Watford Fc 1-3 Southampton - 28/06/2020 - An Effin Disgrace

Not one youngster, imported or homegrown has 'made it' since the Pozzos took over. I don't buy your assertion that it's the same for all clubs. Most clubs have, or certainly give a chance to, young players.

 

One player rocking the Bournemouth boat in the entire time Howe has been there? Seems a pretty decent record to me. If we'd signed David Brooks, we'd have sent him on loan to Oxford within a week.

 

They also bought that winger in on loan that we rejected for his attitude. Bet theres more.

 

I think you are spot on about the attack but you overrate our defence.

All our defenders are just poor, poor players. Maybe Massina has the potential to be a 'mid table' player, but Cathcart, Dawson and Kiko? Could you see any of them playing for Palace or Burnley or Arsenal or Everton?

The reason I argue for strengthening defence as a priority is pragmatism.
For 20m we could sign 2 good centre backs, faster and more comfortable on the ball than the Craigs. I don't rate Kabasele due to his reliable brain farts, but at least he has some pace. The other two (not even going to bother with Maps) are so slow and ponderous on the ball, they not only make it easy for teams to get amongst us and hurt us, they also make it easy to pressure us into mistakes as they are terrified of possession.

We have seen with Success, Gray, Okaka, Oulare, Sinclair, Peneranda etc. That we simply don't sign the right strikers for our club.

Gray was the one genuine mistake in all those. He was signed to play for us but was just a complete lemon. The others were signed for their profit potential or because they fitted some aspect of the Pozzo model, and it's no surprise they have been useless to us.

If we had a couple of defenders who were capable of making us more difficult to score against than Ings, just running in a line until they all fell out of his way, maybe over a season we'd have conceded 4 or 5 fewer goals. Wouldn't be pretty but we might be 3 or 4 points better off.

Another expensive striker will bea huge risk, or else, like Pedro, an investment, sitting in our squad, waiting for a future that might never come, for him to be ready.

 

Maybe the grass I'd always greener, but I'd have taken Muff's last 5 years over ours.

 

Part of that is due to the Pozzos neglecting youth (and in a sense you think why wouldn't they when teams like City are going to take our best youngsters for peanuts), but it's not as if most teams are full of home-grown talents, especially in the Premier League. We might get lucky and have one or two academy boys turn out to be really good, but it's not going to transform the entire squad and make everything perfect again

 

They may yet stay up at our expense, and may have finished higher than us most of the time, but would you honestly rather have their 8th place over our cup runs? Arsenal away and Wolves at Wembley are easily more memorable than anything Bournemouth have done since promotion

 

You remember the 'highs' I remember the bitter crash to earth which followed each.

 

Dunno what the situation is there, but Fraser could be a sign that they're just as rotten as we are

 

Rather ecstatic highs and crushing lows than 5 years of mediocrity

 

Agreed. Losing 6-0 in a cup final is way more memorable than any Bournemouth defeat.

 

Delusional.

 

And what do Bournemouth fans remember?

 

Nothing, they're all over 75 and senile.

 

I struggle to see what we are lording it over them with? Our glory from the past 5 years? A comeback at Wembley in a semi final - yes - that was great. I remember the buzz and the high as I left the ground. I also remember the uncomfortable humiliation it led to as we all waved our flags in front of a global audience watching us getting a record humiliation.

I dare say they've picked up some memorable wins along the way as well.

 

Did they ever, did they ever, did they ever wave their flags at Wembley in front of 760m people as their team was 5-0 down and just about to concede another, whilst playing like toddlers against grown me? clap clap.

 

Well, we won't agree on our defence.

But looking at this season we have had the same number of clean sheets (9) as Manchester Utd (9), more clean sheets than Chelsea (6), Arsenal (7), Spurs (5), Everton (8), Brighton (7), West Ham (6), Southampton (7), Bournemouth (4), Villa (5) and Norwich (5). I think that demonstrates that we can hold our own in defence. A single goal in four of those clean sheets would just about have given us safety on 36 points with six games to play.

But only two teams have scored less than us.

 

Richarlison? Imported youngster who has “made it”. Went from premier league debutant to Brazilian international with us before being sold to Everton.

 

If we're being picky, he was never in the Brazil squad while playing for us.

Personally, I think someone that had played 64 senior games before joining us doesn't really fit the bill of what I'm describing. But at a push, that's 1 youngster in 8 years. Who we couldn't sell quickly enough.

 

Equally though I can't see what they'd be lording it over us with. Which I thought would be sort of the point of why you'd choose their 5 years over ours? I could probably understand it if you'd picked Burnley (european qualification) or Palace (non-humiliating FA Cup final). At least they have some other baubles to point to. But Muff are just the most magnolia team going.

Plus as a Watford fan it seems slightly self-defeating if every good experience is going to be overridden by the next bad one - as statistically there's always going to be a lot more bad coming down the road than good.

 

To be clear, I am not making any case for our attack not being utter, utter crap. I'm just saying that we have spent big on improving it already and have failed.
The defence on the other hand, we have neglected by design. We have chosen to pay derisory fees for, often ageing players and we have got exactly what we bargained for - a load of garbage.

 

I didn't bring Muff up specifically. My point in response to them being suggested, was that they feel more like a proper football club than we do. I think all, bar maybe Wolves, who have their own 'model' seem like clubs who buy players to play for their team, which we don't. We buy players, some of whom, for one reason or another, end up playing for our team. And that, is what I hate.