Having promised her solemnly he’d changed, and it would all be different this season, Watford have once again worked their way through three managers, with Chris Wilder the latest into football’s hottest seat attempting to keep a faltering promotion push on track — Richard Segal is our man at Vicarage Road.
What on earth is going on at Watford now?
Normal service resumed: three managers worked out well last season when we finished nineteenth and lost 11 home games on the trot so let’s repeat the trick.
Watford league results so far…
Watford 1-0 Sheff Utd Pedro 56
West Brom 1-1 Watford Grant 55 — Sarr 12
Watford 1-0 Burnley Cleverley 45
Birmingham 1-1 Watford Hall 19 — Manaj 63
Preston 0-0 Watford
Watford 2-3 QPR Sema 27, Pedro 50 - Chair 18, Willock 34, Adomah 70
Watford 2-1 Boro Sarr 24, Bayo 90 — Muniz 4
Rotherham 1-1 Watford Wood 2 — Bayo 33
Blackburn 2-0 Watford Hedges 38, Hyam 32
Watford 2-2 Sunderland Davies 34, O’Nien og 62 — Alese 35, Bennette 87
Stoke 0-4 Watford Sarr 12, Sema 64, Davis 78, Bayo 84
Watford 1-2 Swansea Sarr 34 — Ntcham 52, Cabango 90
Blackpool 3-1 Watford Madine 10, Yates 81, 85 — Louza 29
Watford 2-1 Norwich Louza 18, Davis 31 — Sargent 45
Millwall 3-0 Watford Bradshaw 8, 26, 33
Watford 4-0 Luton Davis 3, Troost-Ekong 45, Pedro 57, Sarr 79
Wigan 0-1 Watford Pedro 87
Cardiff 1-2 Watford Kipre 9 — Sierralta 38, Sarr 59
Watford 0-1 Coventry Gyokeres 50
Watford 2-0 Reading Pedro pen 15, 87
Bristol City 0-0 Watford
Watford 0-0 Hull
Huddersfield 0-2 Watford Pedro 54, 86
Watford 0-2 Millwall Voglsammer 22, Flemming 83
Swansea 4-0 Watford Piroe 39, 78, Cullen 74, Latibeaudiere 87
Norwich 0-1 Watford Bayo 86
Watford 2-0 Blackpool Ademeyo 72, Sarr pen 87
Watford 1-1 Rotherham Ferreira 53 — Ferguson 20
Boro 2-0 Watford Akpom 36, Forss 45
Reading 2-2 Watford Ince pen 66, Hendrick 80 — Sarr 30, Porteous 48
Watford 1-1 Blackburn Hoedt 74 — Dack 24
Burnley 1-1 Watford Obafemi 90 — Pedro 32
Watford 3-2 West Brom Sema 23, 78, Sarr 66 — Townsend 56, Wallace 71
Sheff Utd 1-0 Watford Porteous og 73
Watford 0-0 Preston
Manager number one, Rob Edwards, what went wrong? Right decision to sack him? Didn't seem to get a lot of time and has done well with that lot down the road since.
It sounds like total rubbish when as you mention how well he is doing down the road but I do think it was the correct decision. The players did not look fit, the system did not work and he seemed unable to change this. To be fair he was given a few more games then most would have got after Albert Adomah has scored against you.
Manager number two, Salven Bilic, what went wrong? Right decision to sack him?
In a similar vein, it seems he was unable to change the methods and ideas that he had. I could give several examples but let’s take last week at home to bang average and mid-table Preston - why are we playing one up front and why and you playing a kid (Henrique Araujo) who arrived in January and needs help at this level? It seemed like there was no plan as to how we were going to get the ball up to him and work around that. He then hooks the guy off and still continues with one up front. Play both up front and drop one of the players who you seem to pick every week.
What do you make of the Chris Wilder appointment?
Its Watford, hey, the only good thing we do with these appointments is get them out and then in very quickly. If he can repeat his magic at Sheff Utd then we might get sixth, a repeat from Middlesborough and as a caller mentioned with Talk Sport he could be out of the door by the end of the season.
A lot of quite uninspiring draws at the moment, what does he need to change from Bilic?
Well if it was Billic, Wilder or any manager play two up front, especially against a team leaking goals…
Current feelings on the Pozzo ownership? Again starting to see some rumblings on Twitter about them, is that just Twitter? Seems to be the chaos is starting to wear a bit thin...
I think most people are sick of it. There’s apathy about how the club seems to be run and the perception from outside that we are a basket case of a club. But, it won’t be changing anytime soon.
