Watford and former Nottingham Forest striker Joe Garner insists morale is high despite influx of new signings

Joe Garner insists there is still a good dressing room at Vicarage Road Joe Garner insists there is still a good dressing room at Vicarage Road

Joe Garner insists morale in the Watford dressing room remains high despite an influx of new signings.

The Hornets have been renowned for the togetherness of its squad in recent years and it was a key part of the club’s success last season under Sean Dyche.

Watford have changed the majority of the management team this summer and made eight new signings, six of which are foreign imports.

Four of the new arrivals are forwards, or attack-minded players, in Matej Vydra, Steve Leo Beleck, Ikechi Anya and Alex Geijo.

However, Garner insists the dressing-room morale remains high despite all the changes.

He said: “The lads are all very close. Last year we were all very close, and the lads that have come in have settled very well, even the foreign boys have settled really well.

“They are all good lads and it’s still a really good dressing room.”

He added: “There are different things that different people bring when they come in, it’s all about adapting to these and the way the manager wants to play.”

Garner started his career at Blackburn Rovers before switching to Carlisle United, where he scored an impressive 14 goals in his first full season.

This earned him a £1m move to Nottingham Forest, but he struggled to adapt and was eventually loaned out.

A successful spell with Scunthorpe United ignited the Hornets’ interest in the forward, and persuaded them to sign the striker.

The 24-year-old joined Watford last summer in a deadline day move from Nottingham Forest for an undisclosed fee, believed to be in the region of £200,000.

Garner scored just one goal in 24 games during his debut season at Watford, 14 of which were starts, and he is hoping the new style of play will bring the best out of him.

He started Sunday’s match against Tottenham Hotspur at the head of a front three and has enjoyed pre-season under new head coach Gianfranco Zola.

Garner is hoping Watford’s new style of play will help his performances improve.

“I think for myself, it’s much better suited to a style that I would like to play,” Garner said.

“It’s a lot different, it’s a really different style of play. The gaffer has come in and wants to play his own way.

“The games we have played before this, you can tell the difference in the way we have played.

“Against Spurs, they tried to keep it at the back a lot and we will do something similar this season.”
 

Comments(18)

jasonwatford says...
4:22pm Fri 10 Aug 12

Joe gonna win my charity £100 !!

Watforddogs says...
5:43pm Fri 10 Aug 12

Give it a break you half wit!

jasonwatford says...
5:47pm Fri 10 Aug 12

Get lost Watforddogs...try to put a real name to urself

buckler says...
6:32pm Fri 10 Aug 12

Should think he realises how lucky he is to be in any teams Championship dressing room! #overrated

Richard - Come On You Golden Boys! says...
6:45pm Fri 10 Aug 12

As it's the start of the new season, why don't we give all the players a break from this stupid, mindless abuse and just support whoever Zola chooses to put on the pitch.

For what it's worth, I have a mate who's a long-standing Carlisle fan and he said Garner was highly effective when he played alongside Danny Graham a few years back.

Now we obviously haven't seen the best of this guy so far and he might never recover that early form, but let's give him and everyone else a fresh chance.

You might be pleasantly surprised, but if you're not and it doesn't work out you've lost nothing.

C'mon you Golden Boys!!

Roger "Studs" Joslyn says...
6:46pm Fri 10 Aug 12

In the games Joe has played I havnt seen much in his performances to suggest he can cut it in the Championship. Although I don't think the style of play we adopted last season suited his game very much. It remains to be seen whether Zola can make him into a decent player at this level - personally I have deep reservations about this. Strange things do happen though.

Roger "Studs" Joslyn says...
6:51pm Fri 10 Aug 12

Out of the 8 signings we have made so far how many of them do people think will start the first league game against Crystal Palace. I don't think many will be on show against Wycombe tomorrow according to all reports.

Roger "Studs" Joslyn says...
6:53pm Fri 10 Aug 12

What would peoples starting eleven be against Palace if all were fit - difficult one eh? We have such a big squad to chose from. It will be very interesting to see how it all unfolds. COYH!!!

Hornet23 says...
7:15pm Fri 10 Aug 12

buckler wrote:
Should think he realises how lucky he is to be in any teams Championship dressing room! #overrated
Using hashtags even though you're not on Twitter. Always a sign of a moron...

buckler says...
7:57pm Fri 10 Aug 12

Hornet23 wrote:
buckler wrote:
Should think he realises how lucky he is to be in any teams Championship dressing room! #overrated
Using hashtags even though you're not on Twitter. Always a sign of a moron...
Think you might want to think about that comment? #1k+followers

buckler says...
8:09pm Fri 10 Aug 12

Hornet23 wrote:
buckler wrote:
Should think he realises how lucky he is to be in any teams Championship dressing room! #overrated
Using hashtags even though you're not on Twitter. Always a sign of a moron...
Not as buckler moron but think your find most on here know me! #blownaway

Hornet23 says...
8:23pm Fri 10 Aug 12

buckler wrote:
Hornet23 wrote:
buckler wrote:
Should think he realises how lucky he is to be in any teams Championship dressing room! #overrated
Using hashtags even though you're not on Twitter. Always a sign of a moron...
Not as buckler moron but think your find most on here know me! #blownaway
In English please?

