Zola "We will challenge for the title next season"

http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sp...We_will_challenge_for_the_title_next_season_/

"We will challenge for the title next season" is quite a bold statement. Is it because we'll be in League One? :naughty:

 

League One?

 

Oh bloody hell Zola :doh:

 

Can't help but think good things about Murray, Forestieri, Battochio, Vydra, Bia etc with a years championship experience

 

Does this mean he is writing off promotion this season already then?!

 

Lol. Trying to control the fans expectations by writing off this entire season.

Absolute disgrace they never said this when selling season tickets for this season it was sold as a push for the premier.

Why didn't they announce this before the season ticket renewal period ended.

We are on game 6. Plus I don't really care about winning the league just going up.

Zola nice man. Not a manager.

 

> Zola said: “We have to be clear; we want Watford to become a well-established club and a strong club that will be challenging – I don’t know about this year but next year – > to win the league.”

The way I take that statement is that Zola either expects to have one of two things happen...

1. We get relegated from the Championship and win leauge 1 even better than we did in 1997 when finished top to Fulham under GT.

2. We aim for stability this season and let the team gel together, aim for (our usual) mid-table finish which to most of us is generally a good season. Then win the Championship
next season like Reading did last season.

Hmmm... I know which one I would prefer.

 

You need to read what it says properly before calling things a disgrace. His aim for this season is to finish higher than last season and at no point does he right the season off, that is just what you want to believe. That says to me we are aiming to be in and around the play offs but if it isn't to happen this year, and there are plenty of sides trying to do the same thing, then he is very confident that the the players with another years experience will be in an excellent position to go straight up next season. With all the changes that have happened this season then this seems to be a very sensible idea. We finished 11th last year so if this was to bettered then we would be in the mix. If you really thought that we go straight up this year then you know less about the league than you think Zola does. I don't know about you but I had my season ticket, like many other fans, long before the takeover happened. At no point did they say we will go up this year or even next year. Their aim was to get us in to the PL and make us into a team that can compete at the highest level. I'm sure they would be delighted if it happened this year but at no point was this mentioned. They are not stupid people and I'm sure they know it's not going to be easy but to suggest that they should have said to all perspective ST holders that we're going to right this season off is ridiculous even if this was the case which it so obviously isn't.
Try thinking about what is written before replying and you might find that actually what he says is not quite as bad as you think.
In my view it's a a sensible statement

 

He's talking about the Premier League, you cynical fools!!!

 

Right so let's get this straight. What your saying is Zola is predicting on game six and one point above relegation that we will finish 7th to tenth. And then finish first or second next year. It is such a bizarre start to a managerial reign.

I don't like all the players I have signed.

The team Sean dyche put together is very good won't have to change much

I rate Taylor highly

I didn't want Taylor to leave

I am really happy to be here as the pozzo set up allows me numerous options to improve positions in the team

We have too many players.

We have two weeks now to improve on set pieces and crosses the same mistakes won't be made.

We still have to work on set pieces

Does this sound like a man in control and know whats going on?

 

I was always under the impression this season was all about getting ready for a promotion push next season, so saying 'no promotion plans for this season' is no surprise to me.

 

Well that's the whole reason why I bought another season? How can u not aim for promotion? So were aiming for a pojntless boring season then? Absolutly ridiculous

 

Meh.

It's very easy to read this article and see that Zola accepts we will not be a force in the Championship this season.

I firmly believe that the despite what Zola has said, the Pozzos absolutely want promotion this season. I believe Zola knows this also, but due to our rather underwhelming performances and results the last few weeks, Zola has said 'next season not this one' in an attempt to take a bit of pressure off the squad and hopefully surprise the critics with some better performances so we can end up in the top 6 mix come the end of the season, and Zola ends up looking like a genius.

 

He says his aim is to finish higher than last season which means a top 10 finish which also means not too far from the play offs. READ THE ARTICLE
Are you saying you wouldn't have bought a season ticket if it was still Bassini and things were looking quite bleak? Excellent loyalty

 

You know, if only a bunch of Watford fans on here and on twitter said all they wanted was to be a mid table Championship club before the Pozzo's took over, this news would be easier to swallow!

