Ranieri Sacked

Aren’t we all?

 

I suppose it’s possible another manager might be able to make us more organised defensively, but we’ve also made so many individual errors I don’t see what any manager could do about that.

 

An interesting story.

Ranieri had a tough run of games, where he picked up 6 points against difficult opposition. The only real failing was the performance against Southampton.

So after the City match, it was ok for him with a firm understanding of the difficulty games played.

The last two games, however, were unacceptable. I blame Ranieri for poor tactical switches which cost us the Brentford match, and West Ham game was a joke.

Only the last two games are a cause for concern.

However, he must be helped in the transfer market. No coach can create a winning side with that defence. It undermines everything.

I think another West Ham capitulation tomorrow will be very damaging for him, but the real test is Newcastle and Norwich. He needs at least 4 points from those two.

Bad results/performances in the next 3 games, meaning no wins, then I think he’s probably gone, which would be a shame.

 

I mean, it’s almost as if it wasn’t Deeney before, despite some people tying themselves in knots to claim it couldn’t possibly be anyone else or just emblematic of the wider culture at the club.

 

Too true.

 

I will never be ‘done’ with supporting this club. But if they sack Ranieri and spend January penny-pinching, I’ll be as close as I’ve ever come and likely ever will. Sacking Ranieri could well be the thing that turns the atmosphere at VR quite nasty.

In that event, would the last COG turn off the (flood)lights.

 

Two really worrying things about that Daiky M*il article:

1. It’s written by Sami Mokbel who knows his stuff about Watford, often is first to break accurate stories and definitely has decent sources.

2. He states we aren’t expected to go ‘heavily’ into the market in January and will instead rely on the loan market.

 

Really excited to see who the club appoint after Ranieri, they'll clearly be a miracle worker with a back four of Kiko, Sierralta, Cathcart and Masina to work with. When will the club realise that the playing squad is a far bigger issue than the head coach more often than not?

 

Point 2 would make sense but will we able to get those loans done at the start of the month or will we have to wait.

 

There was me naively thinking all the dressing room poison had been flushed out.

Sami Mokbel is pretty well connected so there’s probably some truth to this.

Call me old fashioned but the players’ job is to carry out the coach’s instructions as best as possible and if they have a difference of opinion to raise it in the appropriate way and then do what the coach asks. It’s very hard, seeing the lackadaisical, half-paced, error-strewn performances to side with the players at the moment.

 

It would make sense if Gino is penny-pinching again.

 

The fact that these stories come out so often makes me think it's a member of staff, not necessarily a player. Is Duxbury stupid enough to talk to journalists? Probably.

 

If the players have issues with the methods of a coach who has achieved all that Ranieri has in the game, then it’s not the coach. It’s the players and more so the culture that’s been created and then allowed to fester into the DNA by a mute owner and a shady chairman. Getting rid of players was never going to solve that issue. It needed a total change in direction and plan, coming straight from the top - and it’s obvious to all that didn’t happen.

 

Well 8 defeats from 10 generally has a negative effect on team morale, so stories coming inside the camp is hardly surprising.

If we somehow beat Spurs, everything instantly changes. However, the performance against West Ham was one of those “I want the manager gone” type performances. Cracks were visible against Brentford and capitulation followed last week.

We’ll see tomorrow if the rot has set in and the players want Ranieri gone or not.

 

I think that’s a bit unfair. We are in a relegation fight so it would be silly to spend a lot of money in Jan when we could be stuck with their wages should we go down. If we can get the same quality in but on loan it would make sense

 

Which is why it’s a dangerous game being a football club owner - it’s not unfair at all. It’s the situation Gino put himself in.

You spend money to get players permanently who are then committed to the club and the fight. I’m not saying there aren’t decent loans to be had - but you will always wonder about a players motivation when they join on loan in January.

Gino has the chance here to make a real statement of intent - we want to stay up and I’m backing the manager by spending some money supporting him in the market.

Exclusively bringing in loans would suggest to me he’s not that not that bothered and will just bring in anyone as opposed to players Ranieri wants.

I’m bored of the excuses - he’s been afforded them in every window for the past 2-3 seasons. It’s make or break for a lot of people now, put simply.

 

Death knell for Claudio - Wobby denies the story:

https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/19818832.watford-board-very-happy-claudio-ranieri/

 

I'm about as active a manager-outer as probably any poster here, historically-speaking, but if we fire Ranieri now that will be too far gone even for me - the idea that he would be judged purely on what he's managed with this rancid lot is laughable, and we would have absolutely no defence against the Twitter ravings of JugEars and his myriad ilk this time.

As Burnsy has said, there is a great deal to worry about in that report, because Sami Mokbel is one of the more reliable journalists for us out there, and it's also cosigned by Adrian Kajumba for some reason, another actual reporter.

You will never have the same options any window relying exclusively on loans as when you are able to actually buy players, and relying on them means you have essentially no control over who you can even try and bring in. It would be the most Gino thing ever to do it at this point in time, with the club in the situation it is in league-wise, but we simply can't afford a Gino window.

 

Sadly I think he will be gone, barring some sort of turnaround in form against Spurs. Trigger happy Gino doesn’t mind a festive sacking. Obviously he’s happy sacking at any time of the year, but particularly likes to start the new year with a new coach.

Will be a terrible decision, unless Claudio’s heart isn’t in it. I agree with Burnsy. Make a statement and back the manager with some signings.

 

What’s weird is I’m not really seeing signs of player malcontent on the pitch, as I said above our undoing the majority of the time is unforced errors from players, and I can’t see how that can be because a player doesn’t believe in Ranieri’s methods.

The players that are performing badly have been bad for a long while, Kiko, Masina, Cathcart etc. their crapness straddles several managers. We all knew WTE would be crap.

Tufan has been crap from day one, Kucka had been crap from day two.

The only thing I can think is selection, for example not believing in picking WTE, but we’ve rarely had a choice in that.

 

Can you imagine the outcry if we sack old father football?

It will be biblical in scale. The crisp nonce will organise a clap for Ranieri or some ********

 

He could realistically go and get say -

Kim Min-Jae: £10m
Lewis Ferguson: £4m
Okay Yokuslu: £2m-£3m
Josh Doig/Kamara: £4m

All deals are done in instalments these days, they wouldn’t cost a ton in wages and most, if not all, wouldn’t be looking for summer exits if we went down. It’s marginally over £20m so you’d be looking at an outlay of £5m-£10m this month.

That sends a statement that ‘lessons have been learned’ and lowers the age profile of the squad, something Duxbury claimed they were keen to do. You can offset the outlay by telling Sema, Goaling etc they can leave for nominal amounts and we could try and send Tufan back as well.

Offer Rose a mutual release so he can outside the foreign move he said he was on the verge of taking.

OR………….

Sacking Ranieri or not: Kolasinac on loan, that polish striker Udinese have released and Steve Cook? Lessons have been learned? Give me a break.

Let’s stop affording them excuses to cut corners and for once actually ask/expect that they take an educated positive gamble on survival.

(I accept we may not be able to get the Korean CB but £10m would happily get someone else decent)

 

Preach it, Podmate. Ready to go live in 30 minutes?

 

Ranieri looked beleaguered in today's press conference that was shown on Sky Sports News. It was possibly because he faced a bit of repetitive and tiresome questioning about Dennis and AFCON. But it's only tiresome and repetitive because there's seemingly no clear, honest line from the club. I really don't get why clubs don't understand that a tiny bit of transparency goes a long, long way in almost all situations.

 

Just retrieving the Blue Yeti from under a mound of Lindor wrappers...

 

Happy New Year everyone!
Here we go again.
Tiresome.

 

The day we get transparency at Watford will be the day Gino Pozzo leaves.

 

Sort of get where you’re coming from and yet, in this instance, isn’t it the case that none of us had the foggiest idea there was any dispute about Dennis’ call up until Ranieri mentioned it post-West Ham?

 

Agreed. Given the club retweeted Dennis’ tweet about getting called up, by default they have commented on him going.

They could have taken Ranieri out of the firing line and just released a statement at lunchtime outlining their side of the story about why he is staying.

 

Yes we've famously had open and honest ownership in the years preceding Gino's reign