Based on what though? I feel like we all like the idea of Ranieri far more than the actually reality of having him? I’ve been clouded by it. And I 100% am of the opinion that no manager worth his salt can work under this owner and his methods. But I think football, both on and off the pitch, have moved on a step or two from what both Gino and Ranieri are churning out. We all yearn for the former glories of both and allow that to cloud our judgment of what they are ultimately able to provide. Depending on where you stand, you believe one can be better without the other. But they are both a busted flush.
Really we all know nothing about football, only one of us forecast a Norwich Win that was @99mph who only forecast them winning just 2-0!
Imagine being part of the BWO and actually at the game. Bloody harsh. Even have the sympathy from COGS this evening.
I agree Knight! I'm going to sleep on all this and have my say tomorrow after I watch the whole game as I switched the TV off after the 2nd goal more in disappointment and sadness that we found ourselves two down than anything else, as I actually thought we were the better side until they scored. In the cold light of day is the best way to analyse all this IMO!
When Ranieri took over at Fulham, I thought that was a great move - and early on, kept thinking that just had the wrong squad, a group of luxury players who weren't prepared to battle. The squad did have problems, but Ranieri also never figured out what to do with it. And the results there looked a lot like ours. The idea of him was far better than the reality. Agree completely that our "model" fundamentally sets up a head coach for eventual failure. It is designed to burn hot, hopefully with good results, before the inevitable changes because the head coach has no authority, there is no plan for a club strategy or style on the pitch, and the owner seems only interested in making quick money. That the best defender they could find was one they already owned says so much about their actual commitment to the club. We thought 2019-2020 was when the chickens came home to roost. Nope. It's this year, when we're taking punts on random players, likely to move onto our third head coach, fail to solve our biggest problems, and then repeat it all over again.
I wonder who has been the most incompetent Premier League performer over the recent years . Ranieri or Mike Dean ? I really don’t feel comfortable with Gino’s hire and fire policy, although I can see the logic in it , but I have never wanted a Watford manager fired more than Ranieri in my whole life as a hornet.
Since winning the title Ranieri has managed 54 EPL games with Leicester, Fulham and Watford and won 40 points which is 0.74 points per game or 28 points over a 38 game season .
Gino has already gone all out with the ‘look at me acting early’ angle in the transfer window by buying/redirecting tat at rock bottom prices. And yet it worked on a number of people…. Tomorrow will be Act 2 when he sacks yet another person for his own shortcomings. And no doubt it will work again on those who will look the other way at any cost - because, you know…’Bassini’… ‘Lessons have been learned’.
Agree with most of this but not having that there was 'silence in the first half'. I'm sort of their side of the Rookery and I thought the atmosphere was as good as could be expected until about 15-20 minutes in when the realisation dawned on everyone that the team just hadn't turned up. The club can't put out a made up rallying cry for support and expect it to carry on in the face of that shambles.
Fair enough. I was down the other end and didn’t hear much other than the usual anger over fouls. I’ve heard them before from the VRE so put it down to not overly loud. The chants towards the end were shocking. Boo at the end or whatever but don’t chant against your own team.
