Watford 25 Man Squad (& Numbers) - 2015/16 ( as it stands )

I'm not sure but I thought you could release a player and sign a free agent ... or at least it was talked about at other clubs.

Getting promoted is like turning up for an exam only to find that they've changed the syllabus.

 

if that's actually true, that's another deliciously Pozzoesque loophole we could wind up the rest of the league with. Not sure even we're that brazen though.

 

So with Diamanti, the non-HG in the squad are:

Gomes, Arlauskis

Nyom, Paredes, Prodl, Angella, Britos, Belkalem, Ekstrand, Holebas, Pudil

Capoue, Behrami, Abdi, Jurado, Berghuis, Layun, Diamanti

Vydra, Ighalo, Forestieri


Assuming I havem't missed anyone there then that's 21 names. Ekstrand, Belkalem, Pudil and Forestieri to miss out? And then a one in, one out from now on.

 

I think the four to miss out will be Ekstrand, Belkalem, Pudil and Parades. If we then manage to sign a winger as stated by Quique, then FF will go on loan.

I dont think we need Parades or Pudil as we have plenty of cover at FB. Especially with the 4231 system the FBs tend to play more like WBs as they have the 2 DMs to cover their runs.
The following can cover at FB and have already done so for Watford at some point ( apart from Ake and Behrami of course)

Anya
Layun
Hoban
Cathcart
Ake
Behrami ( played at RB for West Ham for quite a few games)

 

I generally agree with this.
I did however, remove Forestieri from the 17 as Diamanti came in and the play the same position.

I think that we are still very much so in the market for additional players.
If they are HG then happy days for fessi he gets to remain.

 

So Britos now has a three-match ban. Is he likely to make the cut at this rate?

 

From the Flores/Watson comments sounds like Britos has a spot in the squad. I think this mean Angella will miss out.

 

There are more than 3 games between now and 1st January.

 

Gomes, Arlauskas
Prodl, Nyom, Holebas, Layun, Angella, Paredes
Capoue, Behrami,
Abdi, Jurado, Diamanti, Berghuis, Forestieri
Ighalo, Vydra

Gilmartin,
Cathcart,
Watson,
Anya,
Deeney,
Smith (?)

Hoban,
Ake,

Pudil, Britos, Battocchio, Ekstrand and Belkalem surely all to miss out. Possibly Vydra/Fessi also if we bring some more players in (hopefully any further additions are home-grown)

 

I posted the above back in June; so far not too bad a prediction about the amount of players we would need to bring in!

As for my choice of 14 PL standard players, 2 have already left the club, Tozser & Bond, and a few more seem to be under threat of following them; Vydra, Abdi, Parades and Angela, though I am not in agreement with any of them going.

The surprise for me is the much in favour Anya, though personally I am still not so sure about him.

I think we might have brought in a few flops, though it is early days, and it is well documented on these boards that the jury is still out on QSF as far as I am concerned.

I know it's early days, and I'm not saying I have any solutions, but I hope Florrie sorts it out soon as I am not happy with the way things are going at present; after all he's well paid to do whats right for the club, and I really hope he proves he can do it :-\

 

QSF is doing a great job.

It's not easy to bring in literally a whole new squad and over 6-8 weeks get them playing as well as he has. It took Zola 3 months in the championship, QSF has to do it in the prem!

If you'd asked me 6 months ago if I'd be happy if our team could match Everton and outplay Southampton and West Brom I'd say too bl**dy right I would.

Lets keep some perspective otherwise as a supporter group we come across as spoiled brats (I want it all and I want it now and I'm going to cry until I get it)!

 

25-man squad decision

Slightly surprised I couldn't find a thread on here speculating about who'll make the squad and who won't.

(Maybe I just couldn't see it. A lot of people have said I'm one-eyed.)

There's plenty of speculation elsewhere on which players will miss the cut. Are people here not too bothered?

(I'm definitely not bothered, by the way. It's very unlike me to post a link to my blog, but... https://jimmyarmchair.wordpress.com )

 

You mean like the one called "Watford 25 Man Squad (& Numbers) - 2015/16 ( as it stands )" stickied at the very top of the forum?

 

D'oh. People are right. I'm a one-eyed idiot.

 

My non HG 17:

Goalkeepers:

1.Gomes
2. Arlauskis

Defenders
3. Nyom
4. Angella
5. Prodl
6. Holebas


Midfielders
7. Jurado
8. Behrami
9. Layun
10. Berghuis
11. Capoue
12. Diamanti
13. Abdi

Forwards:
14. Ighalo
15. Vydra

16. NEW STRIKER
17. NEW OUT AND OUT WINGER

A homegrown midfielder in the mould of Chalobah would be nice. If not bring in Guediora and start the season with 3 strikers.

I love Forestieri but he'll be better off loaned to a club and we can see how well he does, if Berghuis doesn't adapt then send him on loan in January and recall Fessi in January when you can submit a new squad I'm sure?

