Roy Hodgson - Manager

It hit the guys shin just below the knee and consequently looped into the top corner .

Only Andre Gray could score a more fortuitous shank .

 

Yes, arguably as lucky a goal as West Ham’s winner. Still a dreadful Watford performance and as much a missed opportunity as the Brentford game.

 

Dont think anyone would disagree with that

 

I still don’t understand why he played a narrow midfield against a team renowned for playing 2 wing-backs high up the pitch who hug the touchline. Just crazy.

 

Maybe their tactics were a surprise to him....oh, hang on.

 

His Palace side were unbeaten in all four games against Potter’s Brighton side, you’d think he’d have worked out how they play by now.

 

That's the first time I've watched higlighte since the live match.

Firstly, Dennis' miss isn't as bad as it looked. He was in a crowded penalty area. Perhaps he could have done better but it was far from an open goal.

The defending for both their goals and their several other chances, was horrendous.

Playing defensively with barely semi competent defenders is suicide.

 

The videos from the club today are hilarious. The most half-arsed training exercises I've ever seen from a Premier League club.

 

Well you can’t say the players fail to execute what they do on training on the pitch then.

 

I reckon Roy has already seen enough to show him how unsalvageable we are, he seemed a bit shocked after the last game.
Usually the Allardice/Warnock/Hodgson/ Pearson etc types turn up at a club, simplify tactics, change the shape, give team a good talking to, and get a reaction. For some reason it doesn't work for our lot - we haven't got many that have anything in them.
Also a manager would usually want to come in and rattle some cages but at our club I get the impression that's not allowed, they're too sensitive and valuable to p*Ss off, so they just carry on doing what they do - every thing that wrong is the other players fault etc.
I'm also convinced that most new signings are fed so much "bull" to get them on board and signed up, that they're soon shocked at how they find things..... Didn't the new Nigerian keeper come in saying "I have been signed to play for the first team" and yet it already looks clear to me that in reality he might get to be back up keeper next season but only if we are relegated.
I bet that half our team don't really want to be at the club....

 

But unless things have changed in football, that's how it usually works doesn't it? It's like being in the armed forces where from a young age you have to get used to tough and often aggressive and sweary types telling you what to do and giving you a bollocking if you don't do what they want, whether it's through outright defiance, doing what you genuinely believe is right, or just failing to understand their instructions. Personally I'm not a fan of this nurturing environment because for a kid of 15 or less, having someone who frequently swears or even verbally abuses you is not a good role model, but it is what it is. I imagine the idea is, like with those in the armed forces, to toughen up the players, especially those who have aspirations for making it big, and get them used to playing under pressure and in front of a large and often expectant and critical crowd. I would be surprised if much of our squad, who are in their late 20s/30s, are still over-sensitive to that sort of thing.

 

Don’t think I’ve ever had such an instant and intense dislike of a manager’s tactics before. We’re swimming against the tide, in danger of drowning, and Roy’s just rocked up and held our head under the water.

 

Worse than QSF mk II ?

 

Let’s hope Gino has the same levels of contrition.

 

He was a pisstake, but at the same time we were in a very different situation - four games into the season, rather than 20, so it wasn't anywhere near as apparent or desperate that we needed points immediately. To boot his first match saw us (insanely) swashbuckle our way to a draw with Arsenal that we really should have taken all three points from, were it not for Doucoure's patented spazzola finishing. I'd say it definitely stands up to reason in simple's context of 'instant and intense dislike' of Roy's tactics.

 

We’re down already. Please don’t make me watch a midfield 4 of Kucka, Sissoko, Kayembe and Cleverley.

 

That’s Gino’s fault though, he’ll never accept we’re down and will appoint accordingly. If he was willing to accept it, then he could’ve appointed someone that would’ve at least made the inevitable more fun, instead he went for one of the most famously defensive and boring managers possible.

 

At the time Roy was appointed it was still possible to get out. One point and no goals in his 3 games, while NUFC have as expected picked up, means it's now only a remote possibility.

 

I bet with Sarr back, we’d get more points doing that.

 

Yes, Quique is gorgeous.

 

If we get another defensive and timid performance today (we will) he's toast.

 

Beautifully put. We don't have a great squad and we have a short window to have an upturn in form where we need to win rather than draw. You generally see this when a Munoz type character who is happy, super positive etc turns up and the players play above themself as they're filled with confidence and the squad has been united.

Roy has pitched up, made it clear he thinks the squad is ****, plays with two attackers and then says they're rubbish when he was told they were supposed to be good, all whilst subjecting us to the most boring, unambitious and so far unsuccessful style of football.

 

We got that with Ranieri, two big wins within five games, scoring 9 goals in the process. Didn’t last long though.

 

This is what we’ve become as a club, all my mates text me the other day saying surely that’s it for Roy, I was like what? After 3 games? But they weren't even joking, but when our managers now only get about 10 games each that’s the immediate expectation.

You may not like his football, but we’re down whatever we do at this point, I think we have to consider our overall reputation amongst everyone from potential players to managers at this stage. It would just be pathetic to sack yet another manager now, when it’s the powers that be that are firmly to blame for each bad appointment. Unfortunately I think everyone has just become desensitised to what is normal, it isn’t normal to be expecting a manager to get the sack after 4 games, especially when he took over a team marooned in the relegation zone. That’s the club Watford are now though. Many don’t like how the owners operate but are still happy to say a manager needs sacking after 4 games, slightly hypocritical.

 

As @a19tgg says, that's the reputation that Gino has created for the club now. I'd love a long-term manager but that's unrealistic under the current owners. I'd also like a manager who gives us a chance of staying up though and getting rid of Roy would do that. Although we don't exactly have the best record when appointing head coaches so we'd probably cøck up his replacement as well.

 

If they chose better fitting managers in the first place, we wouldn't have to keep sacking them. Can hardly argue with their decisions to remove them most of the time but it's the recruitment that's wrong.

 

Incredible scenes of an idea if Roy is relieved of command after four games thanks to another dreadful setup and performance (not to mention Ray!).

I just can't quite see it happening - it's just a bit too ludicrous, isn't it? Then again, Pozzo gon' Pozzo.

It would certainly tell us once and for all exactly how bloody-minded and oblivious to any concept of 'reputation' is to Gino.

If we got rid of a second elder statesman of the game we'd have the Care Quality Commission knocking on the doors of London Colney.

I certainly agree that even thinking like/about this has been normalised, and isn't normal in the slightest. But we have as a club dispensed with the concept of a manager in the traditional sense - with increasingly diminishing returns, of course.

I feel like the only reason they actively wouldn't do it, *if the situation came to pass*, is because it already seems so relatively hopeless. But Gino is delusional and will always try and fling a new handful of shyt at the wall to see if it sticks rather than repair the cracks in the wall.

We do need something to distinguish this season from the up to now carbon-copy of the last dreadful Prem season - breaking our own record for sacked coaches could be a wonderful coup de grace. 'The Watford Way'.

 

Hodgson masterclass, thank god we appointed him. He's our only chance of staying up.

 

I wonder what the chat on the managers WhatsApp group is like....they must have a right laugh at our expense....

"Go on Woy, I bet you £10k they'll give you the job"

"Claudio, no I don't owe you mate, you lasted 3 months"