Evening lads, nice to see another vaguely populated championship board! We're all very much looking forward to the game on Sunday (the away allocation sold out in a matter of days). Great memories of winning promotion at Vicarage road during the 10/11 season, this will be our first visit since then. In the spirit of sparking a rare bit of cross board discussion/rivalry...I thought I'd pop over to gauge the mood. So, what is it that's instigated this embarrassing mid-season capitulation of yours? I remember after your opening-day 6-1 victory V Bournemouth, the rest of the league was predicting fighting over the one remaining promotion slot. As it's turned out, you're now the weekly laughing stock of the masses. Genuinely baffling? Anyway that's enough from me, thankyou for the three points- and best of luck in the new year. Merry Christmas!
Don't be like that Fez! Why did Deeney go off the boil? The championship's collective fingers were crossed that he'd be sold in August, but he's dropped off the radar a bit since then. I notice it's 3 in 3 now though, so maybe he's refinding his form at just the wrong time for us.
I'd say we are indeed the fortnightly butt of the jokes when we play at home (Watford NIL FC and all that) - but away we are still pretty decent. As to what's gone wrong? Well, there are others here with a lot more inside knowledge and tactical nous than me but I'd say that losing our first team assistant coach, trying to rebuild a side without arguably our three best players of last season: Abdi (injured most of the season), Chalobah (couldn't afford his new wage structure after he did so well for us, Chavski gave him a whopping rise) and Vydra (head turned by a muppet agent - aren't they all?). That's four if you include Deeney's lamentable form... plus a former head coach who is patently too nice to do the job when the going gets a bit tough. The squad is miles better on paper than on grass and hopefully Sannino is the man to turn it around. He has a proven track record at lower league level in Italy. Deeney, though lacking in form IMHO has also been utterly starved of service. If we can address that issue and bring in another striker (the sale of Assombalonga, though unproven at Championship level, cannot have helped) as the former coaching staff do not appear to have confidence in the other young strikers we do have. On our day, when it clicks, we'll beat anyone in this division 6-1, let alone just Bournemouth. Just seems to me that someone filled our Lamborghini with diesel!
Really insightful piece there Fez, thanks for that! This is a very oversimplified/uneducated viewpoint, but I thought perhaps the foreign imports weren't keen on another season of championship grind & hardship? It must've been absolutely gutting to miss out at the final hurdle last season- which might've initially galvanised the impressive early season form, in a kind of positive backlash. But then at the first hint of a wobble, maybe they thought "Christ not this league again...". I've no idea how many of the Udinese/Granda lot you retained from last season though, so maybe that's unfair. On an unrelated note, here are a few pieces written about Watford by a respected QPR fan in the last few days: "The latest English Italian job- opposition profile": http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/footba...nglish-italian-job-–-opposition-profile Watford V QPR match preview: http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/footba...5/that-difficult-second-album-–-preview
I think its totally fair to say the players coming in this season haven't been that great and as Fez says we've lost a few key players (both British and non-British) whilst a number of players have just been off form. Not sure if its just because players don't care but the fact Zola lacked a Plan B and basically we played into the hands of so many sides by gifting them cheap goals to go in front. Even without a Vydra or Abdi I don't think we should be losing 5 games in a row at home. Our away form isn't bad actually...albeit mainly draws. I would say personally I'd be hard pressed to pick a certain 1-2-3 for Player of the Season which says as much. As for the Pozzos - well they came in when we had the awful Bassini and they certainly seem like football people with an interest in the club off and on the pitch rather than money men here for a quick buck hence no real criticism for them. On the general point - well I guess if everybody started bringing in players from all over the place on loan deals it might be an issue but they haven't and it got stopped anyway (maybe the FA/FL could do something about greedy agents/owners as they are a stain on the game?) In fact we have more from Premier league clubs now like Thorne,McEachran and the full back from Arsenal. I think the real trouble is SOME young players get too much too soon and think they've made it and managers have owners who demand results in an instant so they panic and just spend money on anyone rather that taking time to develop youngsters (credit to a team like Southampton who have but then they are nicely in the top 10 without any pressure now) We've seen a few more English players come through in the Premier league this season so maybe its changing but again its about pressure and expectations - can they be managed right and handled it.
Have to commend that article from Loft for Words. One of the most balanced and objective pieces I've seen from another club's supporter about our set up.
