With only 2 weeks to go, here are Watford's squad options for the coming season. A reminder of the rules. Only 25 registered players are allowed. Only 17 can be non-home grown and at least 8 have to be home grown. Under 21 players do not need to be registered. With that in mind, here is the squad I think we'll go with, with a few question marks over certain players. Home Grown - 10 players Foster, Bachmann, Dawson, Deeney, Gray, Cathcart, Mariappa, Hughes, Chalobah, Cleverley Non-Home Grown - 12 players Deulofeu, Pereyra, Doucoure, Capoue, Success, Femenia, Janmaat, Masina, Holebas, Gomes, Sema, Kabasele. U23 Dahlberg, Penaranda, Quina, Dele-Bashiru Players with question marks Okaka, Zeegelaar, Foulquier, Prodl, Hernandez. There are still issues over contracts for Janmaat, Hernandez, Bachmann and Pererya. I'd say they need to sign this summer or will probably have to be sold in this window. Clearly we do not need 4 keepers. One will have to go out on loan. I'd say Dahlberg needs games now, so it should be him to go out, but that would depend on whether Bachmann commits to the club or not. Also there is a question over Penaranda. Is he being held back because of injury or is he not up to it? If it's the later then he'll need to go out on loan or sold. Personally I'd loan out Success as well, but there is little chance both Okaka and Success would go at the same time. So we have 22 registered players, maybe 21 if Bachmann goes. Clearly we have room for new players. However, to make up the numbers both Okaka and Prodl can be registered, with maybe Sarr taking the other registered position to make it 25. If it was down to me, I'd sell or loan out Success, Okaka, Prodl, Zeegelaar, Foulquier, Dahlberg & Penaranda. I'd offer Bachmann, Pereyra & Janmaat new deals. If they don't not take them up I'd move them on. I'd also offer Mariappa and Holebas one year extensions and invoke the extra year option of Foster's contract. I've not included Lukebakio in this as he's never really been part of the squad and it looks like he's going to be sold soon for a decent sum of money.
As it stands, my guess would be... HG: Bachmann, Cathcart, Chalobah, Cleverley, Dawson, Deeney, Foster, Gray, Hughes, Mariappa (10) Overseas: Capoue, Deulofeu, Doucouré, Femenía, Gomes, Holebas, Janmaat, Kabasele, Masina, Okaka, Pereyra, Pr*dl, Sema, Success (14) U21 (Born on or after 1/1/98): Dele-Bashiru, Quina (2) Dahlberg out on loan, Peñaranda loaned out (or sold if we can), Foulquier out on loan (again, unless there’s a chance to make decent money on a sale). That squad is still less than 25 so I think we’d keep Pr*dl and Okaka as options seeing as we’re not exactly spoilt for choice at CB or up front.
An overseas lineup to get us excited about next season if ever I saw one. Gomes, Masina, Okaka, Prodl, Sema, Success.
Why the heck is this thread stickied? How many "what do we need?" "who should we keep/get rid of?" type threads do we need? There've already been loads over the summer. Can't we just wait two weeks to then see and post what the actual squad is?
Could someone re-write the squad in positions order please. Obviously I could do it myself, but I'm being lazy
In fairness it'll have far more engagement than the Watford Ladies thread that is just sat there like a turd that doesn't flush and is of interest to about 3 people...
The strength of a squad can be calculated by the players on the bench. With that in mind, here's my take on the entire squad with two players for every position. Goalkeeper Foster - Good first choice. Gomes/Bachmann adequate back-up. Left Back Holebas - Adequate first choice. Masina - poor back-up. Right Back Kiko - Adequate first choice. Janmaat - good back-up Centre Back Cathcart, Dawson adequate first choice. Mariappa, Kabasele, Prodl poor back-up Defensive Midfield Capoue, Doucoure - very good first choice. Chalobah, Dele-Bashiru - potentially good back-up Central Midfield Hughes, Cleverley - adequate first choice. Quina - good back-up Wide Left Pereyra - Good first choice. Sema, Penaranda, Success - poor back-up Wide Right Deulofeu - Very good first choice. No back-up Centre Forward Deeney - Adequate first choice. Gray adequate back-up. Success, Okaka - poor back-up I've tried to be as honest as possible, taking off those rose-tinted specs.
Similar to last season then, enough to finish mid-table- unfortunately (and thankfully) for us the team is a little too good for the Pozzo's to need to invest to much and the fact that there's some complete and utter dross elsewhere in the league.
