Who's going to score the goals to keep us up ?

Discussion in 'The Hornets' Nest - Watford Chat' started by Dennis_Booth, Aug 10, 2018.

  1. Dennis_Booth

    Dennis_Booth Reservist

    There seems to be a lot of panicking in some quarters due to the lack of signings yesterday. So here's my thoughts:
    17/18 - scored 44 conceded 64. I believe we will score more and concede less this season.

    We have 'lost' 7 goals from last season - Rich 5, Carillo 1 and Wague 1. So where will the extra goals come from?

    I expect Deeney and Gray to both hit double figures (last season 5 each) and significant contributions from Bobby P, Doucs, Hughes, Caps, Deulofeu and replacements, with the rest of the squad chipping in with the odd goal or two.

    I know it's difficult to overlook our woeful away form under Javi but I think we will be better defensively and have the tools if we keep the squad relatively fit throughout the season.
     
  2. Relegation Certs

    Relegation Certs Squad Player

    It's the hope that kills you, mate.
     
  3. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Fantastic. Problem solved.

    I want some of what you are taking. Is it available on the NHS ?
     
    folkestone orn and Chumlax like this.
  4. Otter

    Otter Gambling industry insider

    Foster has a big drop kick in him. We haven't really replaced Steve Sherwood.
     
  5. The Voice of Reason

    The Voice of Reason First Team Captain

    Talking about Big Ben Foster, maybe it might not be so much about scoring more goals but hopefully conceding less with Big Ben between the sticks, he might just be our secret weapon this season.
     
  6. Oscar calling

    Oscar calling Squad Player

    Isn't knicker wetting the standard forum term nowadays?
     
    424TheBeautifulGame likes this.
  7. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    After yesterday my wife has refused to allow me to wear hers anymore :(
     
  8. Fewer.
     
    352, Keighley and Dennis_Booth like this.
  9. Lloyd

    Lloyd Squad Player

    Thank goodness the revolving door policy of previous close seasons wasn't repeated this summer and at last we have some stability on the playing side. Every reason to be very optimistic about the coming season
     
    Travis Bickle and Arakel like this.
  10. It wasn't so much wetting as soiling yesterday.
     
    Travis Bickle likes this.
  11. Funny isn't it. the reason for our impending demise over the last few seasons has been 'manager' turnover and revolving door player recruitment. Now it is basically 'because we are Watford'. At least the pretence of analysis has been stripped away.
     
    424TheBeautifulGame likes this.
  12. jw-

    jw- Reservist

    From the preseason training videos it looked like they were doing a great deal of work on knockdowns. Expect a bigman-littleman partnership up front that will have Merson licking his lips.
     
  13. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    ...and a few of us.
     
  14. Lloyd

    Lloyd Squad Player

    Ha ha. Yes. But odd to see so many of our fans buying in to this ill-informed narrative. The massively disproportionate disappointment expressed by some re the lack of new recruits this week has been bizarre
     
    Meh! and Travis Bickle like this.
  15. As if on cue:
    8) Brighton ready to rival top 10
    Brighton are seemingly only heading in one direction. An aggressive recruitment drive this summer, funded by their fiercely ambitious owner, Tony Bloom, has paved the way for Chris Hughton’s side to build on their 15th-placed finish last season. They appear to have solved the reliance on Glenn Murray too, by adding Florin Andone, Yves Bissouma and Alireza Jahanbakhsh, the latter for a club-record £17m, eclipsing the £14m fee they paid for J*rgen Locadia – the striker who could miss the start of the season with a groin injury – in January. Promoted Wolves and Fulham have been tipped to creep into the top 10 but Brighton have plans to make huge strides this season too. How Watford, a mishmash squad led by the easily forgettable Javi Gracia – the Pozzo family’s 10th manager since 2012 – must pine for such firepower. Short on striking options, they could be about to come unstuck. BF

    Florin Andone - 6 goals for La Coruna last year. Bissouma - 3 goals for lille in two years from midfield . Swap for Doucouré? . Alireza Jahanbakhsh scored 22 for AZ in the eridivisie - and we all know how reliable that is for predicting EPL goals. Likewise Locadia - 9 last year, including 4 in a 7-1 victory. The point being, these are all punts just as a lot of our recruitment has been; I'd rather have a fit and hungry Deeney, and our (when fit) fearsome midfield, over that mishmash of a Brighton side.
     
  16. Dennis_Booth

    Dennis_Booth Reservist

    Not according to Alan Smith.

    "I'm not sure Javi Gracia will stay the season and they could then find it hard to last the season," he said. "They always have a big turnover of players, which has worked in the past, but I do not think it will this time.
     
  17. Keighley

    Keighley First Team

    No change there, then.
     
  18. Lloyd

    Lloyd Squad Player

    He's not even pretending to be informed is he?! One of the worst things about modern football is the huge amount of coverage it gets across so many media platforms which means hordes of washed-up ex pros can make a living passing on their tedious and ill-informed opinions. I try to avoid them where I can - I only watch MotD on catch up now so I can fast forward through Lineker, Murphy, Shearer etc etc talking sh1te, for example - but its not easy to block them all out
     
  19. So that explains why Deeney has lost weight. But who is the bigman?
     
  20. Cthulhu

    Cthulhu Keyboard Warrior Staff Member

    But new players = improvement, everyone knows that. Unless we sign exciting sounding foreigners with good highlight videos, who may or may not have played in this league before and have had a preseason to get to know their team mates we are down. We haven't improved, all the other teams have improved and Wolves have bought the title as have Brighton and Fulham and Wet Spam.

