Nowhere is the confusion created by ending the transfer window seven matches into the new season more acute than at Watford, who still have Ismaila Sarr and Joao Pedro on their books at the time of our Vicarage Road regular Richard Segal’s contributions ahead of Saturday’s trip.

Why did Watford fail in their latest bid to stay in the Prem?

Well, for the second year in a row at the top level, Watford used the tried and trusted method of three managers in a season and it failed miserably. At least when we went down in 2020 there was a bit of fight and passion, under the two geriatrics there was none of that.

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

Rob Edwards, bit left field, what do you make of him? Usual Watford season of three managers, or bit different this time? They're making the right noises at least...

Yes, a bit different to our normal type of appointment, the club acted fast and got him appointed in May — much to Forest Green’s public displeasure. Let’s hope having gone through that hassle that even if we have a rocky start. perseverance and patience are upheld by the owners this time.

Few goals at either end in your early games, what have you made of it so far?

I think we have been solid rather then good. Nine points from 15 is a decent return but if you watched the draw at West Brom and home win against Burnley, we were very lucky to take four points from those.

Dennis gone, Sarr and Pedro still around, what’s the latest?

As I write this with just over 48 hours until kick off it seems that Sarr will carry on being a Watford player and we may even hold onto Joao Pedro. Having them either side of Keinan Davis will be too much for this league.

Summer transfer business, how you rate it, what needs to still be done?

In terms of players brought in it has been quiet and you get the sense that spending money has all hinged on the big name players departing. We have purchased Ben Harmer who looks like he will be fighting for the number two goalie, when Rey Manaj and Vakoun Bayo were purchased you sensed that a lot of Watford were using their search engine to actually find out who these players are.

Ins >>> Vakoun Bayo, 25, CF, Charleroi, £5.2m >>> Rey 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

Outs >>> Hassane Kamara, 28, LB, Udinese, £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 (of course), £4.5m >>> Kiko Femenia, 31, RB, Villarreal, £882k >>> Pontus Dahlberg, 23, GK, Goteburg, Undisclosed >>> Josh King, 30, CF, Fenerbahce, Free >>> Andre Gray, 31, CF, Aris Saloniki, Free >>> Nicolas Nkoulou, 32, CB, Aris Saloniki, Free Jorge Segura, 25, CB, Medellin (Colombia), Loan >>> Domingos Quina, 22, AM, Elche, Loan >>> Ashley Fletcher, 26, CF, Wigan, Loan >>> Ben Foster, 39, GK, Released >>> Rob Elliott, 36, GK, Gateshead, Free

Strengths and weaknesses?

We have made a great acquisition in Hamza Choudhury from Leicester who looks way better than this level, once the injured Imran Louza returns in midfield we will be able to control the middle of the park much better then we have done to date. Defence may be the weakness as I feel the centre backs do have mistakes in them, the loan signing of Kortney Hause from Villa adds more quality and we may be looking at one more before the window closes.

Bouncing straight back again? How do you see it going?

Thinking back to when I did the preview for the last time we played at this level it was rather bullish from me saying we should go up with the calibre of players we have in the Championship. The squad is not as strong as that and we will probably be starting with the trusted players in Cleverly, Cathcart, Sema, and Gosling. There lies the problem with clubs like Watford and Norwich when they are trying to stay in the Premier League, those players will help you win 19 out of 23 home leagues games but when you get up you end up winning two out of 19.

Keep the home from solid as we did two years ago, (11 home wins on the bounce over the end of that season and the start of this, don’t mention the game before that) and with the team hopefully kicking into gear once Edwards gets his first choice 11 out should put us in a very commanding position.

I would like to think that at worse will we be around the play off positions. Keep the aforementioned players and we go up. It’s only the Championship lads, right?

Links >>> Watford Official Website >>> WFC Forums — Message Board >>> Watford Observer — Local Press >>> Voices of the Vic — Podcast

The Twitter/Instagram @loftforwords

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TacticalR added 13:09 - Aug 27 Thanks to Richard. Negotiating the move up from the Championship to the Premiership is an art form, and to be fair to Watford they managed it last time. The when you get promoted do you spend big when you go up, or try and make do with what you've got in case you go down? It looks as though they have maintained their firepower, which is an essential factor in this league.

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