The whole ‘Guardiola couldn’t keep this lot up’ shtick is so lazy and tiresome. It’s the same as the happy clappers who also say ‘well we’re not Man City’ when people complain about a signing. Today was the worst performance I’ve ever seen in the PL under Gino’s ownership, there were zero redeeming features, it absolutely stank to high heaven. If you think there isn’t a manager out there who couldn’t improve on that, and hence improve our chances of staying up… well, good luck to you.
That's a hard question to answer. Well, for the first of those games, I wasn't thinking that far ahead, after the Bournemouth result it was quite uncertain that we were even going to get promoted. I think I glossed over that due to the fact that we rarely beat Bournemouth anyway, whoever is in charge of both teams and Munoz was still quite green (or perhaps I should say, even more than he still is now). Plus the fact that after the game we won five in a row and he seemed to be learning in terms of setting up his team according to the opposition and adjusting to the few players we had out from time to time (though he was never tested to anything like the extent he has been in recent weeks). Luton away was harder to defend, but I guess I still saw it as a one-off as it was a derby, plus we bounced back impressively to win convincingly at Norwich and promoted teams often get bad results/performances that give no real indication of how they/their manager is going to perform in the league above (think of West Ham when they got promoted in 2005 back when Pardew used to actually be a good manager). Plus I thought that even when being constantly tested at the top level, he would learn from his mistakes and try something different, but he's now stuck in a rut that if anything seems to be getting deeper - our only wins have come against teams that were under-prepared, unlucky or just rubbish, and we won't get many of the latter in the PL.
The starting team sheet was the personnel that everyone wanted. So when, after the first 5 minutes, the signs were not good, today's match had an air of inevitability about it. This happens when a manager/coach's natural life-cycle at a club comes to an end. The players sense it, the supporters feel it, the owners see it. The way the team was set up and the way they played, the only reasonable rsult was going to be a home win. This was probably the main reason the comments on here and in the ShoutBox were not as toxic as they have been at similar times in the past. Xisco is a dead man walking.
Our final performances under Javi were even worse - for instance our opening day 3-0 home defeat vs Brighton. There could be, but I also think that the odds would still be against us for staying up. We could also even end up with a manager who makes us even more hopeless. I'm also not entirely convinced Xisco is the right man for the job, but I'm sure that the criticism of him in this thread given the resources he has at his disposal is way over the top.
I'm under no illusions that we're favourites for the drop, but I'm struggling to think how we could be any worse. My main worry is that any manager worth a carrot wouldn't want to stay with us in the Championship and we'd be back to square one in May
Or they had scored the goal they needed in the first half and setup in the second half to make sure they didn't concede and maybe score a 2nd or 3rd without going hell for leather.
According to Sky Sports we are 'Woeful Watford'. We need a really really good manager to stay up. ie someone much better at management than Scot or Gino are at their roles. But will their egos allow them to make that kind of appointment? I very much doubt it! This is a very binary situation: appoint an exceptional manager on good money with a huge survival bonus and we have a chance of staying up. Appoint yet another hit and hope long shot and we are screwed. It's incomprehensible to me that with so much at stake both financially and in footballing terms, with the decades long football experience of the Pozzo family and a CEO trousering around a million quid a year, most people in the fanbase are rightly assuming we will recruit some half ar$ed, ill suited, not fit for purpose, cheap-assed coach whose brief tenure at Watford will be one of the last nails in the coffin of a nose diving career. To stay up we need a really really good manager. With so much at stake why the fok don't we go out and get one!?!?!? Gino and Scott what the fok is wrong with you both? Are you involved in some kind of bizarre competition to see who can make the worst decisions imaginable??? And if Scot comes out with more BS spin like his 'risk limiting' horse$hit about the QSF appointment, I hope he gets his richly deserved comeuppance.....
On paper, we are probably the second worst team in the division, but the gap between us and, say, Newcastle and Burnley, shouldn't be huge, yet judging by last week's game, it is! We shouldn't be demanding to come away with points every time we play teams like Leeds, Wolves and Brighton, but the way we played against them suggests that we'd be lucky to ever come away with anything!
Not saying Munoz looked like he is struggling and lacking the nous for this league but what good coach could we realistically get ? Because we know they will probably have to be cheap and not make too much fuss .
The 3-0 was the first game of the season, do you judge Villa in the same way because they lost 3-2 to us? Or Liverpool when they drew with us on the first day? After seven games of this season, not one, give me one positive from today’s game?
This is precisely my point, the whole idea we couldn’t do better against these teams is laughable. Last week and today are about as bad as it possibly gets.
It depends on the package Gino is willing to offer a decent coach. No money no honey in this instance.
Sanchez Flores vs Man City?! That's another one of the reasons why I'm not yet entirely convinced that getting rid of Xisco is the right decision, as there wouldn't be many better managers we could obtain to try and get us promoted again next season.
Who wouldn't want to work in the <Football cliche> Best League in the World </Football cliche>. According to our media, the only relevant League in the whole wide world.
All of our games under Javi after the Wolves SF were terrible though, the Brighton performance wasn't an anomaly vs the games around it - 1-2 home vs Wolves, 1-4 away at West Ham, the 1-1 at home to Saints with Cathcart's early howler, 1-3 home vs West Ham etc. We would have probably still left with a point had our goal not been incorrectly ruled out. It's not much I know, but the Brighton game has been the only one so far this season where there hasn't been only one goal in it.
Hopefully those discussions aren't along the lines of giving him another month to turn it around. There's absolutely no point keeping him for the upcoming run we've got, at least a new head coach will hopefully kick start the players if nothing else because they didn't even look interested today.
If this is true, then given the shortening of the sacking odds prior to the game and the team's performance today then it was probably an Ivic vs Huddersfield situation today of everyone already knowing the writing was on the wall before a ball was kicked and the subsequent match being a reflection of that. The Pozzos certainly do like an international window for a change so it definitely could have been lined up already. Given the reliability of your sources recently though I won't be holding my breath.
What I would say is that we have been here before and it hasn’t happened with Xisco last season. So not set in stone. But ‘something’ is happening which at least tells us that those in charge aren’t just daydreaming along.
Yes but at the same time it’s a tough time for a new guy to come in and get up a bit of speed for a new manager bounce.
Haha, appreciated the little dig at the end. As ever, I’ll pass along what I’m told. None of it is certain. What I will say is that there are a number of people on here who I have DM’d things before they have happened - I even included you about Sissoko! Enjoy your evening!
I expect Xisco has charmed the pants off them by now and Gino, Scott, Cristiano and Xisco are knocking back sangria and belting out Sweet Caroline as we speak.
It should be LondonOrn. Then again they called Lucas Alario, Lucas Hilario on the website the other day. We have played poorly in five halves and are not utilizing our strengths getting it forward. The sides we have lost to are not exactly the sterner stuff either. A well organized side with discipline and tactically drilled should be doing much better than we are. Completely chaotic and full of apathy and listlessness. The positive forward thinking mindset seems to have disappeared. Replaced by fear and negativity and I genuinely think the very mention of the names of some of these clubs shrinks the players and they have conceded mentally before they have set foot on the pitch. Too many shrinking violets out there. And one thing is truly unforgiveable the lack of work rate and effort from several. Get stuck in. Make it hard. Do the basics right. Show some calm when on the ball. Appalling effort once again. Either get Xisco an experienced number two or replace him.
