Watford FC - Media Watch

It's almost time for all of the 2015/16 previews from various newspapers/media outlets to be released. I thought it might be interesting to collate their predictions for the 'Orns all in one place to see the consensus from all of the pundits and football writers. I'll look out for them and as they come out add them to this post but if anyone else sees one, feel free to post it below (with a link). I'll only add ones from what I consider proper media organisations as if I consider the opinion of every Tom, **** and Harry who has a blog it will become unmanageable.

Survival:

Richard Jolly (Guardian, ESPN) - 16th
Stuart Pearce (Sky Sports) - Survival (position not specified)
Racing Post - 16th

Relegation:

FourFourTwo - 20th
John Aizlewood (Sunday Times) - 19th
Alan Smith (Sunday Telegraph) - 20th
Simon Jones (Daily Mail) - Relegated (position not specified)
Stan Collymore (Daily Mirror) - 20th
Matt Holland (TalkSport) - 20th
The Independent - 20th
Press Association - 20th
Richard Keys - 19th

 

I can save you a lot of trouble. 20th.

 

Decent article, the bloke is more of a Tom / Harry than a ****:

http://eplindex.com/69706/watford-summer-dealings-part-two-midfield-front-line-reinforcements.html

 

http://www.skysports.com/football/n...t-with-new-look-watford-in-the-premier-league

 

Damn, The secrets out. Too many more articleslike this and a couple of others i've read will affect the value being given by the bookies.

 

Just calling it now...

Four Four two...

Watford, 20th.

Watford have finished bottom on both of their last two visits on the Premier League and we can't see it being any different this time around. Signing a plethora of underwhelming foreign talents has backfired for both QPR, Liverpool and Spurs in recent years and Watford have seemed to continue this trend; raiding their owners other two clubs in the hope of changing their fortunes this time round. As if changing the entire squad that got you promoted wasn't bad enough, the club have equally sacked miracle worker Jokanovic for Spanish journeyman QuiQue Flores, their 17th new manager in the last year. Watford have built from the back, bringing in Nyom and Britos who both failed to make a single appearance for the Pozzo's satellite team Udinese; in addition to this purchasing the unproven Roma left back Holebas and Werder Bremen's Sebastien Prodl. A massive concern for Watford here largely the age of Holebas who at 31 has seen better days, and equally the lack of PL experience amongst this group. In midfield Watford have brought in Spurs flop Etienne Capoue for a bizarre club record transfer, as well as West Ham utility man Valon Behrami;both of which have no Premier League experience; it's unlikely Capoue will improve with added game time, a settled squad and now being injury free, as such we predict a torrid season for Watford in this department. Up front is where really worry for Watford, who have only brought in former West Brom flop Matej Vydra, again from their parents club Udinese. Goals in the Championship do not always necessarily transfer to the Premier League with the gap proving particularly difficult for the likes of Connor Wickham, David Nugent and others in recent years; if Troy Deeney struggles as we expect, Watford are almost certain to finish without a point. Qpr, Loans, Udinese, 5 managers.

Bournemouth, 4th.

Little old Bournemouth managed by the gorgeous Eddie Howe look set for a very comfortable first outing in the Premier League thanks to one of the smartest Transfer Windows we've seen from a promoted team in a long time from hometown hero and future England manager Eddie Howe. In assessing the Premier League new boys it's probably best to start with their bright young manager, or otherwise the second coming of Jesus, Eddie Howe. Eddie performed miracles steering Bournemouth to the Premier League last season, Eddie Howe building a side that stormed to the title with most players playing for free. Did you know Bournemouth once were hours away from the Conference, now they are in the Premier league, Eddie howe. Another positive for Bournemouth is that there is almost no fear of Eddie Howe leaving at any point this season; The Football League manager of the decade in taking Bournemouth from the depths of the bottom tier to the Premier League has not once considered leaving, at no point being tempted by a say, Burnley and will certainly reject any offers to move to Madrid as expected when Benitez is sacked at the end of the year. On the pitch Bournemouth look just as bright as off it, bringing in the experienced Sylvain Distin who at 39 still has a few more seasons in him. In Tyrone Mings they have the hottest property outside of the Premier League and a snippet after fighting of competition from Arsenal at £8million. In midfield they have brought in Everton flop Atsu, who could really thrive in a settled squad with more game time if he remains injury free; we've often seen the value of signing a player with something to prove and we expect Atsu to be no different. Up front Austin, Ings and Lambert in recent years have shown just how easy it is to make the step up from the Championship to the Premier League and hotshot Callum Wilson who scored 20 goals last season could easily be the next in this list as he terrified Premier League defences with his pace and diving abilities. As if this wasn't enough, Bournemouth have brought in Josh King from Blackburn, who scored a goal last season. Eddie Howe, underdogs, fairytale, little old, messiah, dreamy.

 

Stuart Pearce doesn't ubderstand why we are the odds on favourite to go down. Reckons we have done good business and the best placed of promoted teams to stay up.

 

I don't ubderstand either. Maybe my headcold is affecting me.

 

A lovely one sentence preview from ESPN's US site:



http://www.espnfc.us/barclays-premi.../2538361/premier-league-preview-in-a-sentence

 

Bournemouth - Saint Eddie Howe in charge, settled team despite fact have already made 7 signings, energetic attacking philosophy, staying up

Norwich - decent squad, premier league experience, best chance of 3 to stay up despite finishing 3rd with that talented squad and so far not making many signings and that squad not good enough for the premier league last time around

Watford - the new QPR, too many changes of manager, too many foreign imports and worries of what will happen when the loans go back, certs to finish bottom

 

I may use that quote as my first ever profile signature!

 

I predict this thread will hit 1000 posts within the month.

 

ESPN FC.us (http://www.espnfc.us/club/watford/395/blog/post/2498178/watford-back-in-the-premier-league-and-bidding-for-survival)


Biggest concern

Two concerns, really. One that is ruled by the heart of Watford fans, and one that's hopefully on the mind of the club. There is an individual who played a huge role in Watford's promotion but has not warranted even the slightest mention by the management this summer. We are, of course, talking about the wonderful Adlene Guedioura, who twice pirouetted into Watford's midfield on loan from Crystal Palace last season.

He scored goals, laid on assists and endeared himself to everyone. A handsome showboater who asked Palace if he could have the day off so that he could celebrate promotion with Watford. Look inside your soul and ask yourself, if Watford don't have room for Guedioura in the squad anymore, was it all worth it?

As for the head, well it's the defence, isn't it? Watford emerged victorious from losing positions so many times last season, it seemed to be part of their game plan. This approach is unlikely to be as productive in the Premier League, and to be successful, the defence will have to improve.

 

Oh wow - this is my favourite bit!



Agnella - Is he a new signing?

Nyom playing at left back maybe a masterstroke by QSF? I hope our new right back Holebas is just as good?

 

On Behrami:

"The winger did enough to secure a move back to England, but his form in previous seasons has been far from impressive. Since the 2009-10 campaign, Behrami has only registered 5 assists, and although it must be noted that the player has been deployed from the full back position on multiple occasions, such a meagre return in 6 years hardly flatters the player, and if he is failing to provide assists, the primary objective of his position, then fans may be forgiven for questioning what the player will bring to the squad."

???

 

Simon Burnton will do it, i'd imagine so I think it'll be alright.

 

He called Behrami a winger. 100% ****.

 

Believe it or not, we actually get a nice write-up in Charlie Sale's column in the Daily Mail today lol

 

Tipped for survival by Richard Jolly (who works for the Guardian, Observer and ESPN)...

http://www.thenational.ae/sport/foo...tford-have-enough-quality-to-avoid-relegation

 

Good article. I don't see a lot wrong with his final table here either: http://www.thenational.ae/sport/football/the-nationals-201516-english-premier-league-preview-series. Maybe I'd put us above Sunderland, but otherwise looks about right.

