Well, I bet he'd argue he pretty much already has. I'm not going to go poring over the transcripts or whatever but didn't he say at the Q&A last year that we'd had to take out the loans because of the effects of Covid combined with our first relegation? The key thing I think is rather than focusing on what's done we should be looking expectantly for all the loans to be cleared by this summer as promised!
I'm not so sure. Can't remember exactly when I checked it but we were well ahead on shots/corners towards the end of the first half. They completely dominated the second half though, particularly after they brought on their actual good players and ended up well clear of us on attempts and corners. Towards the end it looked like multiple games in the Premier League where we started brightly but class and pressure was always going to tell. We couldn't get our foot on the ball or get up the pitch at all and were hanging on.
We've been heading down that road for a number of years now, but a lot of fans prefer to bury their heads, thinking only good things and challenges anyone who dares to speak of reality. We are flat broke. This was the window to show maybe we're not in such a bad place as I've been saying, but unfortunately, it looks as though we really are in a bad place. We can't even make small signings to plug gaps. .....and I know people will point to Dennis, but that transfer was a real gift horse. He was desperate to come back, he made all the moves to make it happen even taking a 70% pay-cut.....and there was no loan fee involved. In this day and age, it was a freakish loan deal that ordinarily would have been well out of our reach. Like I've said all season, I hope we stay up.....and that looks now to be highly likely. We've just got to let this season run its course and hope Gino sells ASAP. He's been taking the club backwards for years now, and is doing the same at Udinese. He's not cut out for it, it's only the genius of his father that created the empire. In just a few short years Gino has undone (or is undoing) all that good work of his father.
No idea (about the first). Probably not. Not convinced it is quite as bleak as you are making out though. West Brom are in the PO's and reportedly they are in dire financial straits.
I think despite what we’re told, the actions we see being taken are those of a club who’ve blown all their money and are desperately trying to plug gaps. It looks like they’re trying to find the balance between selling off as many players as possible, but without weakening us to the extent we get relegated and compound the issue. Pozzo’s seen the starting XI is good enough not to go down, so is flogging all the fringe players. We could be in for a tough second half of the season with a few injuries and we’re definitely not building for future success.
Yep, I don't think that contradicts what I said. We dominated the first half and had multiple openings early in the second when the final cross wasn't right - with Martins also hitting the post. They brought on their best players and took control as we flagged but across the piece we proved we're a good side IMO.
Adapting your cost base to a fraction of it's prem level to match slashed income is obviously going to cause a drop in quality of squad. Not sure why anyone is surprised. It's pretty common for clubs to struggle and either create huge debts or drop down another tier or both.
They had parachute payments last season, I don't know if they spent a lot, but they added a lot of good players on the cheap, plus recruited one of the best managers in the division. We are doing OK for our situation, but I'm not sure we can keep it up when our PPs run out, although likewise if West Brom don't go up, will Corberan stay? Will they be able to maintain their current form?
Fabrizio Romano Watford have approached Man City in the recent days to sign Micah Hamilton on loan. Two more Championship clubs also asked for loan this month but #MCFC have no plans to let Hamilton leave. Understand Man City want Micah to stay with first team.
They probably asked in the hope of rejection. Just so the story will leak and they can say “well we did try”. He’s a left winger……an area we have an abundance of options for. Maybe they wanted to convert him into a left footed CB. I wouldn’t put it past our lot.
Very rare Pep will loan out a player he sees having a future there. Prefers to work with them himself.
Being surrounded by world class players and a world class manager without ever playing has its own merits compared to playing more regularly for a tin pit outfit like us. It’s never as simple as playing time vs no playing time when the club the player is coming from is the best club in the world.
According to VI, nobody from the senior squad will be leaving during this transfer window and Mattie Pollock is happy to stay (until the end of the season at least) https://www.watfordfc.com/news/pollock-im-desperate-to-play-for-watford
When it comes to who is best out of @lowerrous or Pep Guardiola in assessing who would be best judging what’s best for their career….
That's not quite what I'm saying though. But following on from your point, big clubs often keep young players around on the fringes of their squads purely because occasionally they might need to give a senior player a rest and they need someone to fill in - meaning the player might hardly get a full match worth of minutes over a half season. Their reason for doing that can be principally about what is expedient for them as a club and what the manager needs, with a consideration of what is best for the player's development coming a distant second. You could say there was a similar thing when Utd supposedly rejected loan offers for Pellistri in the summer (including from us), and instead kept him to rot and stall on the bench or out the squad. You could also say a similar situation has been happening with us and Pollock - it would probably be best for his career if he could get a loan or a move to a lower Champ club where could play most weeks, but we're rather keeping him here because we need the cover at CB (even though he's not been getting many minutes). Most club squads will have at least one or two players in a similar situation.
Think Pep genuinely thinks it's better for them to stay around the squad with world class players in fantastic facilities rather than take a step down with worse players and facilities
Well it looks like we are waiting to have a rummage in what is left in the bargain basement free agent bucket in order to add to our squad!!!
A good point here. Apart from the fact that we also signed Watson and Guedioura who transformed the team and we already had a squad consisting of Gomes, Angella, Tozser, Abdi, Forestieri, Vydra, Deeney and Ighalo amongst others.
That bloke finds gold on each and every Pozzo dropping. A good example of the group of our fans that makes my eyes bleed.
I won’t name and shame but my favourite today was the bloke who said ‘a midtable championship team’ is what he ‘fell in love with’ and therefore our continued mediocrity is fine. Nobody tell Certsy. He might go up in flames.
Pollock said he wanted to leave didn't he? I would imagine we just didn't get a suitable offer for him in the end. Ngakia maybe? Charlton were linked but nothing came of that
