The Premier League - 2021-2022

Talksport have us down for relegation. Out the three teams promoted, Brentford are the team TS feel will stay up.

 

Oddschecker has us 2nd favourites for relegation and that feels about right, when one removes Watford-tinted sunglasses. They have Norwich as favourites which i guess you agree with. You mention we beat them twice last year but not that despite that, they still finished above us ! Following the same logic Brentford (a win and a draw) can assume they will finish above us? The loss of Buendia is key though and much will depend on what strengthening teams manage between now and deadline day.

 

I think we all got the point, the trouble is it was absolute gibberish.

 

I think our season will be pretty similar to our relegation season. Munoz is a lovely guy and all but he’s got the tactical nous of a an ironing board. We’ll get humped around the league for 5/10 games before some hopeless out of work sap gives us a temporary, but ultimately fruitless jolt.

So 2nd bottom seems about right.

 

I reckon we'll avoid relegation by 1 point.

 

One of the main benefits of pace up front is that the oppo have to sit back a little so it's not as easy to pen us in & exert non-stop pressure which nearly always results in conceding. If we can prevent our backline being under such pressure the prognosis for sufficient adequate results is good.

 

Bizarre comment....how about if that's what someone thinks will happen?

 

I agree with a lot of this - and certainly in the face of the negativity of the post you’re replying to.

But our depth at CB is anything other than ‘very good’. It’s woeful. If we get lucky in that position then I think we could well be clear of relegation. But I think it’s a dangerous game the club are playing with in that area. Seems like a risk not worth taking to me but they seem to be sleeping through it - again.

 

I think not having the ball as much may make Troost-Ekong look a bit better in the PL, but I didn't think he was that impressive in a lot of aspects of his defending last season. It's a difficult one because he's clearly a very important member of the squad off the pitch, so all we can do now is hope that he and Sierralta make the step up.

 

I expect Brentford to concede at least 10 more goals than us next season. Hopefully that will be enough to fook em up!

 

How many players from the '99 promotion team would get in our current team though? Next season should be Sarr's proper breakout season, if that happens it's gonna be Moosegasmic!! Sarr is a £60 million goalscoring, assisting, speed king. If he turns it on it's gonna be beautiful.....

 

Bring it on. When we were promoted last time we were the media's favourites to go down the next season.

I think they, like many of our fans, merely look our expenditure and base our chance on that.

 

Was it Chalobah who said that or Nath on here?

Doesn’t sound like the kind of thing the latter would normally say, but he does have his moments of unexpected positivity on here.

 

Agreed. We always achieve more as underdogs.

 

I agree but we spent quite a bit last time we came up. Jurado, Capoue, Bergius, Holebas, and then wages/loan fees for Ake, Bahami, Ibarbo, Diamamti all cost a few Bob. Definitely feels we are going budget this time around compared to that.

 

I can't see the logic of that. Was it just because we were Watford? If so, why didn't they put Bournemouth ahead of us?

If not, then surely making at least one of the teams that narrowly avoided relegation the previous season (as it turned out two of them, Newcastle and Villa, did go down, the latter abominably so) favourites ahead of us would have made more sense. Especially Villa and Sunderland, who'd been treading water for years and were just waiting to drop.

 

I'd take Micah Hyde and Peter Kennedy

 

We've been tipped for relegation by the 'experts' every season we've been in the Premier league, apart from the season we actually got relegated.

We made them look like right ****s that year.

 

Yep I think people forget how huge a signing Capoue was for us especially. At the time it was the biggest signing in our history, only since eclipsed by deulofeu and pereyra I reckon.

There's nothing to compare this time round.

 

https://www.watfordfc.com/news/official-ashley-fletcher-signs

 

Honestly we just have a pretty awful squad (good 11 but too many crap players on the books), and seem to keep compounding are problems further by signing more and more crap squad fillers. We keep saying we can't risk the clubs financial future by making "expensive" signings - but the issue is, with a half decent scouting network and correct profile, clubs of our size are meant to use player trading to sustain a competitive squad whilst making a profit on the players. Palace have just spent masses on Olise, Guehi and Anderson, but each one of those will be sold on for profit.

Think of the options our relegation squad had compared to now, that relegation is so depressing. Crucial we go back to the ambitious mindset we had before, if we'd learned to sell players at the right time it would have worked perfectly.

 

As long as Deeney gets 0 minutes we're staying up

 

My expectations is the same after every promotion year. I just hope for top league safety when the season ends. Nothing more than that, no dreams of mid table or Europe or saying what a good squad we got or anything like that before it all kicks off.

 

I totally agree, but today I've seen a worrying amount of people on Watford twitter saying he should start against Villa based on yesterday.

Absolutely mind-boggling stuff.

 

Yes, it's insane. Some people saying we should play 442 to accommodate Deeney. That would be 100% guaranteed relegation. Completely mental. We saw what happened playing Deeneyball in the championship last season. They say the definition of madness is doing the same thing again and again expecting different results....

 

I think what they are saying is Troy didnt look fat or sh1te so he should start ahead of the multitude of superior players in his position.

 

I wonder how up to speed King is, bearing in mind he only arrived part way through pre-season. For all his faults, Deeney looks as fit as he's been for a long time, did he start yesterday because he's currently fitter than King? Hope so anyway!

 

King, Dennis, Cucho, JP and Gray are all better #9s than Deeney. Troy was at his best in the 14/15 season.

 

Well, Nigel Pearson was the last manager to get anything noteworthy out of Deeney and that was when we were last in the Prem.

Does that mean Pearson is miles better as a manager than Ivic and Munoz, Troy has massively regressed since, or a bit of both?

 

What did Pearson get out of Deeney? A few penalties?

 

Yeah, he got nothing out of him, and continued to trot him out there when it was blindingly obvious Welbeck should have been starting.

One of the biggest reasons I was delighted to be rid of him.