Slaven Bilic - New (for Now) Watford Manager

Discussion in 'The Hornets' Nest - Watford Chat' started by wfcSinatra, Sep 26, 2022.

  1. Burnsy

    Burnsy First Team

    Yet I was shot down on here just a few days ago for saying the exact thing Bilic has said, and was told it was likely a poor pre-season and not because we had players unwilling to push through smaller injuries. Seems Bilic doesn’t think that….
     
    Jumbolina likes this.
  2. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    Bilic asking for more of a Luton positive atmosphere than what he thought was a negative one v Swansea .

    Well it does kind of depend on how we start ..

    One game we scored after 2 minutes and won 4-0.

    The other we were outplayed generally and lost in injury time.
     
  3. RS2

    RS2 Squad Player

    Bilic talking about the January window is amusing, I wouldn't say he's 100% nailed on to be here. A couple of crap results in the next two and then failure to get at least 9 points from Hull, Huddersfield, Millwall and Swansea could see him out of the door before the window opens!
     
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  4. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    We play Huddersfield away last game before Christmas .

    Same as when Ivic was here and look what happened to him !
     
    RS2 likes this.
  5. leighton buzzard horn

    leighton buzzard horn Squad Player

    It was dreadful again yesterday. The home atmosphere has got worse and worse over the years, L*ton was the exception. The only noise from the Rookery yesterday was a smattering of booing at the half time whistle.
     
  6. Hogg-DEENEY!!!

    Hogg-DEENEY!!! Squad Player

    You say that, and with our track record no manager is ever truly secure, but genuinely, who else is out there who would do a better job? Edwards was very much a punt who wasn't working out, but we were lucky that a pretty big-name manager in Bilic was willing and able to take over, the pool gets shallower all the time
     
    Dorset-Orn and Happy bunny like this.
  7. RS2

    RS2 Squad Player

    I don't think that comes into Pozzo's thinking does it? There's always hundreds of out of work managers to choose from, being an upgrade on the one he's just sacked doesn't seem to matter!
     
  8. reids

    reids First Team

    Your wish is my command

    [​IMG]
     
    Ilkley, Heidar and luke_golden like this.
  9. wingco

    wingco Reservist

    10 games no draws. Has to be some sort of record for a new manager
     
  10. lowerrous

    lowerrous First Team

    Erm, maybe for us?!

    Though if you look elsewhere even in the Championship then Jon Dahl Tomasson has currently gone 20 games without a draw (22 if you include cup games).
     
  11. wingco

    wingco Reservist

    There was me thinking it's unusual. 20 games without a single draw is quite some feat
     
  12. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    You win some, you lose some.
     
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  13. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    Blackburn drew on Wednesday night. (I'm not counting penalties.) So the run ended at 27, including the back end of last season.
     
  14. hornetboy1

    hornetboy1 First Team Captain

    According to The Athletic, Julian D1cks will be starting as Bilic's assistant on Thursday.
     
    wfc4ever likes this.
  15. RS2

    RS2 Squad Player

    D!cks in for Bilic.
     
  16. Loyalhornet

    Loyalhornet Reservist

    Will make a great member of the coaching team
     
  17. Heidar

    Heidar Squad Player

    D1cks will be bringing the ball bags to training
     
  18. Ilkley

    Ilkley Formerly known as An Ilkley Orn Baht 'at

    Marvellous! Thank you. I'm interested to see that the manager change doesn't seem to mark an obvious change in performance.
     
  19. Bwood_Horn

    Bwood_Horn Squad Player

    Those trends @reids - are they based on the raw data? If they are have you thought about Winsorizing it to minimise the effect of the outliers?

    EDIT: I don't know what stats package but it's relatively trivial to do in excel.
     
  20. Bwood_Horn

    Bwood_Horn Squad Player

  21. Dorset-Orn

    Dorset-Orn First Year Pro

    I just feel that if Bilic can't make us into a team nobody can (that would agree to come to us anyway).
    Our real problem for 3 years has been a general lack of cajones, and I think it's clear that bilic is the first manager to call it. He knows what type of players we need to bring in and will gradually drop the lazy F'ers where needed.
    I guess he'll get 2 players in January, but I feel sure that JP will be going so maybe 3 incoming.?
     
