Zola doesn't regret making six changes against City (From This Is Local London)

holtonian wrote:
Cannot give our manager nothing but praise. It is about keeping your squad happy this gives true unity in good teams. In a few months sides are now just defending against us as City did tonight.. Give City credit. We may have been stuck in the dungeons if Gianfranco and our great owners had not taken us over. Nice job.

DouglasRinaldi the better Brazilian wrote:

holtonian wrote:
Cannot give our manager nothing but praise. It is about keeping your squad happy this gives true unity in good teams. In a few months sides are now just defending against us as City did tonight.. Give City credit. We may have been stuck in the dungeons if Gianfranco and our great owners had not taken us over. Nice job.

I agree that overall Zola and the Pozzos have done an excellent job, but it doesn't make them exempt from criticism. Tonight, Zola made an error in my opinion. He disrupted the rhythm of our in form team and I believe 6 changes was too many. Keeping the squad happy is fine, but wholesale changes to a team on great form seems illogical.

Vet_kills_puppy wrote:
It is proven by whom Holtonian?

Vet_kills_puppy wrote:
I repeat.
From the Championship.

holtonian wrote:
Cannot give our manager nothing but praise. It is about keeping your squad happy this gives true unity in good teams. In a few months sides are now just defending against us as City did tonight.. Give City credit. We may have been stuck in the dungeons if Gianfranco and our great owners had not taken us over. Nice job.

KeithMercer wrote:

holtonian wrote:
Cannot give our manager nothing but praise. It is about keeping your squad happy this gives true unity in good teams. In a few months sides are now just defending against us as City did tonight.. Give City credit. We may have been stuck in the dungeons if Gianfranco and our great owners had not taken us over. Nice job.

You the man holtonian !
a wise man who sees the bigger picture and understands there is a lot of football still to be played and its not all about one rainy night in the west country.

AngelHornet wrote:
Schoolboy error from GZ.

One or two changes..., yes, but that was a diabolical piece of management.

Vet_kills_puppy wrote:
Cut and pasted from another thread for GFZ.
I hope you read this tomorrow morning.
Posted without animosity but with a healthy dose of reality.
"I want to read on the Official Site tomorrow that GFZ realises that he has now fcuked up twice by making wholesale changes to a winning side etc.
The psychology of 2nd place would have far out-weighed the psychology of the supposed need for squad rotation.
Had we been 2nd those in the wings would have fought that much harder or had to fight that much harder for a run-out. When they came on as a sub it would have been their chance to make sure their name HAD to be first on the teamsheet.
And as for the psychology of saying to your in-form front two 'chomping at the bit' strikers "I'm starting with you both on the bench tonight"... Pathetic, 4th or not."

KeithMercer wrote:

Vet_kills_puppy wrote:
Cut and pasted from another thread for GFZ.
I hope you read this tomorrow morning.
Posted without animosity but with a healthy dose of reality.
"I want to read on the Official Site tomorrow that GFZ realises that he has now fcuked up twice by making wholesale changes to a winning side etc.
The psychology of 2nd place would have far out-weighed the psychology of the supposed need for squad rotation.
Had we been 2nd those in the wings would have fought that much harder or had to fight that much harder for a run-out. When they came on as a sub it would have been their chance to make sure their name HAD to be first on the teamsheet.
And as for the psychology of saying to your in-form front two 'chomping at the bit' strikers "I'm starting with you both on the bench tonight"... Pathetic, 4th or not."

There is only one thing pathetic VKP and that is you and your whining !
Hope you apply for the next championship managers job that becomes available , you obviously have all the answers and a wealth of experience behind you.
I do suppose you are entitled to your opinion. Just wish it wasnt so hysterical .

Vet_kills_puppy wrote:
Mercer and Holtonian.
Debate, but please don't patronise. And as for your back-patting smugness? Oh dear.
I for one sincerely hope we don't 'rotate' our way into the play-offs, or a 'Wolves 7th'.
But then again if we did you'd change tack and talk about our unstoppable assault on this Division next season wouldn't you?

Vet_kills_puppy wrote:
Mercer and Holtonian.
Debate, but please don't patronise. And as for your back-patting smugness? Oh dear.
I for one sincerely hope we don't 'rotate' our way into the play-offs, or a 'Wolves 7th'.
But then again if we did you'd change tack and talk about our unstoppable assault on this Division next season wouldn't you?

holtonian wrote:

Vet_kills_puppy wrote:
Mercer and Holtonian.
Debate, but please don't patronise. And as for your back-patting smugness? Oh dear.
I for one sincerely hope we don't 'rotate' our way into the play-offs, or a 'Wolves 7th'.
But then again if we did you'd change tack and talk about our unstoppable assault on this Division next season wouldn't you?

At the start of the season it would be my wildest dream that we would in this position we are in today.I can only give praise to the manager and his team owners also for at long last giving us a side worthy of the town.

Vet_kills_puppy wrote:

holtonian wrote:

Vet_kills_puppy wrote:
Mercer and Holtonian.
Debate, but please don't patronise. And as for your back-patting smugness? Oh dear.
I for one sincerely hope we don't 'rotate' our way into the play-offs, or a 'Wolves 7th'.
But then again if we did you'd change tack and talk about our unstoppable assault on this Division next season wouldn't you?

At the start of the season it would be my wildest dream that we would in this position we are in today.I can only give praise to the manager and his team owners also for at long last giving us a side worthy of the town.

Give praise when and where it's due. Otherwise you sound like a sycophant. Well there's a thing.
And don't mistake a well-justified whinge for a whine.

holtonian wrote:

Vet_kills_puppy wrote:

holtonian wrote:

Vet_kills_puppy wrote:
Mercer and Holtonian.
Debate, but please don't patronise. And as for your back-patting smugness? Oh dear.
I for one sincerely hope we don't 'rotate' our way into the play-offs, or a 'Wolves 7th'.
But then again if we did you'd change tack and talk about our unstoppable assault on this Division next season wouldn't you?

At the start of the season it would be my wildest dream that we would in this position we are in today.I can only give praise to the manager and his team owners also for at long last giving us a side worthy of the town.

Give praise when and where it's due. Otherwise you sound like a sycophant. Well there's a thing.
And don't mistake a well-justified whinge for a whine.

I give praise as i see it. I know when we have a good thing going. Clearly your not impressed with the type of soccer being shown by us.

buckler wrote:
Zola should go home and sit on the naughty stair for the amount of time we wasted tonight! 10 hours and add on the wasted journey 17 hours. Screwed up big time..

Hornet Cornet wrote:
Not good enough GZ. you shouldve put out our strongest team with the aim of destroying BCFC. you also need to learn from this my little friend.

Henry VIII wrote:
Personally I was not suprised by this. I also think that there were too many changes (just my opinion), but lets be fair, managers make mistakes but the important part is learning from them. I think what has irked many fans is that we have been in such a fine run of form that 2nd place almost seemed a formality - hence my main point, this is a fantastic division where the lowly can (and do) beat the mighty. It may not be easy to still accept, but we are with the mighty teams this time around. The beauty of the Championship is that results like this happen so often. Am I dissapointed not to be 2nd, obviously, but in the bigger picture we are still in a very good place with a long way to go. Perhaps GFZ just didn't want the Manager of the month award! I am sure we will get a taste of second spot within the coming weeks....the best things in life are worth waiting for :)

Sahorn wrote:
Just got back from my second wet, bedraggled and miserable trip to Bristol.

THE GOOD NEWS -

1. Chelski no longer considering Zola as their manager after he makes naive wholesale changes in name of squad rotation and says will repeat it, (and, in my opinion, making no changes at half time when it clearly wasn't working).

2. The squad hopefully embarrassed by performance and kick a** for rest of season.

Couldn't believe making SIX changes, it got the team all bent out of shape, showed no respect to BC who have not kept a clean sheet all season and have shipped 56 goals. Too many pieces in the reshaped jigsaw didn't quite fit, with the frustrating result things didn't quite come off, and a miss is as good as a mile.
3 changes yes, but SIX, and to say will do it again to keep squad happy - Heyho didn't look happy when subbed - what about keeping Pozzos (and fans) happy with a win.

BC were there for the taking, a poor side, but we blew it.

Lessons should be learnt, and I hope the Italian wizard does reflect and learn...

lutondown wrote:
I'm very happy when it goes right so don't want to be fickle when we have a set back, but tonight on hearing the selection, my self and all around predicted another Charlton. Sadly we were right.
Over the previous three games we conceded one goal scoring 9, why change the defence? Hogg and Eustace in together? No way. Murray, get him out somewhere to kick start his career, as I feel his five year contract has blunted his desire.
GFZ, I love your footballing philosophy, but I also agree that you play your best 11, tonight you did not, please see the error here.
Back to being a supporter, because that's what we do

Sahorn wrote:
Just got back from my second wet, bedraggled and miserable trip to Bristol.

THE GOOD NEWS -

1. Chelski no longer considering Zola as their manager after he makes naive wholesale changes in name of squad rotation and says will repeat it, (and, in my opinion, making no changes at half time when it clearly wasn't working).

2. The squad hopefully embarrassed by performance and kick a** for rest of season.

Couldn't believe making SIX changes, it got the team all bent out of shape, showed no respect to BC who have not kept a clean sheet all season and have shipped 56 goals. Too many pieces in the reshaped jigsaw didn't quite fit, with the frustrating result things didn't quite come off, and a miss is as good as a mile.
3 changes yes, but SIX, and to say will do it again to keep squad happy - Heyho didn't look happy when subbed - what about keeping Pozzos (and fans) happy with a win.

BC were there for the taking, a poor side, but we blew it.

Lessons should be learnt, and I hope the Italian wizard does reflect and learn...

Hampshire hornet wrote:
Hogg Eustace Murray so last Year.. Does not suit the way we play... You cannot play all 3... Murray.. Oh dear.. Better second half before being subbed... You were not interested in the 1st.....
Bristol City .. abysmal ground, ran out of food before kick off..our support ...large number but very quiet... Sign was when they kicked off the match most in front of us sat down...'sigh'
Great stewards though...got my boy in free

Hornet Cornet wrote:
Not good enough GZ. you shouldve put out our strongest team with the aim of destroying BCFC. you also need to learn from this my little friend.

DouglasRinaldi the better Brazilian wrote:

holtonian wrote:
Cannot give our manager nothing but praise. It is about keeping your squad happy this gives true unity in good teams. In a few months sides are now just defending against us as City did tonight.. Give City credit. We may have been stuck in the dungeons if Gianfranco and our great owners had not taken us over. Nice job.

I agree that overall Zola and the Pozzos have done an excellent job, but it doesn't make them exempt from criticism. Tonight, Zola made an error in my opinion. He disrupted the rhythm of our in form team and I believe 6 changes was too many. Keeping the squad happy is fine, but wholesale changes to a team on great form seems illogical.

EstebanSemtex wrote:
Bristol City were the proverbial banana skin. New manager that has galvanised a squad into sopme solid performances, looking to close the gap and retain championship status. GFZ was right to rest players, due to our crowded schedule over the next week or so but City wasn't the game to do it in.

That said, resting players against sides like Bolton and Palace is risky as they also have something to play for. All in all, it is a disappointing result against a team that we should be beating.

What irks me more than the result is the frantic second guessing of GFZ, the man who has got Watford (yes, Watford) playing fantastic passing football this season and is engineering one of the most exciting seasons we've had in years. Yet the doom mongers and nay-sayers are back again, spouting their pointless 'if it ain't broke...' statements with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight.

There will always be mad results in the Championship, it's that sort of league, the faith GFZ has in his squad should be shared by every person posting on this site. It's a great group of players who should be backed to step in and play at a high level. I'm confident that in the long run, this result will be regarded as an aberration, nothing more. GFZ will make rotations again and if and when we win when he does, he will be hailed as a 'little genius' by the selfsame detractors posting above.

*drops mic*

Chris the Vic wrote:
Sorry holtonian I cannot agree.

We need points, we need to show respect to all teams just not say it.

The squad is important BUT

We need to win against lower teams, resting our best has cost us dear against Charlton and Bristol.

We need to enter every game giving us the best chance of maximising points.

We are out of both cups, we have a good pitch and players like Deeney and Vydra want to play. Sure if we are winning and can bring them off early do so but dont put Vydra on for the last ten minutes.

GFZ made a big mistake against Charlton, he now repeats it against City and apparently would do it again.

it is one thing to make a mistake but entirely different if you do not learn from it and judging by his ill thought comments he is not as good a manager as I hoped.

The Pozzos have given him an unbelievable squad of players, I trust he will not blow it having done so well.

We must keep the faith but GFZ must start to learn. We have a best team and that is what is needed to play from now to the end of the season.

holtonian wrote:

DouglasRinaldi the better Brazilian wrote:

holtonian wrote:
Cannot give our manager nothing but praise. It is about keeping your squad happy this gives true unity in good teams. In a few months sides are now just defending against us as City did tonight.. Give City credit. We may have been stuck in the dungeons if Gianfranco and our great owners had not taken us over. Nice job.

I agree that overall Zola and the Pozzos have done an excellent job, but it doesn't make them exempt from criticism. Tonight, Zola made an error in my opinion. He disrupted the rhythm of our in form team and I believe 6 changes was too many. Keeping the squad happy is fine, but wholesale changes to a team on great form seems illogical.

Long term it is proven that by rotating it really pays. I can understand supporters feeling upset at the loss but he sees the squad daily and knows the strength of players he used tonight. I am certain that Fenando will be a future star just as an example. Its not good policy to play twice in 3 days.

WD18Chris wrote:
We are all grateful to the Pozzo's and Zola but Zola does deserve criticism for his huge mistake last night.

The optimism in the away end drained away when the team was announced. Everyone was predicting a defeat.

You cannot "rest" a centre back, a wing back, 2 central midfielders and 2 strikers and expect to win games in the division. It is the Championship - it is tough.

We don't even have a particualary hectic schedule. We ended up cruising to victory in our last 2 games, Players are fit professionals and can handle playing matches. Apart from Murray that is - he needs to go out and loan and sort his life out.

How good have Doyley, Battocchio, Cassetti, Chalobah, Deeney and Vydra been in the last few games?

But overall it could still be a very good season. We are one of the best teams in this division. We need to play players in form and build the momentum. Zola destroyed our momentum and resting the spine of our team. Bloody madness.

holtonian wrote:
Cannot give our manager nothing but praise. It is about keeping your squad happy this gives true unity in good teams. In a few months sides are now just defending against us as City did tonight.. Give City credit. We may have been stuck in the dungeons if Gianfranco and our great owners had not taken us over. Nice job.

corbindallas wrote:
Britsol City must have thought their Christmas presents had been delivered late looking at the team sheet, for last night. Zola was wrong and despite what he say's bringing Vydra and Deeney on in the 60th minute show's this. I thought it was a FA cup game with such wholesale changes, who does this for a normal Championship game when it counts for so much to our future? Or did he just f**** up by disrespecting Bristol City's position in the table? Who know's but one sure thing I do know, I blo*dy hope he has learnt a lesson from it, poor management decision last night, we could be sitting 2nd this morning!

