Slaven Bilic - New (for Now) Watford Manager

He should ask for an Apple watch next. Might as well get a few bits and pieces before he leaves in November.

 

Bilic interview in The Times today: "Rob left me a squad that is not a disillusioned group of players, an unfit group of players. They are in good shape. They just need something to bring them back to where they should be."

I hope he's right.

 

Namby pamby modern players.
Get out there and earn your ****ing corn!
Every athlete has minor injuries. You learn to play through them.
Trouble is our medical staff wouldn't spot a victim of the guillotine on its steps.

 

Pozzo head coach debuts...

– Zola – 1-0 home win over Wycombe in the League Cup. Winner scored by goal machine Chris Iwelumo
– Sannino – 1-1 draw at Ipswich (followed by a 4-0 Boxing Day win over Millwall)
– Garcia – 0-1 defeat at Charlton. Was he even there? He was unwell for his entire four-game tenure, wasn't he?
– McKinley – 2-1 win over Brentford – a match notable for Ighalo's first goal for the club
– Jokanovic – 3-0 away win at Sheffield Wednesday
– Sanchez Flores – 2-2 draw at Everton
– Mazzarri – 1-1 draw at Southampton
– Silva – 3-3 draw against Liverpool
– Gracia – 0-1 defeat at Southampton in the FA Cup
– Sanchez Flores – 2-2 draw with Arsenal
– Pearson – 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace (although Mullins took charge so perhaps Pearson's first proper game should be the 2-0 defeat at Liverpool the next week)
– Mullins – 0-4 home defeat to Man City
– Ivic – 1-0 home win over Middlesbrough
– Xisco – 1-0 home win over Norwich
– Ranieri – 0-5 home defeat to Liverpool
– Hodgson – 0-0 draw at Burnley
– Edwards – 1-0 home win over Sheff United

Not sure what that tells us, other than it makes the last 10 years feel like we've been watching a teenager with a short attention span play Football Manager.

 

That rings a bell about Garcia.

As for Quique, we played so well against Arsenal on his second debut. Should have won it late on.

Then came the 0-8 at Man City. I remember I went to see Berkhamsted play that day with another Watford fan. We were standing there having a lovely pint in the September sunshine and before kick off said: "Let's not check the Watford score until 15 minutes have gone." We were 0-4 down.

 

Haha that reminds me on that day that I wandered past the TV at 3:25 and was bemused to see seemingly endless names of Man City goal scorers on the ticket tape at the bottom!

 

I mean, we can laugh about it now.

A very good friend of mine went (on his own). His brother in law is a City fan so at least he had someone to meet up with before the game. I left it until the next morning to text him. “How was it?” I asked.

“Some work to do on the defence,” he said.

 

Gino is said to be enraged at Bilic playing Kamara on the left side. A lot of hearsay flying around but all the talk is about an emergency board meeting tonight.

Watch this space.

 

Bilic biggest Pozzo debut making win!

 

Just trying to work out what we're likely to need to win the Championship. Probably around 92/93 points?

So, Bilic has to win 25 of his 35 remaining matches. Tall order, but if he does that......what an incredible run of form we've got to look forward to.

 

92/93 points will probably only be enough for 2nd place tbf, be very surprised if it's enough for top spot

 

Maybe, but 93 points would have seen you win the league in 4 of the past 8 seasons and it’s guaranteed promotion every time.

 

Sometimes a high total for points is when there is really shocking team or two in the division who fall way short of the 50 odd points required to stay up.

 

Fulham won the title with 90 points last season, which is the closest datapoint we have in terms of the league's current competitiveness. 89 points would have done it, though.

83 points was required to secure 2nd place free and clear.

 

I love this forum…one thread is discussing all the faults with the ownership and the substandard nature of the squad which is a tad different from this thread where we are working out, after one semi decent win, whether it’s possible to win the next 80% of our games

 

If we win tomorrow I’m bringing in the Sanchez Flores chant for Slaven Bilic.

None of you will be able to stop me.

 

You might stand out a bit singing about Quique Sanchez Flores though.

 

Good point. I suggest a slight variant.

LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL
Quique Sanchez Flores

 

Time for him to go.

BILIC OUT!!!

 

It wont be long now.

 

If you found out tonight that Gino was now weighing up Xisco as Bilic's replacement, would you be surprised?

 

Confirmed.

 

It would maybe be a bit embarrassing but ultimately the correct decision. Gino knows what he is doing.

 

The genius that is Gino Pozzo will have trigger finger ready.

 

I wouldn’t be surprised at all, with the degradation in the quality of our squad, it’s only a matter of time before our championship seasons descend into the same farce our PL ones have as Gino thrashes around aimlessly enacts the European model.

 

Not European mate. Just not comparable to other uk teams. All good.

 

Adding Julian D1cks to his staff according to Andrew French.

 

What a classic 90s defender

 

Can’t we add him to the squad as well?