  22. Bubble

    Bubble Wise Oracle

    Slav and JD on the sidelines! Would hate to be in the opposite dug-out! Both lunatics.
     
    WatfordÉire likes this.
  23. SkylaRose

    SkylaRose Administrator Staff Member

    Depends where we are end of season. Right now we are bang in the playoff mix with an outside chance of autos unless we go on a great run of wins. JP has been more good than average this season so I cannot see us letting him go in January especially if we are still within a shout of promotion after the couple of games post WC. "IF" we do go up, then it's debatable whether he will want to stay or move to a bigger club. There was a lot of talk about Newcastle but that never happened. Same sort of situation with Sarr. We were god awful last season filled with a bunch of shirkers who only turned up when they felt like it. If we keep hold of Bilic as well, I can see his influence maintaining the morale of the squad.
     
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  24. The Voice of Reason

    The Voice of Reason First Team Captain

    Time to cash in on Sarr methinks, but not Pedro!!!

    However, if Pedro has to go then we should try to get a loan back to the end of the season as part of the deal.
     
  25. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    I believe a club called Udinese are prepared to do that sort of deal. Maybe sell for £75m and then a 3 year loan back to WFC ?
     
  26. LondonOrn

    LondonOrn Squad Player

    That's a fair point, but I feel it was more deep-seated than that - had we had the same squad but with the spirit of that during GT's second spell, I don't believe we would have come close to bridging the 15-point gap. Too many players that weren't up to Premier League standard but have proved down here that attitude wasn't the problem so much as ability and confidence - Sema, WTE, Cleverley, Cathcart etc. As things stand if we went up we'd be going up with an even weaker squad than the 2020/21 one minus Hughes and Chalobah, which was the basis of the one that had statistically their worst ever top flight season. It's going to be a problem again whoever we sign next year, getting together a squad that is consistently competitive enough to stay up, and not just in flashes (like Everton away and Man Utd at home).
     
    Dorset-Orn, lutonh8a and SkylaRose like this.
  27. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    We will never again have a premier league quality squad. We will never be able to afford one. Unless someone buys us and bankrolls us, not concerned about a return.
     
  28. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    So we're back in that cleft stick of wanting to win the Championship, but not wanting to be promoted?
     
    Dorset-Orn and Knight GT like this.
  29. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Or wanting to be promoted, because promotions are just the best, but then accepting that the following year will be full of anguish and disappointment. Like under GT and Aidy.
     
  30. Dorset-Orn

    Dorset-Orn First Year Pro

    My first thought was you're absolutely right, we haven't bought well since douc / richarlison.... But then I thought Brentford.? They seem to have found a way.? (not that we'd manage it).
    Edit.. Yep I forgot JP...
     
  31. SkylaRose

    SkylaRose Administrator Staff Member

    We are nothing like Brentford nowadays. We get overweight PL has-beens like Rose instead of trying to get some young exciting talent through the door. We will continue to no doubt bounce between being a PL club for one season then a Championship club the next. Being a "yo yo" club is not something I ever want to pin on Watford, but if we want to survive after our parachute payments end then we need the injectiion. No matter how many times Duxbury tries to gaslight the fans', we know we are nowhere near financially "stable" with regards to the debt. I'm pretty certain we are in a worse state now than before they took over. Eleven years of running a football club, how not to do it.
     
  32. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Not sure how long Brentford will surive in the prem - Sheff Utd stayed up with a sub standard prem squad for one season before relegation. Brentford are only one side though and if we are taking comfort that they prove it's possible, we should believe we can with the FA cup like Wigan and the title like Leicester.
     
  33. Oscar calling

    Oscar calling Squad Player

    I'm more than happy to win the Championship every other year.
     
  34. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    Winning it just the once would be nice….
     
  35. Dorset-Orn

    Dorset-Orn First Year Pro

    When we went up 2 years ago I reckon most of us knew the squad was nowhere near good enough (we just had that usual hope of signing a few gems).
    When we went up 8 years ago we did feel we had a chance in the prem. So right now we've got a great attack, an average midfield, and a poor defence.... Hence a promotion this summer will be a total waste of a season....
    Unless we intend bringing in 5 quality (proven) players in August, (and that's not going to happen).
     

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