Watford 2 - West Bromwich Albion 1

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Ratings submitted so far: 6

Brendan Clegg:

Changes from Corberan to both personnel and shape I guess couldn’t be questioned due to the 3 games in a week.

And for the first 20 we were really good, dominant, and really we needed to make the most of the situations we created but it didn’t happen.

From nowhere Watford hit the bar after a really poor defensive header that a big man striker couldn’t have laid on better, and Watford got their tails up.

We seemed to be okay but there was a bit of a pattern where Molumby would go press, Racic wouldn’t be close enough to back him up and Watford would cut through us.

It happened again and after Holgate got done steaming in but with no physical presence Watford were away. We held them up before a cross was floated in and their striker scored a great header… albeit there should have been a challenge from Heggem or someone.

We kept going and looked threatening, culminating in what was probably one of the two defining moments of the game - Grant scuffing a chance from 6 yards via a Maja layoff that I think 9 times out of 10 he wallops in on either foot. To be fair Watford also looked a threat as we pushed to equalise.

We went in to HT behind but the better side and at HT Styles made way for MJ which seemed a bit harsh.

We were slow out and Watford were on top but even now I’m amazed their 2nd was allowed… Maja just about to head away when he was unsubtley bundled over off balance. It was a foul all day, a really obvious one but the ref let it go and the Watford striker finished well while our defenders stood arms raised and perplexed. You shouldn’t need VAR for that.

We rallied a bit, got some subs on and Molumby got a deserved goal back to set us up for a big push. It didn’t really come, Watford looked more likely to get a third on the break and I do find it very odd that Cole wasn’t given 15 mins. If not when you are 2-1 down after a 3 game week, it’s never I’m afraid.

We’ve played a lot worse and won this season. Equally the depth limitations are there for all to see - Ajayi, McNair and Dike would all be making contributions now but for injury and we’d be 5 or 6 points better off as a result I’m sure. We’ve just got to hang in there and hope we can cut some losses in the transfer window and try again to get a forward and a creative midfielder in.

• Palmer - 7 Made one unbelievable save and was decent
• Furlong- 6 better on the ball but goals keep coming from his side
• Holgate - 5 Isn’t imposing enough force CB
• Barts - 6 did okay
• Heggem - 6 Also okay but has conceded that type of goal a few times.
• Fellows - 7 A constant threat when we found him early
• Molumby - 7 energy, fight and a decent goal
• Racic - 5 Didn’t impose himself anywhere near enough. What’s his game? Can’t see it.
• Styles - 6 neat if not stand out. Might be a better Mowatt stand in than Racic.
• Grant - 6 Put his body through it for us.
• Maja - 6 Same, looks like he needs a break which after last season and now this number of games is understandable

• MJ - 5 Not enough. Needs to get on the weights.
• Mowatt, Swift and Frabotta all did okay but we were out of threat in the box. Wallace I didn’t get.