Gianfranco Zola - Ex Manager

It`s never boring

 

now you can start moaning about the lack of strikers...

 

Pity Zola's not to be our player manager

 

Maybe Udinese can answer this , but my impression is that the Journos seem to be a lot closer to the teams, almost embeded.

 

And so it begins.....

 

Is this becoming the new 'it's never boring lol'?

 

When we inevitably lose to Palace on our first game, i can see the Zola Out messages starting!!

Good luck to him, I think he'll do well and wont take any **** from some of our more precious players.

 

Oh come on, give our fans some credit. They aren't THAT bad!!

 

:boo:

 

I just hope the outcome at Palace is better than the first game of the Vialli era!

http://www.bsad.org/0102/reports/mancity/ar1.html

 

Welcome aboard Gianfranco! :sign15:

 

Or a person from one of the confederate states of being a Yankee.

Or an American of being a Canadian..."Do I LOOK like I eat back bacon?!"

 

I have been told by americans and canadians that if you dont know which one is which, go for canadian. Americans are less bothered about being called canadian than canadians are about being called american.

 

I personally have been happy with every single decision made since the Pozzo's moved in. Dyche had to go, Zola needs to be given time and money and the squad needs some tasty additions.

I also understand that announcements take time and people need to calm down

 

If the Jordan Rhodes story is true then that's the icing on the cake

 

If you ignore the sacking of Dyche, is abyobe actually unhappy about the appointment of Zola?

He has a name which can attract better players than Dyche.
He promoted a forward minded passing game.
He seems a genuinely likeable guy
He must love football since he kept playing till he was 39!

There are detractors for sure but it could bevery exciting!

 

Or you could ask them if their police is.mounted?

 

I have to say, I am a little concerned about what appears to be too much change too quickly? I don't know whether S D was offered a lesser role and did not want it, but if he wasn't, I think that maybe he should have been?

Even if it was only a consultancy type role, for say three to six months to help Zola acclimatise to "The Championship" and integrate into WFC; if the Pozzo's did not consider keeping on Sean with all his knowledge of The Championship" and more specifically of WFC, to help with the transition, then I think they might have missed a trick?

Having said that, what is done is done, so lets hope Zola hits the floor running!!! So lets all get right behind him and look forward to exciting times..................

U' OOOOOOOOOoorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnsssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

this would be so proper of our supporters (not the singing ones). this confirms, beyond any doubts, that we are a family. so, forget the sopranos or start worrying .

 

I agree with VOR that there certainly seems to be a lot of change very fast, maybe some of it change merely for changes sake. New owners, new people running the club, new person in charge of transfers, new manager, one would imagine a totally new coaching set up and surely lots of new players on the way..I'd be surprised if more than half the side that started v Mboro in May will start against Palace.

With that in mind..and the fact we are later than other sides in starting our pre-season..I think it will be very tough to hit the ground running in August. It's gonna take time to all come together.

However, I'm confident it will. Zola will have learnt from mistakes at West Ham (where in fairness, he did well first season and had a lot of off field s..t to put up with too) and maybe a mid table Championship club with aspirations of promotion is more his level at the moment anyway.

Don't expect too much at Palace though! Not only is it our bogey ground (play offs apart) but I was looking last night at the first game records of our managers. Dyche had a draw, Malky a draw (as official manager), Rodgers had a draw, Boothroyd a defeat, Lewington a defeat, Vialli a defeat, Taylor second time a defeat (having led 2-0).

In fact I could be wrong here..so correct me if you can..but I think the last Watford manager to win his first match in charge may well have been Bassett.

 

I believe it'll take a good 10 to 12 games for the team to start gelling.

 

Lol I love these bitter West Ham fans! Same ones who wanted Zola out but then got relegated once he'd left..and who moaned at Alladyce all last season even though he took them up!

(c and p)

Dear God, Zola is back in management with Watford and the same script is being trotted out already! Listen to Godfather Nani!

''I think Watford's fans can expect an exciting and attacking style from his team. Gianfranco represents this project perfectly.''

How many times did we hear about "the project" at Upton Park? Duxbury coined it, Nani gave lip service to it, and Zola smiled and nodded and touched his forelock and waved goodbye to Collins and Bellamy and welcomed in any old Continental crap that Nani wanted to foist upon him.

Poor old Dyche. He did a reasonable job last season and has been kicked out because he has a mind of his own. Like Curbishley, he wouldn't lie down and let Nani and Duxbury **** all over him.

I'm not sure if Watford fans understand exactly the extent of the disaster that is about to befall their club. You have my sympathy guys, it should have happened to a far nastier club!

 

I personally don't put jam on my hair but whatever turns you on!

 

I worked with a couple Canadians in the 90's in Tokyo. I am not like this usually, but as I got to know them, one of my favorite things to do was to insist that they were actually Americans despite all evidence to the contrary. Even when the Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series that year, I pointed out that they play in the USA's baseball league. It was good times...