 

SkyBet

How about a treble from Sky Bet’s bottom three exact order betting?

Will Fenwick: Watford 20th, Leicester 19th, Sunderland 18th at 200/1 seems a decent bet. I don’t fancy the Black Cats or the Foxes and Watford are the worst team to be promoted this year.

Jess Gill: My exact treble order would be Watford 20th, Sunderland 19th, Bournemouth 18th. I think Watford and Bournemouth will struggle to get enough points with their attacking philosophies and Sunderland have one of the weakest squads in the league, where they’ve been lucky to survive for the past few seasons.

Aiden Hennigan: I’m going to go for Watford 20th, Sunderland 19th, Bournemouth in a heart-breaking finish to the season in 18th – 100/1

 

I guess Will Fenwick, Jess Gill and Aiden Hennigan all subcribe to the Alan Brazil school of research.

"I think Watford and Bournemouth will struggle to get enough points with their attacking philosophies"
How does he know what Flores philosophy is?

 

Really don't understand how Norwich are so fancied by everyone. They've added Mulumbu & Brady to the 3rd best team in the championship, yet everyone seems to think they'll finish ahead of us and Bournemouth. I really don't see it, they're reliant on Jerome, Hooper and Van Wolfswinkel to score their goals... They've all been pretty underwhelming in their seasons in the prem so far.

 

I still can't help myself but get irrationally annoyed when reading an article like that Sky Bet one, they purport to go into great detail and analysis and yet, in reality, bash out the same uninformed tripe, based on extremely lazy cliches and a cursory eye glanced over the Championship stats last season.

I'm not exactly sure how those stats show both Norwich and Bournemouth are so much more likely to survive than us, but our transfers alone negate pretty much everything they have written about us. The fact that they don't even mention them, or discuss us at all in the survival section, the positive one, is laughable.

Falling back on the idea that Bournemouth were 'the best at it' is also so incredibly lazy, because apart from anything else, we were 3 minutes from winning the league and beating them; it was in our hands, stupid pitch invasions etc aside. I would place quite a large bet with them that their writers didn't even bother to check what our respective points tallies were, just that we finished second to Bournemouth's first.

It's actually not difficult to write an article without laziness, checking facts and providing insight, but it shocks me how much of the writing produced completely avoids it.

I must admit I don't have the relevant information to hand, but I'd also wonder whether they have included Norwich's playoff goals in their overall comparative total...

 

True but from what I've watched of them Jerome, Hooper and Van wolfswinkel will never be prolific in the Prem, especially not in that Norwich side. My opinion of course, but I really don't think they'll score many.

 

I have no problem with people predicting us to go down, but the reasons they provide a terrible. The only rational reason I'd put Bournemouth/Norwich over Watford as a neutral is if the signings don't gel, or fail to adapt which would be major problems considering they're our best players.

 

Some typically shít-brained, and mind numbingly predictable comments from Alan Shearer about us on the BBC site.

"Traditionally what happens and what will always happen is they'll have a struggle," said Shearer.

" Watford have signed so many players it is going to be difficult to integrate them all and for it to work."

Roughly translated, I read this as: "They're looking a lot stronger than I feel comfortable with them being, and they'll almost certainly shame my beloved, crappy Newcastle this season."

 

I don't think those two comments are that out of line. Newly promoted clubs (he was talking about all three promoted clubs in the first quote I believe) generally do struggle and who knows how our new team will gell. You can't tell a huge amount from pre-season. Looking good but it's still an unknown. For what it's worth I've had a decent wedge of cash on us doing better than everyone thinks but can completely understand this point of view.

 

The two Sporting Life/Sky Bet articles mentioning Watford have been laughable. People saying we're going to get relegated is fair enough as there are 17 existing Premier League teams that stayed up last season, but to say we're finishing 20th below potential survivors Norwich and Bournemouth is just ridiculous and disrespectful.

Alan Shearer doesn't know his own postcode so I wouldn't worry about what he has to say.