Championship - 2022/23

Discussion in 'The Hornets' Nest - Watford Chat' started by StuBoy, May 10, 2022.

  1. HeiaWatford

    HeiaWatford Reservist

    He stumbled upon the right formation once DeeKnee was out injured, a blessing in disguise. I honestly don't think we were ever that good. For the love of me can't understand how we recorded a defensive record too.
     
  2. LondonOrn

    LondonOrn Squad Player

    I meant it’s within a major European league (a bit confusing that “league” can either mean individual division or set of them, and TBH I’m not sure if the former is correct, no matter how often the word league is used like that) - ie the Spanish league, which is obviously of a major footballing nation, like the English Football League. Similar to what I said earlier though, I don’t know how it compares to the Championship in quality.
     
  3. Chumlax

    Chumlax Squad Player

    Ah, fairplay.
     
  4. fuzzy73

    fuzzy73 Squad Player

    ….Top Half Finish
     
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  5. LaClusazSki

    LaClusazSki Reservist

    Hopeful, but with the players we have it is very doubtful
     
  6. hjw

    hjw Reservist

    See the negative nellys are out in force for this thread. Our squad will look different under our new manager by the close of the transfer window and We will be strong challengers for the title, as we have been for every season in the champ under the current owners, bar one (the 2nd pozzo year).
     
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  7. I Blame Pozzo

    I Blame Pozzo First Team

    I'm wearing blue today for Huddersfield!
    Come on Mr Hogg,you know what you need to do!
     
    Bubble likes this.
  8. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    A quick reminder that we’ve spent a grand total of £0 on transfer fees as a championship club under Gino, so our squad will certainly be different but different doesn’t mean better. Our PL squad has arguably ended up weaker than our Championship squad the year before, and that’s before you strip out the likes of Dennis and Sarr. I think pessimism is largely to be expected. Our squad has deteriorated every season since the first relegation.
     
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  9. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    Here's Hogg...
     
  10. Heidar

    Heidar Squad Player

    ... it's a straight red card
     
    Hornets81 likes this.
  11. Cassetti's Beard

    Cassetti's Beard First Team

    i hope we win this one
     
  12. Chumlax

    Chumlax Squad Player

    And now all those 'strong challengers' trophies are causing our cabinet to bulge in quite an unseemly manner #firstworldproblems
     
  13. HeiaWatford

    HeiaWatford Reservist

    Luckily there's some very good players in the Championship on frees who would easily make our side better. Rothwell, Wallace and Swift to name a few.
     
  14. LeedsOrn

    LeedsOrn Reservist

    Also PL loanees - for the last few years many of the league’s top players have been loanees: White, Guehi, Colwill, Gibbs-White, to name a few.
     
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  15. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    None of them to us though. This season would’ve been ideal to bring a few in too, but Gino would rather sign rubbish just so he can own it.
     
  16. LeedsOrn

    LeedsOrn Reservist

    I think there is a different dynamic in the championship as there are more players who represent a significant step up in quality from the rest of the side such that it is worth paying to develop someone else’s player. I think only Gallagher this season has been a successful intra-PL loan. There aren’t too many. Gibbs-White and Colwill would have been good enough but I think their clubs wanted them to play week in week out and I can’t see how we could have offered that.

    It isn’t an avenue we’ve gone down much in the Championship under the Pozzos either though I wonder if Edwards’ England youth connections and reputation may enable that to change this time around.
     
  17. Markoa$

    Markoa$ Squad Player

  18. UEA_Hornet

    UEA_Hornet First Team Captain

    They’re just this season’s pre-season fixtures.
     
  19. Markoa$

    Markoa$ Squad Player

    I know, he’s literally copy and pasted our preseason from 2021. At least make it believable.
     
  20. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    Yes has he got rather confused .
     
  21. Happy bunny

    Happy bunny Cheered up a bit

    Yes, but Gino couldn't make a profit on any of them, and that counts more than footballing ability.
     
  22. Happy bunny

    Happy bunny Cheered up a bit

    The club seems to be going for a complete reboot. Young British manager. Knows the league we'll be playing in. Even a shirt reminiscent of the one our best-ever team wore (red shorts? - don't know yet).

    But is it what it seems? Will Mogi be sending us some more duds on a free? Time will tell.
     
