A little more info on the Deeney incident reported here. https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/s...aptain-troy-deeney-dropped-discipline-issues/ I actually like Ivic's stance, and he always wins me over with what he says, but if the players are not playing for him, then it all becomes a bit pointless (literally today)
Devils advocate - doesn’t say he was dropped from the start for discipline issues. In theory, could’ve been dropped without incident - but then said something on the bench which made Ivic refuse to bring him on. If Deeney has berated his tactics or something, whilst idiotic, not sure I’d blame him.
'I don't want to talk to the media about it', before talking to the media about it. If he's trying to instigate a power struggle, he's not going to win.
Absolutely spot on. They needed to someone to come in and rebuild their confidence and lift the atmosphere. Having to see this gloomy ba5tard every day is the last thing they'd want
I was thinking myself that if he was dropped for disciplinary issues his gripe couldn’t have been about being dropped, but that would seem the most likely thing.
I agree with this and IMO Gray's wages are a major bone of contention in the changing room . Also , whilst he is still on the payroll it means wages for other better technical players are not available. That said it is not his fault that someone at Watford offered such generous terms for him . Back to the match , 5 at the back and Gray up top . Who thought we were going to outscore Huddersfield today ?
I’ve got Sky Sports and didn’t even bother to watch the Brentford match...even going down to Div 4 under Mike Keen I went to every game home & away save 4.....I agree with you that this current combination of unloveable players and zombie coach is destroying my love for the club...after 57 years.
"Ivic was asked why Deeney was on the bench at all if he had no intention of playing him, he said: "We don't have enough players to put on the bench" #WatfordFC" Wow. Even though some of us knew all this, still feels cutting as **** when it's made official.
I absolutely agree that none of it (on the pitch) is Gray’s fault. He’s just not a very good footballer and it’s been obvious for four seasons. Anyone still think he’s going to ‘come good’ in the Championship?
I’ve been advocating giving Ivic more time to get this right , but we just got easily beaten by a very limited Huddersfield side and barely laid a glove on them . This should not be happening. When we should have still been pushing to win the game he brought on 2 fullbacks, essentially accepting defeat and just opting for giving 2 players game time . Simply not acceptable !
I suspect that Ivic is quite a stubborn man and is trying to make it in another way! Academic really because I don't believe any of us think he will be in his position by Monday morning.
He was making sure Deeney sat through the horror show just like the rest of us. There is no more severe a punishment for your crimes than watching Watford right now.
This feels like a bit of a cop out from Vlad. He's shown he's happy to have 2 keepers instead of Murray on the bench, so why does Troy get special treatment? I'm not surprised we struggle to get 9 on the bench with Cathcart, Kiko, Quina, Hughes, TDB, Pedro, Murray and Success all out. Our injury/covid/'can't be arsed to play thanks for asking though' record this season has been a joke.
That actually makes me feel somewhat better. I know I've got a reputation as a miserable ****, but watching WFC has been a fixture for me for 30 odd years. Before that I was obviously too young but still considered myself a fan. Good sides, terrible players, awful managers. All have come and gone but I've never seen such an unlikable iteration of the club as this.
I’m not sure who is luckier that COVID came along to save us from watching all this live: the fans or the club?
Sounds like Ivic could well be on his way!! Adam Leventhal STAFF 12m ago 1 like 1 Hi everyone - thanks for all your messages. Clearly not a good situation on all fronts today. I’m looking into it and will keep you posted throughout the evening and probably tomorrow too. Watch this space.
This. Why was watching Carl ****inson & Iwelumo not this depressing? Why did Matthew Whichelow & Michael Bryan scoring in an end of season dead rubber give me more joy than the last two seasons? I would've loved for us to be 5th in The Championship 10 years ago, yet there's something about it now that's just so meh.
I thought we did far better than I expected when I first saw the team sheet. I was expecting more of a hammering when I saw Gray on his own up top. we have a real issue with the manager. I am sure not one fan thought today’s line up made sense. pozzos don’t like doing it but get Howe in - pay him what he wants as this pric* will cost them far more
Michael Bryan lodged with a friend of ours. He came to our house for dinner on several occasions. He was absolutely charming. Played footy in the garden with my lads
The urgency and desire was missing last season too. When we needed to fight to stay up the players couldn’t do it. Agree that Ivic is likely to go now but not sure that a new manager changes much. Players might try for a few games but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is back to normal service after that.
Gray ahead of Perica was baffling. Three at the back was head scratching. But to then bring on Sierralta for Troost-Ekong when we were chasing the game was just ******* insane.
We are in the unfortunate situation that another player power mutiny has occurred and for the first time, it is not the cause (sole or main, at least) of our problems on the pitch, but because of the timing it will all be meshed together, and it will appear to most (including Deeney, probably, in his own head) they they/he have won again. Ivic's reaction to that is the correct one, and in almost any other scenario we would be welcoming and applauding it. Extremely unfortunately, that doesn't change the fact that Ivic is completely the wrong coach for us, and out of his depth in seemingly every sense.
I don't disagree with you on any of that really, I just don't think we can absolve the players of their role, and as with so many games both this season and last, they came out pathetically, wandering about and playing at half-speed in both body and mind. Capoue was wandering around flat-footed, on his heels not the balls of his feet, and you could literally see it affect how quickly he could move and react; most blatantly in his comedy own goal. That's the kind of stuff that a PE teacher/Games Master screams at you for - at this level, it's sickening rank unprofessionalism.
It’s because, no matter how poor the squad, no matter how 5hyte the manager, you always felt the default setting was: 1. Try to win 2. If not, try not to lose 3. If getting stuffed, at least fight & battle for everything 4. When in the Prem, point (2) is allowed to supercede (1) in certain games, but not all. And definitely not vs a poor Huddersfield in the 2nd level. And in ALL circumstances, point (3) is non-negotiable. The way Ivic approaches games, those principal elements of our club DNA are fast leaching away. Which explains the exponential increase in ennui amongst normally loyal supporters.
