Watford FC - Pre Season 2016/17

Kabba?

 

How do they manage that then - they finished 15th in their League last season?

 

Quite enjoyed it.

Isaac looked fast and direct.

Britos much improved from last week.

Their number 19 ( Phillipoleaux?) was a sprightly little barnacle and deserved his goal.

Slightly concerned about Cathcart and Capoue going off,hopefully not too serious.

 

That number 9 was a bit nippy for them.

 

I think we should sign Philippoteux as I imagine it is French for "tinpot".

 

Whatever formation we play, why was there still a massive gap between our forwards and midfield. Saw two occasions when Deeney won the header and it dropped to no one (as no one from the mid anywhere near)

If the government struggle as to where to put Heathrows 3rd runway, then theres more than enough space between our attack and midfield.

 

How did Gueds do in the advanced midfield role?

 

Lotiman votes 'remain' for once...

 

If I were Gino I'd ask Wally if he'd care to explain himself

Millions spent in players and the best he can come up with is Anya and Gueds one week before the season start

 

...

 

Kabasele situation confuses me. Big fee, current international and 25 years old yet from friendlies feels like he is behind Nyom in the CB pecking order!

 

Who would you pick out wide? DJ Bruce is nobbled. And Gino has failed to provide him with an AMC.

 

To be fair Anya had a run out at QPR so I would have started Zuniga in this one to take a look (maybe for Holebas as an alternative). I'd have given Vydra or Sinclair a chance as well and left out one or both of the big pair.

Just feels like we've learned very little from the warm ups. Maybe the nailed on starters for next week needed more match fitness I suppose.

As it stands I am pretty sure the starting lineup next week will be very familiar from last season.

 

The last pre-season game isn't the time to try new players out and drop key players from the starting line up.

It would be ridiculous for Mazzarri not to start a team as close to his first XI as possible.

 

So why not try out the others by starting them at QPR? I'm pretty sure Deeney and Ighalo understand how each other play and don't need to start each friendly.

 

Today he started with 7 players that played for us in the Championship. We shouldn't dismiss these players as they are the heart of the club, but it's crystal clear where our deficiencies lie. If we play 3 at the back then we need another quality centre half, and whatever system we play we need at least one top drawer playmaker.

Time is getting tight and I would assume, even if we sign these players this weekend, it will be too early to integrate them for the Southampton match.

I would suggest we could be too vulnerable to play 3-5-2 at Southampton. Just look at the limp display we gave at QPR and I don't see any reason why we would suddenly improve to the necessary level in such a short space of time.

I think it's highly likely we will struggle to get points on the board over the first few matches, and that may put off potential signings, if we don't manage to get them before the season gets underway, so it's important to get something done next week.

 

Highlights here, including some polite ripples of applause, a comedy penalty award, a neat finish by Igahlo and two good goals for the opposition...

[video=youtube;CDHg7AGaAjE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDHg7AGaAjE[/video]

 

Thank SLB :sign15:

 

If Zuniga can't get a single minute at wb in pre season then what is the point in having him? So to answer your question I would have given Zuniga and Amrobat time this pre season at rwb. There is nothing Wally could have learned about Anya we didn't know 3 years ago. A thoroughly pointless exercise.

And now he's the only rwb with match level fitness in his legs and surely must now start at Southampton.

 

Looked like a penalty to me. Where's the comedy? Holebas played for it and defender too slow to see it coming.

 

Fair point about others but the bit in bold makes literally no sense. He needs to learn about Anya. That's the peril of chopping and changing coach twice a year on average - it's Groundhog Day and we're left paying for the privilege.

 

It's clearly outside the box. I initially thought it was a foul but after a couple more viewings, looks like Holebas changed direction to deliberately run into the bloke as well.

 

Away goals count double.

 

How do you know we were looking comfortable if you were nt at the game ?

 

Went to Zincos after the game and all the Watford players were in there. Was ecstatic to get a snap of Deeney.

 

If over three transfer windows in the Premier League we've only improved our starting 11 to the tune of Jolevas, Success, Capoue and Prodl then I think only Villa have done more poorly in he market over the past year.

Unbelievable to have had so many players in and out yet we're still essentially a championship side in the Prem.

 

That's only because Diamanté and Ibarbo didn't get a game

 

African S.H.I.E.L.D. Of Nations bonus.

 

Well we are Watford. We're not actually that attractive to most players. We're fishing in the same pool as Hull and Burnley.

 

We were a Prem side in the Championship.

 

Well why? We've had a year headstart on them both. If we e not accrued better bait then the owner has to be at fault.

 

Yet we went up after 3 attempts with Bournmeouth ahead of us and several of our players have now stepped back down?

 

It comes back to the post I made the other day about the personality cult that has built up around the Pozzo family in these parts. They're no different than any other owners. If anything as you touched on elsewhere they have the potential to be much more ruthless as frankly for them we're a business proposition with limited/zero emotional pull. So we're left with fans having expectations built around a mythical negotiating expertise, a long-since equalled scouting network, an untested model in the PL, a fancy private jet and the occasional bit of fluff punted out by the club around cryogenic recovery chambers, fancy showers in the dressing rooms and some untested youth prospects not even capable of getting immigration clearance to work in the UK.

They deserve lots of credit. They've spent money tarting up the stadium in ways that really generate no extra revenue. They've given us more goals and excitement in 4 years than we could ever have imagined when Bassini was at the helm. They're clearly football people and what's good for us is good for them so it's a healthy relationship. And we've more chance than ever of establishing ourselves at this level. But at the end of it all we're still Watford. We have no PL pedigree, we have no proven pathway for players to develop and move on to bigger things and we probably offer less £££ than the majority of our rivals.

Players are naturally going to be cautious. A lot of the bigger targets will want to see we can make our PL status stick before they take a punt on coming here. I'm pretty confident if we can stay up this year next summer will herald more of a step change in our attractiveness to new players. Not binning the coach each summer would be a smooth move too.

 

Success looks good.
Guediora was wasteful.
Anya is still a sprinter in football boots.
Ighalo seemed to be passing a lot which was strange but welcome.

I like the view from the SEJ.