So here we are, back in the hurly-burly of the Championship and ready for a season where we don't really know what to expect, hoping to be challenging for a bounce back promotion but with very little idea as to what our squad will look like when the window slams shut in mid October. Multiple senior players from last season haven't been involved at all in pre-season, either through injury or presumably because we're looking to ship them out - Femenia, Janmaat, Welbeck, Sarr, Pereyra, Deeney, Capoue, Hughes, Janmaat, Success. How many of these will play any part this season is anyone's guess. Six days before the start of the season and we have a monster squad and it's fair to assume that it will continue to be trimmed right up until the last moment. What is clear is that we have to move on quickly from the rancorous end to last season to stand any chance of promotion. Let's not beat around the bush, that squad had more than enough talent to stay up comfortably but weakness ran all the way through it. Regardless of the wider failings of the club's hierarchy, the players let the fans down horribly, causing reactions anywhere between apathy and downright loathing. A new broom was needed and it's arrived in the shape of Vladimir Ivic, a serial winner in smaller leagues, hungry to make the step up. What seems clear from the two pre-season friendlies is that we won't be playing the turgid long ball that characterised most of our time in the Premier League. We've lined up in both friendlies in a 3-5-2 (3-5-1-1?) with lots of quick passing and the wing backs bombing on. Whether this will be our longer term preferred formation or a reflection on the players currently available is still open to debate but the style of play is very different, as befits the move to all of a sudden having far more possession against less accomplished teams. We know precious little else about Ivic, as the club have gone the unusual route of not having a sit down interview with him but he seems an overwhelmingly popular choice with fans at the moment due to the hope that he will shake up the poisonous dressing room, and exorcise the many bad apples. Vicarage Road suddenly has a youthful feel to it with Quina, Wilmot, Estupinan, Suarez and Dele-Bashiru all featuring, giving new impetus to the stale and ageing squad of last season. The opposition Canny old fox Neil Warnock is the manager, having taken over from the hapless Jonathan Woodgate and steering them away from the relegation zone. Rumour has it that Guardiola learned everything from watching an old documentary of Warnock... Notable players are Britt Assombalonga and... that's it. This is less of a reflection on Boro and more on the fact that I've become one of those typical Premier League fans I used to mock, as having looked at their squad, I have no idea who any of them are. What we can be assured of is that Warnock will have them snapping and snarling from the off, looking for any weakness and trying to shock our inexperienced Championship players and coach. They've not really done anything in the transfer market of note but this could work in their favour as the players know each other and the system. They've recently beaten Newcastle 5-1 and followed that up with a 4-3 Carabao Cup victory over League 1 Shrewsbury. The season As stated at the start, very hard to know what to expect but the least we should be looking for is more attacking football and bringing on the young players. And who knows, if it all goes well, this time next year we might be back in the promised land having 18% possession against Manchester City as we lose 8-0! COYH!
******* buzzing, real football is back! Of course, I hope we will go up this year, even better if we go up as champions, but we all know that'll be difficult with some of the teams knocking around, despite the positive vibes. Think the trick is to go in with hope but not expectation, we could hammer Warnock's lot 5-0, or we could get outfoxed by them too, but whatever happens, the world keeps turning!
I agree with Hogg-Deeney, we are entering the unknown. The last two times we were relegated it was after one season so we were facing teams that we had mostly played only recently. This time of the teams in the Championship who were there in 14/15 will be completely different to what they are now. As with Middlesbrough, a great win or a depressing return to reality awaits. I suspect that between now and Wednesday for there to be at least one or two new faces for immediate first team action to be made, provided we are able to shift those who we/they want out.
Watched the Boro vs Shrewsbury highlights and Boro were handed a couple of goals on a silver platter. The team that played today seemed to be in tune with what Ivic wants, wouldn't be a surprise to see the same line-up while everyone else gets up to speed with the possible exception of Gray who limped off and Foster in, despite Bachmann playing fine. We looked fitter and more cohesive than I'd have expected. Was really concerned that Boro would pull our pants down as our lot would play like strangers. Not so worried now but never write off a Warnock side.
3421 today , then switched to a more orthodox 343 when Murray came on and Pedro went wide from his central starting position .
3-4-3 might be a recognised formation but anything but orthodox for WFC. Have we ever even tried it before?
Seems like only yesterday we were watching Aitor Karanaka's Middlesbrough results while doing Rainman-esque mathematical calculations to work what each passing minute meant to the end of the season and the promotion race. Good times, good times.
I remember blanking my then girlfriend of a few weeks while all the madness was happening on the penultimate day! Despite the inauspicious start, we've stuck together long enough for me to wake her up in the middle of the night Chinese time when we beat Wolves, was supposed to take her to the Tranmere cup game but **** got in the way, hoping I can take her to her first game soon enough!
Trying to set up my championship fantasy team is proving difficult as i don't know who any of the oiks in this kick and rush league are. 1-0 Watford
If we lose it will act as a wake up call that this ain’t going to be easy. Then we will proceed to lose the next game too.
