Some observations from my first game of the season

[HerefordCanary 0]

Still buzzing from the comeback last night, got home about 1.15 so i''ll probably have the comedown at some point this afternoon.

We were decent without actually having much goal threat (like against villa) until they scored with their first shot. After that we looked clueless until Fer and Murphy came on and changed the game.

Hoolahan, for me is always a player that will be 70:30 class/awful or the other way around. Last night he was the other way around unfortunately.

Olsson and Garrido down the left didn''t work, Olsson doesn''t really look like a winger and we looked better when he was at left back.

Redmond was always coming short for the ball, I would have thought with his pace we should have been sending the ball between CB and FB for him to run onto a bit more, like Pilkingtons goal against Sunderland last season.

As soon as we pulled it back level you knew we were going to win that game because Watford players couldn''t believe they''d thrown it away and were all starting to get cramp. The only player for us who had cramp was Hooper which just shows 1. his lack of match fitness and 2. the level below he has been playing all his career.

Hooper is a natural finisher though and knows exactly where he needs to be all the time. He was harshly called offside a lot in that second half. He will get a lot of goals in my opinion. You could visibly see early in the second half how annoyed he was getting with how we were playing and I actually thought he must be thinking ''what have I joined here?''

Then Fer came on and was easily the best player on the pitch, no sloppy passes, good interceptions, and all with so much ease as well. His pass for Hoopers goal deserves a special mention as without looking at it again looked like it split about 6 players with pinpoint accuracy.

Finally it has to be said Tettey was pretty decent overall last night and a very well done to Josh Murphy for his performance when he came on, wasn''t scared of running at the opposition, taking on a shot or putting a decent ball in.

[Sox 1 0]

Agree with most of that; I thought Tettey improved greatly once Fer came on beside him.

[Jim Smith 2,317]

I was going to start a separate thread on this but since it links in with the comments above will make the point here that last night for me showed clearly why Tettey and Fer should be our main midfield pairing. I know it was only against a tiring Watford team but it just looks the strongest and most balanced pairing by far.

Tettey can site in front of the back 4 which he does excellently and it gives Fer a bit of freedom to push forward when he needs to. Depending on the opposition we might want to play Howson/Wes/Redmond ahead of them or against some of the weaker teams I think this combo is strong enough to despatch with the extra midfielder and play both Hooper and Van Wolswinkel.

I therefore really, really hope to see these two lining up next to each other on Sunday. Although his form dropped later in the season I still believe it was no coincidence that our 10 match unbeaten run coincided with Tettey coming into the side and playing at the top of his game. He brings an athleticism and mobility in front of the back 4 that Johnson (this season anyway as he is off form) and Howson don''t provide.

other than that Hooper showed why he will be our main striker ahead of RVW before long as he is a finisher pure and simple.

Murphy has got it.

Wes was great first half but then tired hugely and had a poor second half which i think was mainly down to that tiredness.

R Bennett looked good.

Olsson was a little disappointing.

Thought Bunn should have saved both their goals but he redeemed himself with 3 excellent saves in the 2nd half.

All in all we started very well and I thought were in complete control until they scored from nowhere with their first shot. After that pretty even rest of first half. second half they got their second and we then fell apart for the next 15-20 minutes which were pretty embarrassing. However the introduction of Fer and Murphy changed the game and we bossed it from then onwards. Had the final ball been better we might have even won it in normal - must have put about 30 crosses into their box in the last 20 minutes.

[norfolkbroadslim 223]

According to BBC Radio Norfolk, Hoolahan was the best player on the pitch first half.  Then Hughton brought Elmander on and thought it would be a good idea to stick Hoolahan on the wing.

 

How does Hooper getting cramp show the level  below he has been playing all his career?

[GJP 79]

[quote user="Jim Smith"]

R Bennett looked good.  [/quote]

Apart from getting done for Watford''s first goal.