'Watford need to stop defending too deep' (From This Is Local London)

Totally agree with him but this has been quite apparent a long time back. By now, I would have hoped that it would have been recognised and sorted. However, when they were down to 9 men against Cardiff, they didn't have much choice.

Getting fed up with cheap excuses. EVERY team in this division has to play 3 games in a week get over it. The sending’s off are due to lack of discipline (except maybe Vydra which was overturned). Add the fact we have the largest squad in the championship fatigue should not be used as an excuse. Team’s at this level often pump balls into the box they do not play a possession game like in Italy especially when they are chasing the game of a victory.

How to defend, tackle and score goals are basic skill sets required at any level by any player in any country. When are we going to start turning performances into points, this is a results business. “Time to gel” half this squad has played together before, all be it at Udinese. Top class players (whom I keep hearing we have) should not need months to gel, when the same players are thrown together in international side they maybe get 4 days before a game.

Sort your formation out, sort your starting eleven and the rest of your squad out and make the others train with the youth team until they find themselves suitable employment elsewhere and stop looking for excuses. I am sure with the resources available plenty of managers will be wanting to be Watford manager.

He may also want to look at how we are going to score goals, as there aren't too many going in at the moment

Agree with the goalscoring problem. A passing, possesion game is great if there is the ability to score goals present---and there isn't (vydra apart). This problem is also partially due to an inability to make a final pass in the box.
With the regular start from Fitzhall the defence looks far more secure, and has given something to build upon. Once Neuton has learnt to do basic defending it will be even better.

New manager, new players, same old problems. What shall we do to sort it out? That's the question.

4-2-4 with a high line and a watertight offside trap is the answer. Try it GZ, you know it makes sense.

We've never had a decent back four for god knows how long! We may have always had decent defenders with us season to season, however we are nearly always the worst at how many we conced every season, we've been unlucky last couple games, however as someone else has said, this team tryjng to gel together is now starting to run thin!

I can't be arsed to look however has our defense scored more goals than strikers this year, lame if so!

Who do you lot support...? I do wonder

As if GFZ would tell the Watford Observer all he is working on!! Of course he will be addressing all of your issues and concerns that are not listed- pretty sure he knows more about football than me but when I read some of the comments above I would imagine some of you may have sent your CV's to the club already as it would appear you think he does not know what he's doing!

I am a season ticket holder and been attending 25 years - during that time I have NEVER seen us attempt to play good attractive football but I do now.

I don't live in Watford and as a result no one understands why I support them and in fact used to get ridiculed for supporting long ball merchants - that has now stopped!Why? Because GZ has got us playing fantastic flowing football.

I read a comment about how we should have gelled by now as the players all on loan from same club and know each other - what about our younger players and also long term established players - can they be expected to know the formation inside out straight away?!

I know it's all about opinions but mine is that 1)we play good football 2)not had best of luck with decisions 3)yes the discipline could be better 4)with the right support we might even make the playoffs even though this is long term project.

I do find it staggering that supporters sometimes expect miracles overnight and I am pretty sure any manager in the world will list excuses for performances which affect results (I do just that at work!)

I'm off now to mastubate over a picture of GFZ wearing a WFC tie

In my eyes these are Happy days!

Mangoputney wrote:
As if GFZ would tell the Watford Observer all he is working on!! Of course he will be addressing all of your issues and concerns that are not listed- pretty sure he knows more about football than me but when I read some of the comments above I would imagine some of you may have sent your CV's to the club already as it would appear you think he does not know what he's doing!

I am a season ticket holder and been attending 25 years - during that time I have NEVER seen us attempt to play good attractive football but I do now.

I don't live in Watford and as a result no one understands why I support them and in fact used to get ridiculed for supporting long ball merchants - that has now stopped!Why? Because GZ has got us playing fantastic flowing football.

I read a comment about how we should have gelled by now as the players all on loan from same club and know each other - what about our younger players and also long term established players - can they be expected to know the formation inside out straight away?!

I know it's all about opinions but mine is that 1)we play good football 2)not had best of luck with decisions 3)yes the discipline could be better 4)with the right support we might even make the playoffs even though this is long term project.

I do find it staggering that supporters sometimes expect miracles overnight and I am pretty sure any manager in the world will list excuses for performances which affect results (I do just that at work!)

I'm off now to mastubate over a picture of GFZ wearing a WFC tie

In my eyes these are Happy days!

Great post putters. Agree with all....except the masturbation bit. Don't really want to think much about that before me dinner.

SAHornet wrote:

Mangoputney wrote:
As if GFZ would tell the Watford Observer all he is working on!! Of course he will be addressing all of your issues and concerns that are not listed- pretty sure he knows more about football than me but when I read some of the comments above I would imagine some of you may have sent your CV's to the club already as it would appear you think he does not know what he's doing!

I am a season ticket holder and been attending 25 years - during that time I have NEVER seen us attempt to play good attractive football but I do now.

I don't live in Watford and as a result no one understands why I support them and in fact used to get ridiculed for supporting long ball merchants - that has now stopped!Why? Because GZ has got us playing fantastic flowing football.

I read a comment about how we should have gelled by now as the players all on loan from same club and know each other - what about our younger players and also long term established players - can they be expected to know the formation inside out straight away?!

I know it's all about opinions but mine is that 1)we play good football 2)not had best of luck with decisions 3)yes the discipline could be better 4)with the right support we might even make the playoffs even though this is long term project.

I do find it staggering that supporters sometimes expect miracles overnight and I am pretty sure any manager in the world will list excuses for performances which affect results (I do just that at work!)

