https://mobile.twitter.com/NicktheHornet/status/1422585733706129412 Can someone please message Nick or Aidan. All I care about is if Hughes is there. Currently our boys are getting smashed 3-0. So guessing it’s more u18’s than u23’s. Edit: our other team is getting smashed 4-0 by Kings Langley
https://mobile.twitter.com/Sam_ucko/status/1422641270657277954 Andre Gray doing Andre Gray things. https://mobile.twitter.com/saucywfc/status/1422642524317958151 Caption had me laughing on this one.
Hughes wasn’t at either game. So he’s either traveled with the squad or he’s completely isolated with a personal trainer at the training ground.
Just as a reality check in an attempt to keep the hysteria in check , in 15/16 where we cruised our way to EPL safety our pre season results involved…. ~ 2-1 loss to Cardiff, a mid table championship at the time . ~ 2-2 draw with Wimbledon - A plucky 1-0 win against Dundee - A glorious 2-0 win against lower 2nd tier team Paderborn. - Most impressive of all was a resounding 4-0 victory against the mighty St Albans .
Again, nobody is annoyed with results, just part of the preparation. Feel like your misunderstanding it on purpose to fit a narrative that isn’t there
And why is the preparation of this season any different to then ? Ive never see a pre season where the first XI is started every game or indeed any of them . That’s not what pre season is about , and yet every season we get the same hysterics .
Contractual issues, players aren’t fit, fewer pre season games, a few odd player selections in first team games. It’s still a big unknown; similar to last season, only reason we got away with it is because of the league quality, won’t happen again this season. I also don’t trust the head coach
So no different to pre season 15/16 then. Or indeed any pre season at pretty much any club. No one is saying that we are in for anything other than a struggle for survival this season , but that doesn’t mean we can’t keep our observations fact based , rational , sensible and void of hysteria .
I mean it’s completely different to 15/16 for a start, and name me these clubs that have arguably their best player training with the U23s
But all your so called reasons apply to every club in every pre season. So your reasons don’t have the weight to back up your argument and therefore are invalid . The only one that made any sense was that we are about to sell one of our best midfielders ie Hughes. Well in 15/16 pre season we sold Daniel Tozer who was at least comparable to Hughes . Ie a half decent upper championship / lower EPL player . In Tozers one season for Watford he scored the same amount of goals and assists than Hughes did in previous 3 seasons for Watford . We replaced Tozer with Behrami and Capoue .
1) They don’t apply to every club, you still haven’t given examples 2) Pretty sure we never signed Tozser on a perm deal 3) You answered your own question, Behrami and Capoue were both significant upgrades and were signed 6 weeks before the season started, that is not the case with Hughes or the players we’ve brought in
1- Name a single club in pre season that doesn’t have players that aren’t yet fully up to fitness, contractual issues unresolved , odd player selections ie youth and fringe players getting a game 2- Irrelevant whether Tozer was permanent or not , we lost one of our best midfielders and the club moved on. 3- The transfer window still has 4 weeks to run and none knows who we will sign or how good our new signings will be , which is my entire point. Furthermore I’ve seen Etobo play in Stevenage ,WBA game and live tv in Arsenal game and looks to be a more than suitable replacement for Hughes but who knows until the season starts which is again my point . Louza looked off the pace when I saw him but again it’s still pre season and he’s young. The guy has already been bought for more than Hughes ever was , so perhaps the same people who brought in Capoue, Behrami and Doucoure know more about midfielders than you do ?
It’s not irrelevant because Tozser was brought in for promotion and promotion only, never to play in the Prem, Hughes was. And to answer your questions; Brentford, we haven’t moved on from Hughes, Etebo and Louza are good players; never said they weren’t, they’re just not natural DMs, fee doesn’t equate to quality, and your last point makes no sense as I’ve not argued that point
Etobo is not a natural DM ? Lol . He spent all of his preseason games parked in front of the back four , shielding the defence and distributing efficiently like any quality DM does . You clearly haven’t seen any of the games preseason have you? And yet apparently you know all about Watford’s pre season inadequacies . If I’d known I was debating with someone who hasn’t even watched any pre season games I wouldn’t have bothered wasting my time . Have a good night.