JonBoy says...
8:28pm Fri 10 Aug 12

buckler wrote:
Hornet23 wrote:
buckler wrote:
Should think he realises how lucky he is to be in any teams Championship dressing room! #overrated
Using hashtags even though you're not on Twitter. Always a sign of a moron...
Not as buckler moron but think your find most on here know me! #blownaway
#losing

Watfordy2407 says...
8:47pm Fri 10 Aug 12

Richard - Come On You Golden Boys! wrote:
As it's the start of the new season, why don't we give all the players a break from this stupid, mindless abuse and just support whoever Zola chooses to put on the pitch.

For what it's worth, I have a mate who's a long-standing Carlisle fan and he said Garner was highly effective when he played alongside Danny Graham a few years back.

Now we obviously haven't seen the best of this guy so far and he might never recover that early form, but let's give him and everyone else a fresh chance.

You might be pleasantly surprised, but if you're not and it doesn't work out you've lost nothing.

C'mon you Golden Boys!!
Nice to hear from you Roger
Rumour has it you are going to coach Fitz Hall how to take out the opposition strikers in one move with no blood spilt

SAHornet says...
10:09pm Fri 10 Aug 12

Richard - Come On You Golden Boys! wrote:
As it's the start of the new season, why don't we give all the players a break from this stupid, mindless abuse and just support whoever Zola chooses to put on the pitch.

For what it's worth, I have a mate who's a long-standing Carlisle fan and he said Garner was highly effective when he played alongside Danny Graham a few years back.

Now we obviously haven't seen the best of this guy so far and he might never recover that early form, but let's give him and everyone else a fresh chance.

You might be pleasantly surprised, but if you're not and it doesn't work out you've lost nothing.

C'mon you Golden Boys!!
Let's face it, most players did well when they played alongside our Danny.

stevyweavy says...
11:04pm Fri 10 Aug 12

Well he's hardly going to say there's dissent in the dressing room and in any case if you're not the best in the team it is difficult to make negative comments. Don.t think Garner quite has what it takes but happy to be proven wrong by him (and anyone else for that matter). Almunia is class and made a fantastic save against Spurs and looked in control of his defence. Pudil looks excellent shame he pulled up against Spurs, the others yet to prove their worth. Have been impressed at the way the old guards have in general been able to adapt to the passing game and think that all that is missing is putting the ball in the net at the highest level and hopefully the new guys can rectify this by the time the league commences

Bright 1 says...
9:35am Sat 11 Aug 12

Richard - Come On You Golden Boys! wrote:
As it's the start of the new season, why don't we give all the players a break from this stupid, mindless abuse and just support whoever Zola chooses to put on the pitch.

For what it's worth, I have a mate who's a long-standing Carlisle fan and he said Garner was highly effective when he played alongside Danny Graham a few years back.

Now we obviously haven't seen the best of this guy so far and he might never recover that early form, but let's give him and everyone else a fresh chance.

You might be pleasantly surprised, but if you're not and it doesn't work out you've lost nothing.

C'mon you Golden Boys!!
Agreed, lets get behind whoever pulls on the shirt. Although I suspect JG and MY won't be wearing it much over the season.

Richard - Come On You Golden Boys! says...
11:54am Sat 11 Aug 12

SAHornet wrote:
Richard - Come On You Golden Boys! wrote: As it's the start of the new season, why don't we give all the players a break from this stupid, mindless abuse and just support whoever Zola chooses to put on the pitch. For what it's worth, I have a mate who's a long-standing Carlisle fan and he said Garner was highly effective when he played alongside Danny Graham a few years back. Now we obviously haven't seen the best of this guy so far and he might never recover that early form, but let's give him and everyone else a fresh chance. You might be pleasantly surprised, but if you're not and it doesn't work out you've lost nothing. C'mon you Golden Boys!!
Let's face it, most players did well when they played alongside our Danny.
That's a fair point - like you (I guess) I've been watching the Hornets for a long time now and have seen players turn it around after a slow start at the club, (The original Ross Jenkins for one). So Garner may improve this year ... also let's hope Danny has a good 2nd season in the Prem under the new manager.

Onward and Upward!

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