Genuinely Excited For The New Season For The First Time In 3 Or 4 Years

Discussion in 'The Hornets' Nest - Watford Chat' started by ITK platypus, Sep 8, 2020.

  1. LondonOrn

    LondonOrn Squad Player

    Ironically last season I believe we had the best record against the top six sides out of our five seasons in the Prem, but that's not saying much.
     
  2. The Voice of Reason

    The Voice of Reason First Team Captain

    So would you completely ignore the players that might or might not be leaving the club until the widow closes or even beyond that?

    If that is the case, then I'm glad you are nowhere near the management of the team either, as what would be the point of that? I would probably not use them in the starting eleven, but I would possibly use some of them on the bench, just in case our new wonder kids were struggling and they needed the more experienced players to help them out.

    I do not see why we should not utilise their talents whilst they are still at the club, and in fact might even end up staying with us.
     
  3. I’m glad people here know Fridays team selection already
     
  4. Jumbolina

    Jumbolina First Team

    I must say I am quite excited. However all things being equal I would rather have another premier league season about to kick off.
     
  5. 3000

    3000 Reservist

    If we stayed up we would have been clinging on for dear life with the same unmotivated old players here to pick up a pay cheque and nothing else. We wouldn’t have had a fresh approach or embedded young hungry players in our team, we would have been similar to Sunderland when they kept staying up by the skin of their teeth.
     
  6. zztop

    zztop Eurovision Winner 2015

    I agree, I would definitely rather be fighting it out with the best clubs - and winning against lesser teams more often as we will do in the Championship, is a poor substitute. However, I try and find positives in our relegation and I think it has brought with it what could be a real positive re-boot for our club.

    And, I really hope it results in getting rid of what is clearly a poisonous element amongst the senior players - epitomised by our "legendary" talisman of a Captain who refused to train in preparation for the biggest fight of our lives, and who has spent every opportunity since, shamelessly boasting how good he is.
     
    Last edited: Sep 9, 2020
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  7. Jumbolina

    Jumbolina First Team

    Why not take a fresh approach in the premier league? After all the relegation outcome would be the same.
     
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  8. Harrybassetthater

    Harrybassetthater Academy Graduate

    I'm looking forward to the teams struggling at the bottom of the Premier league fighting like rats in a sack to stay up.
     
  9. Knight GT

    Knight GT Predictor extraordinaire 2013/14

    I would be excited if I could go to games especially the away ones but as we can't I'm a bit meh about the whole thing
     
    HappyHornet24, Burnsy and Lloyd like this.
  10. Lloyd

    Lloyd Squad Player

    Yes. Sorry about that! I just don't get how everyone - media, fans, players - seems to have settled in to the mindset that it is perfectly normal to play football in empty stadiums or watch football being played in empty stadiums on television. There is nothing 'fun' about watching football on television
     
  11. Harefield Yellow

    Harefield Yellow First Year Pro

    Problem with the Premier League is you know which six clubs will be at the top, and at the moment, it's a toss of a coin as to which of two clubs will win it. Then your have three or four clubs (the likes of Everton etc), who don't really have a chance of breaking into the top bracket, but are far too good to go down. For the remaining clubs, it's purely about trying to dodge the bottom three.

    The Championship is a far more unpredictable and competitive division to watch, and in theory we should be capable of doing well in it. But sadly I can't muster any enthusiasm until we're able to physically go to games again. GT was bang on the money with his "It's a game for the man on the terraces" quote.
     
  12. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Yes but how has that new "fresh approach ....with hungry young players" following relegation worked out for Sunderland though - I don't see them on the fixture list ?
     
  13. zztop

    zztop Eurovision Winner 2015

    I enjoy football, and always have done, whether it was watching my dad play, or in my early playing days, or watching my lad play on a Sunday morning, and watching Watford in the 4th Division right through to today. And if I have any interest in the result then I tend to enjoy it on the TV, too. I don't have to be there to enjoy it, any more than I had to be at the ringside to enjoy "Raging Bull".

    It's a sport, a competition, it's fun.
     
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  14. ITK platypus

    ITK platypus Squad Player

    Just a few stats for you:
    • In the 21st Century we have averaged 68 goals per Championship season vs 39 goals in the Premier League, a 72% increase.
    • In the Pozzo era we have averaged 83 goals per Championship season vs 42 goals in the Premier League, a 97% increase (essentially double!).
    Well yes, but that's another benefit of it. I like seeing Watford score goals. It brings me joy. But goals per game is still starkly different:
    • In the 21st Century we have averaged 1.47 goals per game in the Championship vs 1.04 in the Premier League, a 42% increase.
    • In the Pozzo era we have averaged 1.81 goals per game in the Championship season vs 1.12 in the Premier League, a 62% increase.
    Get ready for goals.
     