Watfordengineer wrote:
I find the attacks on Zola sickening. he has made watford play some great football and we have had fantastic results for the last few months. and to have this backlash from one result just reminds me what is wrong with football supporters sometimes. Matches like this happen. you go on a run, have an easy fixture mid week and then you loose. Its stems from overconfidence. Just give the man some faith and don't start swearing about him!

Watfordengineer wrote:
I find the attacks on Zola sickening. he has made watford play some great football and we have had fantastic results for the last few months. and to have this backlash from one result just reminds me what is wrong with football supporters sometimes. Matches like this happen. you go on a run, have an easy fixture mid week and then you loose. Its stems from overconfidence. Just give the man some faith and don't start swearing about him!

onion8837 wrote:
I was still too **** off to post last night when I got back, but I feel like asking Zola for my money back. Total f****** shambles last night, it was like watching a Dyche side before it settled down a bit later in the season.

Whoever it was who posted on here saying we will need Eustace's calm head in the coming months can F*** right off - he is a liability in terms of his tackling (could have been booked twice for his first two ugly lunges), his first touch (concrete boots ?) and his passing (woeful). If anyone in that starting XI was going to get sent off, it was him - same old aggression but another yard slower than last year is not a happy combination. Hogg was the same last night but at least tried to inject a little bit of pace, which we sorely lacked.

Don't even get me started on Sean Murray - will be playing alongside JJ O'Toole this time next season, possibly sooner.

Where the F*** was Doyley ? Nos was completely out of sorts playing out of the middle and he Hall seemed to get in each others way.

Almunia - FFS, the first goal travelled 40 yards and it is not the first he has conceded from that range this season.

We made a game against the slowest side in the division into a series of coin tosses (all of which we lost) by taking all the pace out of our side. They were terrified of Vydra on the BCFC forums before the game....so we dropped him for them.

We went a goal down and had absolutely no f****** idea of a PLan B. The conditions were terrible last night, so instead of fizzing a few shots in we tried to play tippy-tappy through 2 ranks of 5. Conditions were made for Deeney (see what Stead did to us when he came on)...so we dropped him as well

WHatever GFZ says about our squad strength, last night gave lie to some of that and by dropping 6 players,he wrote Sean O'Driscoll's team talk for him.

Our away support will be back down to 3 men and a dog after that steaming pile of poo

Chris the Vic wrote:
Sorry holtonian I cannot agree.

We need points, we need to show respect to all teams just not say it.

The squad is important BUT

We need to win against lower teams, resting our best has cost us dear against Charlton and Bristol.

We need to enter every game giving us the best chance of maximising points.

We are out of both cups, we have a good pitch and players like Deeney and Vydra want to play. Sure if we are winning and can bring them off early do so but dont put Vydra on for the last ten minutes.

GFZ made a big mistake against Charlton, he now repeats it against City and apparently would do it again.

it is one thing to make a mistake but entirely different if you do not learn from it and judging by his ill thought comments he is not as good a manager as I hoped.

The Pozzos have given him an unbelievable squad of players, I trust he will not blow it having done so well.

We must keep the faith but GFZ must start to learn. We have a best team and that is what is needed to play from now to the end of the season.

Eastsussexhornet wrote:
This could be a match we all cite as the first one that made us all realise that GFZ isn't anywhere near the god he has been elevated to be by some. HE LOST US 3 POINTS LAST NIGHT SINGLE HANDEDLY. An absolutely massive managerial ****-up which has to be seriously questioned. He spends the first half of the season finding the right team, finds it, races up the league, has a chance of going second - and he puts out the reserves. He thought we could thrash them without breaking into a sweat. Talk about arrogance. They have lost many games in a row, change their manager, win against Ipswich - they are DANGEROUS! Everyone of us last night knew it was wrong. The chap queuing up for his Cheeseburger, the people finding their seats, the people all around where I was sitting. We're not paid shed loads of money to pick the team but we all know it was wrong. And he doesn't regret making 6 changes. Disgraceful.

davesol wrote:

Watfordengineer wrote:
I find the attacks on Zola sickening. he has made watford play some great football and we have had fantastic results for the last few months. and to have this backlash from one result just reminds me what is wrong with football supporters sometimes. Matches like this happen. you go on a run, have an easy fixture mid week and then you loose. Its stems from overconfidence. Just give the man some faith and don't start swearing about him!

Absolutely agree, seems to be a lot of people on here taking it for granted that if he had stuck with the same XI then winning the game would have been a formality. Results like this happen all the time in the championship as there is not a huge gulf in quality between the top and the bottom. Seems overly fickle to enjoy the wins and then start criticising the manager after one defeat.

Hornet Cornet wrote:
Not good enough GZ. you shouldve put out our strongest team with the aim of destroying BCFC. you also need to learn from this my little friend.

SimonW, Godalming wrote:
I can only presume that the majority of those failing to acknowledge Zola's ridiculous decision last night are the ones who did not travel to Bristol twice, I like many others did, Bristol City were rubbish & our proper team would have ripped them apart!!

londomollari wrote:
Quote from a national newspaper: 'Zola paid the price for treating the Championship like the FA cup and Bristol City like lower league opposition'
That just about has it surrounded.
O'Driscoll, a decent manager, and no fool, aparently said that 'Watford put out a weakened side, and you have to take advantage'
I fully support everything happening at Watford, I fully support Zola as manager. But he is human, and he will make mistakes. Last night was a mistake. Now lets move on.
One last point. Those on here saying our moans were hindsight: As I said before, as soon as I heard the team, I knew we would lose. Apparently, those at the game knew the same. Surely Zola must have had some misgivings?

