I wouldn’t say we need our heads examined. We flirted with danger towards the back end of last season, our away statistics were alarming and we haven’t really addressed the problem areas in the squad with real, proven quality. This could all be a moot point and we could be working on some big deals that will change people’s perceptions. But the clubs behaviour at this moment in time is very reminiscent of the past few windows where we haven’t addressed the key weaknesses in the squad. You place the above clubs in danger but the facts are that the majority of them either came above us last season or have strengthened their squads. It is blindingly obvious to all that we have needed 2/3 quality players (1xCB and 2xCF or 2xCB and 1xCF) not just this summer but last summer as well and we aren’t addressing it. Seems to me that we are banking on Gracia being able to get more quality out of the players we already have in those positions at present - and I’m very sceptical of that.
I think I am in the minority. I suspect we have targets earmarked which will improve us particularly in the areas we need but if they don't come off, we won't panic and will get though in the middle of the table with what we have. If Deeney & Gray stay then I think both will have much better seasons, for a start Deeney has had a full pre-season and no operation. If another striker comes in then all the better but it is not desperate because our midfield has goals in them as well as an improved output from the strikers. At the back we have Kabasele who is only going to improve. He could do with an improved and upgraded partner but again we have a fit Prodl and fit Cathcart to play with him. we also have the most intriguing new recruit in Wilmot who I really fancy to be similar to John Stones; is this season too soon for him? We will see. Also we have brought in two full backs, both of which can play centrally as well which will allow the team to play 3 or 4 at the back much more efficiently, particularly on the left (although I like Holabas, I will be surprised if he keeps the new guy out). Midfield and wing-backs are unbelievably competitive and it will be tough getting the balance right and strangely I think Richarlison going will help that. The bench looks strong to me with all of them competing for a first team place. I would say that it is only an out and out striker of high quality that we need to still bring in if we can whilst any other incomings will be like for like i.e. one in one out. Current finishing position: 12th
We just go through the same motions over and over again. We won't spend decent money on a player, yet we'll happily sign 4 who are awful and will never benefit us. It's a constant false economy showing that we learn zero lessons. And from the treatment room, hopes of starting the season with a fully fit squad have already been dashed, with a starting midfielder ruled out until Autumn (read New Year if at all) and no sign of Chaloba or Delofeu so far, suggesting that they might not be ready from the go either. We're a ******* car crash of a club, pursuing compensation for a manager we sacked rather than sorting out our own arrangements. I am fed up with the Pozzo era and am quite ready for it to end.
Kabasele is not at the required level yet to be a standout player regardless of who is playing next to him. As in Maguire looked good last year, even when Wes Morgan looked terrible next to him. Kabasele has potential but he really needs someone of real quality next to him or else the same defensive mistakes occur and just make Kabasele look as average as those around him. And that what any other CB we have is - average. That’s not me sniping at them as I like them and people like Cathcart and Prodl aren’t bad as backup. But as starting CB’s they are part of the problem, not the solution. For large periods of last season, our defense played as 4 strangers, not a unit. A new CB is desperately needed and then we can offload Britos and Kaboul. If Kaboul was 5 years younger and less fragile, he could be the solution. But not anymore.
Yet we have spent money on players and that hasn't always worked out either. I think every fan wants to see their team linked with exciting expensive players but cost certainly does not guarantee success (no jokes). Look at Southampton, signed Boufal and Carillo for a lot of money and both were bobbins. We signed Gray and Success, two of our most expensive signings and we all know what's happened so far. I would say a couple of our best signings, in recent times, have been Hughes and Femenia. One was £4m ish and the other was diddly squat. Not necessarily you, but a lot of people on here criticised the seasons where we brought in lots of players and that a settled squad might be a better idea. I think that's what might work in our favour this season. I would love to see us sign a striker capable of scoring 15-20 goals but if he's done that on a regular basis he's either too expensive or Belgian so this leaves us trying to find an unproven player with the hope we unearth a gem like Sanchez. I'm sure they are working hard behind the scenes to improve the squad but maybe if we are looking at spending a lot on one player again, they want to be absolutely certain that it does actually improve us. We are certainly not a cr crash of a club, that would be QPR, we're more of a minor dink to the bumper
The World Cup resulted in a transfer market slowdown as many clubs didn't want to sell while it was going on. It's going to take a while for that to shake out and it is certainly not just Watford who have not seen much activity. The much truncated transfer window is going to mean there will be a rush of activity leading up to the UK deadline. Nothing to worry about yet.
