The Second Coming Of Quique Sanchez Flores

I agree. Anyone who thinks that QSF is suddenly going to start playing with a more attacking style is deluded. He only knows one way to play and that is to TURN THE ENTIRE TEAM INTO DEFENDERS. He was very unpopular with Benfica and Valencia fans for playing turgid defensive football and playing flair, attacking players in defensive positions. He had just as many attacking options with those clubs if not more than he has with us. Dont be surprised to see our new 30 million pound signing Sarr being used sparingly - and when used - often as a defensive midfielder. If QSF was English he would be labelled as a footballing dinosaur.

We do not have Prodl, Britos or Ake anymore. OK Prodl is still here but is surely not up to playing in the Premier League anymore. Our central defence is WORSE than it was last time QSF was here and he will do all that is possible to compensate for our poor defence by making everyone defend. Our strikers are not better than the Deeney - Ighalo strike force that was a force of nature for half a season. Our attacking midfielders are better but I almost certain they will be forced to make defending their number one priority.

Anyone relieved that Gracia is gone to due to his tactical inflexibility and sticking with out of form players will soon be brought down to earth because QSF has the same faults. If QSF has changed - and hopefully he has - then I apologise.

Expect to see lots of very frustrating games for the rest of the season. If we avoid relegation then its job done and hopefully we find another coach. The heirarchy at Watford has to take most of the blame for this season. They ought to of sacked Gracia in the summer if they did not think he was up to it, brought a couple of quality central defenders and given the new coach the summer to work with the squad, so we could push on from the good season we had last year.

Some fans though seem delighted because they get to sing a song they like.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if QSF made up with Jose. There are different ways of being a boss and manning up and wiping the slate clean is one of them.

 

Weren't there rumours that Quique allowed Deeney to skip training a couple of times? That and the fact he was never dropped him is probably why Deeney thought he was a great coach.

 

I tend to agree with everything you're saying but equally I think it’s a sensible appointment.

At this stage it’s all about staying up, by definition good managers are normally employed, I’d be amazed if the last week wasn’t spent trying to line somebody else up but if they’re currently employed then there isn’t much we can do about that especially as we took the moral high ground with Everton over the same thing.

No doubt there were some concerns about our end of season from but equally there were mitigating circumstances that could’ve have been applied. These first four games have proven to the owners those concerns would’ve been valid, but without these first four games it wouldn’t have quite been enough. Timing is key as well, being as realistic and objective as possible there was absolutely no point in giving him longer because the absolute best we could have hoped for from the next run of games is one point from Wolves if we were lucky, even that is being generous.

 

I wouldn’t say the club shouldn’t worry about it. Holebas has been with us a number of years and is likely highly thought of by his teammates. And his character could be problematic if he plays up. The club won’t want him being a bad influence around the training ground.

 

Looking forward to seeing some more of his stunning wife .... unless he’s traded her in for an even more stunning younger version .

 

Perhaps you should adjust your moniker , unless of course it is an ironic one .

 

Hopefully he brings back Richard Collinge, we had hardly any injuries in 2015/16.

 

Truly cannot stand irrelevant, hypothetical rubbish like this.

 

Just come back from a weekend away as catching up.

Is there anything less impressed than underwhelmed? My whelm is far lower than being under. Maybe subwhelmed?

Name another team that did well after re-recruiting a manager that was sacked or left (retiring and coming back doesn't count).

 

Chelsea won the league after reappointing Mourinho.

 

Watford with Graham Taylor.

 

Back for training this morning I expect. Wonder what QSF makes of Dawson? Cathcart is off preparing to have his fragile confidence destroyed by the Germans

Will Holebas be "sick of this sh*t" again? Will QSF unlock the broom cupboard and let Prodl out?

Sarr must have had his mind blown after the last few weeks.

 

Who cares. I just can’t wait to see pictures of the hunk back in Watford colours. Anything else is secondary.

 

Yes I remember the outrage after we kicked the loser out first time round.

 

'sacked or left'

 

Judging by how the team has continued in to this season, not much of it,

 

Yep. I could never buy into the argument that the end of last season could be discounted when considering Javi’s position. Seems the club thought so too.

What I found most alarming was just how unprepared we had looked at times. We had a whole pre-season with pretty much the whole squad available (bar internationals) but yet we were woefully undercooked against Brighton and lacked shape in the games afterwards. Sure we had chances in the other games and some decisions went against us with officials - but to me that doesn’t excuse just how bad we looked a lot of the time in those 4 games. It’s like the whole pre-season was wasted.

Obviously I don’t know so I’m largely guessing - but stories of a worrying atmosphere in the changing room...I would expect that started in the summer and has got steadily worse as results continued to be bad. What caused it? Underinvestment in the defenders? Gracia employing the same tactics and formation? Gracia pushing them too hard? Not hard enough?

The part from ‘State of Play’ is interesting where Duxbury says when form is bad, they look at the training methods etc. If they are happy with it, they know it’s their fault results are bad because they’ve got recruitment wrong. I suspect they haven’t been overly happy with Gracia’s ways of trying to turn things around and he’s just been repeating the same methods that haven’t worked since April.

 

That chap saying our defence is now way worse than in QSF first season is depressing as hell. But he's spot on. Britos gets slated on here but I thought he was a sumptuous footballer. And of course there was Ake.

All they needed to do is get a few ageing italian centre backs year after year and we would never have any problems at the back.

How the hell has it come to this?

 

The bit where the article states QSF has already proven he can't motivate an exciting squad over a full season is very very harsh!

The squad has evolved drastically since he left the club and we have far better players now than we did then!

