Valerien Ismael - Manager

If he has VI we can at least recycle Ivics tracksuit, a proper cost cutting exercise.

 

Not the profile of manger I was hoping we would bring in ... but then would that profile of manager want to come to Watford having seen how we treat them and with the financial mess we are in. Homework will have been done and the club will be very aware of his strengths and weaknesses along with the type of payers required for his style to be successful, whether he gets these players is another matter. He is in early which is good and I think we all need to get behind him. We, as fans contribute to the on field success, if we are all on the same page and supportive with the same aim then its a great place to be .... get a few wins early doors and the momentum and belief grows and anything is possible. Lets back him, and the team, new season,, clean slate and another new beginning - COYH

 

Never ******* heard of him.

Not overly fussed about his style of play if it works but considering the bar isn't particularly high next season, he might get a bit longer than the usual managerial appointment. Top half finish is probably going to be our ceiling. Hopefully it means we won't have to watch our defenders knock it around the back for a few minutes before losing it, rinse and repeat 20 times.

Hope he's flexible as there will no doubt be 10+ new additions made up from free-transfers, loans and Udinese reserves.

 

Just a couple of points 1. We have never had the players to play the same as Pep and Arteta teams. Playing out from the back in a slow and predictable way gives the opposition time to get ten behind the ball, we then do not have the ability to breakdown their defence. 2. Millwall play a high press vertical game, not pretty to watch but they stuffed us twice. As far as I am aware football has not changed since its conception. Eleven a side and the team that scores the most wins, the methods of doing so are numerous. You do not get more than 3 points for playing pretty football. You may believe that footballers play to entertain the fans if so you are wildly incorrect. Successful players will do what ever it needs to win

 

A forum classic right here, by definition no other teams have either, that doesn’t mean every other team has to play hoofball does it?

 

Yes, clearly his biggest success, but the double promotion end of the 90's was pretty impressive. Boothroyd also took relegation favourites to promotion with a fairly similar style of football. I'd argue they both got relegated due to quality of players the next season rather than tactics. Sean Dyche did a pretty good job with a similar style at Burnley for years, including in the Prem.

 

More likely that players won’t be recruited to fit his style of play and it’ll be rinse and repeat.

 

It will be a mish mash as usual. He won’t quite get what he needs, so will fail, but then half our players will also be unsuitable for the incoming manager who will be whoever Gino deems to be the direct opposite of VI.

 

I wonder if VI will have the same remit from Duxbury of being here to win the league?

Mind you, to be fair to Duxbury he wasn’t far wrong on this one for once, as Edwards was only two places off his target.

 

Yes there is no doubt that we struggle to play out successfully from the back due to the quality of our defenders. However it's pretty tough at our level to find affordable defenders who are both excellent at defending and also very comfortable on the ball (and if we do, they won't be here long !). Ours have either been one or the other (eg Cathcart vs Wilmot) or neither.
It will be tough to ever get back to where we were 4-5 years ago. Not impossible but tough. I like the idea of starting out with a high intensity fast attacking football, maybe get promoted one season, and gradually migrate that style if we survive and can afford to and slowly build the quality. No more ditching a team and buying in 8-10 mercenaries if/when we get promoted.
I hate to see us trying to play like Citeh with the level of quality we have in the squad today. Slow boring and occasionally suicidal.
The more I think about it the more I like the idea of giving this guy a chance if we can support him with the right type of players.

 

Why have we turned into just another club that picks its managers from the merry go round?

I'm quite happy for us to sack our managers frequently, but why are suddenly only getting managers who have failed at our rivals?

Baffling stuff.

 

Absolutely. This season the players seemed more concerned with scoring a "fantastic" goal than getting the ball in the effing net. The number of times Pedro, or Davies, or Louza, or Asprilla would try a fancy little flick rather than larrup it or make a simple pass to an obvious team mate had me pulling what's left of my hair out. Our "achievement" of most nutmegs last season was a warning sign.

 

Depends what your goal is.

 

This does seem to smack of a short term appointment to try to get us back up to the premier league , which I doubt is what any of us wanted . I guess if we recruit to suit his style , we will at least end up with a squad more capable of taking on the championship. But if he isn’ t gonna last more than a season where does that leave us ?

 

I missed you Malts xx

 

May I suggest that if you want to watch modern day football you go and watch Arsenal or Man city because you will not see it in the Championship, even Burnley played with a lump up front

 

Lasting the year it would take to get promoted would hardly be ‘short term’ by our standards.

 

I'm not so sure about this - Porteous, Hoedt and Kabasele should be fairly comfortable in a back 3 and were fine against Stoke. Sema and Ferreira/Andrews should also be decent wing-backs. We also currently don't have a first-choice LB.

