Sorry - you said you were not interested in any more on that thread: Make up your mind. Nobody said they doubted the Pozzo's plan / ambition. The question asked was "will it work" Excluding Sean Dyche who they let go without even considering him they are now on their fifth manager in just over 2 and a half years. Does that strike you as a plan that is working? Taking others by surprise we nearly got promotion in their Year 1 - but the second year fell apart and this year we have had 4 managers - a successful plan? Jokavich has achieved 6 wins, 2 draws and 5 defeats - an average of about 1.5 points per match - - not enough to get promoted automatically - before he arrived we were on nearly 2 points per game. Don't misunderstand me - I think the Pozzos are great and have been and will be great for Watford but it is legitimate to ask whether their policy of multiple managerial changes and throwing dozens of players into a league they have never previously experienced is a plan that will necessarily work. I hope it does as I am not sure they have an operational plan B. As I said previously I am happy with good Championship football and watching some very talented players but THEY are not. Their plan - in THEIR eyes will not have succeeded until we are in the Premiership. How much money Bodbo have you put on Watford to be promoted this year - i.e. how much real confidence do you have in their plan?
Ok -crossed wires here I think. I see the question/doubts are more about the Pozzo's method, and the suitability of appointing foreign managers with little Championship experience. (The negativity on the Watford observer site has rather annoyed me and it seemed to have spilled over). I certainly wasn't addressing the last line to the posters on the other thread. Perhaps I'll put things differently. I was very disappointed that Dyche wasn't given a chance, ( and am absolutely delighted with what he has achieved) but now I very much doubt he would have succeeded with the Pozzo model. Not his style at all. I think the pozzo model has got us much better players than a 'conventional' model. I think as an essentially european squad, a 'european' head coach or whatever is necessary as they are more used to lots of changes of personnel. The pozzo model was a joy to everybody under Zola - no complaints by anyone that I can recall. In passing, the leeds match at the season end was pretty freakish regarding goalkeepers -and we still were only 1 goal away from the premiership . not too bad. also, there were few complaints made about Dyche when Zola was doing so well. (Apart from holloway, who conveniently forgot to mention when criticising our loan policy that Palace had MORE players on loan than we did. ) As regards managers, excluding Dyche, Zola left 'of his own accord', Garcia left 'of his own accord', Mckinlay was a good decision badly handled (he should have been 'caretaker' but I suspect that the hire and fire approach doesn't countenance that option, and it seems that Sannino's method would eventually have resulted in mutinies. zola was a good appointment - Sannino was a successful stopgap, and SJ is doing ok. They certainly didn't choose to have 4 head coaches this season - and had a sound plan to replace Sannino. I think that is a good record and I think it is going to work. Why should we need a plan B when 18 other clubs would like to be where we are. I will however make 1 observation about our present style (Plan A?), which is not one we like to see in England. Generally, the level of effort doesn't seem to change, whatever the state of the game. I think that if we start well and score first we will almost certainly win. Coming from behind seems to be too difficult. However, the result at Cardiff may have seen a definite improvement in that element. As regards how we will do, I genuinely believe we will be in top 3 (I'd like to say top 2, but I think middlesboro and derby will stay strong, and eddie howe could do a 'dyche' so we have to overcome 2 of them. Much will depend on injuries and squad strength.) I'm not sure how much Championship experience the Boro manager has, but he seems to have the right idea. However, when we played them and were awful for 60 minutes, SJ changed it and we could easily have won - so I don't think it's a case that SJ cannot hack it. If we have to go through playoffs, I think the experience of the players will work for us. BTW I don't gamble - matter of principle. Doesn't affect what I feel though. I cannot imagine any owner of a Championship club actually settling for only playing good football. It's far too expensive a hobby for that attitude. It must be better that the Pozzo's are so determined to get into the premiership, and have raised the attendance levels, and improved the ground. Their model has brought us a much better standard of play than we might have expected Anyway, I have closely analysed the video of this Layun. He is hopeless. Very one-paced (good job it is blistering). Very one-footed, (good job it fires rockets). Always out of position, (as he keeps turning up in opposition penalty area). I wonder if he will fit in ?
Acuna's showreel was neither as good nor as long. Nor are Paraguay as good as Mexico. All that said time will tell...
(Shortened quote because of length but in ref to all of it) Good post, JT (unfortunate initials to use today ). There was always going to be fallout from the manager situation and the subsequent unsettlement it caused. Your point re effort I think is well observed. Lloyd gets a bit of flack but his effort does stand out for me. I agree with all except your optimism, I think we'll make the play-offs, possibly the final again, but I don't think we'll get promoted.
Another good post Bodbo - I will reply on the "Pozzo" thread to avoid diverting this from the excellent looking Layun
I don't think I've ever been so excited over a signing at Watford. Still can't quite believe we're in the running for such a player. I'll not believe it until I see him in the Yellow shirt of Watford. Might have to pinch myself even then, particularly if he performs anything like that YouTube upload... kin ell
Miguel Layun is targeting promotion with Watford after travelling to England to complete his move to the Vicarage Road outfit. The Mexican defender said: "I am really excited about this chance of playing in England. Now I am focused on helping Watford get promoted to the Premier League, the team is in a good position looking forward to the second half of the Championship season. There are a few points between the teams that are in the first positions, so, I expect to give to the team as much as I can". Sky Sports News
I suggest that, although it's great to get players of his (probable) quality onboard, it will still be the ability of SJ to create a consistent team out of the squad which will determine whether we go up.
Not sure how many of you follow the Watford Facebook page but we've suddenly attracted an awful lot of Mexican followers!
Not surprising really, he was the captain of America, based in Mexico City, 20+ million people live there and America is probably the team with the most support throughout the Republic.
Wow - that expains it then! It all just seemed a bit surreal yesterday looking at the threads during the match! Maybe we can get them all to join here and you can translate for us