We've already said "goodbye" Since you gotta go, oh you'd better Go now, go now, go now (go now, ooh) Before you see me cry? I don't want you to tell me just what you intend to do now 'Cause how many times do I have to tell you darlin', darlin' I'm still in love with you now Whoa oh oh oh
Have you seen that confirmed anywhere? There were a flurry of reports in Spain saying that he was hoping to get his passport at the back end of last year but I can't find any confirmation that it definitely went through.
Fair point, not seen it confirmed but not sure where it would be? But I doubt he would even be allowed to train with us back this week if he didn’t have one? No confirmation that he’s training with us now we are back in the UK but if he is, that will mean he has his passport. Also when the club returned for pre-season, it was noted on the official website that he was there and doing the same fitness tests and was pictured in the video at the training ground for Ben Fosters medical. All the indications are that he is eligible. Brighton have just signed a player from South Africa (Percy Tau) and are immediately loaning him out as he isn’t even allowed to train with the club without a WP.
Initially I didn't think Penaranda was eligible for Spanish citizenship. The requirements are 2 years of contiguous Spanish resident with no more than 6 months spent out of the country. Considering the time he spent at Udinese I thought he failed on that basis alone. As it turns out he was only at Udinese for about 5 months before going back to Malaga, so I'm guessing he might have just about squeaked through on the requirements if he didn't spend too much time at Watford in between his Spanish/Italian engagements.
Other than having to fight everyone else for the last tin of food left on the shelves come April, he should be fine.
People who are criticising our overall transfer policy are not really getting it imo. The transfer policy has been massively successful in economic terms and has kept us in the premiership for 3 seasons. Yes there’s been a lot of dross bought but Richarlison and Doucoure more than pay for that. Plus there’s Hughes and Chalobah and Hernandez who are probably worth another 100m between them. If you add up the value of what we have paid for players versus what we have/can sell them for we have one of the best transfer policies in the premiership and in our club’s historty. Yes we need a CB and a striker and yes some of the decisions to extend contracts are a bit bizarre but the transfer window is not over yet and I’m sure we still trying to get these in.
You are thinking like a Pozzo. Yes the balance sheet looks great, but why should I give a **** about that? I support Watford and only care about the players on the pitch. Owning 60m worth of talent playing on loan throughout Europe is irrelevant to me. Having 2 or 3 players worth 20m plus in a terribly balanced squad is of no interest. We are not run to get the best team out of our resources and I'm bored of it. Bored sick of signings which make no footballing sense. Bored sick of money being tied up in assets who are loaned out permanently, restricting our ability to buy for our team. We are at a massive disadvantage against all the other clubs of our size in the league because we insist on this broken model which is completely unsuited to a premier league club of our size. We could just buy the right players to push up the league and make money from being a successful football club, but the Italian del boys need to have their fingers in their many pies which means they can't focus on actually running our club properly.
Penaranda has a quick call to Jacob Rees-Mogg to find out. Penaranda can’t speak English and yet could still fathom that he was talking ********. Doesn’t look good for the boy.
