Valerien Ismael - Manager

Should be fun

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Has this **** ****ed off yet?

 

Honestly feels like a missed opportunity. With JP gone, Sarr likely leaving along with all the contract expirees, loanees returning and possibilities for fringe players to leave, it's an absolutely perfect chance for Manga to define what sort of football he wants us to play, then recruit a manager to fit that and then build the squad around that end goal. I find it hard to believe that he's wanting Watford to, in a few seasons time, to still be playing the style of football that Ismael plays (with or without Ismael) which could again mean an unsuitable squad if we decide to go in another direction playstyle wise.

I think I'd prefer it if we hired Wilder permanently and built the rebuild around his style of play and preferences.

Will hopefully do a full breakdown of what to expect tomorrow.

 

WBA and Besiktas fans having a right old laugh.

Any time you think there's a chance to turn a corner or at least that this club cannot get any more pathetic and depressing, they manage it.

 

I’d have agreed with you when we brought Wilder in but he did nothing to show himself worthy of the gig.

I think the more fundamental part of Ismael’s style of play is his off the ball stuff (very aggressive press, high line and compression of the playing area) and I’d be very happy to see that remain a fixture of Watford for years to come.

No mention of contract length though...

 

Next cab off the rank.

3 months to perform miracles.

Sacked.

Repeat.

 

Bit weird to not acknowledge Wilder leaving separately first

Also 'pleased' to confirm but not 'delighted' to confirm... telling...

 

Manga is Pozzo’s appointment with no pedigree in English football

Don’t get all your hopes up on him just yet. He may make a big positive difference but it’s still early days to know.

I think this is a horrible, underwhelming and disappointing appointment but I want our club to succeed so I will wish him well. He’s not who I wanted but who am I anyway to have hopes and preferences and opinions. I’m a nobody.

Let’s hope I and others who are lukewarm about this will be eating humble pie next season. I’d willingly do so if it meant we have a good campaign. Not getting my microwave ready to cook it just yet though.

 

Good luck Valerien.

 

Back him, Gino!

 

I trust Manga will at least try to back Ismael, let's hope he's not hamstrung

 

It will be interesting to know whether this is a Manga or Pozzo appointment. If it’s the former and he can recruit players to fit then it could work. If it’s another Pozzo appointment then it won’t end well

 

How the hell is a manager, renowned for a fast high press game, going to work with a squad that would look slow when playing walking football

 

Probably joined as an unpaid intern

 

Kin ell! If there was one time the club needed to just breathe and conduct a purposeful interview process.

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Presumably we will be looking for players who do suit his style ?

If not then it’s a total waste of time .

 

I agree about Wilder in part, although I'd argue our squad was so rancid after recruiting for whatever manager we had that particular window that most managers would've struggled to get a tune out of the team, but he was also underwhelming for sure.

Also true about the defensive side of the game, perhaps Ismael is the first stop in the evolution of our upcoming squad. I am optimistic although have a healthy dose of pessimism and scepticism alongside.

 

How come? OK, Ismael is very specific, but every coach is going to bring different nuances. The fundamentals (ultra-physical, high-pressing) could be something we work towards in the long-term.

 

Wilder I don't think was the answer we need to get ourselves in a more balanced and motivated squad. He was not the problem and I wouldn't have baulked had we kept him but it looked like he had very little idea how he wanted us to play and although a lot of what he said is true, it does also look at times he's pushing all fault away from him, of which he did need to take some blame.

We are in a good position to recruit for Valerian as the squad will have so many spaces that are now available that there isn't going to be the potential problem of having a bloated squad that most sides would encounter to do this. Looking at some articles, he looks to play 3-4-3 or so with a top heavy press and direct down the wings using wingers and a strong forward or two who can occupy centre halves and can finish. The central midfield needs good engines to aid the press as well. A sweeping keeper is preferable as well.

Assuming no loanees are retained for next Season:

Goalkeepers:
New GK (XI)
Bachmann or Hamer (Sub)

Centre back:
Porteous (XI)
New CB (XI)
Hoedt (XI)
New CB (Sub)
Kabasele (Depth)
Sierralta (Depth)

Right back:
Ferreira (XI)
Andrews (Sub)

Left back:
New LB (XI)
Morris (Sub)

Central Midfield:
Louza (XI)
New CM (XI)
New CM (Sub)
New CM (Sub)
Koné (Depth)
Dele-Bashiru (Depth)

Left Wing:
Sema (XI)
Asprilla (Sub)

Right Wing:
New RW (XI)
New RW (Sub)

Striker:
New ST (XI)
New ST (Sub)
Bayo (Depth)
Assombalonga (Depth)

26 Senior Squad Players

Loan:
Pollock
Grieves
Hungbo
Forde
Ademayo

Sell / Release:
Hamer or Bachmann
Okoye
Ngakia
Cathcart
Cleverley
Gosling
Quina
Pussetto
Baah
Sarr

I make that 11 signings ideally. You could trim a couple off if we lean on existing players more (Having Hungbo as an RW Sub, having Pollock as a CB depth, having Grieves as a CM Depth) but we need to recruit externally for the rest. It's a lot to do, but if we as a club are letting Manga and Valerian take legitimate control of the footballing decisions then this is how I roughly expect it to shakedown coke the end of August because if we don't we will have another managerial change come Christmas and the last chance for thus club gone to halt this dreary slide into mediocrity.

 

Another thing I like is that we now have a clear benchmark in terms of profile of players to judge the recruitment against. If we have a sweeper keeper and a lamppost up front by the end of the window, we’ll know that recruitment is being done differently.

 

It's May, and I'm already not looking forward to next season.

What a complete shithausen we have become.

#Maybe it's time to let go of the love

We don't seem to have a sad emoji; fcuking fascist stewards.

 

We could view Sema as a LWB and play with more of a 3-4-1-2 with Asprilla in the 1. Ismael’s front three is very narrow; one of his players off Dike at Barnsley was Morris who is just a Centre forward. I wouldn’t be shocked if we don’t get new wingers and would be surprised if we get 2.

 

In all fairness though he has done well in the Championship which is the league we are playing in. He may have been sacked at West Brom but they were 5th in the table. He also managed to get Barnsley in the play offs and they were relegated the following season after he had left.

What has this Farioli fella or whatever his name is actually achieved except being the next Pep Guardiola after finishing mid table in Turkey? Wasn't he a goalkeeping coach under De Zebri?

 

Asprilla is very versatile. I don't think he's physically strong enough to start games but behind the strikers or out wide he's got the ability to great things, similar to Pedro when he was still growing into his body. Sema was made for a Valerian side.

If we did a wingback system, Ferreira and Sema would do very nicely as they're both attack minded and put in dangerous balls, with Sema more physically capable to sustain it.

 

That's true, I was too focused on the long-ball side rather than the defensive aspect.

 

Sure but remind me when our current regime has recruited players to suit their incoming managers style as opposed to just recruiting based on availability/players that may be able to be sold at a profit

and a lot of faith on this board is being put into Manga…time will tell

 

Have seen so many negative comments from other fans, never a good sign that!

 

Leventhal was on this way before anybody else, fwiw.

 

I totally agree .

Based on January singings we will get slight young untested attackers for example .

 

Largely irrelevant what the name is. Gone by early December if he is lucky.

 

Was it ismail that quina played quite a lot of football under on loan?

 

Would have been nice to have at least a week or so following the end of the season before being completely underwhelmed by this club yet again.