The Game's Gone Crazier

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Saturday 14 December 2013

Watford's Zola is officially a laughing stock!

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. There's bad and there's bloody terrible, and Watford have now crossed that line. After chucking away a two goal lead at Leeds last weekend, the Hornets were offered the perfect opposition to make amends with Sheffield Wednesday heading south. Surely not even Zola could cock this one up, even after the shambolic home trouncing by little old Yeovil. Could he?

Well of course he could! This is Gianfredo Zola - lovable, cuddly, smiley, great on the pitch but a clown of a football manager! This is the man who turned Curbishley's top ten West Ham team into a shambles twelve months into the job, and he is repeating the trick at Watford.

And Watford fans can't claim they weren't warned by this blog.

Zola will say all the right things. He always does. He will blame the officials, praise the effort of his players, defend his tactics, curse bad luck, promise to hang on in there until he gets things right, talk up the quality of his players blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But he will not understand that if you have limited players, you have to play a game tailored to their limitations. Tippy tap football is fine for the gods, but for journeymen, it is suicidal! Five home defeats on the bounce. Five home defeats. And this was Sheffield Wednesday's first away win of the season!

Automatic promotion is now a forlorn dream and the play off places are drifting away as each winless week passes. In fact, the relegation pack are now closer to Zola's team than the promotion chasers! Of course, Zola will tell everybody that Forestieri would have salvaged a point but for the low confidence that is afflicting his team, but what sort of excuse is that? Whose job is it to inspire the players to perform? That would be the manager surely.

It's sad because he is a lovely guy, but Zola really isn't up to the job of management.

22 comments:

  1. not quiet as much as west ham, outplayed by Sunderland.

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  2. no game for you to go to again, big fan

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  3. You're everything I detest about the human race - run the bloke into the ground on your Micky Mouse Blog and right at the end "He is a lovely guy, but"

    You're a bit of a two faced back stabbing twat aren't you? I could completely understand if it ever transpired you didn't have a friend in the world.

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    1. Is Ferguson a lovely guy? Was Clough? Is Jose? Have you ever described your boss as a lovely guy? There's your answer!

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  4. “Football is a game for results and at the moment we are not producing results – I am aware of that – so I will see what I have to do because I am responsible for what I do and I do care about what I do. I will see how I can affect the situation, if I can.” ha , ha, ha, Zola in the Watford Observer comic!!

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    1. Did you have help with the "Big words" ? Cretin

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  5. To be fair wednesday are improving under gray it wasn't a certain win by any stretch they beat Leicester and were unlucky v forest not to get a point. You can't forget what Zola did last season.

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  6. How can you play as a team when they have never played the same eleven two weeks running with the batch of talent available surely any good manager would know his best eleven not accounting for injuries

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  7. Why did we sell Assabalonga when there was no Vydra ? Why do we not field the same eleven two weeks running ? If you play with one striker you need ball playing midfielder like Chambola not the clown from West Brom If the loanees are the the managers choice it says it all. Mr Dyche must be grinning like a cheshire/or Burnley cat.

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    1. I feel your pain Howard. Sadly, until Zola finds that horse's head in his bed, nothing will improve. He should walk, but he clung on desperately at West Ham and it looks like he is going to do the same at Watford. Maybe he will fly home to Sardinia for a rest, just as he did at West Ham after our heavy home loss to Wolves.

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  8. I am not blaming George Thorne for Watford's dismal run, but I can't see what he brings to the team. Apparently another midfielder (Alex Merkal) is lined up for January. We don't need another midfielder, we need another striker. Deeney isn't playing well, but you have to feel sorry for him as he has so little support. Yes, Vydra scored goals last season, but he also helped Deeney score.

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  9. over the past years and because of money restraints Watford have had to let go some bloody good managers in Mackay,Rodgers,and Dyche as well as players.
    Now in the position of being owned and in a good financial position, Watford now finds itself in a position of being steered by a man who I believe hasn't served an apprenticeship elsewhere ,and a team nearly full of "wanna be,s" from other clubs and countries. They may be gifted ,but not gelling ,an just perhaps its time for upper management to look at things as we seem to be moving the wrong way in the league ladder. Watford forever

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  10. Sordell sitting on the bench at another club, Vydra the same, Watford recruit young stars of the future but they are not getting a go in the seniors at present time and loaning them to lesser clubs either "makes em or breaks em" mentally.And if these lads do well ,invariably end up signing on with that club! Seems like the Pozzo way might not suit the English championship way Am relieved we didn't win promotion last season ,but disheartened at the present situation now

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  11. I am an avid reader of this blog out of morbid curiosity. I havent always agreed with the attack on the fans (we dont really have a say in whether Zola stays) however i have always seen the truth contained within the mockery of our leader and am a little ashamed of the naivity of my fellow supporters.

    1. Zola has done this before
    2. I am yet to see 1 useful tactical decision
    3. We have excellent players that are not being used/pushed in the right way. We saw last season what they were capable of.

    I am sure i will get ripped apart by my fellow supporters but i feel its time for a change as even Zola himself is resigned to the fact he cannot make a difference. He has no fight left ...

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  12. No doubt a happy day for you with Zola resigning. If his fault is being a gentleman then I hope we have more for you to criticize in future as it has been a pleasure and honour having him as our manager. He did not win anything but as we have never won a major trophy in 122 years he hardly counts as a failure. We however played the best football I have seen in 40 years at Watford under Zola and gave us one of our greatest moments in the play off semi final last season.

    As Zola has now left you will need to find another topic to taunt Watford about. It does seem rather pathetic your dislike of Watford and perhaps you will start showing greater support for your true love of those f**kwits up the M1.