I thought about this the other day... Can anyone actually fully explain to me what ‘The Pozzo Model’ is when it comes to transfers? It gets talked about non-stop but I’m not really too sure where it differs from any other club of note. Do Leicester talk about their model all the time because they unearthed Mahrez and Kante and sold them on for huge profits? What about Hull with Maguire and Robertson? Where the supposed ‘model’ has benefitted us most was in the Championship where we took advantage of them owning another club to loan players that were otherwise beyond us and our financial means. That was when it was different from all the other clubs. But now? Aren’t we just run the same as any other club our size? I see Brighton, Newcastle, Huddersfield, etc etc all signing players I haven’t really heard of for small amounts in the hope they become worth much much more. But I’m also seeing quite a few of them spend quite big on areas where they need quality. Some will point to Richarlison being something unique we have done but it wasn’t really. Everton paid us a fortune for a bit-part player. The only thing we seem to do differently as Moog says is stockpile South American players in the Spanish lower leagues but we haven’t had one come through yet and this is our 4th year. It isn’t affecting the first team. Hernandez looks decent but so did Penaranda. I’m forever grateful to the Pozzo’s and continue to back Gino’s running of the club. But I’m increasingly dubious of their transfer strategy and it’s ability to pull us further up the table. Now if the goal is to continue treading water and doing the same thing each season - then I will admit I’m being harsh. But let’s not forget - that isn’t the stated goal - Duxbury has said on a number of occasions that he believes we can be ‘best of the rest’. Well I don’t think we can if we continue to be negligent about strengthening weak areas in the squad with recognised ability. I’m open to being persuaded differently - so can anyone tell me what the ‘Pozzo Model is, how it is largely different to other clubs our size and how that affects our First XI in a way that other clubs don’t benefit from? Because I really do not see it.
Yes there is a model, no I’m not going to explain it as it’s what they’ve done for 30 years and yes it works because we are about to start our 4th season in a row in the top division. If it was as easy as people think, buying £20m players who are guaranteed to be a success, then life would be easier but it doesn’t work like that
I’m not suggesting we buy a £20m for every position. I’m suggesting that we are in a position to spend bigger than we have on key areas that need strengthening and have done for some time. Gino isn’t rich but you have to speculate to accumulate at times in this league to progress - and the club have been vocal about wanting to do that. I applaud them for keeping us up for 3 years, no mean feat. I don’t disagree with any of what you say apart from the first 5 words. And you say you won’t explain it? I know there’s a model - but I’m asking what aspect of it is any different from what other clubs are doing in respect of it affecting our First Team squad.
TBF I remember reading in one of those "Statistical & Economic Analysis of the Football Business" books the absolutely worst time to buy any football player (cost!) was after a World Cup. Perhaps the decisions makers in all these clubs have read the same books.
I'm torn between believing that; a) Gino believes we already have the players to comfortably finish above many of our peers so relegation won't be a risk, or b) Gino accepts we can't spend what our peers spend. We will try to stay in the league by spending less than our peers, its worked 3 years, but if we go down, we go down. Its not the end of the world. With our budget we have no divine right to be in the prem., or c) Gino plans to spend £20m-£30m in the next few days. Just a few minor details to sort. As usual there will be no indication from the club of who we will be signing until the deal is pretty much done.. I hope it's c) I fear but accept the strategy if it's b) I really hope its not a) as in my view this would be a misjudgement.
Strengthening in those key areas gets progressively more difficult as we look to improve our squad. For want of a better way of expressing it, each extra point of FIFA rating beyond 78 or 10th of a point on whoscored over 7 gets exponentially more expensive. We are pushing always against a ceiling of affordability of both fee and wages. Even then we still have to locate the sweet spot of players who desire to come to us. I would say the pool of players better than Deulofeo or Pereyra who want to play for us is vanishingly small and our resources when all is taken into account such as fees and other wage inflation, is not that great. The purchase of Gray was an attempt to address that deficit. It hasn't yet worked out, but may still do. Even so, not a Benteke level debacle which is the benchmark for a small/medium club getting well out of its depth. The 'Pozzo Model' is simply the use of highly professionalised scouting and player intelligence to locate players, both to play and develop value so the club increases its power to deal. When you look at the Richarlison transfer it obviously works. When you look at Chalobah or Hughes, it obviously works. I don't think it is outweighed by the misses like Zeegelar or Oulare.
I'd say it's at least fairly balanced between the two. There is a huge list of players that we have wasted money on, Zeegelar and Oulare are a drop in the ocean on that front. Some of the signings we've made in the past few years have just been laughably inappropriate for what we need/the level we are competing at, and it's not just been one or two of them.
