AndyLimpey

Quite possibly, I haven't looked into it that deep. But if that's the case, UEFA shouldn't be allowing multi club ownership at all then.

What doesn't make sense to me, is the whole Forest and Palace swapping places. If Palace broke the rules, surely that means they should be removed from European competition altogether? Also, Palace got into Europe based on FA cup success, not their League position. So surely, if UEFA are insistent on a Club replacing Palace instead of just offering their competition free wins, then their replacement also needs to come from that same competition through which they qualified?

Give me a "Dick", who actually tries to win us the game, than a guy who literally plays with the purpose of marking himself out of it, anytime,

I wouldn't be surprised if Liverpool have "Over corrected" this summer. Selling Diaz feels like a real mistake, Nunez potentially too, but to much a lesser extent. They seemingly had the perfect blend of Klopp's style, with Slot adding a little bit more caution/structure last Season. Whereas now, it feels like they're investing more heavily into this Structured way of playing, and I think it might backfire. Diaz/Jota/Nunez is a lot of "Bite" and "Nastiness" (In a positive way). I fear they will be much more predictable now. Gakpo imo is the weakest of those 3 wingers, and he's the one which remains and looks to be their first choice out there. He and Salah are not "Pressing machines", and to get the best out of Salah, I think you need much more of an engine out wide on the other flank.

He then played a pivotal role in getting us promoted, and today showed that his "Attitude", his arrogance, is far more preferrable to the "Nice guy" Oliver Skipp. Skipp hid today, whilst Vestergaard, for his flaws, has the arrogance to get on the ball and grab the game by the scruff of its neck.

Difference is stature. No doubt Kelman will have an excellent game against us now, but....How many strikers of his stature actually have an impact at the level above? I believe he's about an inch taller than Adam Armstrong, for comparison. At that height you need the explosive pace and finishing of an Ian Wright/Michael Owen. Being an aerial threat is never really an option for you, so there's a large avenue of potential goals gone straight away. Kone is the same height/build as Ivan Toney. I watched the Wycombe game when he came on at the weekend, and straight away you noticed his presence. Even just standing in between the central defenders, he's an imposing threat. We put a lot of crosses in today, and we will get spaces to cross because sides will view that as the lesser of two evils compared to risking committing against our wide players and being taken out of the game. If we had an Ulloa up top today, I think he bags a couple of headed goals tbh. Kone for the price makes a lot of sense, he will get plenty of service if today is anything to go by.

He's clearly not long term. But he improved when Winks came on. I'm not convinced Skipp's performance would've altered at all, he just marks himself out of the game and genuinely doesn't look like he has the "Balls" to play professional football. I remember when we nicknamed Andy King "The invisible man", he would do nothing in a game and then pop up and score. Oliver Skipp is the true "Invisible Man", he offers absolutely nothing. Again, I'm not saying Soumare is the answer, but his levels at least went up a bit when Winks came on, and I've seen him have "Spells" in games, all be it very infrequent, where he actually has something about him. I genuinely can't tell you something positive Skipp has ever done, it feels like we play with 10 men when he's in the side. Soumare is called "Lazy" because you want more from him, Skipp's "Laziness" is far worse for me, because he deliberately marks himself out of the game.

Vestergaard gets stick because for some strange reason, people believe he played a key role in our relegation under Rodgers....Even though he didn't play a single league game that Season. He was key when we last got promotion, and was key again today, one of the few players who was constantly willing to get on the ball and try to make something happen. Vestergaard, Faes, Winks and Ayew are all willing to get on the ball. I think it's pretty embarrassing to target these guys, rather than the likes of Skipp, Justin, Soumare, who are too scared to get on it and play backwards all the time. Justin has been a liability in this side for years, far more so than Vestergaard or Faes. But I guess because he's quiet and a "Nice guy", he gets aware with being a really poor footballer who gets exposed far more often that the other two.

I don't think he's "Lazy". I think the bloke has no confidence and is terrified of making a mistake. Whether that be on the ball, with giving it away, or off the ball, committing a foul etc. Watch the Sky Sports highlights at 2:38, Soumare busts a gut by running the whole length of the pitch on the counter attack to try and get a 2nd goal. A purely "Lazy" player doesn't do that. The problem with Soumare + Skipp is you've got one guy who clearly has a bit of ability but is terrified in Soumare, and one guy who has no ability and is also terrified in Skipp. We need another central midfielder more than we need a striker.

