And there it is. Freebie from Udinese who makes a critical blunder on home debut is the only CB addition and we have to persevere with the garbage we already have. Who could have seen this coming from Pozzo?
Incredible from Gino once again. It’s almost like he wants to stay up, yet he’d rather get relegated over staying up with any sort of margin to spare. So what would he have done if the £7m bid for Phillips had been accepted? Or was it just tyre kicking to make it look like he was trying? If not, is there no other way that money could be used to buy other defenders? Or does he think Hodgson is more than good enough to bridge the gap that £7m would improve our defence by? The mind boggles.
Entirely predictable. They've been setting the stage for it for a week-plus, the line in the Ranieri sacking statement about the talented squad was the shot, and this is the chaser. The best our brilliant scouting network could do to address our greatest weakness was sign a player that we already owned. So another head coach has to take a bunch of error-prone, second-tier, aging CBs and make them Premier League quality. And to think we believed this time might actually be different. Fool me once, shame on you, Gino. Fool me twice, shame on me.
The appointment of Hodgson gives him a nice excuse to shut his wallet. Give the new coach a chance to work with the existing squad to see what he can get out of them and all that waffle.
Let’s wait and see if Kalu is the last signing before complaining about the lack of further additions. There’s a week left in the transfer market. Who knows what more business there is to be done. All this fury could well be justified next week but it seems premature on the basis of one throwaway line in this article that “Kalu might be the last arrival” not least because most on here are very dismissive of Leventhal’s reporting anyway. In my view, four new signings is probably better than we would have expected at the start of the month.
There will be plenty of activity, getting rid of the mile high pile of garbage we’ve accumulated. As for incomings, we all know when the Atheltic brief there are no more incomings, that means there are no more incomings. It’s basically Gino saying it himself.
I would be surprised if we bring in any new players that aren't at Udinese. Said this before and maintain that view.
And then the line will be in a week's time "who knows - the club might have had 2 offers on the table for center backs and just couldn't get them over the line. Other clubs have more money" Blah Blah Blah. Meanwhile the dreadful Cathcart/Troost will play and blunder as always and Pozzo will wonder why he is relegated with 4 games to spare. And even Kabasele will be able to contribute to the circus if he can stay fit enough on his juicy contract extension.
The numbers are pretty irrelevant though aren’t they? It’s quality and accuracy, not quantity. I do agree we should wait until the window closes to give the final verdict on this - but the noises are all to predictable. And the story is out there that we are probably done - so it’s fair to discuss that?
Definitely fair to discuss. But discussing it would be saying things like “I hope that’s not true as we need an extra CB or an additional spark in midfield.” Instead it is assumed to be true and then reacted to with various expletives about how predictable this yet to be determined outcome is. And yes it is about quality but I think Kayembe has looked decent in both his appearances and Samir and Kamara are improvements on what we had in their positions previously. No clue about Kalu - I am underwhelmed by that one certainly though. But we have strengthened the squad and most our ‘rivals’ haven’t (Norwich, Burnley, Everton have either signed no one and/or sold key players). That won’t be the line from me. I’d like us to see one more through the door. A quality loan addition either an attacking midfielder or another CB. I don’t want to see much more of Cathcart, WTE or Kabasele.
On another note - Anthony Martial and Donny Van De Beek are going on loan from Man Utd with no loan fees. Meanwhile those in the know on here assure me we will rake in loan fees on Ashley Fletcher as well as his salary being covered.
Again, there is far more to say Samir is more of the same as we have been served up with before, than any clear and obvious step up. I know you think he’s good and that’s fine - I just don’t see it. His pedigree is as a lower half defender in a lesser league.
The reason people assume it's true is because it would be consistent with past windows. All evidence and rumour suggest one thing, what have we got that suggests the opposite?
Yes. Everton have sold their best full back, one of their three best players and brought in their previous manager’s target and a talented young second choice RB from Rangers. Think they’ve also signed El Ghazi on loan. I’d say they are weaker than they were but I recognise that’s an open debate.
All evidence being one throwaway line in one article by Leventhal? It would also have been consistent with past January windows to have signed no first team players or one player on loan with an option to buy. And yet we have signed three with a fourth set to be announced. It would be a bit silly to announce on Jan 1 that’s it’s “******* typical” that we’re not going to sign anybody. Personally I think it’s worth waiting to find out if it’s true before reacting.
All the evidence being the last several transfer windows when nothing has been done to significantly improve the defence. My point being this is literally being weighed up Vs hope.
And yet we have already spent more on defenders than we have in the last two years. Past performance does not equal future outcomes. I am also not saying that we will sign more players just because I hope we do. I am merely saying that while there is plenty to slag our owners off for right now the fact that one line in one article (by someone most on here are generally very dismissive of) suggests we might not be anyone else shouldn’t be top of list.
It’s not a throwaway line, because Leventhal is on the payroll. These things don’t just get reported by pure coincidence.
Samir can actually play a Cross field pass in the air from left back across to the right winger definitely an upgrade on anything we have seen in a watford shirt this season
Exactly. Leventhal is a propaganda mouthpiece. He sows the seeds of disappointment so people don’t get agitated on deadline day. We are done. CB investment zero as always.
I'm alright with Samir, he didn't cover himself in glory on Friday but he looks like a talker, he can pass and was aggressive. The trouble is he'll always have to play with one of the others. Cathcart looked drunk against Newcastle, Kabasele gave it away cheaply for the opening goal on Friday, Sierralta is just all over the place and WTE is dreadful at everything. We needed two when the window opened, we still need another, we're going to stick with one and I hope Gino learns a lesson from it. I doubt he will though.
