Why we're so pished off.....

That's debatable. I think as fans we are always curious when we sign a player, even a little excited and keen to see them play and what they can do, however recently, that excitement has been dulled to death, with Aloi/Ainsworth/Jackson type signings.

I for one laughed out loud when we signed Smith, as I was glad to see the back of him, but to give him credit, he's proved a very good signing on the whole.

None of the others really had me jumping up and down. In the case of Ellington, Muff and Shittu I was more amazed at how much we'd paid.

 

No they weren't, Nuff at the time was the most exciting. But none are better than who we sold.

 

He's not going to sign players to excite you, he signs them to win games. Shittu's go about 8 goals no, one from 18 yards.

Smith was one of our best players last season.

Ellington is exciting, he's shown moments, maybe he'll play better in the prem or when there arent 10 of their players behind the ball, and marked out the game

 

I don't really know where to begin with that statement.......

Where have you been for the last 2 months?

Am I gonna get whooshed for replying to this? You're joking aren't you?

 

I think i'm sitting on the fence with this one.
Some signings have made me excited - King, Spring, Malky, Francis, Muff Shittu, and Collins John
Some have made me go who the...? Examples: Rinaldi, Aloi, Cavali, Sietes (and others)
Some i've been indifferent to thinking they could be useful: Stewart, Powell, Jackson, Smith, Hendo and recently Bromby and Eustace. Some of these have proven to be very good signings and exceeded my expectations.
I can only think of one of the well known players I was against us signing and that was Ellington (i knew a West Brom fan and they wanted rid a year before we got him so i was wary). However whilst he wears yellow i will try and show my support and continue to hope he proves me wrong.

On the whole Aidy's transfer history has been the same as most managers -even Sir Alex has signed some dodgy players (not that i'm trying to compare). Also there is no denying he still lacks experience (including knowledge of the transfer market) and that is why he needs someone to guide him - KB must have had contacts and had an influence? But who now?

As i've said already I do believe this team would be in the top 2 if we had a Premiership quality striker (e.g a fit and motivated King), a Premiership quality winger and a quality goal keeper who could save the day and create the odd goal. Replacing the players we lost was never going to be easy regardless of how much money we had available

Also we should remember most of the strikers we were linked with over the summer haven't done much at the time of writing

 

Wasn't knocking you willmer and certainly wasn't anal to spend all of 30 secs checking. Several people have claimed wildly different figures over the past couple of days.

 

We really do need to get away from this idea that Aidy is inexpirianced and needs an older head.

He has been a manager for 3 years - ok not long, longer than Southgate but does he have a mentor ?

He has been a coach in and around 1st teams for about 10 years, uincluding Watford, and has worked with some very expirianced managers. If he hasn't leant anything so far is he ever going too ?

 

Billy Sharp wasn't getting starts at Sheff Utd now he is, he has started scoring goals.
Jermain Easter Who went to Plymouth?
Ebanks Blake ran the show for Wolves against Charlton
Leroy Lita If he was available for loan to Charlton, why isn't he here?
Carlton Cole Was scoring for West Ham but has gone back down the pecking order, still better than what we have.

Who did we get?
Ellington the Baggies laughed their balls off at that one.
Will Hoskins a poacher of a striker, so he got played on the right wing, then dropped.
Steve Kabba, Same as Hoskins, just looked lazier.
Collins John, a player that turned us down when we were in the prem, and arrived here injured, overweight and according to rumour with one leg longer than the other.

 

Leroy Lita is a mediocre player who rates himself way to highly. If you don't like Ellington and CJ you won't like him!

 

Leroy Lita was picked in the team of the tournament at the U21's world cup
and looked the dogs danglies.
Ellington wouldn't make the team of the tournament in the pub teams of South Oxhey round robin.
As for John, I didn't want him after he turned us down and he has done nothing to win me over, in fact he has simply done nothing.

 

The game is up.

We have overrated, overpaid dross.

