Rob Edwards - Watford Manager

Football now is even less like it was in the mid-80s

 

You think there's only one?

You might be thinking of a different forum

 

That's a bit harsh but I agree they are very unlikely to pass us in the football pyramid

 

Genuinely keep calling him Dave Edwards.

 

Wasn't he the owner of 'The Winchester' club in 'Minder'?

 

He was Dave played by the actor Glynn Edwards, so you get half a point

 

Maybe, but L*t*n were tier 5 only 8 seasons ago...

 

Don't forget plucky Bournemouth, who were in the national league southern division 8, the 45th tier of English football with losses of 2 shillings and 6pence 3 years ago - look at them now !

 

*years

 

Christ, make sure you wipe the seat before you leave.

 

After doing a bit of research it does appear Edwards is a project manager. This means the Watford hierarchy will have to fit in with him, rather than the other way around. Usually it's a question of, here's a group of decent-ish players, make it work. This time Watford have to give him the players to make his system work. If they don't it will end in quick failure.

I do think we're likely to sign Kane Wilson. A right back with pace who has had a real breakthrough season. If the rumours are true that Kiko is off, then that would make sense. I really don't see a place for Ngakia or Masina though. These players just do not fit his system, although maybe Ngakia could adapt as he still has time on his side.

Central defenders have to be changed. There's no question about it. His system will just not work with the players we have. He'll have three across the back. The central guy doesn't have to be all that expansive, and I think Sierralta would be perfectly fine in this role, with Cathcart as a backup option. Either side, I suppose you could play Samir on the left, but on the right we need to sign someone new. WTE and Kabs might be surplus, although if you're going to play three at the back you do need at least 6 CB's to cover an entire season. Pollock could be given a role, but I think he'd probably be better off on another loan where he plays every week.

Midfield we need high energy. Louza is good in possession and passing. I think Zinckernagel could be very important to us, playing as the advance midfielder. If we lose Zinc to Forest, then a replacement could be Scott Twine from MK Dons. One more place left, and this guy has to be industrious. Someone who gets stuck in, breaks up play and is tireless. Ebou Adams is this type of player and could come over with Wilson from FGR. Almost certainly the club would allow a couple of recommendations from Edwards, if within budget of course.

Since we're going to lose our wingers, it's a chance to redesign. A 3-5-2 system, relies a lot on the wingbacks being your wingers. Not sure where this leaves the likes of Sema, Hungbo, Kalu and Baah. Probably surplus to requirements, although I'd like to keep Hungbo around.

Where we also would need to invest, is a target man. We have Pedro and Cucho, who will cause problems, but he does like a bigger guy in the middle. We've only really got Fletcher, and he's just not good enough. So this has to be another priority.

So for me, shopping list has to contain 1 x right wing back, 1 x right side CB, 1 x industrious midfielder, 1 x target man striker.

Players to leave would be Dennis, Sarr, Sissoko, Kiko, Masina, WTE, Foster, Sema, Kalu, Kayembe, Baah, Fletcher, King, Pussetto, Penaranda, Quina and Dahlberg. I'm undecided over Gosling, Cleverley and Kucka, as their experience could come in handy in certain games. I'd certainly like to sign Etebo if that's still an option for us.

 

This chap seems a bit bitter and doesn’t seem to rate him much ?

https://stroudtimes.com/opinion-for...rob-edwards-insists-former-boss-frank-gregan/

 

"Jimmy Young sang it. Used to stick his chin out... oh my darling..."

 

Great analysis and I agree on the list of needs. Kane Wilson for free is a no brainer. Would like us to go and sign a really good young ball-playing CB - Harry Darling or Luke McNally would be available for less than £3m. Jake Clarke-Salter is left footed and might be available on a free from Chelsea. We have some loan spots we can use - wouldn’t mind getting a foreign target man on loan. Mitro, Pukki and to a lesser degree Toney show that being a successful free scoring target man in the championship doesn’t translate that well to the PL. Whereas I think young progressive CBs can translate their skillset (just an opinion of course) to the PL more so would rather we rebuild our defence this summer around such players.

Think Baah should be loaned and could have Sema as our backup LWB if we can’t shift him easily. Also don’t see why Kayembe can’t be a useful squad option though if he’s easier to shift than Clevs/Gosling/Kucka then that might be worth doing.

 

Looks a proper Tim Nice But Dim in his official unveiling photo. Will melt like chocolate in the desert when confronted with any adversity.

 

As so often, I agree with HB1. His list of desirable outgoings is spot-on.

 

LANGUAGE TIMOTHY!

 

Oh come on. What’s hard about remembering Ed Roberts?

 

What rumours?

 

Think our friend Sam said his kids had gone back to Spain to start their education.

Mind you does that mean he is certain to be off?

 

Kids at new school in Spain apparently

 

#ITK

 

Generally agree with this, it looks like we need a big reset at the back as I'm not sure WTE or Sierralta are perfect fits for Edwardsball (though we should keep them both around as they both know their way around the Championship). Samir might be the best fit, but he's probably off in all likelihood. In midfield, we're in exactly the same place we were last season, we still need a ball-winner, obviously Adams will be linked but I couldn't tell you whether he'd be able to make the step up. I suspect out of the wide players you mentioned, Sema is by far the most likely to stay as he has played a fair bit for us at LWB, whereas I'm not sure if Hungbo and/or Baah have ever played as either a wing-back or as a #10. Does look like Cucho and JP would be competing for one spot in the team, unless one of them (JP probably) plays as our #10, though I don't think this will be our primary strategy as I think we'll keep hold of Zinck whatever Forest do in the play-offs

 

He just signed for Cardiff a few hours ago, so we'll find out next season.

 

Rubbish player, never wanted him!

 

Rather than 'We go again' can we now switch to 'onwards and Edwards'?

 

Regarding HB1's list, I don't know that it's reasonable to expect that potentially over half the squad will turn over. Admittedly a few on the players mentioned (Penaranda, Fletcher, Pussetto) are effectively already gone, but even excepting those, I think that the list will be significantly smaller. Clearly the "bigger names" that have value are likely b/c they can force a move and we'll want the money. But I think a fair number of the others will remain.

 

Coming from Forest Green, Edwards is keen to get to work with Dominingos Quinoa.

 

Sitting here having just watched Hatters in the playoff game that could make them a premier league team exactly the same time as The Hornets are relegated below them has me thinking anything could happen. I never expected to see Watford below them when I started following in ‘04…

 

Get rid of Gosling, Cleverley and Kucka ad well

 

A lot of noise about Edwards is not really rated.
We can only wait and see. You never can tell.
Take Laurent Guyot, sacked by Boulogne last season. Finished 15th/20 in the French National league.
He joins FC Annecy and gets them promoted from the National league to Ligue 2 tonight.

 

Over to you agents Hogg and Zinkernagel. Surely one of them can stop these cun£$

 

And lo, the wise man's prophecy did come to pass: