Welcome one and all to The Watford Matrix......... So what do we do with VI Ball? Stick or twist. Take the blue or the red pill. Will Gino be even more fan devisive and see out the entire season regardless of the results - even if fan unrest starts to call for change? Is it even Ismael's fault our football is so turgid? Is VI the chosen one or the next in a long line of coaches heavy on discipline that can't get a tune out of our squad? Either way he's setting a tone with the squad with all the late arrivers getting dropped straight away. We wanted this to make our players care but the question is what benefit is it actually giving? Unbeaten in 5 should be heralded as progress but when looking at the opponents and some of the style of football it still doesn't really feel like much in the way of success. The squad is mostly fully fit but no-one can put their finger on quite why we aren't really going for it in games the way we should be. At least we have found a credible "leader" in the squad that seems to have brought a little calm to an otherwise barmy squad. Fair play to Jake Livermore as he's really stepped up for us over the last month. As for Louza however...... There are rumours (made up entirely by me) that some players are being late for meetings to get out of long away trips - there is a bif of a theme although Louza did it for a home game proving my made up theory to be absolute wafflle, plus proving he's a bit of a prat..... We have become solid defensively in recent weeks....... But have seemed limited attacking...... Plus after Rotherham we have a run of fixtures to make any Neo nervous. Leicester, Norwich, Hull and Ipswich all to come after the international break................ For me I hope VI sticks two up top and gives whoever that may be (hopefully Healy as one) gets proper ammunition as support. Plus with Udinese winning away at Milan last night we no longer have them to laugh at. Tache score prediction 2-0 Watford and breathing space for VI going into the next break.
Probably another team who will sit back and keep it tight so we will have to come up with a way to create a chance or two . 2 up front a start maybe ?
Wow Tony that was quick! Rotherham are going to be Huddersfield 2.0 and park the bus and play for a draw. They almost lost at home to QPR yesterday but managed to find a leveller, so if they can score against this lot surely we can? I know last season is moot but we got a measly two points out of six last time against a side most teams will have an easy time against higher up the table. Rotherham are quite the yo-yo club of the Championship in recent years and it looks like (at present) a choice of Sheff Wed, Rotherham and QPR for the drop. Yesterday's performance was very poor in the attacking department as we let Huddersfield dictate the game and never got in their faces. I would like us to try something new, maybe start Healy for once, or put him as a two with Bayo. If that doesn't work, bring Raj on late on and try and nick a goal. 4-3-3 seems to be VI's preferred style and what the players are used to but if we are going to play a game of sideways tip toe passing again I can see the natives becoming very restless. 1-0
With an international break looming, this has to be a convincing win. I personally think we'll nick it, but it's going to be similar to our recent games. Tight at 0-0 and hope we manage to force a goal from somewhere in the later stages to win it. If we don't win this one, then I think it could be game over for VI.
I think he's here all season unless we're bottom 3 with a handful of games to play. Proud to be a championship team = no ambition
Yes just got a new contract so won't be going anywhere fast. They seem more interested in getting the discipline sorted out than the on pitch results/performances. For now anyway.
Sooner or later you would think with V.I. The penny has to drop!, problem is he deals in Euros and not Pennies and those Euro notes don’t bounce!
I think he’s meeting the brief given to him by his bosses and so my bet is that’s unlikely. Obviously nothing’s impossible where Gino’s concerned but I don’t see it.
If we lost and played badly to Rotherham, then got slapped 3 or 4-0 to every team in that run of games after the break, then I would seriosuly consider him gone before Xmas for certain. Problem is, regardless of his "new contract" that means nothing to Gino as when his finger gets itchy he'll be gone, and he won't lose any sleep that night having blown a few more thousand+ of our limited funds to pay off another head coach.
Correct, it is. But this is Watford and as you well know that sort of run is never beyond us. It (probably) won't happen like that, but we need to wake up in games and get at the oppositon instead of playing tippy tappy "nice" football.
I just don’t think we’re good enough. We don’t have good enough players, particularly in midfield, to do much else. And we have our worst compliment of players up front in a generation and they’re unable to hold the ball up, and so that leaves holding onto it at the back and hoping to fashion opportunities through mainly luck or a mistake or on the break. Performances are going to be inconsistent too because players in key positions are themselves inconsistent. Yesterday was bleak but Huddersfield played a big role in that by camping behind the ball all match. I’m a bit surprised the reaction to it has been so strong, especially given it was away and recent results have been ok. I don’t think it was a season-defining performance. In fact it was a bit of a marker as I think last season’s losers would have mucked it up somehow.
Been a bloody long time since we've looked like we knew what we were doing and consistently played good football, probably the FA Cup final season and a few splutters in first relegation season. Ever since then we've looked so disjointed (including the bounce back promotion season). But this squad is just pants and no idea what any coach could do with it. Comparison to the 14/15 one in brackets... - no pace in the team (Vydra, Anya) - no-one that can hold the ball upfront (Deeney) - no box to box midfielder that can tackle, carry the ball past someone and also arrive late and provide a goal threat (Guedioura) - no players that can consistently play a killer ball (Guedioura, Abdi, Deeney) - no player that will always show for the ball and set the tempo (Abdi, Tozser, Watson) - no set piece specialist (Abdi, Tozser) Just a nothing bunch really, not surprising to see where we are.
Awful manager, awful squad, awful fans. Depressing times. But we are now where you people wanted us to be, so there is that at least.
Indeed, if you look at us position-to-position, there are depressingly few where we can even really claim the player being deployed there is a regular, experienced specialist in that role, let alone possibly considered anything above rank average for the level we're at down here. So many players who are either very young and physically and mentally green, oddly inexperienced in terms of professional games for their relative age, or over the hill and unlikely to be capable of being a nailed-on starter over the course of a full Championship season, despite their experience rendering them unexpectedly vital. As I've whined about many times before, it's the ultimate final-form fruition of Gino's patented 'seat-of-your-pants' ownership ethos. A whole squad crafted in the image of hope triumphing over expectation.
The Matrix reboot was exceptional, people dont understand "Neo" is still in the game he was designing in the first ten minutes of the first movie. The only reason his powers worked both "inside" and "outside" the matrix was because they were the same thing, the video game he designed. Anyway..... 3-0 and please VI let Healy start, desperately need somebody new upfront that makes intelligent runs and gets into the areas needed.
If a player gets dropped how much of a punishment is it for them? Im sure it used to be a big thing and when wages werent so high a few hundred or a thousand pounds probably meant a lot. Nowadays £500 say out of 20K a week, may as well laugh it off and avoid playing. With the transitory nature of our players now I dont think it is a punishment. Probably just laugh it off. They dont seem to show any shame about letting down the team or fans by doing so. Dont seem to have professional pride about how they show themselves. I think if we really want to see discipline it has to be harsher. Break a rule that means you are dropped and the punishment in the contract has to reflect the severity of that. Taking away their pocket money for the week isnt doing anything. Wasnt it reported the Gracia was fining at £1000 a minute for being late for training? That's more like it I think.
On the contracts front there's little scope for clubs to deviate from the norm. I understand the PFA have negotiated a lot of cushy standard terms into player contracts and these are endorsed by the FA, who require clubs to use their standard contract template. I think that's why outside of genuine gross misconduct the most a player can be docked from wages is 2 weeks worth. I wouldn't be surprised if Watford are fining the players as well as Val dropping them, but it's never going to hit them too hard.
I concur. Never seen it even tho I keep promising myself as many have said how good it is. Which pill have our squad taken?Are they outside the illusion of providing good quality football? (Is that the red or the blue)? Has Pozzo even taken a pill? What happens if our squad all take the yellow pill? Which pill have our COG fans been taking? And the Bedwetters? Are we all living an illusion? I’m so confused. What pill should I take? HELP.
Sadly don't see us winning this one. Think it will be 2-1 to them, we take the lead early from a Louza free kick but then we throw it away because we are ****!!! and Backman is not good enough we should be starting Hammer Pozzo out btw
