Biggest Mistake Of The Pozzo Era

Not selling Troy Deeney to Leicester for THIRTY MILLION in 2016, and then giving him a 5 year deal. What could we have achieved if we sold him and brought in someone like Ings or Jimenez to replace him? A real burden on and off the pitch these days.

 

That must be up there.

 

I'm not 100% convinced that we didn't let Vydra go too soon.

 

Signing Sarr when we needed a striker and defenders.

 

That was definitely a mistake too considering we played with 2 strikers in those first two years in the Prem

 

The biggest mistake was not finding the right coach and sticking with him.

The second biggest mistake was not following the model. We got promoted then started buying. We threw out what we had and started blowing away money left right and centre on tat (none worse than paying £18m for Andre Gray or crazy wages on Deeney) when we should have doubled down on searching for and developing bright young players.

Third was retaining Deeney. He defines how we play and is untouchable and undroppable which would be fine if he was a prolific striker. Gino treats him like the English version of Di Natale and he's far from anything like. Until he leaves we can't evolve as a team, we're stuck in a rut.

 

1. Bringing Quique back. We'd probably be a Premier League team with forward options of Deulofeu, Suarez, Cucho, Sarr if he hadn't burnt through a series of winnable matches setting us up for 0-0 draws. We were one season away from the much needed squad refresh and threw it away.

2. Being in the relegation zone for the first time and deciding the only Jan transfer we needed was Pussetto who went on to make 0 starts. A little investment or a canny loan might've seen us safe. Penny pinching at this point cost Gino dearly.

 

Gray

 

Spot on with that Di Natale comparison

 

Selling Granada to the Chinese instead of us

 

The root of those problems stemmed from keeping Deeney in 2016. Silva (and dare I say even Mazzarri) might have taken us somewhere with a proper striker, meaning no hiring and firing with Javi and QSF

 

And also for what it's worth Quique proved his style works when you have a goalscorer. His 2nd spell would have been a lot better if someone could convert chances as we weren't that far away in those games (bar Man City and Burnley)

 

Gray. A lot of other things like Deeney are with the benefit of hindsight but Gray was not a good player and a little bit of a look at him playing would have told them that. Just signing Pussetto last January. One of the most pointless signings ever

 

Not releasing Gracia in the summer of 2019. I am convinced that had we lost to Wolves in the semi he would have gone that summer.

But by then it was clear we were in need of a quality CB, the point when Mazzarri had no choice other than to start Mariappa regularly. We should have been looking at the defence in the summer of 2017.

 

I don't agree. We could so easily still have been a Premier League team this season and have refreshed the squad on our terms. It was clear there was a succession plan in place for Deeney with Cucho and Suarez both lined up to play Premier League football.

The biggest single mistake was undoubtedly re-hiring Quique.

 

Not selling Pererya and Docoure at the end of the 2019 season at what would've been peak value and reinvesting in the weak areas of the team

 

That stands out as a mistake they correctly rectified in a couple of weeks.

The biggest error was undoubtedly re-hiring QSF but that was only as a panic to not removing Gracia in the summer or 2019. Those mistakes go hand in hand.

 

Too many to mention since achieving promotion.

Hard to single out one without thinking of another, and many of them had knock-on effects (which could be seen as other 'mistakes'). Yes, we survived for 5 years in the PL and some will have the viewpoint that we were always likely to get relegated at some stage relatively quickly. I've always disagreed with that and felt we could have stayed up for years and years to come with the right plan in place.

I just think the gameplan for the PL was flawed from the start.

 

We took 7 points from 10 games. We didn't score in 5 of those 10 games. Anyone that watched those games would've seen that we were set up so, so defensively. Every interview Quique gave reinforced the impression he didn't think we could get out of it. He was always banging on about the team having no confidence and not understanding his plan yet. A dour, negative manager who created a team in his image and got us relegated. A ridiculous panic hire by Gino that has cost him dear.

Although we ultimately fell short, look at the difference when we brought in Pearson.

 

For half a season, perhaps, but then by exactly the same logic he then immediately proved in the next half a season that his style gets you relegated.

 

Even the idea that this could have happened is heart breaking. I hope there are some other Chinese billionaires out there for us.

 

I think the biggest mistake has to be the one which has the biggest consequences.

Failing to sign a commanding CB last season. The rehiring of QSF, the sacking of Pearson and for the continuation of wasting money.....the signing of Andre Gray.

 

That is a fair comment. Even though, until recently, Watford were incrementally improving, I never got the feeling there was a solid plan behind it. We seem to be more of a vehicle to showcase players, and that's the main objective. Maybe it's a little unfair to state that, as the club haven't really done too much player trading in terms of buy low and sell high. The exception being Richarlison. But that is the impression I get.

Gino has only given one interview in 9 years. Now is the time he has to give an interview just to confirm his intentions and sell a plan to the fans. Does anyone really know what the project is? What is the long term hope of the owner? If he doesn't tell us, we can only assume he's not too bothered in the club per se, but needs it as a platform for his players.

 

For those who have included the signing of Gray in their list, I think it's more the keeping of him for so long that is the mistake. Although the price, £18m, seemed very high at the time, had he scored 25 goals a season no-one would have minded. But it became clear very quickly that he was not up to the job and there has been no suggestion of improvement ever since. The decision to take a loss on him should have been made ages ago.

 

Gray would have to agree to move too. I wonder who else was queuing up to pay him £65k to £70k a week

 

Correct. I can't say I knew anything about him when we signed him, but Burnley seemed overjoyed to be selling him and getting Woods for less.

However, it became abundantly clear after not very long that he was crap. The chance to sell him and swallow a small loss was spurned.

Instead, my impression is that we are stubborn and hard headed and refuse to accept even a small loss on players, preferring to risk losing everything. We refuse to admit mistakes and so we double down on them.

When we extend gray's contract soon, that will be the final straw.

 

Yep, these by far.

QSF was exactly what we needed after promotion, and achieved one of the greatest feats in the history of our club. If not THE greatest feat.

But it is hard to imagine a more unsuitable manager to get us out of our plight the second time round. A catastrophic decision that is utterly beyond belief.

 

If we were going to get rid of Gracia, it should have been at the end of the season, or later on in the season, not after 4 games

 

Yep, Mariappa's appearances number are a stain on our club.

But his mum is a lovely lady.

 

Saying not selling Deeney in 2016 is the biggest mistake in the Pozzo era is a garbage load of revisionism. It was a popular decision at the time, it even became a chant how we didn't. Deeney continued to be a very important player for a few years after that.

But don't let the truth prevent posting a crowd-pleasing thread.

The biggest mistake the Pozzos have made is not signing a centre back in 2019, but they've got a lot more right than wrong.

 

Honestly I think the decision to go for Gray was largely spurred by the ubiquity of the Troy parasite in the heart of the club - they saw him as the next version of the archetype, moulded in his creator's image except a little slimmer and a little faster - even then the cult of Deeney was infecting the entire decision-making process of the hierarchy from the ground-up, imagining that there was some desperate need to have a succession plan for his character for the club to keep running. Can you imagine some of the other strikers we could have spent that money on using the famed Pozzo scouting system?