’ve collected just a point from the last nine available.
“At least we’re winning even if we’re not playing well”, is no longer valid mitigation, and there are signs of struggle when faced with promotion-chasing opposition.
That Smith was angry at half-time was more than justified but his citing the lack of aggression when he picked a midfield that by its very nature lacked aggression and bite is on him. So too the seemingly muddled plan in terms of how to progress the ball through the thirds.
Last night, aside from that 20-minute spell early in the second half, we looked nothing more than an ordinary Championship side. And with the players available to Smith, that doesn’t feel right.
We have, of course, no divine right to win games at this level – every point has to be hard-earned – but right now the collective is less than the sum of the component parts. And we’re not very good to watch.
It’s a big night on Tuesday. For the team and for Dean Smith.
The question that has been answered is the defence isn’t good enough so much space in our box Rochdale strikers would’ve have scored a few . Thought it was just as much a pen with push on seargent as theirs was but again we only played well 20 mins can see the slide beginning one win in five can’t see any points from next 3 unless huge improvement only plus thing ds changed things at halftime when clearly wasn’t working had our best spell then but no end product .
If you can name anything that Smith has improved since he took over I’d like to hear it. Smith is just not good enough, we were told by Smith and Webber in the summer that this squad is already good enough for the championship, Smith seems incapable to get us playing like a contender in the division, poor team selections time after time, his game plan is to be in the game until it’s time for the substitutions then hope for a positive outcome. Our build up play is slow and predictable and he’s got us going backwards at every opportunity. Poor manager and poor coaching team, they all need to go asap if we are to have any chance of finishing in the top 6.
It’s becoming difficult to escape the fact that our team is being poorly coached and managed.
We now repeat mistakes on a weekly basis.
The most obvious is the left back goes missing so the opposition get a free scoring opportunity.
Kenny had a woeful first half in midfield last week but a decent second half at left back so last night he’s returned to midfield.
We have one of the best centre forwards in Sargent so we play him out wide where he is less effective.
Sara had a good second half last week so we leave him on the bench.
They did at least get Gunn’s selection correct.
Heaven knows what they’ve done to Aarons but he’s gone from the best right back in the championship a couple of years ago to being subbed last night.
Our position at the moment appears to have come about more as a consequence of luck and the poor standard of the championship this season rather than design.
I’m afraid Deano and Shaky are starting to look more like Harry Enfield’s Smashie and Nicey.
No wonder Webber has gone for a chat with Chelsea.
Doubtless Delia and Michael consider everything to be tickety-boo!
Thanks for a good sum up,. I maybe shot for this from some of my mates, but I didn’t bother hunting down a stream nor tuned in to Radio. I knew what it was going to be like. With Watford following us down through the trap door , it has been the same story line. We had won of the last 5 meetings with them.
The unbeaten run looks good on paper for those that don’t follow our team, but trying to gauge the views an feelings of those who continue to travel to games home and away , throws up totally different story. Winning while playing poorly is bound to catch up eventually. By the sounds of it that has happened.
Don’t be surprised if Luton continue to add to the 2 defeats already., They will be way to strong for our midfield, another two City old boys will be on the pitch at some pont, Clinton Morrison, wonder if we should have let him go plus one of my favourites Cameron Jerome . Hope they both get a decent reception.
I am totally fed up hearing the same words “Too many errors:- Not winning enough 2nd balls” etc etc. It has been the same story for so long I honestly cannot remember when heard different. S&S have been here long enough now to have more an idea of what he wants and can give us on the pitch, plus more convincing displays from his squad. Defence was a problem area under Farke, but at the football was exciting and 100% better than this drivel.
Smith would have been sacked a long time ago at other clubs upon relegation, not getting a go at the next season. But this Norwich .
If Clinton Morrison plays we’ve got a chance. Carlton Morris would have at least saved us the money for Hugill. Lansbury is still a quality player. Often wonder if he changed his name from Henry to Henri to get a chance at Wenger’s Arsenal.
I can’t see the club sacking S & S so we just have to accept that the dull football matches the manager’s personality. Pukki and Sargent don’t work together and Sargent is the one scoring the goals so move over Pukki. Dowell is a good no 10 so he must play in his position to get the best from him. The squad should be good enough but if we can’t see any method in team selection how can they?
I don’t see promotion under the current setup.
Can’t argue with your summary Gary. Watford haven’t been great this season but they could have been 4 or 5 up by half-time. We huffed and puffed, Sarge scored a good goal and that was about it. I can forgive slow build up play with plenty of time on the clock, but with 10 to go the lack of urgency, aggression and will to win was shocking. I have no answers but watching the managers interviewed post match one articulated well how his team set out to win and the other left me feeling we’re going nowhere fast.