    The goals will come from our very goodattacking midfield, a few from defence and (cant believe Im typing this) Gray and Deeney have goals in them - look at Grays previous record at other clubs and his preseason.

    We are where we are. It's fine to criticise the close season but equally we should get behind the players, especially if things don't go our way early on.
     
    Calabrone and Lloyd like this.
  21. Cassetti's Beard

    Cassetti's Beard First Team

    I'm not worried about scoring goals, far too much quality in the midfield to struggle there really. Slightly concerned about conceding but if we keep a fit back line which has Cathcart and Kabasele then I'm confident we'll do better than last season.
     
  22. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Me too. And if we have lost and there has been no particularly great game I just delete without watching. The post match analysis is shocking. Basically "the midfielder 40 yards out should have been within 4 inches of his man to stop the ball being passed and then his marker should have been within 4 inches to stop him being able to shoot. Shocking defending". Or similar.
     
    Lloyd likes this.
  23. lowerrous

    lowerrous First Team

    Hmm, Foster is okay but not great. A very minor upgrade on last season's Gomes.

    His save percentage was better than Gomes' last season, at 64% vs 57%, but he was ultimately still in pretty much the bottom third in terms of keeper performance in the Prem last year:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/8jljsf/premier_league_goalkeepers_ranked_by_save/
     
  24. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

  25. lowerrous

    lowerrous First Team

    Fabianski's save %age was at 71% and Butland at 69% (vs Foster's 64% and Gomes' 57%).

    Fabianski also had a whoscored rating of 6.89 and Butland of 6.76.

    Both were also playing at relegated clubs which conceded the same amount of goals (Swansea) or more (Stoke) as us.

    Gomes was rated on whoscored at 6.64 and Foster at only 6.5 (level with Fraser Forster and Simon Mignolet).

    Fabianski was rated as Swansea's 3rd best regular player on whoscored, Butland as Stoke's 8th.

    Gomes was rated 11th amongst our players, while Foster was only rated 13th amongst WBA's regular players.

    These stats aren't a guarantee of anything, but they do consistently suggest that Foster is still one of the weakest GKs in the league and will be no more than a marginal improvement on Gomes. Note that we supposedly also wanted Fabianski before West Ham took him instead.
     
    BigRossLittleRoss likes this.
  26. Optimistichornet

    Optimistichornet Penguin Assassin

    Being very pessimistic I would expect the following:
    - Deeney 10+
    - Gray 5-10
    - Doucoure 5-10
    - Pereyra 5
    - Deulofeu 5
    - Sema 3-5
    - Hughes 3-5
    - Capoue 3-5
    - Okaka 3-5
    - Success 1-3
    - Penaranda 1-3
    - Janmaat 1-3
    - Femenia 1-3
    - Other Defenders 3-5

    Taking the minimum we are still talking about 49 goals which is more than we have scored in the last two seasons. I think Deeney is going to have a good season, and honestly don't feel those expectations are too high for players like Gray, Doucoure, Pereyra and Deulofeu over the course of the season.
     
  27. Harrow Orn

    Harrow Orn Squad Player

    We'll be fine goals wise, its just a shame as we could be better than "fine" with additions in the key areas. Thats the most frustrating thing for me. We seem content on doing the bare minimum to stay up.
     
    Chumlax likes this.
  28. Knight GT

    Knight GT Predictor extraordinaire 2013/14

    That probably equates to a save a game. 38 saves where you would think maybe 5-8 would result in goals. An extra 5-10 points. Massive difference
    This was all complete guesswork before somebody quotes me
     
  29. UEA_Hornet

    UEA_Hornet First Team Captain

    But how do you build a squad to finish 7th - which is presumably the limit of most sensible people's expectations for our club? Everton and West Ham have spent over £100m chasing it this summer alone.
     
    Travis Bickle likes this.
  30. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    That may be our only option. We will always be outspent. Hopefully we have doen the bare minimum and not less than that.
     
  31. Happy bunny

    Happy bunny Cheered up a bit

    I have no idea whether we're going to have a bad season or not. I might have an inkling in a month's time.
     
  32. folkestone orn

    folkestone orn Squad Player

    Chalobah?
    I agree that the defence is more of a concern.
    Pererya and Deulofeu could score more than 5 imo.
     
    Optimistichornet likes this.
  33. Otter

    Otter Gambling industry insider

    You forgot our high scoring player from a few years ago, Owen Gole.
     
  34. Dennis_Booth

    Dennis_Booth Reservist

    I don't think we are ever 'content on doing the bare minimum to stay up'. In fact, I think our aim is to improve our squad and finishing position season upon season. But, we need a following wind and the right opportunities to pop up, the player in question wanting to come and at the right price. These things haven't happened this summer but don't forget our scouting and preparing transfers never stops eg Femenia was tied up months before we signed him.
     
  35. What sort of idiot thinks that we won't last the season? Is he seriously saying that he thinks we'll pull out before the end?
     

Share This Page