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  13. I am sad that it has ended as it has ended but it was inevitable as I said from the moment he was appointed. Zola, unfortunately, does not have what it takes to manage: he is too nice a guy and does not understand that players have limitations. If we are honest, how many gifted players go on to be successful managers? And how many nice guys make it in management be it inside or outside of football.

    My real issue with the current Watford set up was never Zola, it was the exploitation of loopholes in the rules last season and the appointment of Duxbury and Nani. I like Zola, I don't like either of them after their performance at West Ham.

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  14. I am sorry that you feel so strongly towards Duxbury and Nani but as Watford fans we have absolutely no control over their appointment. However without them I fear that my team would now be treading the same path as Coventry, Portsmouth and the scum further up the M1. I don't think you will ever get criticism of these two from Watford supporters regardless of your view that they brought ruin to your club.

    With regard to the players this was just smoke and mirrors brought about by Holloway. The overwhelming majority of players signed as was promised and the loan was just an expedient way to make sure that Watford had a fighting chance of competing in the Championship. As a Watford supporter we are hardly going to complain about quality players being introduced free of charge and I don't recall any West Ham fans being outraged by West Ham picking up Tevez and Mascherano on the cheap. Please explain to me the difference.

    In any event the introduction of new players has not helped as you are so keen to point out and if these foreign imports from Udinese and Granada had been world beaters why were they not first team regulars before reaching Watford? Udinese are a selling club and for a fee any of the Watford players are available to buy if they are so brilliant. With Zola now gone and hopefully Steve Clarke on the way you will continue your rants as they are highly amusing. It is great to be disliked rather than ignored.

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  15. Merry Christmas mate. Is Steve Clarke on his way? Wow, Bibs and Cones instead of chessboard football! The difference is, we we fined six million quid and Mr Duxbury agreed to pay Shafting United twenty five million quid in compensation! Now, if Watford had shelled out that for forcing a rule change because they bent the rules so much, then fair enough! It's all about margins. Watford stayed just the right side of the rules, and West Ham were just the wrong side of them. That tiny difference wasn't worth 31 million smackers! And who gave legal advice on the Tevez deal and then agreed the compensation? Say hello to the Grand Puppet Master!

    By the way, what have Duxbury and Nani done for your club? Where are you in the Championship table? And where are Burnley under Dyche?

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  16. Merry Christmas to you as well. As far as I understand it, Nani and Duxbury were instrumental in introducing the Pozzo family and without backing from them I suspect we may not be around now. As you can see at Watford we have very low expectations and really just want a team that can compete.

    I understand that you feel bitter towards Nani and Duxbury but in the grand scheme of things was West Ham's punishment that bad? It surely would have been worse to have relegation inflicted upon you than pay a large fine regardless of the rights and wrongs of the situation. Looking at the current TV deal it seems that the bottom team in the Premier are likely to earn £60m this season and while £31m is no drop in the ocean I would rather have the fine and Premiership football than be stuck in the Championship year after year. I think you have to let the whole Nani and Duxbury thing go and move on especially as you don't seem to have done too badly since their departure. I for one remain a happy Hornet despite Zola's departure and at least we have a future which was no guaranteed 18 months ago. As a West Ham fan surely you should be far more worried that you seem to have blown the whole of your transfer budget on a crocked striker.

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    1. We were relegated because of the compensation Duxbury agreed. It stopped us buying players and forced us to sell Bellamy, Collins, Behrami and, eventually, Diamanti. In truth, the Argies were a disaster and the main cause of our problems. Team morale went out of the window and Tevez didn't start playing until February - and he was still fat then. As for Mascherano, he was in a sulk and hardly kicked a ball for the club. So, we lost all ways round and the contention that Tevez kept us up is ludicrous. Without him, the season before, we finished in the top half of the Prem and reached the FA Cup Final. With him we narrowly escaped relegation.

      Duxbury didn't join until Pozzo was in charge according to my recollection.

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  17. Okay I have to accept your arguments regarding West Ham but to blame Zola, Duxbury and Nani alone when there were so many things going wrong is a bit harsh. You have to say it was a collective failure from the Icelandic owners downwards.

    As for Duxbury, as far as I was aware he and Nani were jointly responsible for introducing the Pozzo family and appointing Zola. I think Watford fans were genuinely upset for Dyche when he was dismissed but he has never had a bad word to say about Watford and he will be welcomed back at any time. With hindsight it probably was a mistake to let him go. However the new chairman having invested his money was allowed to appoint who he saw fit and Watford fans accepted this as a natural result of the takeover. Similarly even in resignation Zola was a gentleman about our club and will be welcomed back even though he couldn't take us to the Premier.

    I still stick by my comments about Nani and Duxbury and will be grateful to them both for saving our club from the brink of disaster and also giving us a chance to compete regardless of whether they ultimately fail to get us promotion. This is what I mean about limited ambition as Watford fans and you just don't realise how lucky you are to have a team which has escaped relatively unscathed from financial hardships despite poor management. We have been only hours away from administration three times in the last 12 years and have never had a budget to compete at the top. Please allow us some chance to revel in the fact that we actually have financial security at present and are being run by true football fans. This is what Nani and Duxbury have brought to our club and even if they do end in failure at least it won't be because we didn't have the funds to compete which has always been the problem up until now. You may feel bitter about the way they left your club but I don't think they acted with malice. I hope I am not wrong but everything they have promised us at Watford has happened so far and therefore I will continue to defend them. If you are proved right then I will eat humble pie and apologise to you. However I hope you understand how the fans at Watford feel and why we will get upset by your comments on Nani and Duxbury.

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