He did a very good job with what he had at his disposal and achieved his mission. For a newly promoted club with a fairly average squad to work with he kept us up with no fuss and we were never in danger of going down.

He also took us to an FA Cup semi-final (which included an away win at Arsenal) which was only one step away from what Javi did with far far better players to work with.

He did well with what he had.

Listen, I won't be in favour if he decides to play players out of position again and we play an aimless long ball game to our forwards (like we did under Javi). He needs to come in and find a way of incorporating Sarr, Deulofeu & Quina into the side and make us harder to break down/beat.

I don't think it's fair for people to compare Javi to QSF in terms of success (let's be honest, it wasn't a lot different anyway) because they had two totally different squads to work with. QSF now has far more options to call upon than he did last time.

Very intrigued to see how this pans out, but I can definitely see the logic in his re-appointment and don't think it's a gamble.

 

The question I asked myself was how long does a bad run need to be before I would take action?
4 (not 3) games into the season and 11 points behind where we were last year (take 11 points off our 50 gives 39 which could easily see us relegated).
3 games to come which we should lose. Should he be condemned for losses to Arsenal, Man C and away to Wolves? No? So 7 games and one point and bottom of the table. Is that time to get rid? No?- because those last 3 would have been lost by anyone. So how many more games do you risk?
I accept it is not easy and I do not really know what is best. I liked Javi and think he is better than recent results show. More to the point we have replaced with someone who is no certainty to either improve our results and certainly not our style of play.
Who would own a football club?

 

Yes I'm playing devil's advocate to an extent. I personally doubt we will finish as high as 11th again or get to a cup final again in the next 10 years but the run is shocking after the high point of Wolves in the SF and something had to be done. Wonder if they'd have still sacked Gracia if we'd nicked a late winner at NUFC ?

 

Yep.

Said last season that it was odd how Britos was routinely overlooked by Gracia. Britos and Cathcart have been our best pairing since being back in the PL and the reluctance last season to give him more minutes in favour of Mariappa was a decision I never fully understood.

 

Confirmed 2 year deal. Dean Austin also back in the fold.

Leventhal is speculating a break clause this summer but that’s no surprise really.

 

The conclusion has to be that they want the same thing as us. They will lose millions if we go down, we will just be supporting a champ team rather than a prem team. They see everything we see, and a whole lot that we don't see. It may not turn out to be the right decision but they are far better placed with the info to make the decision and very experienced at making that type of call. At least they have done something and not let it drift.

 

I wonder if Gino and Co are happy with the attacking play and accept we just need to be more clinical in that respect - something we certainly were with Ighalo and Deeney in QSF’s sole season in charge. If he can get the attackers being as clinical then that end of the pitch is sorted.

And then that leaves the defence - and given the resources in that area aren’t great, they need to be well drilled. When was the defence at its best in the PL? Under QSF.

 

He got 45 points from 38 games with us - which is not 1.3 but 1.18. Over 34 games that gives 40 points. Add in our existing point and 41 is dangerously near the drop.

 

Is 41 dangerously near the drop? A lot less has been enough in recent seasons. 41 is safety - and unless we get an unexpected upturn in results in the next few games then safety is the target now. Should we somehow get 6/7 points out of the next 3 games, then the target can probably be upgraded. But it’s doubtful. 41 points from where we are now would be a decent effort.

 

It's all done now, but I found this interesting...



Says to me that you've been marginally better than the actual table suggests - from a relatively neutral position, I still think you've pulled the trigger a little bit early here. Another 3 or 4 games wouldn't have been the difference between staying up or not. If there was a plan (like there seemed to be when Silva was sacked and you brought in Gracia), I could perhaps understand it but this seems uncharacteristically panic-like and, that being the case, I think it was/is too early to hit the panic button. The QSF thing smacks of deviating from the long term plan, and I'm not convinced it was necessary to do so just yet.

Anyway, feel free to disagree, I obviously don't watch every minute of every game you play but while results had obviously taken a downturn, my vague perception was that performances hadn't been quite as bad as results suggested and, usually, that's your measure when considering making a longer term change.

 

This is a flawless analysis of the situation I'd say.

Yes, the second half of QSF season was the most tedious football I have ever seen at the club. Worse than anything served up in the 90s. I've mentioned it before but it was so boring it made my testicles physically ache at the match, and I am deadly serious about that.

However, the squad was a random assortment of duds, ****heads and just plain dogshit footballers and QSF did whatever it took to keep us up, which he achieved so effortlessly it elevates him to second greatest manager in the history of our club in my mind.

Now the circumstances are completely different. He has some utterly supreme players at his disposal, so we have to presume his approach will be different to the last time he was here. But we desperately need defensive organisation so this will inevitably mean one of our thoroughbreds will be sacrificed. The only question is who it will be...

I for one am prepared to give him 2 matches before I boo up a lung.

 

It is dangerously near the drop because it represents one win above 38 which in a year with no awful teams is probably relegation. Are you comfortable with a forecast 34 games out that suggests 41 points?

 

I think you are a Hornet in disguise - only none of us would have been brave enough to show an alternative table with us halfway up after this start. Thanks anyway.

 

No break clause according to The Times.

 

At this juncture and with the 3 games upcoming, I’d begrudgingly be happy with 41 points.

Only 3 teams have ever been relegated from the PL with 40 points or more. And the average for the team finishing 18th is 35.6 points.

It’s not impossible but only 3 teams in 25 seasons (so 75 teams roughly) - 41 points is very likely to see us safe.

 

Does he like to pass?

I remember plenty of hoofing under his tenure. I reckon it’ll be the same this time, to either Deeney (too old now) or Gray ( too short).