I'm off now to mastubate over a picture of GFZ wearing a WFC tie

In my eyes these are Happy days!

Great post putters. Agree with all....except the masturbation bit. Don't really want to think much about that before me dinner.

Common sense at last.
Except the self gratification!

I am happy with the situation to date, I am very happy with Zola and the overall footballing style.
I have always liked the three at the back approach and I recall GT mostly played that when he was at Wolves.
However as we apparently have some talented wingers it might be time, particularly as Hall has settled in so well to revert to 4-2-4.
We must find a way to include Vydra regularly and that might be a way to do so.

cliff46 wrote:
I am happy with the situation to date, I am very happy with Zola and the overall footballing style.
I have always liked the three at the back approach and I recall GT mostly played that when he was at Wolves.
However as we apparently have some talented wingers it might be time, particularly as Hall has settled in so well to revert to 4-2-4.
We must find a way to include Vydra regularly and that might be a way to do so.

I think above all we should be proficient in all formations and change as the situation demands. I think this something GFZ Has stated he's striving towards.
It's still very early doors

Zola is working from the back, the Italian way. We may not have been banging them in but it can and does take top forwards up to half a season to gel. Do you really think if we start keeping clean sheets that we won't start winning more than we lose? Our defence has improved massively in a couple of months, imagine how good it will be come New Years. My only worry is that some of our players will not be used to not having a Christmas break and will lose form after that period, but there are worst problems in football eh...

Love the post Cliff except wasn't Wolves the one place that GT failed?


As for all the other posts, the truth seems to be that Sean was not the finished article and maybe GFZ isn't either BUT we do appear to be a very stable club now and that is something to rejoice over.

Love the post Cliff except wasn't Wolves the one place that GT failed?


As for all the other posts, the truth seems to be that Sean was not the finished article and maybe GFZ isn't either BUT we do appear to be a very stable club now and that is something to rejoice over.

Not got a problem with how the club is run, agree we are now a stable club and I am thankful for that. I am however beginning to wonder if GFZ is the right man for the job….. Time will tell. Nothing wrong with having a opinion which is different to the sheep.

Attractive football, that depends on your preferences. I we keep it on the floor but is it entertaining, does it get you on the edge of your seat and is it packed with goalmouth action?…. Attendances would suggest not we are in an entertainment business and one which is results orientated.

In my opinion our best football was played under Brendan Rodgers but that’s a different matter and even Malky actually had a balanced game plan.

Of course we have improved the defence, we have gone from a back four to back five all be it with wing backs! Why have we gone to a back five…. Because we can’t defend, so much for the Italian way. In going to a back five we have sacrificed a forward, Vydra, who is / was our leading goal scorer, guess what? Now we can’t score goals!

Not suggesting we sack GFZ just raising concerns that thing are NOT improving we are not putting back to back performance together. So how long before things improve, how long do you give a guy (GFZ) who has more resources available to him than any other manager in the clubs history. We are a quarter of the way through the season how long does it take to gel !!!!!

Would the fans have given SD this much time. No they didn’t, how many new players did he have to bed in and he lost the leading goals corer in the division and top assist maker at the club. We booed Rodgers after only a few matches, despite playing good football and even Malky got some stick for his efforts….. Guess many fans are still indulging in self gratification every time they hear the name GFZ to start booing. We have struggled to beat so poor sides.

There are some big clubs behind us in the league many of whom will not be that low in the league at the end of the year. If we do not start winning games soon we will be in a relegation battle not a promotion chase….. and do not discount the weather will pretty tippy tappy football work away from home on cold wet muddy pitches…. At least GFZ will have another excuse!

A squad of 40+ professionals are we are blaming fatigue ……… PLEASE

Where does Zola say he blames fatigue?
Defence now much more resolute accordng to the stats (the current back 3 all English, interestingly). One thing is for sure, we need to be more clinical when we are all over teams, and be scoring the 2/3 goals our play merits during these spells.

Only 2 Ross Jenkins wrote:
Where does Zola say he blames fatigue?
Defence now much more resolute accordng to the stats (the current back 3 all English, interestingly). One thing is for sure, we need to be more clinical when we are all over teams, and be scoring the 2/3 goals our play merits during these spells.

That's pretty fair
People on this site, such as Graham Taylor are not beyond making up a Zola quote to help discredit him.
Quite mad IMHO

Seriously people what is it about a mid table finish that you guys don't understand. We have got stronger as the season has gone on and we will continue to. We will not get so many players sent off and have already played the toughest teams in the division. We are not playing exciting football yet as chances aren't being made, but plenty of players will improve and our link up play will start to gel. On the question of how long does it take to gel, quality players like Vidic took half a season to adapt, and that was into a settled side. We will not go down, we will get stronger, and moaning after losing to the two best sides in the league is rather premature. Zola has been given two seasons by the Pozzo's, you guys should give him at least one.

miked2006 wrote:
Seriously people what is it about a mid table finish that you guys don't understand. We have got stronger as the season has gone on and we will continue to. We will not get so many players sent off and have already played the toughest teams in the division. We are not playing exciting football yet as chances aren't being made, but plenty of players will improve and our link up play will start to gel. On the question of how long does it take to gel, quality players like Vidic took half a season to adapt, and that was into a settled side. We will not go down, we will get stronger, and moaning after losing to the two best sides in the league is rather premature. Zola has been given two seasons by the Pozzo's, you guys should give him at least one.

Spot on mate - seems some people want us to fail! Makes me wonder if some of these posters work for the Watford Observer! They are also very clearly pro Dyche & that is clear and apparent for all to see!