Great points Gary.
Now you all know on here by now that I am a Dean Smith supporter.
I think we have seen in some games this season how a Dean Smith team likes to play. Closing down from the front and everything follows from that. Okay it has been sporadic that is for sure.
But in there is a team that can beat most of the sides in the Championship. But have we seen enough of it consistently? Definitely not.
Now last night there was no closing down at all. In fact, the first half was just awful.
But I think Dean got his team selection totally wrong as you said Gary.
Watford are a big strong team, who have many players who want to leave, and they tend to turn it on for the cameras. Winning 4-0 at Stoke=TV losing at Blackpool 3-1= No TV. So, I always thought this would be extra tough.
The situation at left back is mostly no one’s fault, just bad luck. But we should and could have got a left footed loan player. There is a guy in League one who has just won that league’s player of the month playing left back/wing back. Bali I think is his name. ( Sorry SW the sarcasm just escaped😂)
But last night showed how much is on the shoulders of young Liam Gibbs, so relying solely on Isaac Hayden has been a whopper of a mistake. Though it was good to see him get on the pitch even if he was blowing after 20 minutes. Looking back, I do wonder if we missed a player in Harrison Reed? He has certainly done well at Fulham.
With Tzolis, Placheta and Rashica all out on loan, I still question the Tzolis one, Springett and Rowe injured we only have Onel Henandez and to a lesser extent Daniel Sinani as out and out wingers.
Dean keeps playing Ramsay, Dowell and Sarge as inverted wide men. So, you need your width in that formation to come from your fullbacks. Fat Chance.
Sam is doing okay but he is not the answer and poor Max is struggling. A case of staying too long ?
He thrived into a brilliant attacking right back under Daniel, I do wonder if Smith’s tactics have hindered him as you say.
So, for me you play Pukki or Sargent as centre forward or preferably up front together. Sarge is NOT a bloody wide player.
Ramsay and Dowell both to me are no 10’s so make a choice.
Todd can and has played wide left though again I see him as a number 10 or 8.
To me the team is totally unbalanced. No left back, a youngster our only truly fit holding midfielder, continually playing no 8’s or 10’s as wide players and getting no width from our fullbacks.
We were always going to hit another rough patch and I still have faith in Smith turning it around, but it is not me he has to worry about it is those in the board room.
Arrons indeed is a fine attacking fullback but his defending is distinctly average hence we still have him and tzolis not seen anything from him other then the Bournemouth game one cross in numerous appearances let him go and give springett a good go not enough energy in the side for me when chips are down
So to play devils advocate, on paper our first 11 and Watford’s look pretty equal, yet they are mid table and third, so I don’t think necessarily you can say S and S are bad, mediocre probably, but bad goes too far. Who were the favourites for promotion, us, Burnley, Sheffield United and Watford, we are a point behind the first two and a a good few points ahead of Watford. It would be incredibly Watford or Chelsea like of us to get rid of a manager mid way through a season when they are top 3….
Like others I can’t wait for Hayden and Gianoulis to be back. Right now my ideal midfield would be Hayden and Kenny with cantwell, Nunez and sinani further forward and with Sargent as a striker. Pukki and Hernandez as 60 minutes subs
We dont really want to get promoted with this squad and management team again do we?Well definitely not on this performance,not one player is anywhere near epl standard and as for Webbers 2 new recruits,Sara and Nunez,hes been sold even more duds!
It is noticeable how most players’ form deteriorates under Smith, Nunez the latest. Sargent was lucky that there were no other centre forwards fit or he might be loaned out to someone in Europe now, being used as a sub, with us paying a large part of his wages.Pukki and Aarons are way below their best. 8 minutes for Cantwell when he was fit last weekend?
A left footed winger or full back would be able to put in a quick cross without having to check back and helping their defence to get organised, something that our defence isn’t allowed.
Smith likes to play left footers on the right,It seems he is more concerned with looking at Xgs than using common sense.
Dean Smith has been here almost exactly 11 months with only one moderately funded (at this level) transfer window under his belt. It’s still relatively early days in the sense of forming and consolidating your own team.
However – and it’s a big however – there seems to have been nil improvement from the day he arrived, either organisationally, defensively, midfieldly, or attackingly. He does use substitutes more quickly and more effectively that He Who Shall Not Be Named though. (Gosh bless the memory of the dear departed DF.).