And not just those running the club, some are putting football boots on.

 

Sorry this is a bit long!
EBanks Blake does look like this seasons best young Championship striker (2nd or 3rd highest scorer?) but I don’t actually remember being linked with him over the summer (might be wrong though)
Easter: I think he is a decent Championship player, he looked lively for Plymouth but the taxi driver I spoke to down there said he isn’t prolific enough with only 2 goals (maybe in the right team…) It would have been another cheap gamble and I think like with Hoskins (and possibly also with Ainsworth, time will tell) it wouldn’t have paid off for us because he wouldn’t have been given the time to develop.
Carlton Cole Tall Strong, and has a bit of skill. He hasn’t developed into the player many thought he would, but he has proven he can score. Shame he chose to remain nothing more than a squad player
Sharp – I think the jury is still out, but since he’s been played in the right position he has shown some quality – still only three goals though.
Lita – he did have a good U21 Championship but he is not better than Collins John in my honest opinion (not worse either) however I can understand why you’d prefer him (personally I wouldn’t due to that night club incident last year – if Coppell couldn’t control him who can?!)

The other player we were linked with who has impressed me most was Miller – different class imo, not only that, he was cheap – West Brom always seem to buy players on the cheap and get good money for their players (wasn’t Chambers only slightly less than Robbo?)

However you failed to acknowledge players these players we were strongly linked with
DJ Campbell – what’s he done at Leicester?! Yet for some reason he’s being linked with us again
Eastwood – started very well and faded (watch him win the play-offs for Wolves now)
Cureton – maybe he’s not been given the service, but he doesn’t look as good as last season
Earnshaw – Derby paid a lot and he hasn’t featured much at all
Helguson…whats he done at Bolton (not that I’m saying I wouldn’t have had him back because I think he would have been good for us)

I’m not saying the signings we made were the right ones, in fact what this post suggests is that Aidy has a poor taste in strikers…seriously though, I’m just suggesting some of those many of us wanted chose other teams haven’t delivered as well (not just those we ended up with).
As for the recent loans Stoke have paid a million for Ameobi, if they don’t make promotion how will they fund it? They are in a good position and he might make the difference, but with our financial history I can understand why Simpson didn’t want to take such a risk on (more!) players who have suffered a lot from injury this season.

 

Cureton would have been a no brainer IMO. Will always score goals and would have given us something that we didn't have. None of the others could be considered worse than what we ended up with can they?

 

I'm sick of the same old sh*t on and off the pitch.

I was physically disgusted with our ineptitude at Hull on Saturday. Thats the worst I remember a Watford side playing in a long, long time in my opinion.

I'm getting to the stage where I'm wondering why I've been to most away games this season spending a fair bit of money in the process to watch a bumbling, blundering brigade of baboons doing ***** all and showing no guile.

Also, for daring to suggest we're not playing very well against Hull on Saturday I'm apparently a disloyal fan..... Some Watford fans are t0553rs.

Rant over.

 

Deluded.

 

Gather its that time of the month :]]

 

I'm not saying they'd have been worse or better, just showing that a lot of strikers many expected to perform haven't (maybe due to new surroundings, other players and the style of football?) Personally i think some of our players would do better in other teams, but that isn't my point either.

As for Cureton, i understand what you're saying, however over the summer i felt King, Henderson and Priskin would have been ahead of him (obviously in hindsight i was wrong about Priskin and King has now left). At least it wasn't a lack of money that meant he didn't sign for us because he obviously wanted to move back to Norwich

 

This is a good thread, with some well thought out ideas.

I don't really have much to add, but it is clear that the overall frustration of fans is reaching its peak, and it is understandable.

