Bournemouth 11 today is far stronger and more settled than the crap we gave Ivic. Watching them now and they'd absolutely destroy us in our current states.
Oh my gosh boys, there's a lot of negativity here. We got relegated. That means we sell our best players, like all clubs that go down do. We don't sell them for fun we sell them if a decent bid comes in. And we keep the ones we don't sell and they'll play when dust settles. In ismaila we've got a champ league level player, in will, nath, Ken, Bens, Dom, Jeremy (even kiko) we've got prem league level players. That's not bad for the champ! We won't even sell all the big boys so we might even add more prem level players eg Etienne, Danny to that. The futures bright!
Settled, yes, but I wouldn't say they look especially strong this season with all the players leaving and with the players still to leave. I'd definitely expect us to beat them once we get our key players back
I don't know who people will be coming back into the squad. Suarez, Sarr, Estupian, Capoue, Geri, Welbeck don't want to come back and will be sold. If we're willing to sell Estupian for 15, no way will any of those be here this year. Deeney, Pereyra, Dawson (supposedly) don't want to be here, and won't improve us if they somehow don't get sold. So Janmaat, Masina (in three months), Pendaranda, Gray (maybe), Dele-Bashiru, Perica, + some loans from udinese and frees to replace the above to look forward to. This is fine if we're cutting our cloth, but don't sack Ivic for not getting playoffs with the crap that is left.
Best case scenario we go up, Wilmot has a stormer and we can rely on him in the Premier League. As good as they played last night, we could still do with another CB, especially if Dawson goes. Would be nice to have a left-footed player, especially when we play with a back 3
Has there been anything about Sarr leaving? I'd be worried if he left, but I haven't seen anything concrete about that. Estupinan is a big loss, really need a replacement, Capoue would be a loss, though one I think we could just about replace, and the rest I think are either very expendable, or in a position where we have some quality as of now
Exactly this. Who do people think are "coming back" into this squad? The shambles last night made it abundantly clear who is for sale/in the process of leaving, and it's every single player we hoped might stay. We'll then sign more completely unproven crap like Perica and Sierralta in their places to make up the numbers. And no, it's not the same as when we were signing players of some genuine pedigree from Udinese like Abdi. I think it was Marko who said he wouldn't be surprised if Pozzo was gearing up for a sale and I'd not be surprised either.
The fact he'd played 42 league games across the previous two seasons for Udinese in Serie A and was a Swiss international?
To be fair to Almen he had nearly 200 professional games under his belt when he joined us, including appearances/goals in the europa league, Swiss PL player of the year (19 goals from mifield). This time half the players we're being linked to have made less than 10 senior appearances in any league. Udinese were much stronger with a much better squad in those days. The fact they are signing Forestieri for their first team should us all about the quality we are likely to receive from their back ups. (Perica is a different story and i'm hopeful with him).
Abdi came in right off the back of playing semi-regularly in Serie A, Perica hasn't played for Udinese for over two years. The season he last played for them in 17/18 he scored 1 goal. His last appearances in Serie A were for Frosinone, scoring 0 goals. After that he's scored 2 goals in Turkey and 7 in Belgium. That's his recent "pedigree".
Perica is a punt. It's a hope they can polish a turd. Same applies to Sierralta. These are players that probably won't work out, but there is a hope they might. The odds are against it though, IMO. I don't mind signings like this, if the first team is strong and we don't really need them. But in the situation we are looking to be heading towards, we will probably need to call on them, so it's not great.
He has 10 goals in 3282 minutes in Serie A. - 40 goals in 8637 minutes which is the equivalent to 96 games. Good pedigree if you ask me
Which is why he was then shipped off to Turkey, Belgium and now the Championship on a free transfer. Makes sense. You can try and spin the stats, but he scored 10 goals in Serie A across 85 appearances, that's the fact of it. Let's not try and pretend he's in any way proven himself at that level whatsoever. There's a reason he's not got near that league in two years since.
As apposed to the pedigree of Almen Abdi who had 1 goal and 0 assists for an attacking midfielder in 42 games. Judging players who haven’t even kicked a ball for us is a risky way to go about things. Football isn’t played on paper
But again, Abdi came in at the time as a current Swiss international who had played for Udinese, in Serie A, semi-regularly directly the season before. Perica has spent the last two years barely playing and when he has it's been in Turkey and Belgium, the former being again, as with his time in Serie A, somewhat unsuccessful. Football isn't played on paper, but strikers are paid to score goals, and on paper that's something Perica doesn't seem to actually do much of. As I've said a million times before though, our fans will always lap up everything this club serves up.