Also, regardless we'll have to sign loads of players in the summer anyway, so in theory there's no reason why we can't still set up our squad next season for either.

 

By definition modern day football does not involve hoofing it.

 

Anyone with our current squad would be a car crash given we only have about 10 players who'll probably be here next season; one way or another we'll have to recruit heavily.

 

Hoedt is a good ball playing CB when his head's in the game. His problem is it's very easy to mentally get into his head and then rattle him which is when you see those brain farts emerge. I think a Valerian system would see him shine because it's asking him to play to his strengths with his long passing game and higher line to carry it which is also a stronger attribute than to sit deeper and absorb pressure.

 

Indeed - Sierralta and WTE were both good at defending but couldn't pass for toffee. Hoedt and Porteous both seem more comfortable on the ball but have been shaky when needed to defend.

 

Who's definition of modern day football, I presume yours, which would appear to be of someone who has never played at any level

 

Sierralta and WTE were not a lot more comfortable defending in a much deeper sytem whilst being technically challenged. We were lamenting this a lot under Edwards where Cathcart was the only half capable ball passing CB before his form went off the boil after February. Hoedt and Porteous aren't a lot worse defensively whilst being more capable carrying and passing the ball.

 

Not sure about this. We gave up loads of chances and Stoke had a good case to say they should have been ahead at half time.

 

Alarm bells ringing at the idea of a high line and Hoedt. Already this season we've seen many examples of him lumbering back miles behind the play. He is one of the slowest footballers I've ever seen.

 

Yeah this is why I see the appointment of Ismael as being in line with the Pozzo appointment ploy of trying to adjust for weaknesses of the previous manager.

In addition to Millwall, there was also Blackburn, Rotherham, and Luton under Edwards, who did well against us this season playing a more direct, high intensity approach. In fact it seemed we generally struggled against that type of team much more this season than against the like of Burnley, Sheffield Utd and Norwich who similarly favoured a more controlled, ball-playing style.

 

Clearout? We have wasted this for the past

Clearout? We have been wanting this for the past few seasons and it has not happened. We could be contractually left with the same players.
You must understand that we are virtually broke, so where is the money coming from?
The appointment has gone down like a lead balloon with fans. It feels like a step backwards and not building for the future which many fans had hoped for.
Is Pozzo going for the Ismael vertical football tactics in order to surprise teams after this style failed to work at WBA and Turkey. Pozzo "Teams will not expect it", Duxbury "If they do, we can always sack him".
Why couldn't we wait to see who was out there?
This appointment is a major letdown.

 

Stick Pollock alongside him and he'll be fine .

 

Cant say I'm upset we've signed Ismael over Farioli, because I dont follow the wider footballing world and until Farioli was linked with us I hadnt heard of him in all honesty. He might well play a better style of football and have a better pedigree of coaching school but 14th in the Turksih league doesnt strike me as a particularly high level. Thats not to say that Ismael was my preferred choice, I would be lying if I said it wasnt a tad underwhelming (still better than Wilder though), but I can atleast see why they chose him given how threadbare our squad is and the calibre of player we are likely to be bringing in given our financial situation. I'll back him for the ten games or so the powers that be will likely give him.

I dont see his style of play as being a negative given how much rebuilding of the squad is required. Looking at the squad its quite the job the new head coach has on his hands, I just hope Gino actually backs him for once. Bayat bargin specials wont cut it. As it stands the squad for next season currently is -

Bachmann, Okoye, Hamer

Morris, Ngakia, Andrews, Ferreria

Hoedt, Kabs, Porteous, Sierralta

Louza, Kone, TDB, Asprilla, Cleverly, Grieves

Hungbo, Sarr,

Bayo, Fletcher, Ademayo

Atleast Sarr if not more of the above are also likely to leave over summer. Is Gaspar still with the club?

You could potentially add Forde, Quina, Pollock , Baah, Pussetto to the above but they are all more likely to be sent out on loan again.

Sema, Cathcart, Bacuna, Britt are all out of contract and its not been reported that I know of that a new contract has been offered to them. Blake rejected his contract offer.

 

Does it matter whether you play the City way or a more direct way. If we get the results who cares. How many of us enjoyed the Boothroyd promotion season. It was very direct but exciting at the same time.
Sheff Utd and the scum are not that pretty to watch but finished second and third, Millwall as somebody mentioned already are direct and in your face a lot and stuffed us twice.
There are many different ways of playing football, I'm just glad that hopefully we will have some sort of style because we haven't had one for a while

 

I've no idea who this bloke is, where he's from, what his record's like etc etc and, sadly, can't generate enough enthusiasm to find out. You've broken me, Gino