Obviously there's gonna b quite a few players leaving and the Doucs fee suggests there could be a lot of low balling going on. This is bad for finances but handy for keeping the players we want as we can tell them the offer isnt high enough so they have to stay. Obviously the big concern is not being able to shift 'Our God' Deeney. The big takeaway from the Spurs game is that we are planning to play some really fookin awesome football and within the squad we've got an extremely refreshing group of young, hungry, technically gifted players chomping at the bit to put that into practice. Vlad has shown us what he wants his machine to look like and personally I love it. Like a lot of Watford fans the idea of these young whipper snappers playing their hearts out in a Watford shirt fills me with a lot of excitement. I think the policy of separating most of the overpaid senior pros who got us relegated from the young pups in our last 2 games is a smart move. The seniors who don't get sold can be integrated into the team once the dressing room has has been sanitized and the poison removed. One positive from yesterday is you've got mates playing in the core of the team. Chalobah and Quina are mates with Gray and also with TDB. Mates are more likely to fight for each other than overpaid want away mercenaries. The emphasis being on 'fight for each other' not the 'I lead, u follow' of the Deeney years. Pretty much anything could happen against Boro. I dont know enough about the finances or how many bad apples there were last season to comment in detail but if we can address these 2 burning issues without losing too many good players it looks like Vlad & His Machine could take us on a helluva ride this season. Personally, I'm looking for a 'zero tolerance of player power' policy from Gino this season. Any player who thinks he's more important than other players, the manager or the club can fook off as far as I'm concerned. Time for these preening self obsessed w@nk€rs to get out of our club. Whether it's Doucoure, Deeney or whoever. What Vlad is trying to build is so much better than the cr@p we've been fed since the Wolves semi final, both on and off the pitch. Here's to Vlad & his young pups. So much more likeable than last year's team. That in itself is already a huge step forward. Promotion is a big ask of any Championship team. Its a 24 team, twice a week, 8 month marathon. It's hardcore and it's an intense battle. 1 in 5 relegated clubs go back up 1st time. With better decision making at the top of the club we can shorten those odds. If the club in any way resembles last season's disaster circus, we've got no chance. One thing's for sure Neil.Warnock will be ready for us and gagging to fook us up on the opening day. I'm looking forward to seeing how Vlad & his Machine react to that challenge.
This is going to be a tough game as it always is against a Warnock side. I know they have pace and trickery in Assombalonga, Wing and Tavernier but not sure how they are defensively. If we play with the same confidence that we did against Spurs with a few changes then I feel hopeful of a result.
I'd take a point. It's a congested fixture list so a draw and no new injuries would be great. 46 games and 46 draws and we are safe.
How long will the Sky coverage take before mentioning Pearson and sacking managers? Warnock will come with a game plan to be strong and physical catching us cold on the break and Britt might score. Hopefully we can overcome this.
Coming up against Warnock on the first day isn't ideal. We know how how he loves to spoil a party & know how he'll motivate his side to be top, even for 24 hours. I can see Borough being super fit, physical & very defensive. We did struggle against Spurs in the 2nd half, which i would expect from so many youngsters early in the season. Warnock will try to keep the score to within 1 for as long as possible, hoping to capitalise on that later in the game. So far we have looked good, moving the ball well & creating chances. Yes it will be more difficult in a league game than friendly, but goods signs are there. 1 - 1 for me
Who knows how this will go, hopefully we'll have some more experienced players back in the squad to at least populate the bench. As ever, concerned about Gray up front on his own. Know **** all about Boro but it's Warnock, he'll know there will be a lot of young and inexperienced players out there for us and will no doubt have them roughing a fe Watford Red card would not surprise me one bit from a frustrated youngster. Watford 1-2 Boro
What ever happens, I’m not getting worried till 10 games in. How we play is more important and who plays well together. Let’s get a solid spine to team and some decent partnerships established last 6 seasons it appears that about 75-80 points will be top 6 and 85-90 points is automatic. So if we’re sitting on around 20 points after 10 games I’ll be happy. Beating Colin would be great but not the end of the world if we end up with a draw.
We played with so much intensity yesterday in the first half, and I struggle to see us maintaining that for 90 minutes with such a short pre-season. As others have said I'd expect Warnocks side to be extremely fit. If we are to play that 3-4-3 formation that essentially had four central midfielders on at once, then we are going to need quite a bit more cover in that position. There was maybe some potential in Phillips, but I'd be terrified if we were relying on him to come off the bench every game.
I wasn’t able to watch the game yesterday but having read all of the reports on here anything less than three point next Friday to us would be a disappointment!
Everyone knows what to expect from a Warnock side. They're certainly going to be more direct than Spurs were yesterday. Bypassing midfield and hitting the channels trying to turn the defence. But the way we went about defending and getting into shape was so good yesterday that it fills me with hope. Have no idea how the result will go but I just can't wait.
Neil Warnock has been a coach for 41 years and achieved promotion 8 times, generally with unfashionable clubs and players. I hope somebody has told Ivic this. SLB's video clip made me laugh out loud and Warnock may appear to be an oik - but he is not a stupid oik.
I rate Warnock He gets a lot of stick but it is obvious that he also gets a lot of respect Of course I expect to get hammered for this Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It is a good point you have made . He has his own way of doing things , trusted coaches, has bags of experience but let's hope he gets it all wrong on Friday night !.
