Watford boss targets improvement in Championship this season (From Watford Observer)
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New Watford boss Gianfranco Zola targets improvement in Championship this season
10:50am Sunday 19th August 2012 in Watford FC News By Frank Smith
Watford boss Gianfranco Zola is confident about his side's chances this season: Simon Jacobs
Gianfranco Zola spoke with purpose and confidence this week ahead of his first season at Vicarage Road.
This is a new era at the Hornets and the changes at the club have been as dramatic as they have been swift.
Watford’s tight-knit squad has been joined by eight signings – with a ninth on the way – and a host of new backroom staff.
It is difficult to predict the Championship at the best of times, let alone when a side brings in several foreign imports – even if a couple of them are internationals.
The fact most of the new signings have barely featured during pre-season means it is even harder to predict how far away the new Hornets are from the Pozzos’ ultimate goal of Premier League football. Will it be a year of struggling or will Watford once again exceed expectations?
“The target of the club is to improve the position we had last year,” Zola stated.
“That would be the target because it is our first year and there is going to be a lot of changes; so we want to at least improve on what we did last year.
“Then we’ll see how it goes and we might adjust our target, but we want to improve on 11th position from last year.”
Zola has had to complete a summer’s worth of work in six weeks after arriving at the club just days before training was set to begin.
It was a mixed pre-season for Watford; there was the emphatic 8-0 win over Barnet behind closed doors and an impressive display by a young side against Gillingham.
But they have also struggled to score in a few of their matches and a couple of the games have been poor spectacles for supporters.
It is important to note Zola is attempting to implement a certain style of play though and it will take time to perfect, certainly longer than six weeks.
Zola has mentioned on several occasions how pleased he has been with the squad, especially how quickly they have adapted to the new way of playing.
The Italian is “satisfied” with how things have gone so far and believes it won’t be long until he has the team playing the way he wants.
Zola said: “To be honest I don’t think we are far away [from where I want the team to be style wise].
“Every now and then there are setbacks but I don’t think we are far away.
“I believe that if the players understand what we want to do then it is only a matter of time before we start doing it very well.”
When asked what has surprised him most since becoming Watford head coach, Zola added: “I have been surprised with how good the football has been and how good the approach has been towards the work.
“The players have been fantastic; it has been a joy for me to be here. That has been the best thing.”
With the help of technical director Gian Luca Nani, and the Pozzo family, Zola has signed two players on free transfers and six on season-long loans, with another one set to join shortly.
However, all eight players have missed part of pre-season, with Fitz Hall yet to play, Steve Leo Beleck appearing just once and Matej Vydra only making his debut last week.
Hall, Leo Beleck and Daniel Pudil are still struggling with injuries and Alex Geijo is trying to bring himself up to speed after joining last week.
Zola rejected the suggestion the numerous injuries have been a disappointment though.
He said: “In pre-season you always pick up injuries and have problems – that’s normal.
“I have no regrets; injuries to some players gave me an opportunity to find out more about other players, so it hasn’t been a problem. I have no complaints.
“Things never go according to plan in football.”
We ended the interview by asking Zola if he had a message for the Watford supporters ahead of the new season.
He replied: “The message is that we really want to give the fans something they can enjoy and, in order to do that, we need their support.
“But we need their support when things are not going well as well as when they’re going well.
“All together we can be successful.
“We need to stick together all the time and then we are going to come out with the right results.”
Comments(27)
Roger "Studs" Joslyn
says...
11:12am Sun 19 Aug 12
a1derek
says...
11:42am Sun 19 Aug 12
bonserout
says...
12:18pm Sun 19 Aug 12
Having witnessed the game where I consider this the best exhibition of controlled passing play by a Watford team since I started watching the Hornets ( Dog track in place then) I can only come to one of four concusions.
1. The reporter was not at the game
2. He was ****,
3. Both of the above
4 Andrew Brook is an anogram of Dougie Freedman.
The news paper is now in the bin!!
3 Both of the a
Casterbridge
says...
12:34pm Sun 19 Aug 12
“But we need their support when things are not going well as well as when they’re going well".
So how about a new song, to the tune of "O Sole Mio"?
“Just one Hornetto! that’s all I need!
Just one Hornetto, to do the deed.
Hornetto! Just one Hornetto!
Just one Hornetto, that’s all I need!"
lutondown
says...
1:42pm Sun 19 Aug 12
Casterbridge wrote:Look Caster, stop trying to dazzle us with your operatic knowledge! The Cornetto tune would suffice, buddy!
