Xisco Munoz

Focussed on tweeting meaningless buzzwords instead of creating a system and mentality that will keep us up:

 

The biggest clubs in the county I understand

 

A little known fact is that Biggleswade is named after ex Luton goalkeeper Les Sealey's jizz. The town's name being based on the phrase 'Big Les's Wad'.

 

Was this supposed to be in the Damia Abella Perez Out thread?

 

Haha, any thread will do. I'm just sick of all the buzzwords and fake PR coming out of the club when we have real problems to fix. We've been shambolic for large parts of the season and having 7 points is little short of a miracle. We need to cut the spin and the BS and focus on the job in hand which is to create a system and a mentality that allows the players to thrive.

 

Question for you lads (and ladies ofc) is this fair or harsh?

 

I would imagine if you put Liverpool’s and City’s recent title winning seasons under same review then you would get a healthy amount of poors , routine etc .

What counts in the long run is how many points you win and secondarily what type of football they are playing .
Last season did Xisco get promotion . Did we play decent football . This season , can we survive . If so can we do it by playing some nice football .

Some abject and subjective chart with emotive judgements does not really qualify as football analysis .

 

Difference with them two clubs is they can get away with that, we aren’t good enough to do that. And it isn’t ‘analysis’ it’s just looking at performances black/white. And given the performances, the trajectory we’re on is only going one way, and that’s down. I’m not arsed what football we play, I want an identity with a coach that is tactically aware and uses his subs wisely. I spoke to a Newcastle analyst who works for the club after the game Saturday, he said and I quote “one of the worst tactical displays I’ve seen”

 

I don’t agree with a lot of that, it seems in many cases you are not taking into account the quality of the opposition or the context of the game and/or are influenced too much by the result. For example, an injury-hit Huddersfield was probably our easiest game of that run after Wycombe, but we made heavy weather of that and Deeney as so often did little, yet you describe that as routine and wins in much tougher games (Barnsley at home, Stoke away where for once Troy contributed something vital, Preston away, Reading at home, Millwall at home) as poor? Spurs away I’d describe as OK but you’ve left out that category for some reason, and we were unlucky not to win at Millwall (there’s not much more you can do when a team plays so defensively). Also somewhat hyperbolic to describe Luton away as worst performance ever - what about several games towards the end of 2007/08, Yeovil and Huddersfield at home 2013/14, Brighton at home 2018/19?

 

(Tbh one or two could even be generous considering them in context - Villa, I'm looking at you...)

 

Has anyone ever told you that you can be slightly overly literal at times, London?

 

I didn’t take into account a lot of the opposition because we’re considerably better than them but we didn’t play like that. It was meant to be hyperbolic RE Luton given how bad we were and given we hate them. Millwall at home we were awful, the players themselves even said that!

 

Yeah I update it straight after the game, I didn’t realise Villa were only in training for 10 days and hit with covid

 

No idea but you clearly have too much time on your hands.

Liked for the use of “abject” and “woeful”.

 

Clearly the assessment of someone disappointed from day one with the appointment of an inexperienced coach.

 

Maybe a bit of harshness in there given I don’t think he’s very good. But inexperience doesn’t mean I’m disappointed; we’ve had many inexperienced managers that I’ve liked - Zola, Slav (pushing it there a lil bit), Dyche, Rodgers, Boothroyd. I just haven’t got attached to him like others so my opinion is probably more out there than others

 

Pardew. Could do a job.

 

I don’t know what your opinion was on Pearson but I think what you’ve said plays a major part in the mixed feelings of our fans over his final few games and departure. Some people were not keen on his appointment to begin with (spotty managerial record, done nothing of note since Leicester, apparently unstable personality) and I think this may have coloured their largely negative opinion on him once results started to decline. Personally I think Pearson going was one of the biggest disappointments for me as a fan, as he seemed perfect for us in terms of motivating our underperformers and rebuilding a squad by trying out youngsters and dropping if not altogether getting rid of the bad apples in it, and he was the manager I felt the most affinity with since Ray Lewington - tough, but fair, intelligent and a good man-manager. But now sadly it seems we’re back to the system of one or two Latin or Slav managers a year, alternating between hard taskmasters and nice but dim types, but hey, if it works…

 

Overly generous IMO.

 

Can you remember what else he said in relation to that?

Seems to me the problem was more absence of tactics to begin with, rather than a poor tactical set-up - the team and formation was good enough to beat Newcastle, but beyond that there seemed to be no depth or knowledge drilled into the team that would enable them to adapt when things didn’t go their way.

 

But he didn't do that...he picked a one-legged Deeney before Welbeck when the latter was finally fit and never really considered giving JP a go when it was obvious the wheels had completely come off after the season resumption. It seemed to me he allowed the deeper problems to continue and once the initial motivational upturn had dissipated he had no idea how to turn it round.

 

That is essentially the same thing, though - formation doesn't really have much to do with tactics beyond the basest level - it's everything that comes after that, in terms of what the roles of each player in that formation both individually and collectively are/how they interact with each other in various scenarios, that constitute tactical set-up.

But I certainly agree, there basically appeared to be a lack of it - as there always does under Xisco.

 

What youngsters did he try out? He seemed to stick with the status quo while more talented players like Pedro and Welbeck sat on the sidelines.

 

Can’t argue with that, but he did try a whole slew of youngsters against Tranmere and seemed genuinely interested in how they would progress and what part they would play at the club - unlike some other Watford managers under the Pozzos who just picked them in the earliest stages of the League Cup and didn’t attempt to integrate them into the first team (players like Richarlison, Sarr and Pedro were clearly signed to play in the team sooner rather than later if not in the immediate future).

 

I'd guess our first season under QSF would have similar assessments for individual performances. That's not to say they're wrong (I agree with most) but as BRLR says, results trump all, and so far they've been excellent.

 

I understood the appointment, but I thought Pearson was one of the worst tactical managers we’ve had under the Pozzo’s - might even be the worst, personally was happy to see the back of him. The problem we have is the sackings of the managers are the right one, but the next appointments have been the wrong one, especially lately. If we sack Xisco and bring in another person who seems a bit out of his depth, the sacking will look like a bad one. Do I have faith in the Pozzo’s to get the next appointment right? Not really - but with Giaretta there, I do wonder if we’ve got a gooden; especially with what people tell me about him

 

Pardew’s recent record makes Xisco look like the new Pep. sacked at palace after winning 1 out of last 11. sacked at WBA after 4 months last ten 2 draws and 8 straight defeats. Sacked in Netherlands when relegation scraped due to Covid. His record 1 win in 8. Frankly if we are going for old fellas id rather have Ray Lewington back. at least he has recent Premier League experience.

The rumours of the ex Granada manger is promising. The last Watford Granada manager still owes us advance rent on a 24 inch ITT with full teak effect cabinet, refund due when returned in 1977. That was absolutely solid at the back mind so a good omen.

 

Unless I'm missing something, as sad as it makes me, any Diego Martinez rumours are purely based around @LouOrns being made aware he was in St Albans coincidentally and prior to that being a long term fan of his, including describing how he's a coach who fits what we actually need pretty perfectly profile-wise. I don't think there's actually any serious talk/links - not that means it's an impossibility, but yeah.

 

Yeah there’s no links, just who I think would be really good for us. And this was the photo I was sent