Ekstrand won't be fit till January anyway, when he is, loan him out, no way he'll be ready to dive straight in.

Britos I just don't like hence why he's not included but realistically he's probably going to be number 17.

 

Is there an exception to rules for GKs. If one GK is injured then we would have no backup on game day if we only had 2 GKs in squad.

 

Gilmartin is HG no?

I still think our bench keeper should've been HG so we could have an extra space for non HG where it might benefit us but oh well.

 

There is a massive lot of crying a whingeing going on. I believe a lot of people thought that all we needed to do was find a supporting cast for our good players from the last three years and all would be ok. Vydra and Abdi and the rest would sweep into the Prem and carry all before them with the right grafters on board.

Well, Anya, Deeney, Abdi, Cathcart, Gomes and Ighalo aside QSF has found them wanting for the Premier League. The new batch has had some instant hits, a pretty good strike rate really with Nyom, Prodl, Behrami and Capoue, but some others, esp Berghuis and Holebas are not quite switched on enough yet.

But this being the Pozzos the thinking is radical and even Fessi and Vydra are not guaranteed a place. The Pozzos do not mean to lose this battle. Get used to it people.

 

Is there Moose?

All I've seen is people just questioning the lack of a change of formation during the game and the logic in getting rid of one of our three out and out strikers. You know, like football fans usually do.

Obviously you have posters like highgrade who either blindly believe what they say or are simply trolling but with the exception of a 'vintage Moog' comment about Flores hopefully resigning, that's been it really.

There's a big difference between scratching your head over a coach's decisions and throwing your season ticket at the owners. Sure, some fans certainly wish that players like Forestieri, Vydra and Abdi would be a success at this level but if they aren't, they aren't. That's life. It's the future of the club that's the primary concern of (mostly) everyone on this board.

Other posters can constantly repeat, twist and make a strawman out of words that others, like myself, have said about the likes of Vydra but that in no way means that people are seriously calling for the manager to leave. Those ****ers are just trolling the same that the likes of highgrade are.

I want Flores to be a success and keep us in the Premier League. With or without my 'favourite' players. I like his chant too much.

Basically, everyone just needs to calm the **** down.

 

Excellent post

 

We need to get rid of five foreign players (plus any new signings):

Almost certainties:
Pudil
Ekstrand (why register him?)
Belkalem

Quite possible:
Fessi
Angella
Vydra

Possible if we sign a more suited player to the formation:
Abdi

This would allow us to bring in one or two home groans:

Manu
Doucoure

 

My heart goes out to Flores. We've all spent too long on Football Manager.

Anyone know of a simulation game that would make us better at not trying to do someone else's job?

 

Agree with the last bit, but I didn't say there was a campaign to get rid of the manager. Twitter particularly has lots of knee jerk anxiety.

The next game is likely to provoke an extraordinary outpouring one way or another.

 

I don't think anyone would disagree that if FF, Vydra and Abdi aren't a success at this level they'll have to go. But we - and Florrie - haven't had a chance to find out whether they would be a success. It's binning some of our best players without giving them a chance to show what they can do that upsets many of us.

 

Yeah that worked in 99 and 06; give the promoted squad a chance to succeed to the detriment of survival.

 

The strange bit about we football fans is that we think we know better than professional scouts who spend their entire working week watching players play.

While scouts and managers undoubtedly get things wrong regularly, I'm feel confident that their player assessment ability is an order of magnitude higher than that of the average football fan.

 

Is that your Q.E.D. moment? It didn't work in 99 therefore it never has nor never will?
















i

 

It is the wrong thing to do, which explains why it never worked

 

Let's face it, most promoted teams are going to struggle if they keep the majority of their promotion winning side. Granted, there will be a few exceptions. It's better to get the players we want in now rather than struggle through to January when we'll have to sign in areas that we are particularly weak.

 

Too much of a generalisation for me; we came up with better players this time and it's a funny old world if we can find room for the likes of Layun and Anya, but not Abdi.

 

We can all see what is in front of our very eyes. You do not have to be a Europa winning manager to know that one shot on target in two games is pretty bad. Or a keen football manager player to have the opinion that keeping Ighalo on for 90 minutes was something most managers would have changed, irrespective of pedigree.

Of course calling for a mangers head at this time of the season is stupid; but shooting down anyone who offers a reason as to why we aren't performing to our full ability clearly isn't really that useful either.

 

It wasn't meant as a generalisation and you are right, some of the promoted players have a place.

 

That's simply not true though is it, there were 2 clear cut easier to score than miss moments v Southampton.

 

We can get a bit over sentimental though. They were hired at wages of a about £1m per year to do a job, which they did. Many have been given or already have nice long contracts. I would imagine they might remain v happy with WFC even if they never play for us again.

So for example Vydra - he may not be happy that he may struggle for games with us, but look at the reaction to a sniff of getting him on loan. He is in demand, hugely. No reason to see any losers in this game.

 

Goodness Moose - you talk sense sometimes fella.