We need to be careful of that though. Other clubs are strengthening and most others have the finances to do. I’m a big fan of allowing a coach to actually coach players and that’s helped by having a stable squad without loads of change. But there’s a fine line between doing that, and standing still. Last season had an element of Gracia making ‘a silk purse with a sow’s ear’ - as good a coach as he is, our squad doesn’t have enough strength in depth for him to do it season after season. Adding Sarr gives the squad balance and 2 at least 2 players for every position for a couple of formations. But adding just him and Dawson doesn’t quite give it the facelift needed to be very confident of staying clear of trouble. I still have doubts. There’s also still a fair bit of deadwood in the squad and the lack of rumours about them gives me worry that we aren’t trying to move them out.
The PL is the weakest it's been in years - Palace, Newcastle, Norwich, Bournemouth, Sheffield United, Brighton, Southampton and Burnley are all complete and utter garbage. Arsenal an Chelsea are their weakest in years and we're good enough to pick up points against Everton, Leicester, Wolves, West Ham and Villa. We'll probably sign a couple more and finish comfortably above that first group. Obviously if we were to lose any of the following : Doucoure, Capoue, Delefou, RP, then yeah, we'd be down there with that lot but still probably survive comfortable when push came to shove.
Said with some confidence! But likewise, Norwich played some brilliant stuff last season and have had a good pre-season so I wouldn’t bank against them taking to the PL in a similar style to Bournemouth. Sheff Utd will likely struggle I agree but Bramall Lane has never been an easy place to go. Bournemouth have always pretty much been a mirror of us in the PL so to label them any worse than us is a bit disingenuous. Brighton could struggle but a they’ve made a couple of good signings and will be hopeful their new manager can get more out of the signings that Hughton made - Potter is known for good football and doing well with few resources. Newcastle? Jury’s out. They are spending money and I don’t think they’ve finished just yet. But Bruce is an awful appointment. Hassenhuttl did well in his time at Southampton so can’t really say they are ‘utter garbage’. Burnley are Burnley.... Palace I think will struggle, but if they keep Zaha somehow... In reality, we had a great start last season and a good season overall. But I really don’t see too much difference between us and most of the teams mentioned. And the past 2/3 seasons says as much.
We'll probably do the usual. Start well - beat a top 6 side then nick points/wins here and there before a bad end of the season. You wouldn't us getting more than 2/3 goals in any game or keeping many clean sheets.
We’ve got a strong group of 15/16 players then poor quality for the rest. Here’s hoping the medical record is as good as last season so we don’t get to see many starts for Gomes, Masina, Kabasele, Prodl, Cleverley, Penaranda, Sema, Success, Okaka. A combination of over the hill, outright poor, not ready and deadwood we can’t sell.
Bachmann looks likely to go out on loan to Derby & excluding Zeegelaar, who'll probably go back to Udinese, our squad would stand at 25. Sarr counts as an U21 for this season meaning any further additions would need to be on a one in, one out policy. Prodl (linked with a move to Serie A) and Foulquier (wants to return to Getafe) are the only ones I could potentially see leave. Goalkeepers Foster, Dahlberg, Gomes. Left Back Holebas, Masina. Right Back Femenia, Janmaat. Centre Back Cathcart, Dawson, Mariappa, Kabasele, Prodl/New CB? Centre Mid Capoue, Doucoure, Cleverley, Hughes, Quina, Chalobah, Dele-Bashiru. Wingers Pereyra, Sema, Penaranda, Sarr, Foulquier/New Winger? Strikers Deeney, Gray, Success, Okaka, Deulofeu.
By this time next week we shall have three new signings in the form of a winger, another centre back and a striker. Sarr, a capped Englishman and one more will join up with our first team squad.
A bit optimistic... Couple of youngsters nobody heard of signed and immediately loaned out on deadline day, still saddled with prodl, okaka... Sarr at last minute goes to palace at last minute after deadline zaha deal to everton
Ismail Sarr is ready to join, just waiting for clubs to agree on transfer fee before he is announced! Centre back is an Under 21 international coming from Europe, had the once over from specialist in Barcelona. He is a big boy!
If any other teams swooped with a bid matching/greater than ours for Ismail he will of course have the right to discuss terms, but his mind has been set since his return from holiday that he is moving to London to play in the Premier League
