Thanks IRB. Surprised Watson made the cut ahead of Cathcart but I guess injury proneness decided it in the end.
Interesting to see the south American lads on loan are included in the list, I'm assuming that means they clock up time towards HG status even when not in the UK (3 years... etc etc blah blah)
Zarate must have told the club he is looking to go home or something similar, they paid good money for him to look ok in 4 games only to get injured, Cathcart has done well for us in the past, the coach obviously doesn't fancy him over the other defenders. Djedje is a journeyman footballer who is probably not too bothered if he plays or not!
Incidentally the transfer window in Argentina closes on 17th September. I expect Zarate will be offski.
Wow. Very surprised about Cathcart, one of our best and most consistent CB's when fit IMO! Zarate is kinda understandable, would've been nice to have as an option but if there's no space there's no space, won't miss him too much.
He's been at a grand total of TWO clubs before us playing 100 times for both of them. Hardly Nicolas Anelka..
Shame about Zarate , he offers us ability to play in tight spaces on edge of opposition box . Exactly what's needed at home to bottom teams. As previously mentioned he ll be off to Argentina soon.
Must be an on going issue they aren't sure about. Not sure that apart from Prodl I trust many of the other defenders to stay fully fit or on the pitch!
Well he has sat through two 25 man squads wwithout gettting picked if he was bothered he would have asked for a transfer!
Really late decision on Amrabat. Guess we will find out in a day or two if we are allowed to 'edit' our 25 man squad.
Horrendous decision to include Amrabat then get rid of him if we are unable to edit the squad Sent from my G3311 using Tapatalk
No immediate need to panic. On the official Watford site it says, "Note - the squad list is subject to change with approval from the Premier League Board due to other federations' transfer windows remaining open until later dates."
Well spotted UEA I think that might be because we have all been down the pub on a Friday night and can't see straight and you are sober!
Don't worry it's a fake list submitted without Gino's knowledge. The real list, on proper headed paper, will be revealed later today
from the PL site. interesting to see how few squad players Man City have registered out of interest! (18!) Watford 25 Squad players (*=Home grown) Amrabat, Noureddine Bachmann, Daniel* Britos Cabrera, Miguel Angel Capoue, Etienne Carrillo Diaz, Andre Martin Chalobah, Nathaniel Nyakie* Cholevas, Chose Loint Cleverley, Thomas William* Deeney, Troy Matthew* Doucoure, Abdoulaye Femenia Far, Francisco Gomes, Heurelho Da Silva Gray, Andre Anthony* Hughes, William James* Janmaat, Daryl Kabasele, Christian Kaboul, Younes Karnezis, Orestis-Spyridon Mariappa, Adrian Joseph* Okaka, Stefano Chuka Pereyra, Roberto Maximiliano Prodl, Sebastian Wague, Molla Watson, Ben* Zeegelaar, Marvin Romeo Kwasie Under-21 players (Contract and Scholars) Adebiyi, Emmanuel Adedeji, Jubril Barrozo Rodrigues, Matheus Aias Becerra Maya, Juan Camillo Bennetts, Jayden Bradbury, Harvey Lee Cabrera, Jesus Cruz Charles, Ashley James De Andrade, Richarlison Eleftheriou, Andrew Empson, Bradley Estupinan Tenorio, Pervis Josue Fobi, Kingsley Folivi, Michael Kwaku Forster, Harry James Gartside, Nathan James Gordon, Lewis Hoskins, James Michael Howes, Samuel Scott Hudson, Harry Jonathan Huja, Marian Jakubiak, Alexander Louis Jones, Ben Anthony Kaikay, Yazid Karisic, Strahinja Lacy, Jamie Sebastian Leighton, Tom Craig Lewis, Dennon Elliot Mason, Brandon Alexander McLean Cassidy, Ryan Michael Merreh, Sulayman Miller, Reece Montenegro Zuniga, Eduardo Antonio Mukena, Joy-Richard Mullings, Michael Koray Oulare, Mamadou Obbi Penaranda Maestre, Adalberto Pereira, Dion Enrico Phillips, Daniel Shaquille Jabari Rogers, Louis Ronald Rowan, Charles Alfred Ryan, Maximillian Medwyn Richard John Sanders, Kai Sidney Santana Ferreira, Matheus Henrique Segura Portocarrero, Jorge Andres Sesay, David Junior Deen Sesay, Samuel Santigie Sinclair, Jerome Terence Stevens, Connor John Stewart, Carl Leon Stray, Reece Daniel Suarez Charris, Luis Javier Success Ajayi, Isaac Tricker, Ben Velasquez Reyes, Williams Daniel Williams, Randell
All I want now is a fully fit Zarate back in to replace the Bat' to make this a perfect transfer window. We have now doubled and strengthened in nearly all positions. We have been one of the biggest spenders, but not so much if offset against Iggy money in January. Pereyra and Zarate have been joined by some pacy/ creative players. Our midfield is developing at a fantastic rate. Even when we were down to 10 men we did not lose our shape. We have held onto all our established players. Don't mind if Capoue or Troy end up as super subs if it works. Gino has delivered for Silva pretty much on all fronts. The Newky Brown fans are in meltdown. Big teams like Arsenal have been depleted or like Chelsea missed their targets. We should all be optimistic about our prospects not only this season but longer term.
