The Premier League - 2021-2022

I'm approaching this season the same way I did the last time we got promoted to the EPL....hoping we stay up, but not being surprised if we don't.
I think a lot of people have been somewhat blinded by the fact we managed to stay up for more seasons than expected, but at the apparent cost of draining the well dry.

 

It’s not irrelevant when you can see a discernible pattern over the decades of how teams fare in the top flight after picking up 90+ points. Given that virtually all promoted teams strengthen their squad at least to some extent, you can expect a team that picks up that many points to be the basis of a competitive one. Generally the more points a promoted team finishes with, the better they do in the top flight (of course there are some rare exceptions). It’s virtually the exact opposite with the play-off winners, with the majority of them going straight back down and only a few of them staying up comfortably (Palace were the last to do that and even that required a change of manager).

 

It’s is irrelevant because you’re forgetting the huge glaring reason why we performed as we did.

The was a little thing called a global pandemic, it meant several things aligned in our favour. We kept players we otherwise would’ve sold and came up against championship opposition who had lost virtually all their income. That coupled with FFP meant we were playing championship teams woefully devoid of any quality, while we had a £40m winger who otherwise wouldn’t have been with us.

It meant we could fire one manager, hire another who was woefully under qualified, then play the wrong system and the wrong players for half his tenure, yet still get promoted with ease.

Meanwhile the disparity between us and the remaining premier league teams grew even wider as we lost 50% of our income and they didn’t.

We got relegated, lost half our income and sold most of our good players, while the remaining premier league teams got stronger. We’re in a worse position than when we got relegated but the other teams aren’t.

It was the best time to get relegated in terms of bouncing back, but the absolute worst in terms of surviving the next year.

Getting to 90 points is completely and utterly irrelevant once you put into context why we got 90 points. We didn’t get 90 points because were suddenly better than a team that got relegated from the premier league and lost 5+ of its best players did we?

90 points is an irrelevance, the only relevant thing is are we stronger than the team that got relegated, in relation to the rest of the premier league and I think only a lunatic could deduce we are.

 

Sheffield United stayed up because they had a brilliant goalkeeper and a fervent home support. The other elements though important were secondary.

 

You said this after the Wycombe game and you seem to have stuck by this even after this supposed lack of style has got us promoted, and I’m not sure what you mean by this. We do have a defined style of play: 4-3-3, designed to compensate for our absence of good strikers and get goals from all possible sources, get Sarr involved as much as possible, switch the play on both flanks, play with pace, movement and varied direction, with anchormen in midfield and a commanding central defence. Even if we don’t always play the same way, is it such a bad thing? It keeps the opposition guessing and us less predictable.

 

The really frustrating thing about this season is that we have the players to keep us up and we ended last season with a fantastic team spirit. After the debacles of 19/20 and pre-Deeney injury 20/21 all the indications are that between them Troy Gino and Scott will completely fook this up........I really hope that doesnt happen but the Will Hughes contract offer is similar to refusing to pay the player bonuses in 2019, appointing QSF, playing 442 in 20/21 and believing Troy could get us promoted. One moronic decision after another. I have lost all faith in these idiots. It's just so bizarre, up until the FA cup semi final the decision making at the club was generally excellent. Did Scot and Gino start taking a daily dose of LSD after we beat wolves or something??

 

Come on son - 4-3-3 is not a 'defined style of play' it's a basic formation that describes a starting point and not much else, and neither is 'play with pace, movement and varied direction, with anchormen in midfield and a commanding central defence'. Besides, if playing with a 'commanding central defence' is our style of play, we're unlikely to be able to rely on it for long with our current crop in the Prem.

We all know what is meant when someone talks about a defined style of play/ethos/system, and you're clutching at the absolute thinnest of straws if you are trying to claim we have one. It basically boils down to 'deploy the best players in the squad in their respective positions on the pitch (but only if another much worse player isn't available to be shoehorned in and disrupt that entirely).'

 

Hit the ground running with a positive attitude and win the opener v Villa. A result we build on and get to January with only 3 wins needed to secure survival. Sarr is dangerous, King finds his feet, Sierallta is linked with Barca. We comfortably finish 11th.

Start with positivity, but struggle for goals. Regularly picking up decent draws and the odd win but losing a few games badly. Deeney scores a few pens, we get a couple of great results v the top 6, but we have a battle with Newcastle Norwich and Palace for safety and only just survive because Palace and Norwich fall apart completely from April

As above but we fall apart completley from April not Palace/Norwich and end up 18th.

We can't find the right 11 and try a few options up front but our goalscoring problems continue. King doesn't score for the club, Dennis is sulking and Success makes a few sub appearances. Xisco gone by October, Allardyce sacked in April. We panic buy in Jan an injured player who makes two 45 minute appearances before a recurrant knee injury ends their career. Finish bottom (or 2nd from bottom because Norwich get 11 points all season).

All options are possible at this point but I think we will know after 5 games.

 

What I described above is still a system (something you say we also lack, unless I misunderstood you?) that got us promoted with a settled team with something to spare, something that looked most unlikely in early February. I’m still not sure what you mean by the lack of a defined style or why it really matters - Bolton at their peak are a good example of a team who mixed it up to great effect, they weren’t just long-ball specialists under Big Sam.