When I talk about "Character", I don't just mean they're nice guys and run around like a headless chicken (Okazaki) for 90 minutes. It's also about having the character to get on the ball (Mahrez) and not go into hiding. A lot of our players look absolutely terrified of trying to take any kind of responsibility. There's been a lot of criticism of Vestergaard, Faes, Winks etc because they come across at times as arrogant, but I tell you one thing, they show for the ball and don't go hiding. Vestergaard despite his obvious flaws, ALWAYS tries to get us playing and will take responsibility, and Faes is willing to drive forward too. Ayew's another one who has been slagged off since we signed him, but he's also another one who is willing to get on the ball in problematic areas, with his back to goal, and take risks to try and make something happen and get us up the pitch. Skipp, Soumare, Justin, always look to absolve responsibility at every opportunity. People like to throw the "Lazy" tag at Soumare, but Skipp deliberately marks himself out of the game so he doesn't have to get on the ball, that's just as "Lazy". Stolarczyk, Vestergaard, Faes, Winks, Fatawu, BEK, Ayew and Monga, always willing to get on the ball today and show for it. The rest, besides probably Thomas and McAteer, were a disgrace. Okoli, Justin, Soumare and Skipp look shit scared, not "Lazy". Mavididi whilst not as bad as these, needs to show more also. He's 27, he should be taking as much responsibility as Fatawu is doing, otherwise he's going to lose his place to a 16 year old kid very quickly.

Based purely on Pre Season, it appears the manager likes his wide players to be really high like Salah/Mane. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't rate McAteer's ability to beat a man with the ball at his feet.

"It's only one game" and all that. But as I said earlier, this Sheff Utd team on paper is not promotion standard. It's been weakened massively, if Hamer goes they will be looking at bottom 6 more than top 6. I will bang on about it until I'm blue in the face, you need athleticism in this league and Sheff Utd have none of it at the back. Not much of it going forwards either. If Ipswich don't pick up, this League is ours and Southampton's for the taking and it will be a Burnley/Leeds repeat from last year.

Daka averaged a goal/assist every 90 minutes last time we were at this level, and did so against Ipswich and Leeds. Don't underestimate how much space our number 9 is going to get with sides having to watch Fatawu/Mavididi/BEK/Monga/McAteer etc.

Sheff Utd another Promotion candidate, yet their lead forward Tyrese Campbell has never got more than 10 goals in a single season. Edit: As I type this, they're already 1-0 down

You're assuming we would reinvest. I'd rather lose JJ, who's clearly finished, than Okoli who has all the physical attributes to be an animal at this level.

Well at least it was a League game. We played Hermansen in a meaningless friendly.

Well I've only seen him play for 10 seconds, but he took up a good position in between the lines and played a nice ball through to an onrushing attacker, before the ball bounced back to him, he beat a man, and got a shot away. Perhaps a more accomplished piece of football than I've seen Daka have in his entire time here. But in all seriousness, he looks a big lad who can play. We haven't had one of those since Leo.

Is there a lot of expectation around Watford this Season? I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about the game from probably League 1 upwards, and never heard of any of your side, bar an ageing Sissoko/Ince, Louza and the lad from West Ham who has seemingly yet to kick on. Hadn't realised Charlton signed Knibbs though, looked good for Reading last Season, very athletic lad, ideal signing for a newly promoted side.

Watching Norwich as some have them "Dark horses". Another side with no athleticism, struggling against a bunch of Milwall plodders. These Milwall plodders, judging by their line up, are practically the same bunch as when we were last in this league and somehow challenged for Play offs last Season. We're another striker option away from having a considerably better squad than when we were last at this level. Sides aren't going to be able to cope with our athleticism. Soumare's gonna look like Vieira.

I've seen people make comments suggesting they're ok selling full back/centre back options because Aluko is "Proven to be good enough" to be 2nd choice full back and 3rd choice centre half....The bloke hasn't kicked a ball in professional football. Wout Faes is the best centre half in the League, I've never seen a player find it so easy as he did two years ago. I just don't get the logic in risking the Club future on guys who haven't kicked a ball in professional football, let alone such a high standard as the Championship. When we've genuinely got the best players in the league available to us. If these "Kids" are good enough, then we can tie them down after Promotion. If these "Kids" aren't good enough, we're gonna lose our best players and simply decline into Championship mediocrity. For what it's worth I'm extremely excited about watching what these youngsters can do this Season, I think they will add real competition and add a lot of energy to the squad. But they've done nothing to suggest they can displace the best players in this league out of the team.

Monga, Page, Aluko, Nelson, Evans, Alves.

Don't understand the hate for him. He's only 22 and a Season in the Champ should do him good.

A reminder to everyone who just wants to "Play the Kids" this Season. If we don't get promoted, Fatawu, BEK, Monga, Nelson etc, will all be going for peanuts next Season too.

Based on the Media's predictions, Us.

Agree with the wingers, but if BEK goes or gets injured we don't really have another number 10 or even attacking number 8 of any real substance. Relying on complete unknowns in Page/Alves isn't where I want to be.