For starters his name is Etebo. Also just because he played there in pre season, doesn’t mean he’s a natural DM. Is Cucho a natural central midfielder? Is Fletcher a natural left winger? Is Sema a natural number 10?
Only two players affected by contracts, only one of which is training on their own. Only Danny Rose looks way out of shape. From what I recall I think we had fewer games in the pre-season before we got relegated. Plus on the flip side we appear to have an unusual lack of injuries (touch wood), and a squad which rather has too many players than too few. We also are unusually continuing with the same manager as last season (rather than wasting time with having to find another one and for them to get familiar with the squad and start implementing their ideas) , and one who hasn't lost the dressing room already in the way Javi had. This seems to have been a fairly reasonable pre-season overall, there isn't a major problem
Hughes arguably wasn't even our best CM last season (Cleverley), let alone contesting with Sarr, Sierralta and perhaps Kiko for PotS. Meanwhile Spurs have literally their best player (Kane) refusing to train at all.
Not really an answer to BRLR's question: Jensen, Jansson, Henry and Nørgaard have only just started training for them, with the first three having not yet featured in a preseason game. Dasilva (arguably a marginally better player than Hughes) is still injured. And their record signing Ajer still isn't up to speed and hasn't played yet in preseason.
I think where we are different is that for the second pre season in a row, we have a large group of players in the departure lounge that are still floating around the club and attending training. It's a mixture of players that are surplus to requirements and that we want to stay but haven't yet committed. Not being able to shift these wasters really ties our hands. If we knew that Gray and Success' wages were definitely off our books, maybe that allows us to bid the extra to get someone like Ferguson in? If Hughes and Chalobah had gone three weeks ago, we could've got replacements in for a full pre-season rather than having to leave it to the last weeks. These exiled players will also have friends in the dressing room who might feel they've been treated unfairly. And there might be others looking at some of our higher earners sitting around doing very little for their wages that feel resentment. I can't see any way that having multiple senior players training away from the group doesn't have some sort of negative impact.
The more I see our fall-out from relegation in clear daylight, the more I wonder how the **** we managed to stay in the Prem for 5 years!
2015 we had an completely on fire Iggy and a younger hungrier Deeney who could actually move and score goals. We looked like a top 10 Premier League side for half of our first season back. We all know what happened after that, but we had already done enough to stay up. Wally had more or less the same side and struggled, but his lack of English and the fact he had the balls to drop "Mr Watford" probably lead to his eventual demise. My point is, we stay up based on if the players give enough effort and aren't totally crap or out of their depth at the highest level. I have faith that Xisco has been given the chance to lead us again since, as @lowerrous stated he has not "lost the dressing room". Our pre season has been very hit and miss with a jumble mess of players in each game. I just hope Xisco knows his first choice 11 when we face Villa in less than two weeks time. There is no way he will make the choice based on the results so far, but the fitness levels and hunger of the ones who want to make a stamp this season and give us every chance of staying up.
Playing Doncaster today at St George's Park. https://www.doncasterfreepress.co.u...ors-friendly-with-premier-league-side-3333564
Let's face it, it's been a shocker of a pre season. We could lose 15-0 against a string of non league sides, it rarely reflects the season. However its looked from the outside extremely disjointed. We look like we're preparing for a U13's tournament rather than potentially one of the most pivotal seasons in the clubs history. If you didn't know, you'd have think we'd have been relegated last season with the type of business we're doing. I really feel for Xisco as the club are setting him up for failure, especially if the inevitable happens and Sarr follows Chalobah and Hughes out the door
Thanks for that info. Shame it’s all irrelevant. Those four players have been at Brentford for a while, don’t need a bedding in period, also three of them were at the Euros, so fitness isn’t as big a deal
I’d have loved a higher calibre of player being bought, but the one good thing is how early we’ve done most of our business. At least Xisco has had a full pre-season with most of the players he’ll have at his disposal. There isn’t a huge gap to be filled ready for the first game, but hopefully an upgrade on the midfield to be integrated at some point.
