This was the squad that we had yesterday, and I suspect that some will not be at the club next season. Gomes; Mariappa, Prödl, Kabasele; Amrabat, Doucouré, Cleverley, Capoue, Janmaat; Niang, Okaka. Pantilimon, Deeney, Success, Berhami, Zuniga, Eleftheriou, Pereria The ones I have shown in bold are ones I think might be off, but the club might have different ideas. What do you think?
Depends on the manager really - if WM stays, I can see Gomes; Mariappa, Prödl, Kabasele; Amrabat, Doucouré, Cleverley, Capoue, Janmaat; Niang, Okaka. Pantilimon, Deeney, Success, Berhami, Zuniga, Eleftheriou, Pereria If he goes, Gomes; Mariappa, Prödl, Kabasele; Amrabat, Doucouré, Cleverley, Capoue, Janmaat; Niang, Okaka. Pantilimon, Deeney, Success, Berhami, Zuniga, Eleftheriou, Pereria There are rumours about Gomes leaving either way - would like to ignore them though.
Is Success going to want to hang around if Walter stays given quite clearly there is no trust between the 2?
Well, I decided to do the whole squad.... Keepers Heurelho Gomes - Keep Rene Gilmartin - Maybe ok for the U23 squad Costel Pantilimon - Happy to keep but maybe he'd want to move for first team football Giedrius Arlauskis - sell and get in a HG player CBs - all depends on formation, but if we got 4 at the back, would only have 4/5 CBs Miguel Britos - Sell Younes Kaboul - Sell Sebastien Prodl - Keep Adrian Mariappa - ok for a 4th/5th choice player Craig Cathcart - Sell and upgrade Christian Kabasele - Keep Full/Wing-backs Juan Zuniga - only on loan, send back Darryl Janmaat - Keep Jose Holebas - Keep Brice Dja Djedje - Sell Midfielders Tom Cleverley - Keep Valon Behrami - Sell Abdoulaye Doucoure - Keep Ben Watson - Sell Etienne Capoue - Keep (as squad player) Roberto Pereyra - Keep Mauro Zarate - Don't mind either way Forwards Nordin Amrabat - Sell or squad player Troy Deeney - Keep Isaac Success - Keep M'Baye Niang - Don't buy Stefano Okaka - Sell Total - 27 players Keep - 2 keepers, 3 CBs, FBs 2, MF - 4/5, Forwards - 2/3. Total 13/15 Ok, maybe this would be too big a change to the squad but the core would still be there. It is also dependant on the formation. If we play with 4 at the back, then we only really need 4 CBs. We are in desperate need for cover at both RB and LB. Midfield I think we need a proper holding midfielder, but it has looked better with Cleverley and Doucoure in it. Behrami I think we should let go, and Capoue I'm not too fussed. Not sure how much game time Zarate will get when both he and Pereyra are fit Amrabat should go. He tries but there is so little end-product. I'd be ok with him as a squad player but nothing more. He seems to moan a lot more since his injury now too. Okaka too... too ineffective most of the time and isn't worth is occasional bit of magic to carry. Same with Niang really. Not sure he'd be worth the £15m it would cost to sign him - think there is better value out there As for who to sign - well, I would like us to bring in a bit more English. The big worry now is where we end up. Finishing around 16th isn't going to be very attractive to players coming in...
Not a bad plan - it did take me a while to work how your list totalled 27 for a 25 man squad though. The term 'squad player' may not gel with WM's plans (if he stays) - he is on record as wanting two players of equal ability for each starting spot. I can't disagree with him on that either - to me, it's where we have fallen down for both this and last season. Too much reliance on better players starting, meaning burn-out & loss of form being replaced by lesser quality 'reserves', leading to poor performance & poor results. In terms of who to buy, I think that has already been catered for to a certain extent - aren't we supposed to be getting five currently out on loan players back? Berghuis, Mallé, Agbo, Penaranda and Kums...
Oops - think it is actually 26... but then Pererya and Dja Djedje aren't in the revised squad, plus I think I originally had Mason in the list above, but can't see him playing under WM if he stays The idea is always to have 2 of equal ability in every position - just don't think a team the size of Watford can get that - and to be honest, how many Prem teams do? There will always be a first-choice of around 11-15 players and the rest are just squad players who you hope step up when called upon Can't see many of the loan players coming back into our squad either. Peneranda if he gets his work permit. Maybe Berghuis, if we get rid of Amrabat/don't sign Niang.
From the returning players Berghuis is the only one who would get into the team. He has had 26 appearances this season for Feyenoord, who, unless they fluff it against Heracles next weekend, will be champions. The only problem is the lack of noise - every stadium in England is like a library compared to Feyenoord.
He only wants to come back if likely to be selected each week.. Got all these other loan players too but surely they won't break through. I'd quite like to see Hoban come back as a HG defender and see how he could do..
I agree with IslingtonKv´s choices but that is a big overhaul. I´d like to see Mason as left back next season as well as Success starting. Behrami is off, Amrabat can go too in my humble opinion. Gomes must stay. I´d love a new few CBs and decent striker but wouldn´t most clubs. I hope the manager goes, I think a lot of the movement would be different then and more beneficial for the team overall. After all of this season we are no closer to learning our best players or formation, we have no style. What is the Watford way of playing this season? Shocking!
