@The Recluse when are the U23s playing next, and who's expected to start for them? With Dawson and Kiko supposedly having been ill but also probably open to leaving, Navarro injuring himself while wading through treacle, and Troost-Ekong supposedly coming in (whether he'll be ready for L*ton I don't know), God knows what our back line will look like! I would guess it's Sierralta as R(W)B and Stevenson as L(W)B, but as for the middle 2/3, who knows! Hoping Perica is a bit more up to speed now, if he does need a few more minutes in the tank, maybe bring him on as a sub, but I'd go for Murray from the start, the games he should be playing IMO. Chalobah being hooked off after that 45 minute disasterclass at Oxford was all part of the plan with today in mind, but I do wonder if Garner has pushed him out of the first team already? I'll give him a bit of credit, he did improve as the game wore on, but I'm not convinced. I'm sure Phillips is playing again, should be fun seeing him kick everyone again. Sinclair is a handful at L1/L2 level, I'd imagine he's playing, depending on the system (and fitness permitting of course) we might see Penaranda?
Ahead of Tuesday's game, Ivic said "we have some players coming back from injury and we will use them". Hopefully that includes the likes of Sarr and Suarez even if they haven't strictly been injured. I don't really see who else could be back other than Penaranda and Kiko, but again neither of them have been injured.
I posted an update on the academy/U23 thread earlier. Look for post #2005. http://wfcforums.com/index.php?threads/watford-academy-u23.43030/page-58#post-2902992 The U23s play at Millwall on Monday at 1pm. I've no idea who'll play but some U18s are filling gaps in the U23s and the U16s are patching up the U18s. Presumably trialists are involved at the moment too.
He said injured players, plural. Could be Gray, also maybe Janmaat, Deeney and Success. Not heard progress reports on some of them for a while. Clearly won’t be Geri, Masina, Hughes or Navarro. Don’t think there are any other injured players. The rest are tied up in cotton wool.
If we insist on playing 3-5-2 then I hope it’s something like Bachmann Dawson, Agyakwa, Sierralta Kiko, Phillips, Garner, Dele-Bashiru, Stevenson Murray, Penaranda Subs: Parkes, Kabasele, Sema, Cleverley, Quina, Perica, Pedro Would love to see Suarez and Sarr on the bench at least, but we all know that’s not happening.
Janmaat's still recovering in Netherlands and Success is having a whale of a time in Dubai, according to their respective Instagrams.
Let us hope he is not turning into another sick note. Janmaat and Success are parasites on the club. Hardly ever fit enough to play.
76 appearances in a possible 154. Just does not cut it. Should be sent to the glue factory. As for Isaac let's hope he is not imbibing in the Gulf. Such a lack of professionalism from the *****.
All focus on Saturday please, Vlad. Play the U23s where possible. Shame Troost-Ekong won’t be ready and Dele-Bashiru is injured. Bayli’s going to have to represent the double barrelled surnames all by himself. Bachmann; Sierralta, Spencer-Adams, Dawson, Agyakwa, Stevenson; Phillips, Garner, Quina; Sinclair, Murray
Looking forward to Sarr, Suarez, Deeney and Capoue getting some much needed minutes in this one ahead of the big on on Saturday! COYH! #DEDICATEDTOTHECAUSE #BLOODYLOVEFOOTBALLME
The decision to extend Janmaat contract was absolutely incredible work when we are desperately trying to cut costs.
Best negotiators in the world are Gino and Scott. They will be forever remembered along with those other double acts Ajax and Achilles, Morecambe and Wise, Bonnie and Clyde and Jack and Hill.
Bachman Estupinian Troost-Ekong Todibo Janmaat Pereyra Capoue Chalobah Sarr Suarez Welbeck Extra time win .
I'm wondering whether Perica will be considered fully match-fit for L*ton after around 120 minutes in the last two games. Garner I'd imagine would be OK, hasn't trained much with us (if at all), but got 20 odd minutes yesterday and has been playing for the United U23s, Troost-Ekong (if he does sign lol) I don't know about, would have only just joined us, and I don't think he's played any pre-season friendlies for Udinese? Wrap the other two in cotton wool, but maybe play WTE if he's here by then
Success doesn’t want to get caught in Dubai with a couple of hookers and a bottle of baileys , they cut things off over there when you break the law (Edit full disclosure , I don’t think they really do cut things offs)
That's easy to say with 20/20 hindsight. The fact that you, I and others said it at the time too, is pure broken clock syndrome.
Yes but its clever business because they can amortise the wages over a longer period of time and thus it's good clever negotiating.
Plus we don't want to let his contract run down for fear the big boys come calling, we only let that happen for the best left-back in Spain
The only problem with Estupinan was that he was under 30. Otherwise he'd have been secured on a fine, 5 year deal.