Oracledave wrote:
There is clearly merit in the argument that six changes is too many - particularly since one of them was Sean Murray who has hardly featured this term, although of course at 32 Cassetti is one who will benefit most from rotation.

However, I think it is too simplistic to jump from that point to saying that with a first eleven Watford would definitely have won. Bristol played without any ego. Two solid banks of four with little fullback overlap. Vydra's great asset is pace and the ability to exploit space. There never was going to be any. And we are not a team with great aerial threat particularly in open play, so 'bombing' the box is not likely to work.

Games at Leicester and Hull are unlikely to be the same as the hosts will have different aspirations and expectations from their fans.

londomollari wrote:

buckler wrote:
Zola should go home and sit on the naughty stair for the amount of time we wasted tonight! 10 hours and add on the wasted journey 17 hours. Screwed up big time..

It's the supporters who travelled I feel sorry for---I would have felt cheated.

llloydwithathirdl wrote:
Oh, and Murray needs to go out on loan desperately.

buckler wrote:
Think yourself lucky! Think I've got mad cow disease after the vile half pounder LD forced me to eat. Think Sean Murrarys dad might have had the same the way he stormed out the ground early, I wonder Why?

JohnnyHornet wrote:

llloydwithathirdl wrote:
Oh, and Murray needs to go out on loan desperately.

And lose 4 stone.

napoleorn wrote:
Is it just me or are our supporters turning into fickle Arsenal fans? Before you ask, no i wasn't there last night, but I have followed the side for over 30 years home and away, so I think I have the right to comment.
Comments like "let us know what side we are putting out so I can decide to go or not" frankly beggar belief. Yes, six changes were probably too many, but, i'm a supporter of Watford Football Club, not Vydra united or Chalobah City, the players turning out last night are still some of the best players the club has had over the last 20 odd years,If you had ever seen the likes of Devon White, Trevor Senior et al, you'd know what a blessed position we are in at the moment. We got turned over last night by a side fighting for their careers under a new manager. It happens. Nobody likes to see their side lose but let's not turn into a set of supporters who only turn up when we're guranteed a win, or is that why so many of you are rattle throwing today?

Harry's Bar wrote:
Zola has to be careful what he publicly regrets. We as fans just say what we think but Zola has to consider the effect on the players he brought in before he tells a journalist he f*#*# up playing them all.

napoleorn wrote:
Is it just me or are our supporters turning into fickle Arsenal fans? Before you ask, no i wasn't there last night, but I have followed the side for over 30 years home and away, so I think I have the right to comment.
Comments like "let us know what side we are putting out so I can decide to go or not" frankly beggar belief. Yes, six changes were probably too many, but, i'm a supporter of Watford Football Club, not Vydra united or Chalobah City, the players turning out last night are still some of the best players the club has had over the last 20 odd years,If you had ever seen the likes of Devon White, Trevor Senior et al, you'd know what a blessed position we are in at the moment. We got turned over last night by a side fighting for their careers under a new manager. It happens. Nobody likes to see their side lose but let's not turn into a set of supporters who only turn up when we're guranteed a win, or is that why so many of you are rattle throwing today?

bushey tales wrote:
Just an observation, but we don't seem to win, or even score, all that often when Forestieri plays. He's clearly very talented but most of the really good wins - Palace, Leeds, Brighton, Boro, Forest etc - seem to have come without him being involved. Personally I much prefer the speed and precision of Vydra to the remarkable trickery of Forestieri and maybe the stats bear that out? He's certainly contributed little since signing that extraordinary, Pardewesque contract. Has anybody looked at the numbers?

Harry's Bar wrote:
Anyone else getting pee'd off with posts slagging off Zola. Give him a break, we've all made mistakes and it wasn't like he brought in 6 first year professionals last night.

neil-bs wrote:
The disappointment is clearly written rather large today and Zola's remarks, rather misjudged in my opinion, have not helped. He is coming across as arrogant and though his arrogance based on his skills as a player helped to make him an absolute star in his playing days it may well not help him as a manager especially as he is extremely inexperienced.
Many of his followers after months of uttering hardly a word against him are today absolutely furious with him. I have to agree with some of what is being said but I do think he is a good manager, not brilliant, but good. Zola's big failing seems to be as a tactician. Some of you have referred to his lack of a plan B. His use of substitutes is not often gamechanging. Last night knowing that he was in trouble he should have made changes earlier, at the latest halftime. A manager's job is to get the best out of the players he has available whatever the ability of the players. I am not sure he is achieving this at the moment.
However the important thing is to get the points in the bag especially in the position we are at the moment. If only... is useless but it is a fact that the 6 points thrown away in the games against Charlton and Bristol City would have put us in 2nd place only 5 points behind Cardiff and 5 points ahead of 3rd and 4th., 13 points in front of 7th placed Brighton. An absolutely immense psychological advantage for Watford. And if we are going to get a points penalty it will be good to have them already in the bag. I think stylistically Zola is good but tactically whether on or off the field perhaps not quite so good. Going into matches against clubs like Palace, Cardiff, Hull, Leicester, Burnley etc. knowing that a draw is not a disaster must be quite a good feeling.