But here we are years later STILL with a physically flimsy midfield (a problem targetted by Stuart Webber four years ago but which remains unsolved) and only one central defensive midfielder (rather than at least two) – and the one we have spends more time on the treatment table than an aromatherapy addict at Champneys.
It seems unsatisfactory somehow…
I cannot think of many/any sides Norwich have had in my 30 years of attending games that have not been a bit lightweight and easy for certain teams to bully.
Good point, Mike. A perpetual problem. We were a bit better at it in the 1980s though and certainly a lot tougher in the 1970s.
Aside from Hayden making a welcome appearance – I think a lot of our woes are self inflicted because we have very few if any verbal captains – no one in midfield grabbing those not performing and giving them a few choice words. No one organising those around them. We seem to be 11 players who play well together at times but at other times, play as 11 players who do not work for each other.
Their first goal – yes another player on the back post coming in unmarked – I have lost count of the number of goals conceded from the same scenario over the past two years. From the freeze frame shown on Sky TV – Byram was marking someone near enough in the centre, Hanley and Omobamidele standing there with no one … surely they must talk during the game – why didn’t Byram tell one of the centre backs to take his man and Byram can then concentrate on any runner coming through.
I just hope Hayden is as good organisationally and verbally as he is at playing football. We desperately need a captain in the middle who can pull these players together. and ensure they play as a team each week.
Its hard to disagree with any of that Gary. After a year of Dean Smiths version of the beautiful game we’re all fairly well versed in what a typical Smith offering entails.
Lacklustre starts, seemingly lacking in the appropriate level of effort, application and motivation, error after error after error, poor finishing and decision making with a sizeable dollop of crap corners.
Its the mark of a poor manager and some seriously under par coaching that a squad literally chock full of players deemed good enough to regularly don the shirt of their home nation routinely look like a rag bag of nondescript garbage.
Nobody with any sense was remotely fooled by our ascent to the heights of second in the league. On virtually every occasion we were rescued from the jaws of failure by a touch of international class appearing unscripted like an oasis in a sea of total mediocrity.
Yesterday’s quality, Sargents great strike and Gunns nerve less penalty save sadly weren’t enough to overturn the calamitous events of tge first half.
There’s certainly room for debate around tge dreadful standard of refereeing on show – why no penalty for the obvious push on Sargent? But in reality we simply weren’t good enough.
Is it any wonder the atmosphere at carrow Road is fractious and dissatisfied? The whole Football club needs a c0mplete and total shake up from the very top to bottom to root out the ingrained culture of failure.
Its quite feasible that luton Sheffield and Burnley could turn us over – if we play to form they will. 5 straight defeats and we’ll really see some atmosphere at carrow Road.
Pozzo family said after they sacked Edwards that pre-season and the 11 games showed that he wasn’t getting the best out of his squad and had no plan but worst was that the players had no belief in him or his staff maybe all those reasons are true with DS&SS but we lack someone to make that decision
By the lack of marking in our defensive third are we persisting with zonal marking. And I do mean marking a zone that doesn’t have an opposition player in it.
Hi Gary
The question I would ask DS&SS is why with all the power and strength of the Watford midfield and forward line he didn’t go for a back 3 with Gibson on the left his usual position as a CB, he then could have help cover the LB slot.
Hanley and Andrew Omobamidele were caught watching space for the first goal but also in two minds whether to cover said fullbacks or leave the centre exposed in the end they did nothing.
DS has said that McLean is the best reader of the game in the squad with his experience I would hope for more that reading the game as a traffic controller waving to other players where to cover just doesn’t cut the ice anymore he needs to be proactive and cut out the dangers he sees instead of telling us where to cover.
Everyone noted how Loud Gibson was in organising the defence now the team is silent, Hanley leads by example and left the shouting to Gibson so what has he done to be treated so badly.
Unless DS&SS turn this around quickly just maybe SW might pull the plug 🔌 before the next break
Stuart may well pull the plug on Smith. However, that would be akin to the wet lettuce sacking Kamikaze. Webber specifically choose Deano within hours of sacking Farke. This is Webber’s management team and you could argue his players. So the buck stops with him. The board could sack him of course (which is very unlikely imo) but first they must get one important and influential member of it to agree – Zoe Ward aka Mrs Webber 😀
I don’t think he was…..Smith came on to the market after Farke was sacked……and well after Webber had decided to sack him.
It strikes me that Smith was a convenient opportunity when the first choice(s) had turned Webber down.
At the moment the only way is backwards.
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