 

You only bought a season ticket because you thought we'd challenge for promotion? I don't think you understand football and what supporting your team means.

 

Again. Read things properly before replying.
He aims to finish higher than last season (10th and upwards) not between 7th and 10th.
I don't like all the players I have signed. Where does he say that? He says if the players, old or new, are not good enough then they will leave.
I think we all know he didn't want Taylor to leave but get used to this kind of thing. the Pozzo's want to sell players at their most valuable and this was the time for Taylor. In 4 months he could have gone for nothing and even with a 2 year deal would never be worth more than he is now so they sold him.

I am really happy to be here as the pozzo set up allows me numerous options to improve positions in the team
We have too many players.
He knew he was going to have a lot of players at his disposal but from the sound of it he got a lot more than he thought. This is to do with people other than Zola.

We have two weeks now to improve on set pieces and crosses the same mistakes won't be made.
We still have to work on set pieces
Did we not improve against Bolton and then again against Brighton? Was the defending at set pieces a lot better on Tuesday?

I have asked you this before but you didn't enlighten me but what would you do? Everybody has their own ideas of how this should work so what's yours. Who would play, formation, tactics, what system. This sounds like a man who is making statements of where he thinks his team should be but may well need to write more simplistic articles!

 

Zola said from day one that this was a "transitional" season and there is no pressure for promotion.

 

You didn't provide excuses for all his quotes.

How do you think we improved set pieces against Bolton.

In four months Taylor couldn't leave for nothing. Again what do you base that on. If you mean the end of the season then is 100k really worth that much to the pozzos.

If someone buys 20 pencils then complains they have to many pencils you would believe he was a bit mad.

If someone said the pencil I have is great. Then buys 16 pencils and says he has to many.

I'm trying to make this as simple as possible for you knight but I think the bright Italian lights have got u in a hypnosis

 

The Italians are trying to do the same as they did at Granada which worked. This doesn't of course mean it will work here but most people must agree there have been improvements made recently. My original point to you was that you were twisting what he had said to make it sound like they were giving up and at no point does it say that. Maybe you should consider a career in journalism!
Lets hope by 5pm tomorrow you have nothing to complain about

 

as far as i see it zola knows he is out of his depth in management and knows he will be soon out of a job because results won't change due to us having a squad of 30+ players which have been put together like its a boring sunday on FM editor so he's saying he won't get promoted this year so he can keep his job longer

 

I ****ing do how dare u be so ****ing stupid! I've Been a season ticket holder since I was 6 I'm now 19 yeah that's not loyalty! I mean come on every team should aim for promotion!

 

Assume this is a wind-up!
If not - how sweet - are you shaving yet?
If all you know about Watford is the last 13 years then you have been very fortunate and given that it is a small town - all you have known is a club outperforming its realistic position
The point Nas made is that real long term supporters don't but a ticket because they expect success - it is in their blood and success is a bonus not an expectation

 

I think you're spot on here - there are plenty of young players in the squad that need to settle, hopefully it works!

 

Spot on.

 

we are dooooom

 

You plank. You have no idea what supporting a football team is about. Go and watch hockey or something.

 

The thing I don't quite get is if the Pozzo's don't expect promotion this season, why send us so, so many players straight away? Unless the plan was always to keep all of them for the next few seasons?

 

It does seem conflicting. On one hand we're being told this season is a season of building, but on the other hand we've been sent a new squad of players which makes it look like promotion is the target now. As you say maybe the aim is to keep them for a couple of season otherwise we'll go through the same building process next year, and the year after etc.

 

Their expectations may have changed since but what I do know is that when the Pozzos took over their aim was for us to go up this season as champions.

 

we should do things more like amit bhatia did with QPR

 

I genuinely think that if the Pozzos are unconvinced that Zola is doing a good enough job, whether that be in 3 months time or 3 games time, they will seriously consider getting rid.

 

Horrible as it sounds, could this season be a large scale 'trial' for a lot of these players? We've been sent 16 or so players, hand pick the best out of the lot of them to build a team for next season mixed with the best of what we already had. I reckon we won't make many signings next summer, literally two or three to top up our tailored squad.