KeithMercer wrote:

neil-bs wrote:
The disappointment is clearly written rather large today and Zola's remarks, rather misjudged in my opinion, have not helped. He is coming across as arrogant and though his arrogance based on his skills as a player helped to make him an absolute star in his playing days it may well not help him as a manager especially as he is extremely inexperienced.
Many of his followers after months of uttering hardly a word against him are today absolutely furious with him. I have to agree with some of what is being said but I do think he is a good manager, not brilliant, but good. Zola's big failing seems to be as a tactician. Some of you have referred to his lack of a plan B. His use of substitutes is not often gamechanging. Last night knowing that he was in trouble he should have made changes earlier, at the latest halftime. A manager's job is to get the best out of the players he has available whatever the ability of the players. I am not sure he is achieving this at the moment.
However the important thing is to get the points in the bag especially in the position we are at the moment. If only... is useless but it is a fact that the 6 points thrown away in the games against Charlton and Bristol City would have put us in 2nd place only 5 points behind Cardiff and 5 points ahead of 3rd and 4th., 13 points in front of 7th placed Brighton. An absolutely immense psychological advantage for Watford. And if we are going to get a points penalty it will be good to have them already in the bag. I think stylistically Zola is good but tactically whether on or off the field perhaps not quite so good. Going into matches against clubs like Palace, Cardiff, Hull, Leicester, Burnley etc. knowing that a draw is not a disaster must be quite a good feeling.

You dumbfound me !!
So if we had taken 6 points from Charlton and Bristol we would be 2nd and just 5 points behind Cardiff blah blah blah !! But no mention of fantastic away wins at Brighton, Middlesborough and Forest . Of course in your mind they were just to be expected and we should win every game.
By your reckoning we should have about 80 points by now and already promoted.
Try thinking about what you are saying before spouting nonsense please.

Holly68 wrote:
I hear the Football League gave Watford a Points Deduction in December, but in order to keep it under the radar, Watford did a deal whereby GFZ would make numerous changes to the team in certain fixtures to low placed teams to effectively take the points deduction without wider public knowing. Sssssssshhhhhhhh ! 6 points deducted so far (Charlton and Bristol), only 4 more points to deduct, so expect 2 more lots of rotation that will result in 2 draw's, once we have then taken our 10 point deduction GFZ will then play his strongest team every week ...........

This is in fact complete rubbish OR could it be .....

Eastsussexhornet wrote:

KeithMercer wrote:

neil-bs wrote:
The disappointment is clearly written rather large today and Zola's remarks, rather misjudged in my opinion, have not helped. He is coming across as arrogant and though his arrogance based on his skills as a player helped to make him an absolute star in his playing days it may well not help him as a manager especially as he is extremely inexperienced.
Many of his followers after months of uttering hardly a word against him are today absolutely furious with him. I have to agree with some of what is being said but I do think he is a good manager, not brilliant, but good. Zola's big failing seems to be as a tactician. Some of you have referred to his lack of a plan B. His use of substitutes is not often gamechanging. Last night knowing that he was in trouble he should have made changes earlier, at the latest halftime. A manager's job is to get the best out of the players he has available whatever the ability of the players. I am not sure he is achieving this at the moment.
However the important thing is to get the points in the bag especially in the position we are at the moment. If only... is useless but it is a fact that the 6 points thrown away in the games against Charlton and Bristol City would have put us in 2nd place only 5 points behind Cardiff and 5 points ahead of 3rd and 4th., 13 points in front of 7th placed Brighton. An absolutely immense psychological advantage for Watford. And if we are going to get a points penalty it will be good to have them already in the bag. I think stylistically Zola is good but tactically whether on or off the field perhaps not quite so good. Going into matches against clubs like Palace, Cardiff, Hull, Leicester, Burnley etc. knowing that a draw is not a disaster must be quite a good feeling.

You dumbfound me !!
So if we had taken 6 points from Charlton and Bristol we would be 2nd and just 5 points behind Cardiff blah blah blah !! But no mention of fantastic away wins at Brighton, Middlesborough and Forest . Of course in your mind they were just to be expected and we should win every game.
By your reckoning we should have about 80 points by now and already promoted.
Try thinking about what you are saying before spouting nonsense please.

And YOU dumbfound ME! Another post that completely misses the point. See my previous post and a response at 9.54. I can't be bothered to type it all out again...

lutondown wrote:

JohnnyHornet wrote:

llloydwithathirdl wrote:
Oh, and Murray needs to go out on loan desperately.

And lose 4 stone.

He didn't look fat to be fair, he looked flat, devoid of ideas, he made our defence nervy. He needs to go out on loan somewhere far away for his own good, and so that GFZ doesn't have these mad brain storms and pick him.

