Pre season is all about looking at players , experimenting and finding new potential gems! getting players match fit! I think we are well on the way!
mmm, you may find out that Tom James actually looks like ............ Andrew Taylor. His face, general demeanour and bodyshape are very similar. I think I need to sleep on my thoughts about the game. Thankfully it was a good social tonight and I can look past the football. I think we will see more of Mahon and James as there are 2 shirts going spare?
Good morning folks, I didn't get enough sleep last night as I considered the game last night. Somehow I took the game "quite lightly" - I wasn't too concerned about much of the play, but I was looking for the largely 2nd string team to give me belief, a shape and pattern of play. Of our players on show, I thought Mirfin was ok, he looked more settled alongside Taylor and supported the view that he is not Taylor's replacement. Taylor was fine, Bennett was average - I thought he would make more of an impact. The centre of midfield was poor. People have been singing the praises of Josh Walker and believing that he can come on strong, but he muddled about in the middle. The ball went past him on many occasions, but I don’t think he “showed” enough or stamped his authority enough. Buaben ……… in my view he’s a bit of a “show boater”. Up front Whichelow supported Sordell. They created a couple of things before Whichelow was replaced by Deeney. I was amazed Deeney wasn’t started with Sordell, I had thought in the past few weeks that was a likely front pairing when Iwelumo isn’t fit. As for Mahon and James …….. Tom James has been playing for Stratford Town, Stratford upon Avon, in Step 5 of the non league pyramid – the Conference is Step 1. So whilst Watford are at “level 2” in my terms, Stratford are at level 9. Ouch that is a long way down. Gavin Mahon – probably a bit like marmite. The next few days will be crucial in the build up to the new season, but I think Sean Dyche’s transfer budget is almost all used up. The “trust in Baz” campaign can’t be looking in good health with Dyche forced to shop at that level.
Thanks for those thoughts Elixir ! On a positive note the 9 level lad seemed to do ok! ,plus didnt we pluck Jay de merit from Non League and for that matter John Barnes? I think it is still possible to find a rough uncut diamond from the lower leagues , it doesnt happen often , but is brilliant when it does!
How old (young) is this Tom James? Could it be that he isn;t out No.1 target left back but just a back up to whoever we do bring in? There are a few 'hidden gems' down there and doubt we would bring him in if they don't think he can cut it!
The consensus of opinion is he is about 22/23, physically mature and a reasonable size 5 foot 9???? Comparison's to "discovering hidden gems" are not the best, with John Barnes there was an instant WOW factor. With Jay de Merit there was a "he's pretty decent, where's he from" factor. James doesn't fit into either category. The fact that Tom has been based in the Midlands for a while and yet there are so few links to him (I've been looking hard) is not a good indication. There are many close comparisons to Andrew Taylor, but AT looked comfortable defending but looked very good going forward. James's defending was reasonable, there were times when I wanted him to be tighter, but I thought this was due to a lack of confidence in his own pace. His "signature" is a curved channel ball down the left channel between centre half and full back, he executed this pretty well and you could see it gave him confidence. But he didn't get forward much at all. Time will tell, but I can't see him long term.
It all depends on what level Watford want to operate at, I would say James could make the step up to League 2, but the Championship is a huge step. There will be more conversations about the player budget, as I think Baz has pulled up short in the numbers previously mentioned. I remember hearing comments like "increasing playing budget by 30%", so far what Sean Dyche has spent is a significant reduction on last year's budget. Maybe Dyche is tinkering around with the cheap alternatives, before landing some great permanent and loan signings, but I think this is more of a "is that all that is left in the kitty?" moment.
I wonder what the pecking order is should Dickinson get injured or suspended? Doyley, Hodson and Mariappa have all played there, and obviously you've got James and Forsyth.
The great thing is we have now got some options for that scenario, I would also assume that James will be learning lots from Dickinson!
