Over half of Burnley's squad is out of contract next summer. If nobody renews they will be left with 9 senior players. They *could* end up in a much worse position than us.
Better surely as they won’t have deadweight like Deeney that they can’t sell and who hoovers up large wages? Easy to sign players. Hardly to get rid of them.
I have that in my library but still unread. Lockdown reading has still only made a small dint in the list of non fiction to be consumed.
Similar situation at Newcastle: Yedlin, Gayle, Schar, Ciaran Clark, Atsu, Federico Fernandez, Carroll, Jacob Murphy, Saivet, Lazaar, Aarons all out of contract in the summer
You may be right that some of this is coming from Vlad. It’s a difficult one and a lose/lose situation. Some of the people on this forum who are now distressed about us not playing players were also saying last season that they never wanted to see these players in a Watford shirt ever again. I’m generally content for most of the players not to play and for us to only keep those that are vaguely committed which in an ideal world would include Sarr, Hughes, Capoue, Foster and Suarez. The problem is that it’s not an ideal world and we can’t get rid of a load of the players. At some point there will inevitably need to be some reintegration unfortunately.
They're not in tons of debt are they? Yeah they're having difficulties, but they don't risk a financial crisis if they go down, do they?
He is in a win win situation. Watford are a managerial joke throughout the European leagues. If he walks, then no harm done to his reputation. He doesn't need Watford. If he stays and does well, then reputation enhanced. If he stays and we are relegated, which is possible. The football World will say what chance did he have at Watford given the players he is currently allowed to pick? He has nothing to lose here I wish him well as Watford are a club close to failing..
One thing I was pleased to hear in his pre-match press conference yesterday is that he indicated he isn't tied to only playing the 5-3-2 throughout the entire season. He said that there were reasons why he thought we had to play this system in the first games. It could be that the lack of available wingers and left-backs, or concerns about fitness or defensive quality, have forced him in to starting the season with 5 at the back and a more conservative style, and we could change once the squad gets more up to speed and more players become available again.
I guess we will all be concentrating on the game but Vlad is on Football Focus at 12. https://twitter.com/BBCMOTD/status/1309775969473814529
I took him to mean Gray was the first striker fit and ready to play in pre season, there are 5 and they all have to prove why the deserve to play.
Pretty sure at least one of those journalists won't make it to the end of the season alive the way Ivic looks at them.
I really think it was Vlad’s decision to leave out players and not part of a Pozzo conspiracy, as VOR has also previously theorised. Vlad repeatedly has said he wants players committed and fit and he made it clear that Sarr was keen to play. Despite the frustration of the previous team selections I think the weakened teams were calculated risks as part of his process of staking his authority. He’s basically made it clear that you have to work hard and be committed or else you’re sidelined. It means we were weakened but perhaps there are long term benefits for the squad unity. Also shows that all squad players have a chance and there are no favourites. All our managers last season would have started Deeney today. I also believe what he says that we will get better.
I love the intensity even in the press conference! The man is really growing on me....i think he could be very special as far as managers go.
One thing I liked from today was leaving out Quina, he's not been all bad this season at all, but definitely below the lofty expectations we had for him. Just a little reminder there that if you don't play well, you're out of the team (even though I think with a proper midfield behind him like we had today, I'm sure he'll flourish)
Pedro really is a talent, still developing of course. If he's this good at 19, just think how good he'll be by the time he's Murray's age...
Agree with the above, he's really starting to grow on me - Beating them lot today obviously helps with goodwill, but the picture is starting to become clearer now - He wants people to play for him and the club. I like his press conferences, its to the point, and no bullsh*t - he proved that by saying it's his call on Troy and Sarr, and we saw them today. More tellingly though, he said he'll get the message through to the lads on what today means - Pedro has learnt the word "Derby" and was game for it, and to a man they lived up to it. Can't and won't try to fault any of them. I had reservations on Quina, and was glad to see him on the bench today - He can change games and technically is very sound, but for me he needs to grow mentally - but that comes with experience and I'm sure Vlad can work on that. Give him his due today, when Quina came on, there wasn't a lot of time, but he ran, he chased down what he could and you can't ask for more in that situation. Hopefully he gets the backing in the window for the positions he wants to strengthen. I think we need a bit more depth at LWB, and perhaps a CM depending on how Hughes is recovering, and how bad Nate's injury is - however TDB seemed to fit in absolutely fine, and put himself about - happy to give him more game time after today.
He seems to be doing the basics right The thing I noticed is how committed our defence is from stopping allowing crosses to the box. In past seasons we seemed to give free reign to opposition wingers to cross the ball. Today they attempted to stop every cross. Their only chance of the game was when a cross came in. Well done Vlad. You are the new Special One' in my books. Good to see Deeney back. If Ivic has brought him back down to size and committed to play for watford then that is an even bigger achievement. We need him if the other option is Murray. 3 games no goals conceded. Fantastic 1 goal which could easily have been 3. Fantastic Still on target to be on 20 points plus after 10 games. Then we can reasonably see how we're doing. But so far Ivic is doing a great job.
Judging by the gut today, that's still a work in progress! But yes, when it looked like they were going to get a ball in, we went out well to stop them, and apart from that one chance, we got everything away easily