Boosey wrote:
No quality in depth or is it? Was the six changes too much? Was it it the conplacency or the cockiness of the manager? Was it the attitude of the players? Did any of the six picked, get any bad vibes of the six who were dropped? All those combined would result in a loss. but in a nutshell they fooked it up on the night and no one tell me it's not all bad news cos the scum lost as well, I don't care about them. Roll on Saturday, a few beers and a win and I'll be smiling again.

napoleorn wrote:
Is it just me or are our supporters turning into fickle Arsenal fans? Before you ask, no i wasn't there last night, but I have followed the side for over 30 years home and away, so I think I have the right to comment.
Comments like "let us know what side we are putting out so I can decide to go or not" frankly beggar belief. Yes, six changes were probably too many, but, i'm a supporter of Watford Football Club, not Vydra united or Chalobah City, the players turning out last night are still some of the best players the club has had over the last 20 odd years,If you had ever seen the likes of Devon White, Trevor Senior et al, you'd know what a blessed position we are in at the moment. We got turned over last night by a side fighting for their careers under a new manager. It happens. Nobody likes to see their side lose but let's not turn into a set of supporters who only turn up when we're guranteed a win, or is that why so many of you are rattle throwing today?

bushey tales wrote:
Just an observation, but we don't seem to win, or even score, all that often when Forestieri plays. He's clearly very talented but most of the really good wins - Palace, Leeds, Brighton, Boro, Forest etc - seem to have come without him being involved. Personally I much prefer the speed and precision of Vydra to the remarkable trickery of Forestieri and maybe the stats bear that out? He's certainly contributed little since signing that extraordinary, Pardewesque contract. Has anybody looked at the numbers?

Holly68 wrote:
I hear the Football League gave Watford a Points Deduction in December, but in order to keep it under the radar, Watford did a deal whereby GFZ would make numerous changes to the team in certain fixtures to low placed teams to effectively take the points deduction without wider public knowing. Sssssssshhhhhhhh ! 6 points deducted so far (Charlton and Bristol), only 4 more points to deduct, so expect 2 more lots of rotation that will result in 2 draw's, once we have then taken our 10 point deduction GFZ will then play his strongest team every week ...........

This is in fact complete rubbish OR could it be .....

SAHornet wrote:

bushey tales wrote:
Just an observation, but we don't seem to win, or even score, all that often when Forestieri plays. He's clearly very talented but most of the really good wins - Palace, Leeds, Brighton, Boro, Forest etc - seem to have come without him being involved. Personally I much prefer the speed and precision of Vydra to the remarkable trickery of Forestieri and maybe the stats bear that out? He's certainly contributed little since signing that extraordinary, Pardewesque contract. Has anybody looked at the numbers?

Haven't looked at the numbers but agree with you about FF

Boosey wrote:
Still fuming!

KeithMercer wrote:
You will be pleased to hear that I am not going to say anymore about last night as I think we have all made our points and will have to agree to disagree .
But I find it interesting that when we have a great victory there will be about 70/80 postings by this time on the forum. But then when we have a loss its almost double the amount of people who cant wait to throw the toys out of the pram .This tells me something but I will keep that to myself as I am sure you have had more than enough of me by now . Cheers guys and lets hope its normal service resumed at the weekend .

lutondown wrote:

buckler wrote:
Think yourself lucky! Think I've got mad cow disease after the vile half pounder LD forced me to eat. Think Sean Murrarys dad might have had the same the way he stormed out the ground early, I wonder Why?

No Buck you gave the burger mad cow disease, and judging the vile smell coming from you, it seems the poor cow was dying all over again in your stomach. Yuk

neil-bs wrote:
The disappointment is clearly written rather large today and Zola's remarks, rather misjudged in my opinion, have not helped. He is coming across as arrogant and though his arrogance based on his skills as a player helped to make him an absolute star in his playing days it may well not help him as a manager especially as he is extremely inexperienced.
Many of his followers after months of uttering hardly a word against him are today absolutely furious with him. I have to agree with some of what is being said but I do think he is a good manager, not brilliant, but good. Zola's big failing seems to be as a tactician. Some of you have referred to his lack of a plan B. His use of substitutes is not often gamechanging. Last night knowing that he was in trouble he should have made changes earlier, at the latest halftime. A manager's job is to get the best out of the players he has available whatever the ability of the players. I am not sure he is achieving this at the moment.
However the important thing is to get the points in the bag especially in the position we are at the moment. If only... is useless but it is a fact that the 6 points thrown away in the games against Charlton and Bristol City would have put us in 2nd place only 5 points behind Cardiff and 5 points ahead of 3rd and 4th., 13 points in front of 7th placed Brighton. An absolutely immense psychological advantage for Watford. And if we are going to get a points penalty it will be good to have them already in the bag. I think stylistically Zola is good but tactically whether on or off the field perhaps not quite so good. Going into matches against clubs like Palace, Cardiff, Hull, Leicester, Burnley etc. knowing that a draw is not a disaster must be quite a good feeling.

