Well if Paolo is gone, which I think is definitely on - they’re just negotiating his exit terms I think, I’ll openly say I think this is a good move. As for Javi, I think he’s a shrewder man-manager and not devoid of a plan, which I have felt Paolo has been for some time. Gino has kept our best players (I certainly thought we’d seen the last of Baah, Louza, Chakvetadze) despite the obvious potential to cash in, he’s bought a decent centre-forward we’ve been asking for, and we have how many new signings? Gino has invested and if this is the last season we can afford to invest like this without further Premier League cash, I don’t want Paolo pissing the season away, our best players getting pissed off, planning their exits because their arses are shining the bench. We’ve struggled to beat the poorest of sides and have tougher opponents to come. We should have been riding high from the weak opponents we’ve faced and we’re not. Sorry, Paolo, but your time was up for me. If there was less financial pressure, of course I could give you more time. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s the case.
I think he did. My boys and I were excited by the high-press, strong, attacking formation we saw against Deportivo (old school Watford - “we’ll score more than you”). Our excellent forwards shone. Unfortunately, we never saw it again and the majority of our high possession stats are from passing the ball around our weaker defensive players rather than concentrating on chance creation from the wings and getting the ball in the box for our centre-forward to threaten and supporting players to feed off scraps. Funnily enough, when Kjerrumgaard came on against Oxford that’s exactly what we did very successfully - but it wasn’t Paolo’s first choice of play as Luca only came on because the system changed with Semedo’s injury.
We’ll see I guess. Tough run of games coming to show how good we really are. Is the hype and expectation well founded or just hot air .
He seems to better as an impact sub but do agree Baah could have come on earlier to impact games recently. Doumbia I feel sorry for as he did well up front last season and isn’t a winger or number 10. We need more goals from from the strikers . Obviously the defence needs to be better too - we give away too many chances particularly on the break .
Almost a full team of Hornets on international duty https://www.watfordfc.com/news/2025/october/06/internationals-hornets-on-international-duty/
I know people are worried about the upcoming AFCON but will be that affected? Suppose losing Mendy and Kayembe from midfield will be an issue .
Doumbia was an unused sub in Mali's 2-0 victory over Chad this evening. I got all excited at first - both goals were scored by (another) Doumbia...
Shame Doumbia seemed to be played out of position by PP then discarded totally . Good to see Georgi out on the grass now it seems .
Today Morocco defeated South Korea 2-1 in the U-20 World Cup to reach the last eight. Othmane Maamma was outstanding yet again and provided an assist for the second goal. He scored with a spectacular sissors kick in the victory against Brazil in the group stages. https://www.cafonline.com/caf-u-20-...breakout-star-lighting-up-the-u-20-world-cup/
Javi probably wishes he had Troy in the squad now. https://x.com/WatfordFC/status/1976618726171812115
Looks like Javi has had his first look at the squad - those that are still here . https://x.com/thewatfordway/status/1976664079336083580
