Hughes was there today, but dressed in civvies. He's seen on Foster's CyclingGK video. Ben saying "don't go to Villa, stay at Watford".
Troy does look in decent shape. Rose also looking a bit slimmer now, I think he'll be in great shape by mid-August.
Oh, really? Which recent preseason did he actually look in shape for, then? I must have blinked and missed it.
I'm going to be generous and say he's at the end of the second. One final push and the weight will suddenly disappear.
I mean "here we go again" with once more acting like and/or hoping that this is suddenly going to be the season he rolls back the years, before the inevitable realisation (...again) that he's still 33 and he's still still finished. I'm sure the club will start spinning it themselves soon, too. The fact he's lost a bit of weight isn't going to suddenly turn him from a poor Championship striker into a passable or better Premier League one at 33 years old.
This is an actually brilliantly illustrative picture, almost tailor-made - look at his frame compared to the other two in that picture directly alongside him now - it shows just how much of his previous bulk must still have been fat, because at that kind of low level he's not really any different from them, and neither, Kabasele in particular, are particularly 'bulky'. Equally, I doubt he signed up to losing the multiple kilos of muscle it would have taken to get him to this size if it was indeed just that causing him in both physique and movement to resemble in recent years what was spotted floating serenely over London on Wednesday afternoon.
Whatever your views on Deeney, and whether he is too old, he has to be congratulated on how he has looked after himself over the summer. It is a shame he didn't do this in previous pre-seasons.
I'm not going to congratulate him for getting into shape this summer after about five years of not bothering. The rest of the squad manage to do it every year because they're professionals and they need to stay in shape to do their job. For the last few years prior to this one our club captain has literally turned up unfit for work.
Gray is back.......having a dump at training More bad news.......Cucho posted himself training alone in Spain. Still no sign of Hughes.
Oh joy. The danger is back. I think Cucho is just doing some extra work at Rafa Nadal's gaff before he returns. He's still liking Watford posts on Instagram which I'm taking as a good sign.
Cucho wouldn't have been able to travel from Colombia straight to England due to the red, amber and green list rules. Nadal's academy is in Mallorca (The Balearic Islands) which is on the green list. Does 10 full days there and he's good to go.
The fixtures against Nantes and Udinese have been replaced with Crystal Palace and Barnsley Confirmed: Villa Home For GT Matchday & Pre-Season Changes - Watford FC
I'd suggest it'll be a team of Palace reserves and youth. But that's the entirely of their first team squad this season.
Real shame about the Udinese game - was looking forward to giving Deulofeu, Pereyra, Forestieri and Co a proper farewell clap!
Who scored for the U23s? Nice to see Dennis get one though, even if against younger players, but if Quina scored then it was probably more of a B Team.
Not sure, the club only said the first team scorers. I'd imagine it was just a team made up of players who haven't got blisters!
So Troost-Ekong, Cathcart, Kabasele, Navarro, Quina, Pedro, Fletch, Ngakia, Baah, Deeney, Zinckernagel and Dennis played judging by the photos.
Looks like a 5-2-5. Might be overwhelmed in midfield though, but if Navarro and Ngakia were wingbacks, a 3-4-5.
We only have 2 midfielders now with Chalo and Hughes leaving and Sanchez not retained. Does anyone have Sanchez's number ?