What January business did you do?
We got Ryan Porteous from Hibs who looks good and has settled in quickly, Wesley Hoedt arrived on loan and has played next to Porteous while Craig Cathcart was injured. Joao Ferreira and Henrique Araujo both arrived from Portugal and have played a few games each. Ex Hornet Britt Assombalonga came home after 18 months in Turkey - he looks like he enjoyed the catering over there.
Summer Ins >>> Vakoun Bayo, 25, CF, Charleroi, £5.2m >>> Nicki Manaj, 25, CF, Barcelona, Free >>> Ben Hamer, 34, GK, Swansea, Free >>> Mario Gaspar, 31, RB, Villarreal, Free >>> Hassane Kamara, 28, LB, Udinese, Loan >>> Kortney Hause, 27, CB, Villa, Loan >>> Hamza Choudhury, 27, CM, Leicester, Loan >>> Keinan Davis, 24, CF, Villa, Loan
Summer Outs >>> Hassane Kamara, 28, LB, Udinese (of course), £16m >>> Emmanuel Dennis, 24, CF, Forest, £13.3m >>> Cucho Hernandez, 23, Columbus, £8m >>> Samir, 27, CB, Tigres (Mexico), £5.8m >>> Moussa Sissoko, 32, CM, Nates, £1.8m >>> Philip Zinckernagel, 27, AM, Olympiakos, £1.8m >>> Adam Masina, 28, LB, Udinese (naturally), £4.5m >>> Kiko Femenia, 31, RB, Villarreal, £882k >>> Pontus Dahlberg, 23, GK, Goteburg, Undisclosed >>> Josh King, 30, CF, Fenerbahce, Free >>> Adalberto Penarando, 25, LW, Boavista, Free >>> Andre Gray, 31, CF, Aris Saloniki, Free >>> Nicolas Nkoulou, 32, CB, Aris Saloniki, Free Jorge Segura, 25, CB, Medellin (Colombia), Loan >>> Kwadwo Baar, 19, LW, Dusseldorf, Loan >>> Domingos Quina, 22, AM, Elche, Loan >>> Ashley Fletcher, 26, CF, Wigan, Loan >>> Ignacio Pussatto, 26, RW, Sampdoria, Loan >>> Ben Foster, 39, GK, Released >>> Rob Elliott, 36, GK, Gateshead, Free >>> Danny Rose, 32, LB, Released
Winter Ins >>> Ismael Kone, 20, CF, Montreal, £5m >>> Joao Ferriera, 21, RB, Benfica, £2m >>> Wesley Hoedt, 28, CB, Anderlecht, £1m >>> Ryan Porteous, 23, CB, Hibs, £500k >>> Jorge Cabezas, 19, CF, Cartagena, Colombia, Undisclosed >>> Britt Assombalonga, 30, CF, Demirspor, Free >>> Matheus Martins, 19, LW, Udinese (stop it), Loan >>> Henrique Araujo, 21, CF, Benfica, Loan
Winter Outs >>> William Troost-Ekong, 29, CB, Salernitana, Loan >>> Jorge Segura, 26, CB, Plovdiv, Free >>> Vakoun Bayo, 26, CF, Charleroi, Loan >>> Domingos Quina, 23, AM, Rotherham, Loan >>> Joseph Hungbo, 23, RW, Huddersfield, Loan >>> Jorge Cabezas, 19, CF, Medellin (Colombia), Loan >>> Mattie Pollock (son of God), 21, CB, Aberdeen, Loan >>> Nicki Manaj, 25, CF, Released
Stand out players and weak links in the team?
Rather then talk about the usual suspects in Sarr (sometimes), Louza and Joao Pedro I will put forward 19 year old Yaser Asprilla. He came off the bench on Saturday and was the best player. Let’s hope Wilder is made aware of this and he gets a deserved start.
Weak links I would say is the defence on the whole - Saturday was the first clean sheet in seven and there’s been no clean sheet away since the start of January. The five away wins this season (four of the current bottom nine) says that we have a weak mentality on the road. First goal on Saturday might be important.
Revised expectations for the season?
I am going to drink from the glass half full and plump for sixth place. Wilder has good players and if he can work out a system that suits the offensive talent we have then six or seven wins is feasible to get us into the play offs. Our remaining fixtures are against the teams currently 20th, 19th, 24th, 5th, 23rd, 8th, 13th, 21st, 14th, 11th and 16th. Lootown in the final would be fun.
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