Friendly v Villarreal on Thurs 15/12/2022 - 20.00pm ko

[Sexual Ealing]

Think we'll class tgatcasxa collective og.

Sometimes you've just got to hoof it.

Excellent use of Basque, though I think Villareal is in Catalonia!

[pauliewalnuts]

Finished 0-1

We were easily the better team but two concerns.

1. Fucking about at the back too much again. Too often.
2. Don't create enough chances to be able to support such a blunt instrument as Watkins. Blatantly not up to it.

[SaddVillan]

Quality striker(s) incoming in January?

[Legion]

We have one on the bench that rarely gets an opportunity. Hope he goes out on loan in January.

[villadelph]

I genuinely have no idea what Villareal were doing for most of the match or expecting to get out of this friendly. They showed nothing.

Nonetheless, we were clearly the better side. Comfortable for most of the match, and I'll credit Buendia for running his boots off today. I don't care who it is or how much it costs, but we need a proper striker. Ollie seems like a great guy but my lord, how many chances can you get at this level? It still stuns me every time I see a ball bounce off his shin or he is standing 1v1 with a defender and manages to lose his dribble, an unforced error. How can you get to the PL?! Even with Diego Carlos on the mend, we could probably use a CB too.

[Legion]

A decent back-up GK is a must.

[cdbearsfan]

To be fair, both Watkins and Ings scored during their last starts in a proper match. As did Archer I imagine (unless I'm wrong and he's started a game since Barrow which I've forgotten).

[Toronto Villa]

A decent back-up GK is a must.

Absolutely. Defenders need to be confident that they can pass it back to and receive it from a competent goalkeeper. He’s a decent shot stopper but an absolute nightmare positionally and with the ball at his feet.

[Bad English]

Think we'll class tgatcasxa collective og.

Sometimes you've just got to hoof it.

Excellent use of Basque, though I think Villareal is in Catalonia!

It is in the Valencian community.

[RamboandBruno]

Fooking friendlies in mid-December, just home and it will take me till xmas day to thaw out.
Other than that, nice passing, need to have a shot now and again.

[Sexual Ealing]

Think we'll class tgatcasxa collective og.

Sometimes you've just got to hoof it.

Excellent use of Basque, though I think Villareal is in Catalonia!

It is in the Valencian community.

My mistake.

[usav]

Smash and grab by them. Lesson to be learnt there.

Also, if it wasn’t already obvious enough, Watkins is not good enough for where we want to be.

[Dogtanian]

The cold was our 12th man today.

We were the better team, but we just don’t have that clinical finish. I know why managers like Watkins, but the reality is he has had two decent seasons as a striker in his entire career. He’s not a natural or instinctive finisher and all the work rate and pressing in the world isn’t going to change that.

[simboy]

Think my core temperature dropped by about 4 degrees last night.

Watkins doesn’t look an instinctive striker. There were moments when we were attacking that he had his back to play looking for a position to move to.

There was a first time cross in the first half by Digne where a proper centre forward gambles and has a simple header.

However, I wonder if he will be moved wider and asked to work the left, his work rate is high. The goal was a comedy of errors and came after our first six subs.

Kayden Young looks a class act - 16, And the opposition put two on him! Also the cameo by Raikhy was decent.

Thought it was a good workout against quality opposition.

Queue for the coffee at half time was around the bar and along in the lower Trinity, so missed the start of the second half. 

[Risso]

You can see that we're trying to use the ball better, but we really don't have the players for faffing around at the back. And nobody will ever convince me that Watkins is good enough for where we want to be.