Is This The Least Enjoyable Season Ever?

It is now for sure

 

Lewington also said they wanted to leave the forward players on....which somewhat reinforces the fact they seemed to cluelessly fail to realise the real problem was Kucka and Louza blowing up in midfield. There was no need to change any of the front 3 (rubbish as Sarr was) if they had put some fresh legs in midfield. Mind you, I don't recall Ray being all that ready to change things when he was manager.

 

The main issue for me is that the squad is not very likeable. I am sure they are not bad people. I am sure they care in their own way. But I just look at the players on the pitch and see 11 shop dummies in Watford shirts. Whatever connection there is supposed to be between us and them, there's nothing there. That's not to say some of the players haven't provided some great moments or don't have some talents, it's just that as a unit they offer almost none of the qualities I like to see in a football team.

I've seen much, much worse teams. I've seen teams even more out of their depths than this lot in terms of quality. But this side has no one who leads or takes responsibility. I am sure Sissoko thinks he's the leader, the senior figure who sets the tempo and I am sure in his pomp he was a Rolls Royce of a midfielder, but in a team that lacks so many of the basics, firmly-hit sideways passes and a three-quarter-paced positional game only go so far. Dennis, Sarr, Joao Pedro and even King could pose an attacking threat but there's no evidence that they've work on movement in and out of possession. Everything seems to be a surprise to them.

As I've said before, I have little connection with so many of the new players and a jaded sense of over-familiarity with most of the rest. While I am not in favour of getting rid of the whole lot – not least because it's unlikely and impractical – the prospect of seeing almost any of them in the Championship just has the heart sinking.

 

In case nobody has heard, we were also relegated, in absolutely ******* typical Watford fashion, from the Women's Championship.

https://twitter.com/FAWomensChamp/status/1520781280060841985

 

I think a major issue is that most of the squad don't seem to like each other very much so there is very little evidence of any team spirit and even less ethos of mutual respect communicated to the fans. How can you like players whose main interest seems to be in blaming any available 'team mate' for their most recent inexplicable ****-up? A classic case yesterday was when Foster, with loads of time, wellied a clearance about 20 yards over the head of an unmarked JP who'd got himself just onside with a chance of a clear run on goal. Foster then proceeded to stand there remonstrating with JP....about what, who knows? Not being 10 foot tall, maybe.

 

This is probably the season that I've completely switched off from earliest. Haven't been bothered following most of the games in the last couple of months, and didn't know the Burnley score until about 5:30pm

 

I'm looking forward to next season. We're relegated. Deal with it. I should add I've drunk a bottle of Sancerre in 15 minutes.

 

Correct on both fronts. Changes should have even made, and instructions should be followed. This rabble have zero discipline, but that’s what you get with journeymen who don’t give a damn.

 

You seem to have forgotten (or maybe it didn’t bother you much at the time) that we went on a dreadful run of only 21 points in 27 games which got us a bit worried about relegation (that may be our worst run in the second tier in modern times, and that includes the 1995/96 season) - fortunately Sheffield Wednesday faded badly after a promising start under Alan Irvine and Palace had ten points deducted. There was a good team spirit and some likeable players for sure but it just felt like a lesser version of the Lewington debut season minus the cup run with a flattering finish. And yes, it had Doyley day, but little else that was memorable; even the worst seasons have had their moments, like the wins at Anfield and against Chelsea in 1999/00, the 3-2 in extra time over Charlton in the League Cup in 2001/02, the sequence of results in the second half of 2003/04 where so unlike this season we made good use of our winnable games to achieve safety with something to spare, the run to the FA Cup semis in 2006/07 (although we didn’t play well in any of the games, save, funnily enough, against Man U where we lost 4-1).

 

I see, but for me, even in a losing season, if you feel a connection to the players you can get behind them and get some joy from supporting them. This season if you asked me who is my favourite current Watford player I would struggle to give you an answer.

 

Kayembe wasn’t signed for any manager. He was signed to line pockets.

 

Until quite recently I would've picked Dennis, I liked his Holebas-like attitude and he was still scoring/assisting and influencing play. Now that the goals have dried up, unfortunately he is coming across more as a selfish and unlikeable individual but there's still a really good player in there with more to offer in the long run than Ighalo. I take your point about the personalities of the players; in 2006/07 while the football was often joyless (worse than 1999/00 for me despite not losing so much) there were a fair few players I liked both as people and watching them play and could get behind - Bouazza, Smith, the young Foster, DeMerit, Shittu, Bangura, even the underrated Chambers.