Watford 3-0 Blues

Starting XI

Two changes. Hannibal Mejbri and Jordan Graham for Alfie Chang and George Hall. Both drop to the bench.

Game

A game of two halves but the hosts had the first and punished our negligence.

It took six minutes for Watford to kill us, some tidy play leading to Sema being found out wide alone. His low, driven cross found an unmarked Imran Louza to finish. And ten minutes later, they had a second, Bielik's misplaced header in the centre leading to a transition from which Louza found Davis. He squared up to Long 1 v 1 before rifling into the roof of the net from a tight angle.

Ngakia was later giving all the time he wanted to fire off the post from 25 yards. Pedro and Davis linked up to find Kone, who was close from 20 yards and Cathcart headed wide a corner. Blues offered nothing all half.

A double change at half time breathed life into Blues. Within a minute of half time, Pedro had a tame effort saved and Hogan wasted a glorious opportunity after being slipped in by Bielik. Bielik forced a stop from a short Hannibal free-kick, Graham's wicked delivery from the left was bundled Iver the bar, Hall couldn't quite connect with Jutkiewicz's cross and a brilliant ball from Graham led to Hogan forcing a save and Jutkiewicz not quite being able to bundle home the rebound.

Wouldn't you know it, Watford broke once, Kone escaped Hannibal in the channel and found Assombalonga free to score. Game, set and match.

Blues had a late flurry of chances to make the scoreline more respectable hut it wasn't to be, Hogan, Hall and JJ all forcing fine stops from Bachmann.

Tactics

Blues returned to 5-3-2 here up against Watford's 3-5-2.

Watford's shape was more fluid than Blues'. Pedro had a free role off the front, often opting to sit on the left-hand side. Ngakia and Kone picked up high positions on the right, dovetailing between wide and central positions. Hoedt played something of a LB position in position to provide an outlet with Sema high and wide in front of him and Louza close by inside.

Blues offered little opposition to that in the first half hour. Hannibal and Chong had a cautious press but any attempts to stop Watford were half-hearted, players failing to shift across as a unit and space being open to either switch play or find a player in a pocket. It was all too easy.

Out of possession, Watford didn't have to do anything. Kone and Ngakia got close to Trusty and Graham. Davis sat off. Pedro sat on Bielik. Long was left free to receive the ball but given no option but to try and find Jutkiewicz.

During an injury break, Eustace got a message to his players to switch to a 5-2-1-2 shape. Hannibal tucked in alongside Bielik with Chong ahead of them. The approach was more aggressive, Long and Trusty stepping on to Pedro when he dropped deep and the other two centre-backs up against Davis. Bielik tracked Louza across the pitch, Hannibal got between Kone and Bacuna with Chong stepping from Bacuna to close Cathcart. It stopped Watford consistently getting the wrong side of the Blues midfield in transition and ensured their Premier League quality players stopped having possession in acres of space. The game settled down as a result and Blues were the better side thereon, albeit Watford knew the job was done at ghat point.

Players

It's impossible to praise anybody for that first half display. No individual stood out, the entire team and unit stunk.

Second half, Hall had an impact. Hogan's finishing was poor but he got himself into good positions. Bielik stepped up and started driving. Graham showed his passing range. A case of "where was this first half?"

For Watford, Louza destroyed us with time and space. A classy player. Pedro is talented. Davis is an absolute unit. Kone has got something about him.

Wrapping it up...

I have to refer back to the numbers.

In the 15 games played with at least six days break, Blues have accrued 1.87 points per game. In the 22 games played with less than six days break, Blues have accrued 0.63 points per game. Bear in mind almost every team you play will have had the same period of rest. This has worsened this side of the World Cup break - we have lost all eight matches played when the team have had less than six days break.

Blues have scored 13 goals in the first 15 minutes of matches but conceded 13 in between 16 and 30.

What does the above tell us? John Eustace and his coaching staff can clearly set up a tactical plan for the team to carry out. The more time they have on the training ground to drill the players, the better.

When there is less preparation time between matches, or the opposition make an in-game tweak, the onus falls upon the players to read situations on the pitch and show a level of physical, tactical and mental understanding to adjust accordingly until they can receive additional instruction. Our players are proving time and again that they simply can't react in these situations.

They know one way - the way Eustace set them up pre-match. The idea of, for example, Bielik finding himself overrun and telling Chong to sit in with him for a short period while they adjust seems to be a foreign concept. The players struggle to manage themselves in games and it constantly falls upon the coaching staff to provide instruction in a bid to change things. So we end up succumbing to the same situations time and again and wonder why we get punished.

Eustace continues to front all the bad energy and take it upon himself, reinforcing the positives publicly, much to the frustration of fans, while no doubt having tough conversations privately. And I know people won't believe that last one because of the persona he portrays, but he was a tough character as a player, as assistant, he told new manager Mark Warburton get rid of up to 16 players upon joining and we all recall the noise from Rotherham journalists back in August after defeat. Eustace is no mug.

I'm finding it tough at the moment being very much on one side of the coin but I'm in full belief that Eustace is good for this football club both now and in the long term. I guess time will only tell. The sooner survival is officially secured and we can start looking ahead to next season, the better.