If Gino wanted to fix this pr issue, he could. Or, at least, he could launch a charm offensive. If he were looking to sell, I would strongly advise it.
I think he is trying to fix this with PR. That’s why he gave Javi a 4.5 year extension . Everyone knows that is meaningless in terms f modern day managers. If we lost our next 10 games , I’d expect and be glad that Gino would sack Javi.
Deeney should zip it until he’s snuggled on a sofa with Carragher. Hugely unprofessional & undermining of his club, coach & teammates. Great fun for a footballer to speak out & all that but no good of it will come to Watford. We are annoyed that we are losing decisions & recognition. What could be contributing to that &, more important, do we now expect that to change? Massive for Troy’s media profile, of course. What would GT think?
Recent Watford games: What action did the FA take on Warnock after he ranted and among other things called the ref a “Sunday trainee”? What action did the FA take when Charlie Austin ranted about the refereee, “It’s ridiculous, they shouldn’t be in the game .....it’s a joke” If the FA take action against Deeney for saying the ref “bottled it” on decisions, it just adds to the conspiracy theory the FA just don’t like us , not overturning the soft Kabasele sending off etc I feel a persecution complex song coming on - ‘Nobody likes us and we don’t care’
What I mean is charming journos. Getting the best side of Watford out there. Spam does this every 5 mins. Lady Brady doing some mock exclusive to get a couple of submissive columns. In their case, it must be a desperate attempt to keep their feral fans onside. Football journalists have a hugely difficult job. They have to fill acres of space every day. We have a potent story to tell. Underdogs. Overachievers. A beyond Moneyball intelligence driving our club forward. And yet we allow the same old memes to fester season after season. It is not Gino’s major priority but, in his position, I would address it. An admired WFC is worth more than a scorned WFC.
Ha! That, awful, comparison sprang into my mind just 5 mins ago. But that attitude is below us. See my rant elsewhere on the thread.
Totally agree , but it’s very difficult when you are dealing with the collective ignorance of MOTD pundits and most mainstream media. That’s a huge traction of media momentum that Gino has to fight. Maybe the best way is to go about your business in the right way and believe the truth will prevail .
Would just love it if this happened. I’m not a football hater , not even fussed if the scum win or not . But for some reason seeing Silva get the sack and Muff get relegated because Eddie “head boy” Howe left them for Everton would make me very happy.
We can do better than that. That is the approach of a lot of successful Italian family companies. They naturally focus on product & finances. The Friuli are the Scots of Italy. The world, though, has moved on. Brands are about trust & allure. You need to keep enticing people with your story. Moneyball is an obvious hook. Elton’s team are now the most admirable, achieving, savvy challengers. What journo wouldn’t want that story? What outsider kid wouldn’t be drawn in? Immaterial to us. We were here long before & are stuck with them. More material is the broader commercial opportunity.
I wish it were that easy RD. Even the Royal family with 1000 years of history and wealth, had trouble reinventing public opinion towards them . It took several years , the greatest and most corrupt PR man inUK history , and full weight, power and finances of the Royal family to achieve it . Don’t underestimate how difficult it is to persuade public opinion against an already entrenched opinion , especially when already propagated by the establishment ie BBC et al.
Totally agree. Both feet off the ground, studs up. That’s a leg breaker if Salah doesn’t get out of the way, far far worse than Doucoures. Yet because it’s Vincent Kompany, Neville and Carragher don’t see it as red. If that had been a Watford player making that challenge every single pundit would say it was a red. Fact. Effing twunts these pundits, the effing lorra them
True but it’s not binary (as they say these days). You can always improve your reputation. HRH Madge is a perfect case in point. HRH Eddie is a more relevant one. I’ve watched Football Focus twice in 10 years. Both times that Chesham **** was on it.
First time I've the goals/highlights. Few things of note. Doucoure's challenge is a red card, not even debatable. Gosling's is also a red card as he uses excessive force. Is there a ban for diving retrospectively if it's outside the box? If there is, Brooks should get one for the dive that produced the free kick for their second goal. Foster made some excellent saves but we definitely had other chances especially in the first 30 mins. Ake's handball, not sure it is a penalty but maybe they should be able to give an indirect free kick for things like that like they do for obstruction. Defending from both sides was atrocious. All defenders were poor but Mariappa was dreadful. I fail to see how Britos could be worse than that or Prodl. His pace has deserted him and this used to get him out of trouble but now his ball watching, positional sense is being shown up. As others have said, great servant but should not be at this level or anywhere near it now. We could easily have lost that but I felt both sides suffered from 4 games over Christmas and looked tired. Don't expect to see any of these players start at Woking
Great points. In the Chelsea match they completely excluded Deeney's header over the bar. The BBC must hire their editors from Pravda to ensure big-******** club bias is always applied.
Wasn't it a little toe poke if you mean the one in the 2nd half at the near post but fair point. They spend more time showing and discussing contentious decisions more than anything else - and will carry on doing so even with VAR.
