Sounds like my interest in the season! On the final day of the season there will only be 7 teams that don't stand a chance of being involved with promotion or relegation , that must be record? Obviously we are in the group that have a watching brief
It could be a coincidence but results dried up shortly after Wilshire joined the set up , he knows the sporting director well & it looks obvious now that he was brought in as a plan B which may have undermined Thorup
I’m amazed at the praise being heaped on after a 0-0 draw in which our keeper was the best player. It’s hardly progress, yes we didn’t park the bus and yes the players actually showed some desire but it was hardly a stellar performance. I find it funny how players like Sainz and Duffy are being praised for actually turning up for a game, despite not doing so for the last few weeks and that was somehow the managers fault. If Duffy had thrown himself and some of the crosses into the box in the last couple of weeks in convinced we concede half the amount of goals, certainly the Portsmouth result wouldn’t have been so bad.
It's one thing to say something, but another to do it. This wasn't Portsmouth or West Brom where we played defensively almost all of the time and in the second case got lucky with Sargent's goal. One game doesn't prove anything but it's a good start for Wilshere.
I have been careful to say that Wilshere still has a lot to prove and one good game is not enough for him to be offered the job. I was surprised that JHT was sacked, but it would seem that Knapper and/or the owners applied the same hard judgement that lead to Wagner's sacking after he had got us into the playoffs. Paddy Davitt put it like this: "How much Wilshere can fill in the blanks in two games and two training weeks is a moot point. Knapper has to get it right. It was a ruthless move to remove Thorup at this stage of a project which, clearly in the view of those shaping the direction of travel on both sides of the pond, had veered down a cul-de-sac. There is unlikely to be any sentiment seep into his judgement call on Wilshere’s candidacy. The stakes are too high." The same is true for any other candidates.
Any head coach would be made aware that a clean sheet is more important than anything with a team that ships goals for fun week in week out. We made plenty of chances & could have easily won the game. If Gunny wants out to play 2nd string in the Premier league we seriously need a quality 1st & 2nd choice keeper
Is it only me that find Thorup less memorable as a manager than Wagner already? I feel like he never really defined himself or this season
Sainz was like Messi for a couple of months we doubled Watford & scored plenty of great goals , but the naivety & failure to change tactics that don't work ****ed him
After listening to the PinkUn podcast today I hadn’t realised how bad the away record was this season and has been for the last 3 seasons. Just the 4 wins this year, 6 the year before and 9 the year before that - all in the Championship. 19 wins out of 69 games on the road in 3 years!
That has been a major factor certainly, but the really damning statistic this season is our goal difference: 67 goals for and 66 goals against. Only 4 teams have conceded more goals than we have.
And at least one team is certain to be relegated having conceded less than us. Without the early season goal scoring exploits of Sainz we would be down there with them. JHT never came to grips with the enormity of the job.
I’m coming to the view that the sacking makes sense. It’s all well and good backing a project, long term. And accepting there will be bad results early in the project and that it’s a work in progress. But progress is key - and we didn’t. I suspect the final 10 games were the nail in the coffin for JHT; not only did we not see meaningful progress, the season actually petered out rather than finishing strongly. I am supportive of an approach which is long term, the last thing I want is for us to be come Watford Mark II with multiple managers in a season. But equally there is no point sticking with a system that is not working and not showing signs of improving so that it will work. It is better that the owners are decisive. But they do now need to prove to fans they are also patient and made the right decision.
