Dakar, Senegal - forecast for today: 31 degrees. Sunny with gentle breezes. Watford, Herts - Met office yellow warning for ice. I bet as the time to go got closer and the days passed too quickly, he looked at the weather and thought about the prospect of returning to the grim, hack-a-puff, 2nd division freeze fest, thought about all the Senegalese lovelies keen to get a bit of their world Cup hero, felt how fat and spongy his wallet is already - stuffed with notes and all colour purple - and just thought 'ah fack it...' If we're honest, most of us would do the same.
So he's had to play one game of football a week for 5 months and taken a few business class flights whilst receiving top class medical attention and better player welfare than ever before? Now you put it like that no wonder he's exhausted.
Doesn’t this spectacularly miss the point? Isn’t the issue not that he missed the match but the fact that it seems that no one, especially the manager, seems to know WTF is going on?
You genuinely think he could just not return home when expected without repercussions? The same player who has given us no trouble through two relegations despite persistent transfer rumours? It’s clear there’s been a miscommunication and it’s already been stated he had arrived back Sunday. I just don’t get the desperation to want promotion but then to paint one of our most important promotion assets as this bad guy. Especially when he’s shown loyalty and is clearly quite a shy, timid lad!
I'm not sure this contradicts anything I have said. The cause of the 'absurd reaction' is not so much Sarr, but the 'miscommunication' about this important asset, which is a pretty poor way to be running a supposedly promotion-chasing team.
Wow, a professional footballer having to play a game of football once every 7 days, when you put it like that the poor bloke must be absolutely knackered.
Andrew French has reported this isn't the first time he has pulled this stunt. Whether you like him or not as a player, his behaviour is poor and shows a huge lack of respect. If this was a less popular player such as Kabasele, Cathcart, Cleverley then others would happily point it out. I'm sure when he strolls out on Saturday at Huddersfield a few idiots will fanboy him and give him a warm reaction but he has shown, not for the first time, he lacks commitment to Watford.
Perhaps he's been given the option of taking a week off but Bilic was hoping he would arrive at London Conley and be fighting fit, but knew he might not be. Maybe Sarr struggles to find motivation because of the actions of the club (trying to stop him going to afcon or stopping him leave) I don't know. He's better than nearly all our other players but it was probably time to go in the summer.
What an upside down world some people live in. Nurses, rail and postal workers experiencing real world pay cuts and choose to cost themselves more money in order to fight for a better deal = Getbacktoworkyoulayabouts Millionaire going absent without leave = fair play, he's had to play football once a week for five months Admittedly not everyone who believes the former believes the latter, but those who do really need to join up the disconnected parts of their brain!
He's a brilliant player but we have to have standards here. The fans have always showed him love and support, the club have let him go walkabout so many times, and he still doesn't care for or understand the importance of the shirt.
He’s back in training - per pictures in the club’s Twitter. Seems to me to be a communication breakdown between the club, Sarr and Bilic. All of this AWOL/downed tools stuff seems an overreaction. Unlike the other players he’s had no rest the last few weeks after playing in 11 straight games. He was given some time off and either the club didn’t clarify with Sarr or Bilic how much. He is back now.
Or Bilic probably expected him to be back by Saturday but Sarr asked the powers that be for a bit longer and they agreed? And Slav wasn’t aware of this or overruled .
Yes. Incompetence on the part of the club and/or senior management. But the notion that Sarr must be a disloyal snake or the club is rotten or whatever as a result is a big overreaction in my opinion.
How the hell have you connected the two? May I remind you he’s come from a Senegalese village to being an international footballer that is going to change his families fortunes for GENERATIONS. He’s had to work 100x harder in his life than a postman ffs.
Either Sarr went AWOL and will face no repercussions or Pozzo extended his leave and didn't bother telling Bilic. Either way it's yet another example of the rancid culture that Pozzo has created at this club, something that will only end when he finally leaves.
As Andrew French points out . https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/23185648.sarr-no-show-watford-pozzo-created-poor-culture/ Players can do what they like really or go to the owner above the manager which seems to have happened here.