 

No love for City (especially after they stole Jadon Sancho / Tomas Galvez from our academy and recently hijacked our preseason fixture against Barnsley), but it could improve Watford's chances of victory against Villa in their first Premier League game if Grealish signs for City.

 

He’s still being pictured on his holidays so I’m not convinced he’ll be a starter for them on 14 August as it stands.

 

I agree with a lot of this, however, they had spunked £18m on Gray well before the semi final, so it wasn't all clear thinking

 

I mean, we'd got into heaps of debt before the semi (Obbi Oulare for six million British pounds!), so it clearly wasn't all plain sailing! Clearly there was something wrong all along, although chasing Europe and a cup final really came out of the blue and papered over the cracks, it meant whatever we were doing wrong before then wasn't going to be corrected

 

He could fly in from Magaluf, drunk and with a girl on each arm, at lunchtime on game day and still torture our current team.

 

A lot of fans dont like Gray but he started regularly under the snake when we were playing our best football since the 80s, scored key goals under Javi and barely played in our relegation season. Burnley, Brentford and Luton fans all liked him. The abuse he got from Watford fans was disproportionate to his minutes per goal record for us. We spent £18 million on a striker and Watford fans made it as difficult as possible for him to succeed. There was clearly a racial element to some of the abuse he got which I personally find disgusting. Another striker sacrificed at the altar of Troy Deeney.

 

Another pre-season game cancelled by Norwich due to Covid.

 

Zola was in the championship and his failure to get that side promoted was pitiful. Troy the Watford legend who can't score from open play, Gray with a decent mins per goal is a dud: Watford logic. Worship a striker who doesnt score goals from open play and a manager who cant manage and hate on a striker who actually scores goals. My guess is that by the time covid came around Andre had had enough of the A holes in the Watford fan base. There are still people who think Troy should start in the PL at the age of 33. Look at the Sema goal against Stevenage, Troy was absolutely nowhere, waddling into the box like a duck on opiates. Look at the state of him, he looks 45 not 33:

 

He's no Mo Johnson.

 

I think the comment about Zola was "best" as most entertaining not necessarily the most successful.

FYI Marco Silva's record at WFC was Managed 26, Won 8. Yes the first few games were good but for a very short period of time.

I would say watching the team in Zola's first season was much better for a longer period of time.

 

Well he didn't impress in both games they played us (including the one they won) but he was instrumental to their survival and has become an England fan favourite - has he improved that much since then? Six league goals in 2020/21 in a much improved Villa team isn't great even for a midfielder.

 

True, until teams worked them out and the inevitable happened.

 

He ran the game against us at Villa Park in the second half.

 

When the seasons starts will the rules around isolating due to being a contact with someone who has covid have changed? Just looking at the friendlies that have been called off and wondering if that’s a possibility for league games? Or if we could be in a situation where half the team are unavailable and we still have to play?

 

I think that was partly in comparison to what we had been used to.

 

Jobi McAnuff - The Glory Years.

 

This is madness, you haven't even taken assists into account for some inexplicable reason, for which he was the fourth highest provider in the league, and there are a a raft of other stats from his overall game that prove beyond any reasonable doubt what an elite player he is - and that's not even to mention the fact that Pep is trying to buy him for a City and PL record transfer fee.

 

I mentioned the fact he was a key player for their survival (I'll add that Arsenal fans acknowledged as such after their defeat at Villa Park that same season) and he has become an England fan favourite, I didn't mention assists because it didn't enter my head probably because I don't know how many he provided last season - I've only seen him in England games and matches against us. My question was in response to Burnsy saying that he'd single-handedly tear our team apart - a player who was ineffective in a game where we won 3-0 with ten men and Sarr (who is still in the squad) was MotM - it's not madness to ask a question about a player to someone who seems to know more about them than myself. I don't watch MotD anymore and I didn't have much incentive to watch Prem League football last season when I was more concerned about our own promotion push.

 

Was pretty obvious my original comment was a joke I thought?

That said - my joke said he would fly in and torture our current team, yet you referenced (incorrectly) that he 'didn't impress' against us at Villa Park - but he did (I was there) and any number of media match reports back that up. We didn't get near him in the 2nd half.

 

Well the BBC only mention that he played a key pass for Luiz's equaliser, but I'll take your word for it - admittedly I was watching the second half with yellow-tinted glasses hoping that we'd at least hold on for a draw after we looked comfortable at halftime and there were worried Villa fans in the stands.

 

Depends if it's affecting City, United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool or Spurs, if so they game gets postponed. Anyone else you play.

 

Was there? Do you have any evidence/articles? Absolutely disgusting if he received any racial abuse and hopefully it was reported. I certainly don't recall much abuse of any kind whilst actually being at the stadium but online I have seen the usual 'you're *****' but no worse than what's on here.

 

My new hatred is for Villa fans.

Apparently they'll be challenging for the league in a few years (lol) and clubs like Watford should be glad to see clubs like them rising up to break the stranglehold the likes of City have on the league.

Yes, it's going to be fantastic to watch another billionaire backed club try to rise to the top inorganically to compete alongside another billionaire backed club who inorganically rose to the top. Great stuff!