3. The system remains a twist on the classic Dutch 433. The twist is not so much that one of our wingers like to cut inside, but that both of our advanced midfielders are deliberately placed on their 'wrong' side. Dunno why. I'm sure the manager has his reasons, but I'm not sure it suits Schlupp.

Bright pointed out that under the new system when we go forward we change into a 3-5-2 formation with Ward joining the centre backs, Mitchell moving to left-wing and Zaha playing more central, but when defending we revert to an almost 4-5-1 formation. Seemed to work really well and the players (apart from possibly Schlupp) seemed to know what they were doing.

4. Gallagher should be looking at McArthur and learning. The former has acceleration and energy the latter can no longer muster, but that's irrelevant if you don't know what you're doing. Mac picked up a booking for a counter-attack-preventing foul that was as cynical as it was necessary, whilst young Gallagher, determined to press to maximum effect at every turn, conceded a string of fouls that disrupted our rhythm, let Watford off the hook whenever they might have been making a mess of playing out, and would have picked up a totally unnecessary yellow of his own in a league game. Hopefully Gallagher will be brilliant for us, but I'm not up for us spending a year smoothing his rough edges for Chelsea's benefit.

Gallagher came on like an excitable puppy, but my god he has energy in abundance and he hit the best pass of the game without blinking. The way he snaps away and commits little fouls actually reminds me of McArthur who has always done that. If he had started I think he might have been a bit calmer. To refer to Bright again, he said of Gallagher that we have been missing that type of player for a long time (i.e. one who can hit long, accurate cross-field balls). Given Viera seems to be looking to use those balls to stretch the game I can see why he has been brought in. As good as McArthur is, he is not that type of player.

5. For all the nice, neat and very patient football we played, our main goal-sources remain exactly the same. No manager in the world has a system that could offset the loss of Zaha.

While that is true, we are missing Eze and Olise, plus Bentenke scored when he came on. I personally still think we need either another goal-scoring wide player or a fox in the box type striker though (like Armstrong).

6. I presume Tomkins is on the bench as Vieira wants the best passing centre backs in the side, and as a (mostly) midfielder, Kouyate perhaps fits the bill ahead of the best actual centre back we've got.

I wonder if part of it might also be that Kouyate is more of a leader than Tomkins, who although possibly a better defender doesn't come across as someone who commands the back line.

7. Mateta. No ta. If he's got what it takes he's hiding it well. Almost as well as he hid himself when his team sent in three or four good crosses in the second half. One peach from Mitchell in particular showed up how inadequate Mateta's anticipation, movement and determination appeared to be. He did so some good work clearing Watford corners though.

Worked really hard outside the box and his long rangy legs helped him carve out a chance, but inside the box he still fails to convince. Maybe it's just a confidence thing, but I wonder if that showing will convince Parish to sanction a move for another striker.

8. McArthur is brilliant. He can play any system, any style, any midfield position and never give less than a solid 7 every single time. He's a better deep midfielder than Riedewald. He's a better box to box midfielder than Schlupp and Gallagher. He's a better all round footballer than anyone else we've got, or have had that I can remember. If he had ever had pace and power he'd have played in the champions league.

MOTM for me too. His best performance since I don't remember when. Viera's arrival and his long injury absence seems to have re-energised him. Zaha should have done better with his perfect chip pass. Freed from the shackles of Hodgson's deep-lying midfield he could thrive.

9. Geuhi looks good. Not very tall though. He'll need to sort that out.

Looks extremely comfortable on the ball and made the tackle of the game. He did do a swing and a miss at a cross though!

10. Ayew puts a proper shift in, but if Olise or Rak-Sahki can't get in ahead of him on the right wing by the end of the season then they ain't going to make it.

Ayew is a very clever player. He knows how to run across players to stop them tackling without fouling, and how to use your body to keep possession. He is also very good at taking the pressure off the defence. It was noticeable how once Banks and Rak-Sakyi came on we looked more vulnerable

Edited by TheBigToePunt (07 Aug 2021 8.23pm)

9. Geuhi looks good. Not very tall though. He'll need to sort that out.

Haha! that's gold!
Weird Schlupp was on the right of midfield I take it?

I was there yesterday and it was great to be back again up 1.5 years away approximately. And also a bit of symmetry in that we also played Watford in the last league game before the first lockdown. It was a great day out, good atmosphere for a friendly and largely good weather.

I thought we looked bright overall. It was hard to make out some of the new signings / players in all honesty, given the lack of names on the shirts and especially from the holmesdale upper, as it's been a while and it's quite a new look team under Veira. It's going to take me a while to see how the new players bed in and it's probably too early on the whole to judge them. But that said they all looked promising.

Wilf looked sharp as always. Our backline looked strong. Ayew is turning into a personal favourite of mine, he's excellent at carrying the ball and in creating a counter-attack. One of our best players in attack outside of Wilf easily.

Thought Gallagher was a handful when he came on, a little too aggresive perhaps but I think he has a lot of talent. A creative midfielder with a lot of energy, looks like he can carry the ball and ping it and he played a great cross field ball to Zaha towards the end of the game showing his quality. We've lacked a bit of edge in central midfield so I'm optimistic Gallagher can give us that, albiet early days and he is only a loanee.

Good win against Watford that certainly bodes well for a new season where we're all going to be curious to see how the new-look Veira side plays out.

Edited by george1212 (08 Aug 2021 11.46am)