Key Ingredients To Survive And Thrive In The Prem

So we're up!

But what do we need to bring to next season to keep us up, and more than that, to improve in the top Division?

Pick one and explain please.

I'm going with continuity. We need a few players who understand and love the club to set the tone. Clevs and Chalobah for a start. And try and keep and support a coach rather than get rid if we have a bad patch.

Hopefully that'd also be easier to stay in love with the club as fans and relate to the team and setup however results go.

 

A FOX OR TWO IN THE BOX ​

 

Finish above at least 3 other teams

 

Pot as many balls as we can

 

Mental strength. Be able to deal with not winning for a month and still be up and confident for a big game. When you go 3-0 down to Man City don’t turn it into the embarrassment of 8-0.

 

Score at least 40 goals, let in no more than 52 goals. If possible win 12 games, but no less than 11.

 

Key ingredient: Rose Harissa

Reason: It's delicious.

 

A good start (unless we begin at City).

The Brighton match set the tone for the whole season.

 

A striker who can score 12+ from open play.

 

That's the cake.

How are we making it?

 

Game management. Something that was seriously lacking in the Reading game.

 

A new squad.

 

Experience playing in the top flight.

Ok, we have that in Hughes, Clevs, Chalobah, Sarr, Kiko, Masina etc but when we went up originally in the Pozzo era we signed a lot of experienced players that have played in the European top divisions:

Holebas
Britos
Prodl
Jurado
Behrami
Capoue
Diamanti
Ibarbo

Ok, they weren't all great, but most of them did very well for us. You need that experience, especially against the sides we need to be beating to stay up (Norwich, Newcastle, Brighton, Burnley, Palace, Saints etc). We have a nucleus of good young progressive players (JP, Sarr, Sierralta, Bachmann, Hughes, Chalobah etc) and we need to sign a couple more, but I think signing 3 or 4 experienced players will be good, as long as we can get rid of the likes of Deeney, Gray and some other deadwood to be able to bring them in.

 

It’s strange because our current squad doesn’t seem a million miles away at all from our first PL squad, yet it seems a long way away from the current quality needed to stay in the premier league.

Is that because;

The overall quality has improved incrementally each season with the riches of the PL enabling incumbent teams to get stronger and stronger?

Teams like Wolves and Leeds finally getting their act together leaving fewer crap teams?

The fact we had Iggy scoring goals for half a season, something we never had since but perhaps made up for by improving elsewhere throughout the squad?

QSF performing a miracle?

All of the above?

 

Do they exist or are we more likely to see a unicorn on the pitch next season?

 

You mean in the first half after we scored? After that I thought we did a pretty good job of managing the game after Sanchez came on to help stem the flow of Reading attacks.

Better examples of bad game management were the sequence of games against Villa, Everton and Brighton last season, where we picked up just one point after leading in all three of them, which ultimately proved fatal. OK, we had Sarr out which gave teams more freedom down our right side, but we should not have let the points slip as easily as we did. It also came down to mental strength (or lack of) as mentioned above.

 

Jacket potatoes with delicious fillings for when winter draws near

 

I personally believe we need some real experience in the defensive midfield area, an old wise head maybe who is coming to the end of their career and wants a new challenge.
Maybe someone like Fernandinho or a Javi Martínez of Bayern. Someone who can just sit and organise, drop in between the two CB'S if the fullbacks are attacking. They have experienced everything and would set an example to the rest of the squad. You could get a season out of Fernandinho and atleast a couple out of Martínez. Even though both are out of contract and are interesting clubs in their respective homelands we could offer them an interesting option. Wouldn't be the first time we've taken an aging player into the ranks.

 

Basically a PL standard Sanchez equivalent?

 

A unicorn is more likely, and they won’t get anywhere near 12 goals as they’ll pop the ball every time they go up for a header, FML.

 

Sorry - got to go with 2 things....
First maintain and build on the team spirit that has grown in recent months. Years since we had that tbh.
Secondly need two major "good/tough" players in for CM and striker - eg Douc type and a 25 y/o Deeney. (we've got loads of talent already but need some basic grit sprinkled....

 

We need more of those hotdogs that you can still taste 10 hours later when you burp. Having no fans for 12 months should be a chance to invigorate the catering options.

 

Money and luck.

 

Really I suppose. Martínez although not getting many minutes still has so much to offer. Wouldn't be surprised if he's playing Premier league football next season for someone. To me it's not even a gamble signing.

 

None left after the Brexit Gift Bonanza.

 

It's been a long time since anyone got a full season out of Martinez, let alone 2! Man is a walking sick note.

 

Getting Deeney fit so he can play every game.

 

Last time we were promoted we sacked our manager and changed most of the players, and stayed up effortlessly.

Last season we stuck with the manager and players and got relegated.

Yet you claim continuity is what we need.

Never change, watford fans.

 

We need something continuous.

If it's not the manager then something else.

Otherwise do we end up with a squad who don't care about the club, no playing style to carry forward, no club ethos.

Makes it harder for us to relate to our club.

People moaning about Deeney neglect the fact that apart from the Pozzos what else has their been that's stuck around?

You're free to disagree of course.

What're you looking for next season then?

 

Solid start or a non panic to a non solid start by the board.

Stay in games mentally and keep the in your face attitude the squad found since Bournemouth.

Let Troy and Andre leave on frees. Better in the long run.

 

When I was a young lad my grandmother would give me a freshly cooked jacket potato in each pocket of my coat to keep my hands warm. I would then have something to eat at half time.

 

Also, similar to a point made a few times by Smudger and zztop, if we find ourselves in the relegation zone most of the season but then climb out of it after a good run, don’t go defensive and try to protect what we have, that approach killed us last season and lightly threatened to derail our promotion campaign this one (and we’re not the only team this has happened to). Stay positive and carry on doing what got us out of trouble in the first place.

 

Honestly, I would rather rather we repeat what we did last time we went up than showed loyalty to the manager/players who got us up.

We are a small club with limited resources. We have to do something different from the norm to stand out from the masses. The pozzo model of ruthless firing of managers worked. It aggravated some of our fans, but it worked.

As soon as they changed the model and showed loyalty, we went down. In previous promotion seasons we showed loyalty and finished in last place.

I fear sticking with munoz and putting our faith in hardworking but limited players like cleverley will see us finish in last place. Now is absolutely not the time to be sentimental.

But it depends what you want from the club I suppose. If you value a squad who care about the club above staying up then fine. But I want us to stay up no matter what the cost, as that increases the likelihood of us winning the first major trophy in our entire history.

And by the way, do you really think any modern day footballers give a shyt about the club they play for, apart from a microscopic number of exceptions? Come on now.

Sticking with a manager who got out thought by Luton ******* town's manager, and many other hopeless managers, will see us relegated. As will sticking with players who were second best in the majority of games this season.

 

You're just a ray of sunshine after our promotion, aren't you?