  23. hjw

    hjw Reservist

    We have spent zero because of the pozzo network. If we had to pay for WTK and Sierralta, our best 2 central defenders last time in the champ, it would have been millions! I don't agree with weaker than last in the champ, I would say the same at the moment (still time to improve), which is why we got relegated this season! (yes, hughes is a miss, but i'm convinced we would have still gone down this season even if he had stayed, and Louza will be good next season in the champ I feel)

    So, some reasons to be positive
    1) New manager
    2) Many players already proven at champ level
    3) The standard of the champ isn't that high
     
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  24. SkylaRose

    SkylaRose Administrator Staff Member

    Here is HMSPTL before the season starts. Hopefully we can get an upgrade on this as we move up the table.

    [​IMG]
     
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  25. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    The Udinese team has declined a lot in 10 years, where would they be without all the players we’ve sent them, rather than the other way round? WTE and Sierralta cost Udinese sod all when the bought them just as they would if we’d bought them instead.

    Look at the team that went down with 11 more points than we currently have, we could only dream of players of the quality of Capoue, Doucuore, Gerry, Bobby etc. plus we had external saleable assets like Suarez and Estupinan which we now no longer have, Zinc is probably our best external asset and he’s probably worth a few million at best.

    In 19/20 Hughes and Chalobah were basically backup midfielders, then they became our midfield on the championship, then we lost them and replaced them with worse players, maybe Sissoko aside who will he off. Dennis aside our team is worse than last season. And it’s significantly worse than the season before that.

    Without Sarr we don’t get promoted last season, next season we’ll definitely not have him and we’ll have a weaker team as well, plus the rest of the teams will be stronger having not had to endure a season where they lose 95% of their income and have to rely on the £5m from the TV deal.

    - Worse Team
    - Less saleable assets
    - Stronger competition relative to last season
    - Udinese well dryer than ever, Samir was the best they could offer us to try and avoid relation and avoid losing £100m lol.
     
    Last edited: May 14, 2022
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  26. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    Hughes actually made 27 starts in 19/20, third highest of all the outfielders.
     
  27. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    Capoue and Doucore are both better midfielders though either way. If they were both fit they started, Hughes was often played out of position when he did play.

    It’s all moot anyway as we now have none of them, which was the crux of my point.
     
    WillisWasTheWorst likes this.
  28. Markoa$

    Markoa$ Squad Player

    Brennan Johnson is so frustrating to watch.
     
  29. Hornpete

    Hornpete Squad Player

    I think we'll get as much £ for Sarr and Dennis as we did for Capoue, Doucoure, Geri and Pererya. Estupinan and Suarez have no peers this year, but the equivalent in Pollock, Baah and Asprilla could actually play for us.
     
  30. Hogg-DEENEY!!!

    Hogg-DEENEY!!! Squad Player

    How much did we get for all of those players in the end, about £40m? Sounds about right for Sarr and Dennis, though naturally I'd hope for more. Edwards coming in probably makes it more likely that at least one of Zinckernagel, Cucho or JP go as it doesn't appear like they'll all fit in an XI, which might open the door for Asprilla. If I were Pollock I'd push for a move, but from a Watford perspective, he could be useful depth, unless there's something I don't know about Baah and Hungbo, they go out on loan as Edwards doesn't seem to play to their strengths.

    I wonder what this all means for the likes of TDB, Quina will probably go for a small fee, but TDB (who's mainly been playing out wide for Reading from what I've seen, although we know him more as a midfielder) either could be a useful squad member, or fetch us a decent enough figure
     
  31. lutonh8a

    lutonh8a Squad Player

    I watched quite a lot of the Championship last year and I was surprised by the lack of quality. The Premier League and the Chanpionship are Worlds apart in terms of skill level.
     
    Last edited: May 15, 2022
  32. LeedsOrn

    LeedsOrn Reservist

    I don’t think the Udinese well is dryer than ever - they are a lot better than they were two years ago. They got a new sporting director a few years back and things have really improved. Also play a 3-5-2 based style so players should fit better. They have a bunch of young players who could come in and be handy: Lovric, Ebosele/Soppy and Samardzic are all young players who are good and in need of playing time. They have a couple of premium or very promising assets too in Deulofeu, Molina, Udogie, Makengo and Beto too.
     
  33. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    Don't you worry about that. We'll get some thirty year old has beens from Belgium and Serie B to sort it all out.
     
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  34. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    We'll fit right in then based on our current performances.
     

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