Another thoroughly shameless grifter claiming to be ‘a voice for the fans’ who uses our club to boost his profile and carve out a career for himself by sycophantically backing anyone at the club who is actually important. Slag off the players, slag off this month’s manager and even slag off your fellow supporters but whatever you do don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
I don't agree. It was only a matter of time before the fans turned against the club. The embarrassing performance against a weakened Norwich side justified the chants against the team. The lack of investment , failure to learn any lessons and the ambivalence towards the fans give the fans every right to chant against and boo their own side . They got off lightly as far as l could see. Long may it continue
**** me that was awful. I can't believe how bad our recruitment has been over the last few windows to build this squad. Last season we were signing stop-gaps like Lazaar, Sanchez and Gosling. All crap (except 45 mins for Sanchez against Reading), short term signings and we are still stuck with Gosling. No forward planning for the PL. We signed two CBs in WTE and Sierralta last season. On paper, WTE looked good but in reality he was a bit of a bomb scare and most fans were worried about him going into this season. Sierralta was the opposite - on paper looked crap but played pretty well. Even still, there were big question marks as to whether he would make the step up. Then we get to last Summer. Fletcher, hopeless in the Championship, gets signed on a long contract and isn't even good enough to come on chasing the game against Norwich. We get rid of Wilmot and don't replace him until a month or two into the season. We eventually replace him with a has-been crock who has been a waste of a squad place since. Again, most fans were calling out for a CB but it took the club months to act. Kucka, another has been who is miles out of his depth. Dreadful player. Tufan, who most of us knew nothing about, has also been awful. We spent pretty much our entire summer budget on Louza for two managers not to rate him. Sissoko comes in with a big reputation but hasn't pulled up any trees either. Danny Rose. Everyone, except whoever signed him, could tell he was seriously overweight for a footballer. Crap at Newcastle and had been with Spurs U23s. Questionable attitude in the past. Who'd have thought it would all end with him being excluded from the team... King and Dennis both started well but have certainly gone off the boil now. Our entire attack now relies on a Brazilian youngster. Too soon to judge the current window, but Samir was an idiot for the first goal and Kamara was hopeless tonight too. The fact that a slow, aging and passed his best Craig Cathcart seems to be our most competent out of 6 CBs at the club says it all about the recruitment at Watford. Ranieri needs to go, but he certainly isn't the only one who should be going for this mess.
I think what they learnt was not to expose the club to the same extent financially. I think Scott was genuinely frightened by the financial ramifications of our last relegation even though he lied about it at the time. The money we are 'grabbing' plus parachute payments and the sales of Dennis and Sarr will put us in a decent position going into next season. Gino's record of 2 promotions and a play off final in 4 seasons will make him confident he can do it again. A decision was obviously made not to jeopardise the finances this season. As a fan I dont have a problem with that decision. My issues are with how the hierarchy communicate with the fanbase, that they fooked over Will Hughes, that they thought Danny Rose wasnt finished when he obviously was, that they signed a keeper that won't arrive til next season and didnt bring in a PL keeper who couldve played against Norwich. All these things couldve been avoided with the money they spunked on Louza.
Over the years they have signed a couple of gems like João Pedro, Richarlison and Doucoure, but when the quality of the rest of the squad is so poor it makes no odds having a great signing. You could stick Lewandowski in this team but if he plays with Kucka, Sema, Tufan, Kabasele, Bachmann, etc we would still go down.
Wasn't it Elton who said that the club needed an enema during the dark days of Petchey, or was it just in the aftermath of the time-share, car park owning, east-end wide boy's grim tenure. Perhaps it's time once again to get out the rubber hose and to warm the soapy water.
Glad that bringing in a quality centre back like Samir has fixed all our defensive woes. Looked just as ***** of the rest of the Udinese dross to no surprise. Three players brought in and we are still in a position where Cleverley is starting games. I am increasingly of the opinion that I don't think Ranieri is doing a good job with the hand he has been dealt, but he has been dealt a handful of ****. The board are *****. The recruitment teams *****. The manager is *****. The players are utter *****. I think I will just watch Envigado games and get excited hoping our random Colombian will come in and fix everything wrong with this rotten club.
I have no idea why you are confident about the finances next season. We have far fewer saleable assets than last time, loads of valueless deadwood on medium contracts and a rapidly disinterested fanbase. The only plus is no Deeney or Gray contracts.
It seems counter intuitive how you say you care yet you frequently state on this forum that you hope Watford lose and that you hate the team . It seems a manner of caring that I can’t comprehend .
I still say it when we win, lose, or draw. It's just that when we win I'll do it with a bigger smile.
Well according to Scott we signed 2 of the best young players in the world in Isaac Success and Peñeranda so no doubt we are on to a winner with Asprilla!!
I'm a bit confused by your stance GD. You state the 1881 is not loud enough, you don't like the guys who don't take it that seriously, you don't like the guys who can't control their anger, you say Pozzo's can get away with it cos Watford fans are soft. What approach are you happy with?
