Morning all from a damp and overcast West West London. I have to say that I am very surprised and disappointed by the very negative comments on this WEB board and others about our club. Did people really believe that we would set the Prem on fire? Surely there should be a realisation that we needed to strengthen the squad and with our owners, that was always going to be made up of foreign players - add to that another new manager and it was fairly obvious a huge amount of change is likely and it would take time to settle down. But all this negativity after a handful of games is pathetic. Now is the time to hold our nerve get behind the team.
Sæl öll. Tea and coffee, donuts and fruit are on the bar. Half and half coffee for Brian Black coffee for Bragi I do not think the negative view is because we have had the results we have, the Premier league was always going to be a harder place to live. My opinion is we have changed from Slaviša Jokanovićs team to one of Enrique Sánchez Flores design which operates in a different way. We need a better defence, which we have now, but we have killed our strikers style and that is the source of the worry. If you look at the results Everton was good as the team has never gained anything in that part of Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion and Southampton might have produced a win but did not and Preston North End was odd. Manchester City was a game we could have had go at rattling them but did not. More worrying to me is we have seen four matches with no goals and very few shots on the target, we have two points from the three league games which might have been six with a few more shots or none where our opponents may have been luckier. I am not happy as we have three talented strikers who might score goals at the Premiership level and we are not using them.
We do have 3 talented strikers, but they are not proven at this level and considering they played so well together last season are struggling to play together this season - you can blame the style, the set-up, the manager, plan A and/or plan B, but in the end the strikers have to deliver. In the games I have seen Denney has put the effort in but is struggling against solid defenders, but Ighalo seems to be completely out of touch - a bit like the start of last season as well. I wonder if people should remember out last trips into the Prem? GT did hardly anything and accepted us as a Yo-Yo club and Betty brought a load of garbage...at least we are having a go...we need some patience people.
Surely the best possible preparation and basis for a premiership campaign is a successfull promotion campaign from the championship - yet this basis has been ripped apart. It is clear that not enough time was given to negotiating a new deal with Jokanovic and equally clear that the will was not there to do this - why ? If the present set up has allowed personality problems to override what was the best way forward for our club then it is unforgivable - quite simply the Joka deserved more but his face didn't fit for some reason and this has placed our whole season in jeopardy. I have nothing against Flores because I believe that any new manager would have it difficult under these circumstances - who the hell wants to take over a newly promoted club ? What is hurting is that he believes in a system and in adapting everything around him to suit that system even if it means dismantling what has proved successfull in the past. Ak. is right the problem is not results but rather 4 games, no goals and no shots on goal tells its own story in any league....and will quickly empty stadiums if not corrected.
Morning all from a grey but mild rural France. I like w_y cannot believe some of the things I read. Far too early to call what will happen. Remember the start that GT made? He could have been sacked if the current attitude to success existed then. Last November people on here were asking was SJ up to the job and on other sites he was totally out of his depth. This season is geared to staying up and goals will have to come if that is to be achieved. We all knew that our defence would be unlikely to be good enough for the PL, yet work has been done to address that issue. Next thing is how do we get the ball through to our strikers quickly enough to give them the chance to score the goals. That to my mind is where the current problem exists. Watching the highlights of all the matches on TV this weekend, Man City were in a different class to the remainder of the teams when it came to defending. We really should not use that game as any type of yardstick in my opinion.
I tend to agree with WY and OFH. Yes it's a worry that we are struggling to create, and we certainly need to address that, but it's only 4 games in. I also think that other sides are in the same situation as us in terms of struggling to do much up front.
Good day to you I will 100% support the team... For me it's a matter of being overwhelmed with the wholesale changes and the shipping out of all not part of the plan. .. and then reading that we haven't got one player and then another player emerges Not much room for sentiment any more... and I am afraid I am old school when it comes to football so this modern era of millions spent and merry go round of ins and outs of players I have never heard from whilst losing half-decent players I have formed a positive relationship is hard. ( as hard of following game of thrones!) I must say the debate is quite measured here as opposed to FB and other forums ...... I think it is fine to express doubt, consternation, confusion and frustration... better here than during a game. I am concerned about the tactical play we are employing. We looked great at Everton when we took the game to them and our forwards had more chances.. Mind you TD looked isolated there too.
Yes I must admit to feeling exactly the same in this regard. Getting a bit fed up with the way that most sports are changing to be honest - maybe I'm just getting old but so much of the fun seems to be missing these days.
Totally agree. Like any business the Pozzo's will not always make the correct decision but it must be remembered they have vast experience of successfully running commercial businesses including football clubs. Watford FC is their business in which they will no doubt make some controversial decisions. It is their investment and are solely taking the financial risks. Within the family they obviously possess all kinds of knowledge that some critics on here will never begin to comprehend.
We played the same way against all the opponents and apart from Everton we have failed to score one goal. Manchester City are a long way ahead of us and if we lost by five I would be happier if the statistics had shown a few shots on target, Preston North End are below us in the league and we managed one shot on target before that Southampton no shots, against WBA and Everton we had five shots in each game. Allowing for the difficulty of the Premier league 11 shots is not good. Newcastle who also have two goals and only two points have had six shots on target, excluding their cup game, and Liverpool with two goals also but seven points have 14 shots. Perhaps if our average of just belew three shots in a game was seen each game instead of almost all in two of the five matches we would be happier.
Hi - no I call bringing in players that are Prem quality players as having a go. Under GT we did not have a go and under Betty our go was to bring in players who were overpriced rubbish. I find it amazing that the clamour is that we have changed too much and people are not comfortable with this, yet in the areas we where are seriously underperforming, we have not made many changes and yet this seems to be ignored. This time last year, people were moaning about the changes in managers and then that SJ was not the right manager - they seem to forget we never started to get going until after Xmas when Ighalo woke up and started scoring. Like everyone, I am concerned about our lack of pressure up front, but we need to hold our nerve and start worrying after a few more games
Just looking at the goings on today around the country, you can see how football is changing, or is it? Many of the deals being announced are loans for the season with an option to buy. Taste and see if you like the flavour, then make up your mind. This is not so different to the old days when players would only be employed to the end of the season and then find out if they would be coming back for the next one. During the cricket season they would only be on 50% of their wages if they were being retained and needed to have a second job throughout that period. Many players are brought in these days with the hope that they will provide the ability to keep a side in the PL, but there have been some very expensive failures. I do not blame any club owner from trying his best to stay where the money is now, but believe that if a certain TV company had not bought the soul of the game fans would feel more connected with their clubs than some do now. This of course ignores the role of agents that didn't exist in the old days, who I would put alongside the TV company.
If Sky had not put the money into the game we would still be watching very average players from a three sided ground.
I'm afraid it's the way football is going and it will only get worse, with clubs in the Championship also getting sucked into this type of model of loaning players as it will be the only way they will be able to compete with the teams coming down from the Prem that will be awash with cash. With more money going into football in other EU countries the draw of players from South & Central America and Africa into the EU will just increase and there will be an even bigger pool of players chasing contracts.