You might be right - I’ll ask my dad who gets up at 6am 4 days a week in his 60s working in all weathers for 5/6 hours if he agrees a bloke sometimes kicking a ball around once or twice a week for an hours or so is working harder first though. I mean there is the training but one wonders what they do apart from get injured! I think he does want to do well and wants to give his best most of the time but does easily drift out of games and doesn’t always insert his influence on a game if we are struggling.
The Senegalese village of... Saint Louis. A city with a population of over 200,000. Son of a former Senegalese international. I'm sure he's worked hard, but let's not pretend he was kicking a can around as a football and living in a mud hut.
Yeah, lazy stereotype from me to be fair just weird reactions on here I'm sorry. Seem miserable at their own life and it's Sarr's fault? Leave the guy alone!
Was more a response to saying footballers work much harder than postmen/women rather than anything about Sarr himself . Tbf he likes the work (it is part time) I will try Sir !! The trouble is not sure some players do and the prospect of playing against Hull on a freezing cold afternoon after a nice spell in Qatar at the World Cup probably wasn’t that appealing so Sarr probably took his chances and the club agreed to an extended break which Bilic wasn’t aware of it appears .
You’ve missed the point there. It wasn’t having a pop at Sarr or even comparing Sarr’s lot to that of a striking worker. It was a comment on the fact that there are some people who are criticising striking workers and others who are giving a footballer a free pass for not turning up. But I guess if it has to be explained However, Sarr is not from a village in Senegal, as others have pointed out.
LOL. You were the one who used the stat of Sarr having played 19 games in 20 weeks as being some sort of hardship, so you’ve very much made your own bed here. I really don’t think you could’ve used a worse stat to prove your point, you’re just reaping what you’ve sowed. It has nothing to do with people being miserable about their own lives, just people laughing at someone simping over a pro footballer having to do absolutely nothing out of the ordinary for their profession, let alone any other.
Do you really think the physical demands on Sarr are the same as the physical demands on you? Do you also think physical conditioning is as important to your job as is Sarr’s? A comparison to nurses, postmen etc is just bizarre and has nothing to do with Sarr needing a week off not being a big deal AT ALL. But it seems my comments have triggered you, so maybe there is a bit of jealousy that Sarr gets to play football for a living? I’m not sure, I’m just genuinely baffled by the reaction that’s all. Will leave this convo here now anyway,
Nope, don’t like the man. It was half in jest to be fair but also not a fan of blaming others for my circumstances.
Well he has had a good rest now and back doing his job so expecting the bloke to be flying and ripping into bottom of the table Huddersfield at the weekend leading us to 3 points that keeps Bilic in a job. A goal and assist at least would be nice . No excuses about it being cold etc or moaning to the ref about getting tackled.
I think you’re just digging yourself into an even deeper hole because you said something silly and people picked up on it, so you’re digging even deeper. The top professionals play close to 70 games per season, premier league, champions league, FA cup, carabo cup, internationals. 19 games in 20 games is literally nothing at all impressive or out the ordinary amongst other professionals. I’m not triggered or annoyed or jealous of Sarr (how utterly ridiculous what that even be!?) you just made a daft comment, that is all, no need to keep digging and insulting people.
And they get 6 weeks summer break.. This has been a calendar where he's playing in two international tournaments and had a SHORTENED summer break AND had two hamstring injuries, so again I ask, why does this warrant personal attacks on his character? It's really not that absurd.
If we can't believe you when you say "Will leave this convo here now anyway," then how can we believe anything. You are just showing yourself to be one of the several annoying people who has to have the last word and clog up threads on a regular basis. Be the bigger person and just let go.
I was annoyed last week that he wasn't there but if it benefits us in the long term I'm not so fussed as he is important to our success this year. A lot of players had a little bit of a break for this world cup and I very much suspect none of the England players are back in training yet. Bilic mentioned before the Bristol City game that Pedro and Sarr were struggling with fitness so maybe a little break was the right thing to do Bilic not seeming to know this had happened is a different thing altogether though