Andy Munro watches Blues go down at Watford.
This was men against boys as Blues failed to create even one decent chance during a torrid first half which saw us two down after sixteen minutes. Some changes during the interval helped make for a bright opening after the break before we reverted to type, conceding a late third.
During that period, Scott Hogan predictably failed to convert a decent chance as did Auston Trusty.
John Ruddy was one of the few players to have a decent game, as did Trusty defensively. Jordan Graham also never stopped running but that was about it.
Up front the Juke is more of a nuisance than a danger. He needs support and runners to be effective and that rarely happened apart from during our brief purple patch. George Hall did okay when he came on and maybe, apart from a return for Juninho Bacuna when his suspension ends, we need to give the youngsters their head for the next match – and that includes Emmanuel Longelo.
After another all too frequent lacklustre performance, John Eustace again came out with his usual script, blaming a passive attitude in the first half which, to me, smacks of a lack of motivation from the manager. He also then waxed lyrical about our second half ‘turnaround’ and the ‘positive’ attitude of players. In my view that’s no good when it can’t be maintained for 90 instead.
“Must do better” is the overriding comment as we look to get at least a point in the vital trip to QPR – which unfortunately never normally a happy hunting ground!