A Swiss international who last played for Switzerland in 2009, where he played a grand total of 4 minutes. Again 40 goals in less than 8500 is a good return. Whether you choose to take in that fact is up to you, but to say he doesn’t do much of it isn’t entirely accurate.
But it is accurate. You don't get awarded extra goals or points for what your ratio of goals to minutes played is, do you. He's dropped down the leagues and scored 10 goals in almost 3 years. Fact. No babbling about how many goals he gets per minute changes that.
Losing Foster would be a disaster considering the alternatives. If Pozzo is going down the 'fire-sale' route, then he can **** off.
No, but it indicates that logically speaking he should score more goals with more minutes. Raul Jimenez is a perfect example of that (there’s also many other examples)
And why then, logically speaking, has he not been given the minutes such a great goalscorer deserves, his entire career, now aged 25, and been forced to drop down the leagues?
I’m not sure. Mentality, confidence. A lot of things can factor. He’s just come off scoring 8 goals in 16 games, if he wasn’t at Udinese - would you still have the same opinion?
I doubt Perica has been brought in to be the starting striker, or even first reserve so I'm not too worried. He has a decent enough pedigree for what he will be used for. I think Gray/Suarez will be the main striker (likely Gray as Suarez likely to leave...) and Murray will be the predominant backup as Joao Pedro moves to his more natural left hand attackers role.
I thought Murray did OK last night. He helped give more of a target for the longer balls being played and bought some fouls. Wasn't expecting miracles from him and didn't produce any. Helped alleviate the issue Pedro was facing which was two large, strong CB's dominating him in the air.
Then I’d be interested to know who you’d want Watford to sign as a backup, possibly third choice striker?
What I'd hoped is that we would stick to our guns and keep the likes of Suarez. Instead our entire forward line looks likely to be made up of "third choice" quality strikers.
My ratings for the team: Foster - 7 Did a good job with handling what was thrown into the box and two smart saves; one with the legs and the long range effort tipped just wide. Sweeped up well but got away with one dud clearance. Distribution leaves something to be desired. Ngakia - 5 Attacking intent was there if not the quality we saw previously. He tried but didn't come off. He tried to get back as often as he went forward. Kabasele - 6.5 First half felt was poor while the second half was superb. One moment of real quality was where he kept up with a striker breaking in behind, shephered him out the box keeping touch tight without commiting a foul before blocking the cross and not conceding a corner whilst doing so. Cathcart - 7 Definitely at the level he's suited to now. Scored the all important goal and did well defensively too. Wilmot - 6 Showed his inexperience with an overall underwhelming defensive performance, but was by far the best player carrying the ball from the back and passing it forward. Caused Middlesbrough indecision when carrying it for long periods of time which is good. Femenia - 6 Dovetailed very nicely with Sema, but left Wilmot overly exposed at the back. The strapping suggesed he was not fully fit so will give him a bit of leeway but was a typical Femenia performance. Chalobah - 6 Grew into the game as it went on. Was worried he was coming off after that early knock as we have seen so often but was commited to the team and tackles needed. Passing was overly wayward. Cleverley - 6.5 Was our most consistent midfielder and was the best passer and carrier of Chalobah, Quina and himself. Demonstrated Captain behaviour leading by example keeping a cool head on and off the ball. Quina - 4 Very dissapointing game. Was physically dominated off the ball whenever he tried to make something happen and couldn't shoot either. He'll have better games but this was a poor display. Sema - 7.5 Was the better of the two wingers and put in a fantastic cross for our goal. Was brave on the ball and a willing runner off of it. I suspect he will be one of our more consistent players this season. Pedro - 7 Movement off the ball and quality on it was evident. Felt he was too isolated and physically dominated in the air which isn't surprising. He will get goals though for sure. Subs: Murray - 5.5 Feel he's been given a bit of an unfair rap. Did well in helping win some headers and win a few fouls to alleviate pressure up front where. Not a great display though in trying to get a late goal and does look rusty which is understandable given he missed a lot of pre-season with us. Navarro - 5 Felt he was a downgrade on Femenia when he came on. Didn't do a whole lot one way or the other though. Phillips - N/A Nice to see youth used more. Like a budget Behrami
Yes but there’s probably a reason why you’re having to extrapolate that tiny sample. If he were scoring at such a rate, why isn’t he playing more? The Andre Gray conundrum.