 

Below is an article c&p'ed from the Guardian in Feb 2009 the season which Zola took WHU to a very respectable 7th in the Prem.

A few positive things to be taken from it regarding Zola's managerial style:

-"on-the-deck" football with an emphasis on using the ball both in training and in games means we should see some decent football this coming season (hopefully far more effective than that of the Vialli mini-era)
-Getting the most out of players such as Carlton Cole (no mean feat in itself) bodes well as players such as Bennett,Whichelow and Massey need to start delivering in the first team soon and hopefully will get a chance under Zola (as long as they're opportunities are not blocked by loanees from italy. Zola did have a reputation of giving young players a chance at WHU i.e. Tomkins and the Pozzos have stated they want to make the most of our academy).
-A formation built around two central holding mid-fielders (Parker and Noble) which suits our current squad with two from Eustace/Hogg/Bauben/Jenkins. Using two interchanging "wide" players who can also tuck in which would suit Murray perfectly along with hopefully a decent new signing. Finally with a player in the hole behind a front man which will both need to be signed in the coming months....

"We are playing good football at the moment and the players are determined to continue," Zola says. "We will certainly try to win because I never play to draw. Even away to Arsenal last week we went to win and we only ended up defending so much because Arsenal forced us backwards." West Ham's resilience in emerging with a 0-0 draw at the Emirates came as no surprise to Arsène Wenger, who had already hailed Zola's team as "probably the best in the Premier League right now".

Doubts persist about the club's long-term financial sustainability if their owner fails to find the buyer he seeks, but the anticipated mass exodus of players *during the January transfer window did not happen. Whereas Zola's predecessor, Alan Curbishley, quit at the start of the season in protest at players being sold against his wishes, the Italian's only regrettable loss was Craig Bellamy, and he consoled himself with the loan capture of Czech international Radoslav Kovac, securing the excellent Herita Ilunga to a permanent contract, and the club-record purchase of Savio Nsereko. If that unexpected extravagance hints that the chalice he inherited may not have contained as much poison as originally feared, it is also true that Zola himself has come up with an antidote to many of the team's ills.

One clear change he has made is *psychological, with the striker Carlton Cole being the most obvious beneficiary of his infectious bonhomie. For so long a frustrating player because a lackadaisical approach seemed to undermine his undoubted potential, Cole has struck six goals in his past seven games and improved to the extent that some are tipping him for an England call-up.

"It's about attitude," Zola says. "You just have to keep telling him he can do it. It was not that he lacked aggression before, more that he was never truly convinced that he could always be a problem for top opponents but the fact is he can be as good as he wants to be."

Pep-talks can only achieve so much. Zola has also presided over a tactical turnaround. At first he tinkered heavily with the team, causing many to wonder whether his lack of managerial experience meant he was unsuited to guiding the club through turbulent times. However, once he settled on his preferred line-up, results improved and, what is more, the slick play with which he has always been synonymous followed.

Zola's commitment to cerebral, on-the-deck football has clearly found favour with his players. Formation diagrams usually assign Jack Collison and Valon Behrami, for instance, to unfamiliar wide roles, but in reality they tend to dart all over midfield, sometimes augmenting the dynamic Scott Parker and Mark Noble in the centre, sometimes switching flanks entirely. The manager gives them licence to indulge their talent and instincts without diluting the emphasis on solidity. With David Di Michele flitting around Cole in a free role, West Ham's movement often *confounds opponents, while their work ethic means they rarely leave gaps.

"I can't really compare with what has gone on here before, but I think we're now training more with the ball," Zola says. "We have it for at least 80% of our sessions and I think the players enjoy that."

 

Zola was a brilliant player but seemed modest and gracious. Those are great attributes to have in a manager imo

 

Gianfranco Zola to last as long as a Tesco Value AA Battery.

I'm giving him until New Year and then we shall be saying ciao to everyone's favourite pint sized Italian (Apart from Mario).

We don't have a terrible squad, nor Ian Dowie as manager. However, mark my words here Frankie will depart in early 2013.

What will begin as a slow start to the season, shall turn out to be a slump lasting for the next seven months. Tomorrow will be the first sloppy performance of many.

Controversy equalizes fools and wise men - and the fools know it.

 

*ciao

The rumours over squad fitness are concerning, yes. What we do know is that the Pozzo's have succeeded so far with every footballing business they have undertaken to date. If it doesn't work with Zola, it will work with another manager and whether it be next season, 2014/15 or the season after that, we will reach the Premier League. I have little doubt about that.

Nice analogy by the way.

 

The Pozzo's have been successful so far, that is true. I agree with you Mr Schutzstaffel. Success is looking more likely to come to us under the Pozzo's than any of our previous owners. It just won't happen under Frankie Z.