Terrible weekend for Pozzo fan club. Strangely want all three sides to do well and stay in their big league. Let's hope for a better set of results next time out.
I don't think that's strange, sure most Watford fans feel the same. It's to our owners benefit and therefore us
How depressing! With a win we had a chance to climb to 12th place and put 10 points between us and 18th (Frosinone, exactly) and be virtually safe. Instead now we are 16th with only 4 points above the 18th so fully in relegation fight. With worry increasing, as horrible performances like today don't give much confidence and next three matches are against in form teams: - Roma 3rd, won 7 in a row - Sassuolo 7th, won 3 in a row - Napoli 2nd Sigh ...
It seems that the Chinese will become involved with Udinese... http://app.football-italia.net/?ref...ell-shares-china#article/footballitalia-81112
Lets hope it's only Udinese and not "The Trilogy" otherwise "The Vic" might end up a Chinese Takeaway :sign1:
When do we think Granada will (a) have another player sent off and (b) concede the goal which loses them the game? I reckon 76 minutes for the sending off and they'll lose the game on 89 minutes.
A real pity to have wasted the 3 points, but watching the half-filled glass, none would have bet on a point seeing they had to play 60' 10vs11. Meanwhile at Udine: Colantuono fired, new manager is De Canio (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_De_Canio), long experience without much brilliance, but Colantuono was clearly going nowhere. Let's hope for the best.
Are you confident Udinese will stay up? And if they do, can you see a busy summer signing players to hopefully boost you up the league?
In Udinese's forum despair reigns and lots already say "ok, we'll certainly be relegated" even if we're still 3 points above 18th. Personally, I think&hope we can still easily be safe if we play a few decent games and the players are better than the gameplay we showed and the table position we have. Hoping I'm right and we'll be still in serie A, I don't see any need for busy summer. There are a lot of young players quite good in team (Fernandes, Adnan, Wague, Guilherme, Perica, Matos). Some other youngs quite promising (Iniguez, Balic). Several other promising players doing well on loan (Zielinski, Aguirre, Jankto, Verre). If we find a good manager, capable of creating a good team and teaching well to the young players, we might quickly be back to better places in table next season. The "human resources" seem good enough.
Interestingly (for those who don't know, so not you presumably Sherlock!), De Canio was also the Udinese manager between 1999-2001, starting very well (getting them into the UEFA Cup) but eventually getting the sack when they were at risk of relegation. He was also QPR manager between 2007 and 2008, where he signed: - Gavin Mahon from Watford on loan - Matthew Connolly from Arsenal on loan (who of course played for us last season) - Fitz Hall from Wigan (who, again, has fairly recently played for us)
Udinese have sacked Colantuono (who was an unambitious, thoroughly uninspiring and rubbish appointment to begin with) and replaced him with Luigi De Canio, a similar looking appointment. Why is it that Udinese continue to make these mediocre appointments? I do not agree with those that say that better managers are out of their price range. Working at Udinese would present a unique opportunity within football, and let's not forget that they are actually in Serie A. Yes it's not the European powerhouse of a league it once was, but that's no excuse in my opinion for continuing to make these rubbish appointments. Why not go for a younger, hungrier, and more innovative manager? It's depressing seeing these journeyman managers come and go.
I'd love to see what Paco Jemez could do with a Pozzo team (preferably not Granada though). Each season at Vallecano he has to re-implement his philosophy as all the best players are taken for peanuts (Vallecano have an annual budget of €9m, for everything including player salaries) and practically a whole new squad. With the turnover of players in Pozzo teams, but with a more talented pool of players I could imagine it working very well.
What the Pozzo's were saying in last weeks was that "there's nothing better around" when asked about the possible sacking of Colantuono. They were probably right, the good ones are busy already and in Italy one manager cannot work for two different teams in season. De Canio is contracted only until the end of this season, in the hope he can lift up the dressing room.
Well, really Iachini, one of Palermo's manager this year, wouldn't have been a bad choice. But due to this rule he can't be hired until summer.
Ok, I'll give you that. Still, Stramaccioni is one younger and supposedly talented manager in a long list of uninspiring names. Sounds Pozzo-esque! €9m a season! That is a pitiful amount! How much will Rayo get next season do you reckon (taking into account the new TV deal of course). I'm not doubting you when you say that Pozzo said that, but I personally find that really hard to believe. Surely there are younger, more exciting managers are lurking about the European leagues? The next time Udinese are looking for a new manager, why don't they try offering these candidates interviews? I cannot accept that a club in Serie A cannot attract better managerial talent, when you take into account that Udinese: a) owns its own state-of-the-art stadium b) has a brilliant scouting network c) has some serious talent in both their 1st team and Primavera squads) d) is financially secure These wildcard candidates for the position of head coach can't be any worse that the has beens like Conaltuono, can they?
How could I not agree? Yet, it seems that while at WFC you've seen several quite "exotic" managers (Joka and QSF above all) with good results, at Udinese we're still clinging to Italian managers. Which is strange, considering we hardly have Italian players in team. The last foreign manager we had was someone named Hodgson (https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udinese_Calcio#Allenatori_e_presidenti), ever heard of him? Anyway, it didn't end well (http://www.theguardian.com/football/2001/dec/10/europeanfootball.sport2). My sensation is that, while Gino Pozzo has full free hands in decisions regarding Granada and WFC, Udinese's decisions are still in the hands of the father Gianpaolo and he prefers Italian managers. Anyway, some rumours say that Udinese is trying to hire for next season Roberto Stellone (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Stellone), born '77 who lead Frosinone from 3rd to 1st tier and is doing decenty in serie A (although in relegation fight) with a team (Frosinone) which, nominally, has a fraction of the talent that should be in Udinese's roster. That would be an excellent signing for the manager, IMHO (hoping we'll still be in serie A next season, of course ).
Not particularly sure, haven't really done my research on it. I'm sure there should be more available to them, but the owners seem pretty tight and the players leave for peanuts. Bueno scored 17 la liga goals last season....moved to Porto for £0, that's gotta suck. Interesting fact: google him and number 5 on the suggestions list is an article I wrote about him 6 months ago, very interesting manager and certainly destined for bigger things than Vallecano: http://outsideoftheboot.com/2015/08/27/tactical-philosophy-paco-jemez/ - my favourite Jemez stat is in 2013 against Barcelona, his Rayo Vallecano side had more possession than Barcelona, breaking Barcelonas 5 year (316 games) spell of having more possession than their opponents.