SAHornet wrote:

neil-bs wrote: The disappointment is clearly written rather large today and Zola's remarks, rather misjudged in my opinion, have not helped. He is coming across as arrogant and though his arrogance based on his skills as a player helped to make him an absolute star in his playing days it may well not help him as a manager especially as he is extremely inexperienced. Many of his followers after months of uttering hardly a word against him are today absolutely furious with him. I have to agree with some of what is being said but I do think he is a good manager, not brilliant, but good. Zola's big failing seems to be as a tactician. Some of you have referred to his lack of a plan B. His use of substitutes is not often gamechanging. Last night knowing that he was in trouble he should have made changes earlier, at the latest halftime. A manager's job is to get the best out of the players he has available whatever the ability of the players. I am not sure he is achieving this at the moment. However the important thing is to get the points in the bag especially in the position we are at the moment. If only... is useless but it is a fact that the 6 points thrown away in the games against Charlton and Bristol City would have put us in 2nd place only 5 points behind Cardiff and 5 points ahead of 3rd and 4th., 13 points in front of 7th placed Brighton. An absolutely immense psychological advantage for Watford. And if we are going to get a points penalty it will be good to have them already in the bag. I think stylistically Zola is good but tactically whether on or off the field perhaps not quite so good. Going into matches against clubs like Palace, Cardiff, Hull, Leicester, Burnley etc. knowing that a draw is not a disaster must be quite a good feeling.

Very good post this one. Zola is still learning but there's the rub ! He needs to take on board mistakes made and rectify them and not repeat them in the future. I think he has the humility to do this. Those 6 points lost could easily be the undoing of us later so let's not minimize this unfortunate situation but now is the time to move on Pozzotively.

Chris the Vic wrote:
Agree Michael we have to move forward.

Harry's Bar wrote:

SAHornet wrote:

neil-bs wrote: The disappointment is clearly written rather large today and Zola's remarks, rather misjudged in my opinion, have not helped. He is coming across as arrogant and though his arrogance based on his skills as a player helped to make him an absolute star in his playing days it may well not help him as a manager especially as he is extremely inexperienced. Many of his followers after months of uttering hardly a word against him are today absolutely furious with him. I have to agree with some of what is being said but I do think he is a good manager, not brilliant, but good. Zola's big failing seems to be as a tactician. Some of you have referred to his lack of a plan B. His use of substitutes is not often gamechanging. Last night knowing that he was in trouble he should have made changes earlier, at the latest halftime. A manager's job is to get the best out of the players he has available whatever the ability of the players. I am not sure he is achieving this at the moment. However the important thing is to get the points in the bag especially in the position we are at the moment. If only... is useless but it is a fact that the 6 points thrown away in the games against Charlton and Bristol City would have put us in 2nd place only 5 points behind Cardiff and 5 points ahead of 3rd and 4th., 13 points in front of 7th placed Brighton. An absolutely immense psychological advantage for Watford. And if we are going to get a points penalty it will be good to have them already in the bag. I think stylistically Zola is good but tactically whether on or off the field perhaps not quite so good. Going into matches against clubs like Palace, Cardiff, Hull, Leicester, Burnley etc. knowing that a draw is not a disaster must be quite a good feeling.

Very good post this one. Zola is still learning but there's the rub ! He needs to take on board mistakes made and rectify them and not repeat them in the future. I think he has the humility to do this. Those 6 points lost could easily be the undoing of us later so let's not minimize this unfortunate situation but now is the time to move on Pozzotively.

Very good post? Why let the truth get in the way of a "good post".

lutondown wrote:

Harry's Bar wrote:

SAHornet wrote:

neil-bs wrote: The disappointment is clearly written rather large today and Zola's remarks, rather misjudged in my opinion, have not helped. He is coming across as arrogant and though his arrogance based on his skills as a player helped to make him an absolute star in his playing days it may well not help him as a manager especially as he is extremely inexperienced. Many of his followers after months of uttering hardly a word against him are today absolutely furious with him. I have to agree with some of what is being said but I do think he is a good manager, not brilliant, but good. Zola's big failing seems to be as a tactician. Some of you have referred to his lack of a plan B. His use of substitutes is not often gamechanging. Last night knowing that he was in trouble he should have made changes earlier, at the latest halftime. A manager's job is to get the best out of the players he has available whatever the ability of the players. I am not sure he is achieving this at the moment. However the important thing is to get the points in the bag especially in the position we are at the moment. If only... is useless but it is a fact that the 6 points thrown away in the games against Charlton and Bristol City would have put us in 2nd place only 5 points behind Cardiff and 5 points ahead of 3rd and 4th., 13 points in front of 7th placed Brighton. An absolutely immense psychological advantage for Watford. And if we are going to get a points penalty it will be good to have them already in the bag. I think stylistically Zola is good but tactically whether on or off the field perhaps not quite so good. Going into matches against clubs like Palace, Cardiff, Hull, Leicester, Burnley etc. knowing that a draw is not a disaster must be quite a good feeling.

Very good post this one. Zola is still learning but there's the rub ! He needs to take on board mistakes made and rectify them and not repeat them in the future. I think he has the humility to do this. Those 6 points lost could easily be the undoing of us later so let's not minimize this unfortunate situation but now is the time to move on Pozzotively.

Very good post? Why let the truth get in the way of a "good post".

Yeah how? When was Zola arrogant as player or coach. Utter tosh, bring back Dyche or even better Boofers

SAHornet wrote:
2 points from a non-attending fan -

1) We had no width in the team and were therefore unable to stretch their packed defence at all. Missed Cassetti and Battochio in this regard.

2) How long now have fans been saying NEVER to play Hogg & Eustace together in midfield......nuff said