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  15. 3000

    3000 Reservist

    I don’t know do you want me to call up and ask?
     
  16. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Would be great if you wouldn't mind ? I guess they must be back up to the prem now ?
     
  17. leighton buzzard horn

    leighton buzzard horn Squad Player

    Thoroughly looking forward to this season. Back in the most exciting league in the world, teams trying to win games rather than not lose, the chance of promotion, not dreading a mauling by City twice a season.

    I don't think we will go up, but I do think it'll be more enjoyable to watch.
     
  18. Lloyd

    Lloyd Squad Player

    Sorry to be pedantic, but Raging Bull is a film - not live sport. Any sport is, in my view, best enjoyed 'live'. How can football be the 'people's game' when there's no bloody people there? This apparent willingness of many to adjust to crowdless football, cricket, rugby etc etc and talk as if nothing's changed is, for me anyway, further evidence of the dystopian online future we're drifting towards.
     
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  19. zztop

    zztop Eurovision Winner 2015

    No worries, you know what I mean. Of course, there is nothing better than live sport in front of a big crowd.

    But it doesn't have to be live, and it doesn't have to be in front of a big crowd to be exciting and enjoyed, that's all.
     
    Lloyd likes this.
  20. Chumlax

    Chumlax Squad Player

    Planning a break-in, are we?
     
  21. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    Maybe it’s just me, but being a premier league club it’s always in the back of your mind that the wheels could come off at any moment. Obviously that’s exactly what happened last season.

    A bit like watching a horror film, you’re expecting something horrible to happen at any moment, it’s just a matter of time. We were never far from a bad run, and it was always difficult to imagine us getting out of them when they happened. For me that makes the premier league difficulty to enjoy, the constant nagging doubt.

    With regards to the fresh approach, thankfully it’s a lot easier in the championship. It’s very easy to say with hindsight after we’ve been relegated, but all the while you’re a premier league club it’s never in a managers interests to take risks as too much is at stake. It’s only when you finally get relegated you then have nothing to lose.

    A Watford manager in the premier league is always likely to stick with the status quo and not give youth a chance. Nobody can criticise them if the senior incumbent players play as expected.
     
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  22. LondonOrn

    LondonOrn Squad Player

    That bit got me thinking - I imagine the Championship has quite a few followers throughout the world, at least the play-offs. But I wonder how it compares in excitement and quality to the other second tiers in Europe, like Serie B, Segunda Division and Bundesliga 2? I would think they're pretty competitive with lots of fallen big clubs and probably more interesting without the same three or four clubs at the top every season, but the attendances would be much smaller on average than in the Championship. Also is it at all easy to catch any of the matches other than through a dodgy stream?
     
  23. 3000

    3000 Reservist

    The integrity of all the European leagues is tarnished with B teams. If that ever happens in English football then the game has officially ended.
     
  24. leighton buzzard horn

    leighton buzzard horn Squad Player

    I think a lot of the Championship level leagues throughout the world get dismissed because they aren't the top level, but actually the quality is greater than many would have you believe and the overall entertainment is better than the top leagues, albeit at a slightly lower standard. Plenty of my mates are fans of PL teams and take the piss out of Watford being in the Championship and it being a poor league...but they've never watched it. It is pure football snobbery. If anything, the Premier League has become even more sterile and dull over recent years. There is so much coverage and so much rammed down our throats about 'it's the place you have to be, best league in the world, glitz and glamour' and a lot of people lap it up, but if you are prepared to be objective then a lot of it is dull. It is marketed brilliantly and even this post will likely ruffle some feathers of some who repeat all the hyperbole Sky drum into them, but it is better as a TV show than anything else. Occasionally you'll get a cracker of a game but more often than not games are safe and sterile as people fear losing more than they desire winning.

    Of course I want Watford to do well and win every game which means being back in the PL, but I just don't buy into how great it is from a match going fans perspective.
     
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  25. Hogg-DEENEY!!!

