The not-so Golden Boys
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Linecoigne1998
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Thanks a lot mate, it's a lot of work but definitely worth it with the end result
and I have to admit that I couldn't believe we finish 3rd so hopefully CL football won't ruin our second season in the Premier League Linecoigne1998
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Chapter 2.1: End of the 2016/17 pre-season and start of the Premier League
View attachment 131311
View attachment 131310
2nd August 2016
So it's been a busy pre-season for Watford so far with a couple of departures but some good results along the way. Ahead of our season opener against newly-promoted Newcastle in 11 days, we give you a rundown of our pre-season and take a look at our top performers and who we should put our faith in for our first ever Champions League campaign and our Premier League season.
View attachment 131301Our Austrian centre-back, who played 13 games in the Premier League last season, talked about being in his home country for our pre-season camp and he seemed very happy to be able to experience the food, culture and surroundings he used to be around when he played for Sturm Graz back in 2007. He also talked about wanting to make an impact during pre-season to make sure he'd have a chance in the first team come the start of the season and did admit that it would be hard considering Hoban and Britos' amazing form last season as well as the arrival of Lucas Hernandez on loan from Atletico Madrid.
View attachment 131299
Not looking at the Monaco result, we did have a solid pre-season and those 3 wins out of 5 games have definitely given the players more confidence ahead of our season opener against Newcastle and it'll definitely be interesting to see how we do in that game against the newly-promoted side. One thing that we did notice during the pre-season was a change in formation for the team as Letellier experimented with a 4-4-2 to put both Ighalo and Deeney up top who scored a combined 24 goals in all competitions last season. With Bernardeschi and Ferreira-Carrasco on the wings too, it would be a deadly attacking force that could be reckoned with in the Premier League.
I have to say though, the AS Monaco result is a little bit worrying considering they're the kind of side we'll be facing in the Champions League and although we're not exactly expecting to go further than the group stages, it could be a very hard campaign for us if we got beat by such huge margins and could really impact the players' morale. It was only a friendly though.
Letellier had his say on our pre-season too in an interview with the club and made sure that everyone was very focused and ready ahead of our game against Newcastle in a bit over a week:
"It's been a good pre-season for us for sure, we had a couple of great results and one bad result but it happens and the players were all very happy with how things went. Our camp in Austria was great too and it allowed us to train with some fresh air and experience new things in Austria so we were all very happy about the trip too. The game against Newcastle will be very exciting too so we're all looking forward to that but the lads know that they need to stay focused for games like this; the newly-promoted sides always want to make an impression in the first game of the season so in a way I think facing a strong side like Newcastle is probably just as hard as our opening game last year against Liverpool. Obviously we'll want a better result than in that game and we've got much better players to ensure that but we will still need to stay focused and make sure that we control the game as much as possible if we are to win our first league game."
Wise words from our wonder-making manager for sure. In terms of players who impressed in this pre-season, I'd have to say Ferreira-Carrasco adapted really quickly to the team and how we play and considering he won the EURO Best Player I mean, I still can't believe we got him for just £12.5 million! Hopefully he'll be a **** of a signing for us and will do wonders in the league. Anyways, going back to his performances in pre-season, he scored twice and made one assist in his 3 games which is very good and he definitely had a huge impact on the team and helped us get some great results. In my opinion, he and Bernardeschi are the two big players to look out for in our campaign this season and hopefully they'll both deliver. Gourcuff also had some playing time with Correa now gone and he was pretty decent and will hopefully carry that form into the Premier League season when he does play because he was a bit of a disappointment last season. Anyways, that's a wrap for our pre-season review so thank you all for reading and we'll see you at Vicarage Road on the 13th of August after our game against Newcastle!
View attachment 131311
View attachment 131310
2nd August 2016
Our 2016/17 pre-season
So it's been a busy pre-season for Watford so far with a couple of departures but some good results along the way. Ahead of our season opener against newly-promoted Newcastle in 11 days, we give you a rundown of our pre-season and take a look at our top performers and who we should put our faith in for our first ever Champions League campaign and our Premier League season.
View attachment 131301Our Austrian centre-back, who played 13 games in the Premier League last season, talked about being in his home country for our pre-season camp and he seemed very happy to be able to experience the food, culture and surroundings he used to be around when he played for Sturm Graz back in 2007. He also talked about wanting to make an impact during pre-season to make sure he'd have a chance in the first team come the start of the season and did admit that it would be hard considering Hoban and Britos' amazing form last season as well as the arrival of Lucas Hernandez on loan from Atletico Madrid.
View attachment 131299
Not looking at the Monaco result, we did have a solid pre-season and those 3 wins out of 5 games have definitely given the players more confidence ahead of our season opener against Newcastle and it'll definitely be interesting to see how we do in that game against the newly-promoted side. One thing that we did notice during the pre-season was a change in formation for the team as Letellier experimented with a 4-4-2 to put both Ighalo and Deeney up top who scored a combined 24 goals in all competitions last season. With Bernardeschi and Ferreira-Carrasco on the wings too, it would be a deadly attacking force that could be reckoned with in the Premier League.
I have to say though, the AS Monaco result is a little bit worrying considering they're the kind of side we'll be facing in the Champions League and although we're not exactly expecting to go further than the group stages, it could be a very hard campaign for us if we got beat by such huge margins and could really impact the players' morale. It was only a friendly though.
Letellier had his say on our pre-season too in an interview with the club and made sure that everyone was very focused and ready ahead of our game against Newcastle in a bit over a week:
"It's been a good pre-season for us for sure, we had a couple of great results and one bad result but it happens and the players were all very happy with how things went. Our camp in Austria was great too and it allowed us to train with some fresh air and experience new things in Austria so we were all very happy about the trip too. The game against Newcastle will be very exciting too so we're all looking forward to that but the lads know that they need to stay focused for games like this; the newly-promoted sides always want to make an impression in the first game of the season so in a way I think facing a strong side like Newcastle is probably just as hard as our opening game last year against Liverpool. Obviously we'll want a better result than in that game and we've got much better players to ensure that but we will still need to stay focused and make sure that we control the game as much as possible if we are to win our first league game."
Wise words from our wonder-making manager for sure. In terms of players who impressed in this pre-season, I'd have to say Ferreira-Carrasco adapted really quickly to the team and how we play and considering he won the EURO Best Player I mean, I still can't believe we got him for just £12.5 million! Hopefully he'll be a **** of a signing for us and will do wonders in the league. Anyways, going back to his performances in pre-season, he scored twice and made one assist in his 3 games which is very good and he definitely had a huge impact on the team and helped us get some great results. In my opinion, he and Bernardeschi are the two big players to look out for in our campaign this season and hopefully they'll both deliver. Gourcuff also had some playing time with Correa now gone and he was pretty decent and will hopefully carry that form into the Premier League season when he does play because he was a bit of a disappointment last season. Anyways, that's a wrap for our pre-season review so thank you all for reading and we'll see you at Vicarage Road on the 13th of August after our game against Newcastle!