I'm pleased we have cover at the back, but I will wait and see if they are any good, because we did miss some intended targets and went to plan b.
It was an extremely good window. Not perfect. Perfect would have seen us bring in a top quality CB to play alongside Britos.
Most clubs missed some of their main targets - but Chalobah, Richarlison and Carrillo alone shows how superb our recruitment team are. We have obviously used our South American scouting network to good effect and Silva's contacts and knowledge. Glad they didn't break the pay structure for Gibbs and Pullis will knock any weak Arsenal traits out of him! United, Liverpool, Spurs, Huddersfield and ourselves have done the best business. Swansea, Stoke and WBA have pulled off some decent signings. Bournemouth, Everton and West Ham have paid out alot and some will disappoint. Newcastle and Brighton have failed to strengthen and are my favourites for relegation. Arsenal have depleted their squad and could finish outside of the top six. Wenger out could reach a crescendo before Xmas.
I really admire the positive nature of your posts and they are something most of us could learn from. But I can’t agree it was a ‘perfect’ window. If it was perfect we would have addressed all areas of the squad and improved immeasurably. As it is, we addressed all areas. We improved the GK and midfield units without a doubt. Perfect work. But I would say the strikers and defence improvements aren’t a perfect body of recruitment. They are good, maybe all we could do in the circumstances. Gray is a welcome addition and strengthens our case but the jury is out whether it was good value. I will give the defensive recruits time. Femenia looks decent and the others haven’t played but there’s no getting away from the fact they look like Plan C buys. A fantastic job done by the club on the whole. But the defence needed surgery and it’s appears we have given it a couple of paracetamol and sent it home.
Up front we are much better off than last year, especially when we lost Iggy. We could easily have lost Troy this window and we still have Okaka. Gray scored on Friday in the reserve match and will get time to come good. Zarate (hopefully), Richarlison or Success can all play as 'strikers'. Agree that we have not upgraded the defence this time but at least appear to have provided decent cover. Hoban's and Cathcart's injuries probably influenced getting in Wague. Newcastle by contrast have no senior LB on their books. Their fans are in meltdown. Sunderland did better business on the last day by getting in Grabban from the Muffins. They are left with a no doubt unsettled Dwight Gayle. We have to be very grateful and hope Silva can now weave his magic with this squad.
Sunderland got Grabban long before the last day. And Newcastle have Dummett who is a LB but I know what you’re getting at. I’m not comparing our window against other teams really. I’m only interested in what we did. Which was a very solid effort but failed to address something which I think needed looking at last year, long before this window. And we haven’t done it in either. And that’s adding First XI quality centre backs. For what it’s worth, Gayle will get a game at Newcastle. He’s only been left out recently and touted about on deadline day because he was Newcastle’s best way of generating decent funds to buy a couple of players. He’ll be back in the squad/team now.
I agree with this. Look at where we were in total spend. Joint 7th with Leicester. We really pushed the boat out and competed with all but the very top clubs. When you consider Watford got value for money in most of their signings, I doubt any club could have signed the quality we did for just over £50m. So it's a massive tick in the box for the recruitment team. We are a relatively small club and no matter how boring that is, it's always something fans have to consider. Most of the teams in the league we are in have much bigger gates and budgets and we punch above our weight constantly. Midfield, both flanks and goal keeping have significantly improved. Defence and central strikers are the next the next areas for heavy investment, but that will have to wait until next season now, unless we get one of those loan now buy later deals in January, I suspect.
Don't disagree with you Burnsy but upgrading defenders is serious money now. Citee got in quality fullbacks but at significant cost. My point about Gayle is that psychologically this will do him no good. Perception when at Palarse is that he couldn't cut it in the EPL and that is why he was released. He was always popular with their fans. Now he gets Newcastle promoted and they are willing to ditch him. Seems strange when they need goals and Mitrovic is banned. Just wanted to make the point that at this early stage we have little to carp about. Our owner has backed our coach as promised whereas Benitez could be off.