    Hogg-DEENEY!!! Squad Player

    The French Ligue 2 has seen some mental promotion battles over the past few years, one year Le Havre came agonisingly close to overhauling a 6 goal swing on the final day, and the year after, the top 6 teams were divided by a mere 3 points going into the final day
     
  26. Lincshornet

    Lincshornet Academy Graduate

    A pal of mine (Leeds fan :eek:) lives near Niort in France and sometimes goes to see them play in Ligue 2, it's usually empty with 2-3000 spectators. Football below Ligue 1 is very poorly followed over there.
     
  27. hornetboy1

    hornetboy1 First Team Captain

    Am I excited about the new season? No.......but I'm very curious about how this season is going to go.

    I much prefer to be an established Premier League club than an established Championship club. Even though we've only been in the top flight for 5 years, I got used to it and really don't like the thought of having to chase promotion again.

    If we do thrash everyone in our path, then I'll certainly enjoy that and winning the league in style with 100 points and 100 goals scored would be exceptional. However, it probably wont be like that.

    I do like the two wing backs we've signed and the form of Quina. There's all the ingredients for it to be a good season, but for some reason Watford always seem to get it wrong at the vital moment. Keep Sarr, Suarez, Estupinan, Ngakia, Pedro and Quina, who I believe will be the stars of this new team and augment that with players like Foster, Welbeck, Deulofeu, Deeney & Capoue, even if it's for a short period of time, I think we could be incredible. I like the look of Ivic too. He does give off an air of confidence.

    It could be a lot of fun, or a sack of **** if we don't win promotion. A bit like the title of the Spurs documentary I'm watching. It's All or Nothing this season.
     
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  28. Malteser2

    Malteser2 Reservist

    Am I excited for the new season? Yes, for the football. Disappointed not to be in the top league any more but looking forward to seeing how our new look side/squad will get on. Feel we could develop a really good team as the season progresses. Looking forward to seeing if the players who frustratingly didn’t start matches last season are as good as we hope. Excited to see if Ivic develops into one of the best coaches we’ve had, which I believe he can and will. Feel slightly refreshed by the fact it’s a new league for us, new clubs to play, more matches, hopefully more wins, more ups and downs and patience needed across a very long campaign. Happy to know that unlike the last five seasons, we shouldn’t go into any match knowing a win is all but impossible.

    For non football events though, not so excited. Fear for what lies ahead over the coming months and although usually positive about us all getting through the pandemic, a bit depressed at today’s leaked news implying a further lockdown is almost inevitable. Hard to be 100% enthused about a new season when you can’t go to watch matches and then worry that just a few weeks in, the season could be paused.

    Happy to be back posting on the forum and sharing the highs and lows of the coming months with lots of great people on here, all of whom want the very best too for our beloved club, despite the different ways we all have of expressing that.
     
  29. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    My interest has disappeared in the last few years. It's become increasingly difficult to connect with the club, due to woefull communications and aloof players. The perceived lack of effort on the pitch has made me pretty disinterested.

    If Friday's match wasn't on Sky I'd probably not even try to find commentary. Certainly it's not something I'm going to pay for this season given it was free previously.
     
    wfcmoog, Burnsy and hornetboy1 like this.
  30. Heidar

    Heidar Squad Player

    Would have said absolutely not. I hated the squad and expected us to sideline or sell all of our younger players and bring in an uninspiring manager.

    But I'm very encouraged by pre-season and I think Ivic is a gem of a manager that has something we've missed for years... a winning mentality and a disciplined method of how to play football.

    No fans in the stadium sucks - fully agree - but we're just going to have to deal with it. Would rather have it on the box than not at all.
     
  31. UEA_Hornet

    UEA_Hornet First Team Captain

    Ligue 2 is a poor standard too. Or least it was back in 2007/8 when I spent 9 months in Strasbourg.
     
  32. Since63

    Since63 Squad Player

    Small Faces, mate.
     
  33. hornetboy1

    hornetboy1 First Team Captain

    Ok....now I'm officially excited.

    [​IMG]
     
  34. Malteser2

    Malteser2 Reservist

    And to think of the angst expressed by many on the forum when the starting eleven was unveiled for the Spurs friendly and it featured 6 of those 8!

    (With a 7th still in quarantine).

    The younger players will make mistakes and lose form at times this season..that’s to be expected..but my goodness it feels like a breath of fresh air as we get ready to start the new campaign,

    The staleness of last season is slowly being eroded to be replaced with a younger and fitter team all desperate to prove something.

    Bring it on!
     
  35. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    "You can't win anything with kids". FACT.
     

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