Who is in who is out? Looks like Dyer and Mcgugan are off. Rumour is that Doyley is off to Shrewsbury as a swap for a young prospect. Anyone else heard this? Who else do we want?
West Bromwich Albion could be on the verge of losing top goalscorer Saido Berahino to a Premier League rival. However, it would appear the Baggies are prepared if he does leave this month, as it's being reported that Tony Pulis has made an approach for Watford striker Troy Deeney. I think he might be disappointed!
we know troy loves the club and the fans but this could be the last time a pl club comes asking so for the right deal he could go
I think we have to consider whether or not we are serious promotion contenders. If we are not, he should go for the right money. I think we should be promotion contenders and Troy needs to be part of that. What if Vydra gets injured / stops firing? That would put a lot of pressure on Ighalo and FF, in terms of necessary promotion form. A serious offer these days could amount to a reasonably high percentage value of the whole club, though, so difficult to weigh up given moderate cover there. But Troy is our top scorer and I don't really see any of the others being as prolific.
If Vydra was in form you'd might take the risk of selling Deeney but he isn't so got to keep Troy -our only real physical presence. Anyway we've probably lost enough British players already..
There were rumours a few days ago that Swansea were interested in Deeney, perhaps more likely now Bony is heading to Manchester? People have been mentioning Anya being out of favour and heading to Celtic. If he left, as well as Deeney, Doyley and Dyer, we will be forced to use young players on the bench to make up the homegrown players I think. Fabbrini I expect to go somewhere, which is a shame (if only because I want to see him carry the team to the Herts Senior Cup!). To me, this team is starting to feel like the end of a cycle. The momentum and team ethic from two seasons ago seems to be sputtering out. If we don't go up this year, I think at the end of the season there might be a clearing of the decks and a new team being formed, a new cycle. The question for January is, do the Pozzo's want to double down and keep hold of players/buy new ones to push this season, or already start to build the new team for next season by selling top players for big money now and starting to build a team for next season, rather than the 2nd half of this one. The only signal we have so far is the signing of Layun. For me, this is a strategy to build for next year, not this year because it is clear having not played in Europe before he will take time to adapt, and he is not plugging an obvious hole in the current team.
Hard to predict what the Pozzo will do transfer wise. They have come by stealth usually and not many of our radars have picked up many transfers to be honest.
Yes.... worrying that we may have lost momentum... I must say I think Management are to blame.... one half decent manager and we could do so much better.... now we are playing worse than the sum of our parts a sure sign of lack of team building and leadership Ist half at Hudds was a case in point.... the players did not know what to do and balls were passed into open spaces where we had no players.... 2nd half it all changed. At this point I have little faith in our leadership sadly...
I remain unconvinced by the backroom staff. They are not working with the coach intended and Joka is working with what he's got. The best teams have a synergy about them - more than the sum of their parts. Either our players aren't as good as we like to think they are or our coaching staff is not as good as the Pozzo's think they are. Or at least thought they were.
The players were behind Billy McKinley, and when he went, they sulked as they do (some of them) and took an instant dislike to Joka. He has a lot to do to win them and a group of fans who are happy to write him off without giving him a go over. Meanwhile, i love the way he is getting rid of the bad influences and hopefully when they've all gone, we can get on and get a team together who want to play for each other. I digress! It's a worrying lack of transfers in, as there are plenty of gaps to fill, including an English coach, which Joka seems very keen on, good thing too. I'd be happy to lose Anya, he adds nothing except pace, but has always lacked a final ball. There's definitely others that should go, and it seems we are doing something about them, but my priority would be a GK who could be a good number 2. Bond isn't up to it at all and needs to go on loan, or somewhere else. While he is still our number 2 we are at risk of throwing the season even more if Gomes is injured too often. Weird that we have had 2 GK for England U21s who end up not being very good, i've said for a long time we need a good GK coach, seems we haven't learned yet. Hmm, i think i'm in rant mode! /rant! lol
Probably a load of rubbish as it was on Talksport but they claim we are interested in the big Stoke defender Robert Huth. Certainly be a presence - what's he like on the ball? Personally feel we probably need to be looking at some British players just to make the numbers up otherwise if Deeney and Cathcart got injured we'd be very light on having the required number in a squad!
The lack of home-grown players is starting to get a bit worrying, especially if we are looking at offloading Dyer and McGugan, as well as rumours Doyley is off. Obviously good for our youngsters if they get game time, but looks like they are just being used to fill the bench at the moment. I must admit, I thought by now we would have been scouring the lower leagues for potential talent we can develop. Maybe we are but just they are too expensive... I do think the squad isn't looking as good as it has these last couple of years. Take away the first 11 and there does seem very few options.
I know you are not the first person to say that about Bond, but really I don't see the problem. I think he is more than capable, and I don't think it is possible to get a quality keeper who is willing to be a number 2 at a Championship club. Perhaps if there is some aging experienced keeper in their late 30s willing to get a paycheque for a couple more years for not doing much (a Mark Schwarzer type), but otherwise we should keep Bond, particularly as he is a home grown player! We have at least solved the 3rd choice keeper problem by having an experienced back-up in Gilmartin, who has first team experience elsewhere.
Can we get a new coach for the goalkeepers? Alex Chamberlain was good in his playing days but I do not think he is good for the younger goalkeepers as a coach. He ruined Scott Loach and is doing the same for Jonathan Bond. Tomasz Kuszczak would not work with him much.
Great post H, I never thought Chamberlain was a good goalkeeper and nearly tore my hair out when he became GK coach. You can literally see our new Goalies go downhill after a few months under his coaching and direction, I include Gomes in this. I too believe a new GK is priority.
http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sp...e_short_term_deal_for_Serbian_defender_Savic/ Probably not the CB we were hoping for, but it seems he has signed....