"“The message is that we really want to give the fans something they can enjoy and, in order to do that, we need their support.
“But we need their support when things are not going well as well as when they’re going well".
So how about a new song, to the tune of "O Sole Mio"?
“Just one Hornetto! that’s all I need!
Just one Hornetto, to do the deed.
Hornetto! Just one Hornetto!
Just one Hornetto, that’s all I need!"
Anyway that's about 23 words too many for Watfords home support, who at best whimper out a "yellow" or "u Orns"
Nice try mate, wouldn't hold your breath
Bush Hornet
says...
1:42pm Sun 19 Aug 12
bonserout wrote:haha. I nearly bought that so thanks for saving me the £. Mr Brook sounds like an ignorant tw@t
With great enthusiasm I bought 2 The Football League Paper" for the first time having seen the headline "Zola Gets The Buzz". All seemed fine in Mr Andrew Brook's match report until I read ''The Eagles neat passing was far superior to Watfords Long balls"
Having witnessed the game where I consider this the best exhibition of controlled passing play by a Watford team since I started watching the Hornets ( Dog track in place then) I can only come to one of four concusions.
1. The reporter was not at the game
2. He was ****,
3. Both of the above
4 Andrew Brook is an anogram of Dougie Freedman.
The news paper is now in the bin!!
3 Both of the a
Bush Hornet
says...
1:49pm Sun 19 Aug 12
Casterbridge
says...
2:38pm Sun 19 Aug 12
lutondown wrote:It's not opera, but a Neapolitan song - which everyone already knows from the Cornetto ad. And it's only 11 different words.
Casterbridge wrote:Look Caster, stop trying to dazzle us with your operatic knowledge! The Cornetto tune would suffice, buddy!
"“The message is that we really want to give the fans something they can enjoy and, in order to do that, we need their support.
“But we need their support when things are not going well as well as when they’re going well".
So how about a new song, to the tune of "O Sole Mio"?
“Just one Hornetto! that’s all I need!
Just one Hornetto, to do the deed.
Hornetto! Just one Hornetto!
Just one Hornetto, that’s all I need!"
Anyway that's about 23 words too many for Watfords home support, who at best whimper out a "yellow" or "u Orns"
Nice try mate, wouldn't hold your breath
If you think that all we can manage is a whimper, you obviously haven't heard the Rookery in full voice with Sloop John B.
The trouble is, supporters of every club sing that, so I tried to come up with something just for Watford.
Mickey Quinn, not so thin
says...
2:39pm Sun 19 Aug 12
lutondown wrote:Got it ! So simple;
Casterbridge wrote:Look Caster, stop trying to dazzle us with your operatic knowledge! The Cornetto tune would suffice, buddy!
"“The message is that we really want to give the fans something they can enjoy and, in order to do that, we need their support.
“But we need their support when things are not going well as well as when they’re going well".
So how about a new song, to the tune of "O Sole Mio"?
“Just one Hornetto! that’s all I need!
Just one Hornetto, to do the deed.
Hornetto! Just one Hornetto!
Just one Hornetto, that’s all I need!"
Anyway that's about 23 words too many for Watfords home support, who at best whimper out a "yellow" or "u Orns"
Nice try mate, wouldn't hold your breath
Sung to Cornetto song;
Gianfranco Zola,
from Italy,
He's gonna lead us,
to victory.
We'll score,
and score again.
Gianfranco's hornets,
Will win the game.
lutondown
says...
3:05pm Sun 19 Aug 12
Casterbridge wrote:God it gets even more technical! Neapolitan? I've just had that with my apple pie!
lutondown wrote:It's not opera, but a Neapolitan song - which everyone already knows from the Cornetto ad. And it's only 11 different words.
Casterbridge wrote:Look Caster, stop trying to dazzle us with your operatic knowledge! The Cornetto tune would suffice, buddy!
"“The message is that we really want to give the fans something they can enjoy and, in order to do that, we need their support.
“But we need their support when things are not going well as well as when they’re going well".
So how about a new song, to the tune of "O Sole Mio"?
“Just one Hornetto! that’s all I need!
Just one Hornetto, to do the deed.
Hornetto! Just one Hornetto!
Just one Hornetto, that’s all I need!"
Anyway that's about 23 words too many for Watfords home support, who at best whimper out a "yellow" or "u Orns"
Nice try mate, wouldn't hold your breath
If you think that all we can manage is a whimper, you obviously haven't heard the Rookery in full voice with Sloop John B.
