He was played out of position at the end, which did contribute to the downturn in performances, but right now he's a crock, I'd much rather have someone like Hughes who while less talented, seems to have more left in the tank
I'd agree with almost all of this. I will defend Bayo though as I think he does offer a consistent goal threat and is great for the last 30 minutes when you're chasing a game. Goals v Norwich, Middlesbrough and Rotherham has earned us 7 points which you can't turn your nose up at. Stoke goal too but wasn't a deciding goal. Kalu clearly is a difference maker at this level too, but his injury record is what make him a drain.
Really goes to show how good our options were in 14/15. Prime Deeney, Ighalo, Vydra and Forestieri is pretty much perfection at this level both in terms of squad depth and the mix of skills. 62 goals in all competitions between them that year. Fast forward a few years and we're down to the likes of Perica, Manaj and Bayo. Step down in quality outside the first XI is huge.
Well, you say that but him leaving did open the door to the Mogi Bayat transfer merry go round of fun. Obbi Oulare as the replacement for Vydra was the first transfer he was involved in.
Our promising young keeper Angellini has joined Brentford permanently and is going into their B team set up.
Well the Watford Observer are going to be at the training ground tomorrow. Will they be busy or just sat there twiddling their thumbs ? https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/23285785.watford-allow-wo-blog-deadline-day-training-base/
Last night he said 1 or 2 excluding Hoedt and Assombalonga. Now he seems to be saying he’s expecting just one more.
About 2 weeks ago he said that he knew of a deal for a winger/midfielder that was already completed - just waiting for the green light to announce it. from a few of him posts - I'm fairly certain that he was referring to a midfielder not a winger. he reckoned that player was decent so we assumed it was a British based player time will tell I suppose.
There was a rumour about that earlier in the window but I’d have thought his wages made that a total non-starter.
Would be good. We could do with a player that flexible/adaptable. Could he play all those positions at the same time.
What we definitely need in the summer. GK DR DM Ball winning midfielder Wingers Striker x 2 Hopefully they will all be under the age of 23 with potential to grow but club finances might dictate we need to get experience in to have a good go next season. Still obviously hoping we go up this season but I am 50/50 on that now.
Any chance the money we get for Sarr/Pedro will be used to fund any new signings? Or got towards having to pay off loans/legal bills/other clubs.
No idea, Pedro is ready for the step up but Sarr has regressed so much I cant see anyone wanting to take the risk with him. Probably looking at £35m max for the two of them. Manga is good at picking up bargains with potential though so fingers crossed. I really hope the loan repayments were calculated with us being in the Champo for a couple of seasons. I'm not sure how much debt we are in even though I know it is significant. If the Pozzos need to sell then at least they have made us an attractive club to potential suitors.
I'd be tempted to try and get Hamza on a permanent transfer anyway. He definitely has his limitations on the ball but we'd find his ball winning ability hard to replace, just down to whether the trade off is worth it or not (ball winning ability vs a more well rounded replacement). Kayembe is an adequate backup to Hamza, I'd look at finding a backup for Louza (incase of another injury etc) instead to ensure we're well stocked in terms of ball playing ability to compliment the ball winning ability we have. According to Statsbomb the biggest match (U21 players, in leagues we can probably afford to buy from) in terms of style to Louza is Christos Zafeiris who we were linked with in January (and 2nd is Carlos Alcaraz who joined Southampton in January).
Analysis. I love it! ... but feels out of place in the context of Gino's Watford. Though one can always hope.
Completely forgot about Kone actually, he had semi decent playmaking stats last season in the MLS (blue) but hasn't managed to replicate that yet with us (red) - although his defensive stats have seen an increase in the small amounts we've seen of him, but it's still early days so hopefully he can grow into that role.
If we stay down we'll need major surgery to even have a chance of a top half finish. Pedro, Louza, Sarr, Kamara, Martins all likely to go. Choudhury, Davis, Araujo won't be back. Bachmann started the season very well but is getting worse every week and we clearly don't fancy the other two. Centre backs are now ok for Championship (but doubt any of them would be much cop in the Premier League), pretty sure we'd offer Cathcart another year in this league. We have three right backs so ok there but need a left back with Morris as understudy (really starting to remind me of Craig Forsyth, chronically slow but decent left foot and might be able to eek out a decent Championship career). Midfield is a mess with only Kayembe, Dele-Bashiru, Kone and Quina likely to be here. Asprilla might stay but wouldn't be surprised if he goes on loan to a La Liga team as that would be far better for Gino Pozzo Player Trading Ltd. Don't think we'll renew either Cleverley or Gosling. Attacking options of Sema, Assombolonga (of we decide to keep him on) and Fletcher. That's only 8/9 HG players that are likely to be in the squad and all would ideally be back ups at best and some aren't good enough even for that role. Better hope that Manga and Costa have something domestic up their sleeves rather than just raiding Portugal...
Maybe I’m off base but wouldn’t be surprised if one way or another some or all of Louza, Choudhury or Martins are around next season.
Udinese will probably give us Martins back and a few others - including Kamara ? Is Bayo going to return..
I think Louza will go to Udinese as no-one will pay us more than we paid for him but having seen all our good players leave he won't want to hang around, we won't be able to afford Choudhury and Martins also stays at Udinese after hardly playing any more games for us this season. As you can tell, I'm pretty glass half empty at the moment!
I'm fairly confident about next season with Manga in charge of recruitment. I don't think Louza or Asprilla will be going anywhere, and I can't see Martins playing for Udinese next season (not good enough yet). We have a pretty decent spine and a chance to clear the decks this summer. Manga has shown he can be ruthless (Manaj & Bayo), so I think we might see a clear out. Hoping we move on Kameybe, Kaba, Kamara, Bachmann, Gosling, Cleverly, Kalu. Bring in a few decent loanees, Udinese players and smart championship signings (Manning for example). Sell Pedro (£25m+) and Sarr (10m+) for £30+ mil gives us a huge opportunity to build a very good championship side. Maybe overly optimistic but January showed good signs in that department, and for all the naysayers we do have some promising young players and a few very good championship players in the squad. Edit- I also think it gives Manga a chance to recruit an exciting manager with a set style of play and build something that suits the manager (caveat being, if he's actually in charge).
