Seven games? Isn't that a bit ambitious? Only the top 9 had won 7 games or more by 27 December this season.
This is the intriguing thing - this season was truncated greatly due to the late start. And then you factor in that it was a 46 game season rather than 38... Many of the players and coaching staff won’t have been in a situation where so much time was spent playing games compared to at the training ground. I think a Leventhal article laid out just how little time Xisco has actually had with the squad working on tactics/shape etc at London Colney. This summer he will have weeks and weeks with them trying to translate his plans etc to the squad and they will find themselves in a situation they haven’t had yet. A lot about whether Xisco is good enough will likely come out in the wash over that period.
Yes and no; it was shorthand for saying we need to well above the fray. QSF won 8 before Christmas and 4 afterwards. On the perception that all newly promoted clubs tend to have a better first nine, loading the winning games and points total before Christmas seems sensible. As a comparator the next season under Mazzarri we won 6 before Christmas and 5 afterwards finishing in 17th losing the last six games. Silva won six before Christmas and including the Boxing Day win against Leicester we won 5 afterwards. The following year under Garcia we won 8 before Christmas and 6 afterwards. The following relegation season saw us win 2 before Christmas and six afterwards so the pattern is that if want to stay up we should not expect to have to win more games in the second half of the season. And in the first half aim to win between 6-8 games.
But you think he will be sacked if he doesn't win 7 games by then? I'd say that was harsh even by Pozzo standards, although it obviously depends how many fewer...
Probably not, but then we would likely end up in a similar situation to this season. We might not get away with it next time!
Lack of goals is down to lack of creativity, as well as decent finishers. We need to bring a playmaker-type in, as well as 2 decent finishers. Minimum.
After a period of reflection, I’ve convinced myself that his happy, welcoming, and positive demeanor is exactly what we need to turn Penaranda into the world class attacker we dreamed he’d be, but has until now sadly hidden away behind the sex parties and terrible haircuts. Give this man a 5 year deal, NOW.
My take is that GP will want to bring in a few players to try and make us competitive in the "bottom 9" of the Prem for next season, but knowing that most of the young squad will also be well equipped for the championship should we fail. Is that called doing a Norwich..?
I have plenty of other useful things to be getting on with than checking on what you post. One does get an impression of a posters character though. And yours involves dragging up posts from the past to score points off others, denigrating what some poster has said about a player to the point of superciliousness. I have pulled you up on that before as your comment directed to a poster was rude and uncalled for. However when someone picks up on your own mistakes the backtracking is worthy of any politician. I reiterate what @Burnsy said at the time was perfectly sound. Why you have to sound so superior with the benefit of hindsight would flummox anyone and notwithstanding actually quoting the post. So petty and small minded and yes childish.
Where Norwich competitive last season? I would hope the aim is to do a bit better than they did. Agree with general point though. Look at the players who got game time in 15/16- Anya, Amrabat, Parades, Watson, Jurado... Hardly world beaters. That's why I defend the likes of Sema. We will likely be OK with team of predominantly good honest pros. Need to add real quality in a few positions, that's about it. People saying we need to get someone with Deulofeu's quality are dreaming though. We would need to establish ourselves again for this to happen!
I doubt he will get to Christmas if we have won less than four games by October half term. His claim to the job is that he has united a group, made them happy and enjoying playing for him. He has no history to suggest that he has developed a repertoire of tactical nous, or can lead a squad through the tests we will face next season. He may have and not need to draw on that. But that will be tested next year. If he looks out of his depth, and the owners believe the team is underperforming, he goes.
Yeah I agree, that response was to somebody saying they don’t think we’ll strengthen much so we could do with some consistency by keeping Munoz. That isn’t a scenario that will play out unless Gino has become Delia overnight. If we don’t strengthen we’ll get consistency for as many games as Munoz is in a job which won’t be many.
Thanks. I agree we need some consistency in the club. I am not sure it'll ever be the head coach. As I've said elsewhere we could do with some identity in the club and a positive culture for players to buy in when they join. Every new coach bringing a whole new team isn't ideal. Long term in the relegation season we see that players ended up not listening to the coach or being motivated, they always know they'll be there longer than him if it goes wrong.
Just to clarify I’m not saying that we shouldn’t keep Munoz and that we couldn’t also benefit from the consistency he would bring if he stays on. But if he isn’t backed then he’ll be out the door in a handful of games, so the benefit of keeping him for consistency purposes will last for a few games. Despite any financial issues we may have, I do not believe that Gino is about to do a Delia, not invest at all, accept relegation as inevitable and just bank the cash so it’s all irrelevant, it’s just the notion of not strengthening and consistency are at odds with each other because Munoz won’t last 5 minutes if he doesn’t get backed. fwiw, although money will be tight I believe we will strengthen, or at least much like our first season we will see a number if new players coming in. Whether it be true or not as far as us fans opinions are concerned, I believe that Gino will believe we’ll end up with a strong enough squad to survive. If Munoz does not look like he can deliver survival he’ll be out the door just like every other manager.
It's looking Like The Kid is going to be in charge next season, and probably he has earned the right to be given a chance. However I have to say I am still not totally convinced he has what it takes, but I sincerely hope he proves me wrong and stuffs my words down my throat. The jury is still out for me!!!
Lost one of his coaching staff who is going back to Spain. https://trainingground.guru/articles/watford-head-of-performance-leaves-after-four-months
This is a real shame. Genuinely think he had a big input in the turnaround of form, change of shape etc. Will need to be replaced by someone equally as good.
I honestly don't remember his name being mentioned here or elsewhere. I hope this doesn't mean Xisco's contribution to the turnaround in form and high points total becomes even more marginalized by some who maintain it was really WTE, the other players and Deeney getting injured what did it.
Surely there will be very few who assume that when we start losing to the likes of Liverpool, Citeh, Man U etc as opposed to beating the likes of Millwall, Birmingham, Rotherham that as the differentiator, all our success last year must have been down to De Hoyo.
Have we decided on his song yet. Or are we assuming he won’t be around long enough to be worthy of one? For the first home game I suppose we could do a variation of the que que one.