As I said in my earlier post, I am not so down on our defenders as some. That is even more the case after seeing the highlights. I think their third was just a good goal. I know others disagree, but if we had scored it, we'd be congratulating our excellent play, rather than knocking their defenders. But the first two were a bit worse than I initially thought, but not by our defenders. For the first, Deeney gives away a needless free-kick. He then places himself on the edge of the area for the kick, alongside several others. The free-kick goes over their heads, and all the players on the edge make their next move for the second phase with the Watford players retreating towards the goal - except Deeney. Deeney who thinks his work is done by standing on the edge of the area, just continues to stand there, whilst Gosling runs 10 yards into the space where Deeney should have been. Then, Goslings header is saved superbly, and it is mainly Capoue that is slow to react to the loose ball. I can't see that our CB's can be blamed for that goal. For the second, it should never have been a free-kick, as it was a clear dive from Brooks. But again, Deeney takes up his position on the edge of the area alongside all the others, including Wilson. The ball goes over his head and Wilson runs to head it in, whilst the CB's are deeper. Deeney meanwhile, again just stands on the edge of the area watching Wilson run past him. For both goals, Deeney takes a position on the edge of the area, and then doesn't move a muscle once it looks like going over his head. He is still there when the goals go in. Everyone else in the team has at least made the effort to defend. What he does is the sort of thing I'd expect to see Dele do, as he is hardly effective enough to win the subsequent aerial challenges, but Deeney is our Captain, he is the big talisman, the big burly, throw-it-about, bustling "in-your-face" bustling forward with huge cajones, who isn't afraid to give it large during the match and particularly in after-match interviews - the "legend", but for some reason (probably because he has scored his goals) it is beneath him to actually help his team defend two free-kicks. It is dead easy to blame defenders for 90% of goals as there is always something they could have done better, but for set pieces, if it is a foward's job to come back and defend, then he should darn well do so - and that includes billy big-boll0cks, our captain .
If Deeney's taken the same position twice from similar opposition free kicks it strongly suggests that's the managers tactical plan for him.
And can you believe the Souness comment, “The referee will know that Vincent Kompany isn’t the sort to do something like that” - the weaselliest excuse in a game choc full of them - the Redknapp clause, executed to perfection by his mate Howe about Gosling, too.
That’s a really incredible comment from Souness. So there now should be a character assessment post challenge from the ref now? I used to like Souness but he’s just becoming an idiot these days. (I remember his comments about Zaha playing for Real Madrid at the start of the season). As for Kompany for his challenge against Burnley this season that he also escaped punishment for I’d say he is exactly the kind of player to do that kind of thing.
Well, if you are looking for excuses, then I suppose you could be right. But I would be surprised if the coach told our No 9 to stand on the edge of the area, whilst others like, Kiko, Pererya and Dele are in the mixer trying to win headers.
There is a chance that Deeney might be the one who's actually doing what's been asked of him and having the bottle to hold the line. Both times we set up with all of our players in a line, Bournemouth players run offside as a decoy as the kicker approaches the ball, and both times Holebas follows them in, going behind the rest of our defence and playing all the Bournemouth players onside including the actual targets for the cross. I never understand the point of a high line for a free kick like this when all the defenders end up running backwards into the space, it rarely catches anyone offside and just means the momentum is all in the direction of the goal. Either hold the line so that the keeper can come and claim it or start deeper.
I take your point. And obviously we don't know the answer for sure. But Deeney hardly shirks his defensive responsibilities at opposition corners, regularly winning crucial headers in the box including on Weds night. So it seems odd he's stay out of the fray at free kicks unless the manager had a different role in mind for him.
It does seem odd but Liverpool have used the high line to free kicks to good effect this season. Gives the keeper more space to catch if kicked deeper. Reduces the heading threat if shallower.
The high line is not about offside, it's as you said...it's about not crowding your keeper so he can dominate his 6 yard box. Defenders have to drop or there's little chance of offside if the defenders are goalside. The normal holding lines are 18 yard line for freekicks greater than 30 yards out - drop to the penalty spot - anything between penalty spot and 6 yard line is the keepers. Flank freekicks around the angle of the penalty area to touchline within 30 yards - penalty spot - drop to the 6 yard box. Anything in the 6 yard box is the keepers. Free kicks near the byline - as defending a corner. My keeper coach drummed into me, the 6 yard box is mine - clear out out defenders and attackers in the 6 yard box. Their first goal was a well worked free kick, however we were bamboozled by the tiniest bit of movement and 3 free headers in our penalty area is purely criminal - dock them a weeks pay for that. No communication, no organisation and no reaction from the defenders. For freekicks like that, zonal marking would have avoided a goal in my opinion. The 2nd free kick, was more luck in terms of they were aiming at a zone in the area, if anything it looked as if it was delivered short as no one challenged as we were dropping to the penalty spot. I'd say they score from 1 in 10 attempts if it was planned. For the 3rd goal...where the hell was our midfield? We'd just scored so they should have been right in front of the defence protecting them. If I was Foster, I'd have been screaming blue murder at Capoue, Doucoure and Sema - just like Coton used to do.