Midfield: The sales of Young and Bouazza are fair enough as they needed to move to progress, and we got a nice amount of money from them, Spring couldn't cut it in the premiership, but was quality in our promotion season. When these players were sold I was confident that Aidy would bring in some players to replace those we have sold. We have lost all creativity, and have brought none in. Macnuff has flair and definately has the talent to do well, but so far has lacked the final ball, the finished project. We have had injuries in centre mid, yet still Aidy should have accounted for this, as we have been technically poor in this area all throughout the season. Eustace has looked like a bargain, but other than that we have been lacking in this area for a while now/

Attack: Kings move (No less than 60 million, eh? :) was almost inevitable, and we have tried to bring in people who can score, but to no avail. Henderson is liked by the fans, but at the end of the day he is not a goalscorer. We need a player who can create something out of nothing, who can score at most opportunities. Basically, we need another King. I don't know why we got Kabba, and he has been nothing more than average. Nreaking the bank for Ellington has turned out to be a shyte acquisition, as he has done fook all so far- I have backed him in the past when the likes of Cude have got on his back, but its really farking annoying how he has done absouloutly diddly shyte. Collins John has done nothing so far either.

Overall, Aidy (The messiah?! :) has made some super signings, and some rubbish signings, but our poor style of football, and poor midfield and attack has left me not feeling totally confident in his managerial abilities.

We need a mass clear out at the end of the season, and DEFINATELY need some more creative midfielders and strikers if we are to reach the premiership, let alone stay in it.

 

ok, I was lying.

 

First of all I'll hold my hands up as a long time readed not poster...

This is an interesting thread though - loads of different (good) points... at the start of the thread a lot of people say 'I told you so' about the whole situation... I certainly remember thinking that we'd 'got away with it' a few times during our good run, and that we needed to improve etc, and also people commenting that on these (and other) boards; but not the wholesale reaction that everyone has thrown up here - not that I disagree!

Obviously the problems come back to tactics and personnel (no sh*t) - both the managers problem.

I certainly feel that as a defensive unit we are significantly stronger than at the start of the season - I'd go as far as saying that we had one of the strongest units in the league with the January additions (probably Aidy's best transfer window?).

However we seem to have lost EVERYTHING going forwards; looking at our promotion season we had the ability with that squad to both go down the wings and run at a defence. Granted I'm not saying that Ashley Young's crossing was accurate - but he could go in or out. The most significant change from two years ago in my mind is that every ball into the box now has to come from the wing - and the final ball simply isn't good enough - in fact as that is the only ball we play it would need to be nearly perfect as its so predicable.

Personally I'd like to see more of CJ - although I've only seen him play at home, and he's sometimes looked unfit, in my mind at least he's got in decent positions; touch will come with time on the pitch. The major disappointment has to be NE who seems unable to even get in a decent position to mess things up (unless he has 5 mins over a free kick...). However in terms of strikers it seems that we have/ have had a number of talented strikers who cannot realise their potential due to our style of play (Priskin also)... OR our midfield...

JJ has done well to step up, gets in decent positions going forwards, can tackle and gets stuck in - he also has a tendancy to get very deep, and too frequently plays a poor though ball - his time may well come though. Eustace seems a great addition - not much more to add on him! With our style of play (as above) it seems that both wings are a problem; TS has put in a great deal of hard work since he came back, but laterly has looked in need of a rest/ competition for places, and JM in my mind still flatters to decieve with good feet and no end product; how many goal have come from midfield this year?

I think that in particular with Henderson and to an extent JM & TS there is a tendancy to score two goals in a game and then nothing for some while; players in key positions for our current tactics have tendancy to fade out of games, or maybe more fairly not contribute to our goal scoring potential...

Not really sure that anything I've said is relavent to the post now - maybe I should get back to reading not writing...

 

Can't say I was wrong though.

 

Yeah that was my point. I don't like the way you critisize him; but still, he has been so rubbish so far that critisim is deserved.

I, however, want to be proved wrong. He has shown in the past that he is a goalscorer, and to be fair, the service up to him is poor; but he should at least be getting some goals. A natural finisher can make a goal out of nothing.

 

Nice post mate, keep 'em coming, now you have started!!!!