The trouble is, supporters of every club sing that, so I tried to come up with something just for Watford.
Not knocking your efforts mate, just doubt the takers. And the Rookery in full voice?, I think I have and it comes no where near the away supporters efforts and hasn't since it ceased to be the real Rookery around 1980 ish. It should be called Parody Rookery, because that's what it is.
Hope you get em going Bud, the Vic needs to raise their game and help make it a fortress (albeit a three sided one)
stuegs
says...
4:07pm Sun 19 Aug 12
andyandyandy
says...
6:18pm Sun 19 Aug 12
Colin West's mullet
says...
6:46pm Sun 19 Aug 12
Roger "Studs" Joslyn wrote:its Joey Barton. It's taken him 2 weeks to complete his signature.
We keep hearing about this iminent ninth signing. They must play for a club miles away as they are taking a long time to get here.
Beds Horn
says...
7:41pm Sun 19 Aug 12
Hampshire hornet
says...
8:44pm Sun 19 Aug 12
Colin West's mullet wrote:Must be difficult joining the two lines
Roger "Studs" Joslyn wrote:its Joey Barton. It's taken him 2 weeks to complete his signature.
We keep hearing about this iminent ninth signing. They must play for a club miles away as they are taking a long time to get here.
together to make an 'x'
tommy gunn
says...
9:06pm Sun 19 Aug 12
Bringe
says...
9:45pm Sun 19 Aug 12
Colin West's mullet wrote:Barton was not quite what Zola meant when he told Nani to get him an offensive player.
Roger "Studs" Joslyn wrote:its Joey Barton. It's taken him 2 weeks to complete his signature.
We keep hearing about this iminent ninth signing. They must play for a club miles away as they are taking a long time to get here.
lutondown
says...
9:47pm Sun 19 Aug 12
Bringe wrote:Well he is pretty offensive not to mention repugnant!
Colin West's mullet wrote:Barton was not quite what Zola meant when he told Nani to get him an offensive player.
Roger "Studs" Joslyn wrote:its Joey Barton. It's taken him 2 weeks to complete his signature.
We keep hearing about this iminent ninth signing. They must play for a club miles away as they are taking a long time to get here.
Richard - Come On You Golden Boys!
says...
11:08pm Sun 19 Aug 12
tommy gunn wrote:I sincerely hope this is because Zola has decided that Bauben is surplus requirements. I always try to be positive about every player who pulls on the shirt but failed to see any value in him last season. Can't tackle without fouling, can't pass, can't control / retain the ball, lacks pace and can't shoot. I just hope that he's been found out.
I thought the inclusion of Conner Smith something of a surprise ahead of Prince,how did he do?
Hemelhorn
says...
7:02am Mon 20 Aug 12
bonserout wrote:Andrew Brook I found him in twitter give him some stick, I have. Hours of fun. @andrew_brook_
With great enthusiasm I bought 2 The Football League Paper" for the first time having seen the headline "Zola Gets The Buzz". All seemed fine in Mr Andrew Brook's match report until I read ''The Eagles neat passing was far superior to Watfords Long balls"
Having witnessed the game where I consider this the best exhibition of controlled passing play by a Watford team since I started watching the Hornets ( Dog track in place then) I can only come to one of four concusions.
1. The reporter was not at the game
2. He was ****,
3. Both of the above
4 Andrew Brook is an anogram of Dougie Freedman.
The news paper is now in the bin!!
3 Both of the a
corbindallas
says...
8:34am Mon 20 Aug 12
hemelhorn87
says...
9:35am Mon 20 Aug 12
tommy gunn wrote:Played last ten, looked quite comfortable, he's bigger than I thought as well. Didn't look out of place
I thought the inclusion of Conner Smith something of a surprise ahead of Prince,how did he do?
Colin West's mullet
says...
9:45am Mon 20 Aug 12
Bringe wrote:haha
Colin West's mullet wrote:Barton was not quite what Zola meant when he told Nani to get him an offensive player.
Roger "Studs" Joslyn wrote:its Joey Barton. It's taken him 2 weeks to complete his signature.
We keep hearing about this iminent ninth signing. They must play for a club miles away as they are taking a long time to get here.
10/10 gold star
Chris the Vic
says...
11:12am Mon 20 Aug 12
hornet4eva
says...
4:08pm Mon 20 Aug 12
lutondown
says...
4:42pm Mon 20 Aug 12
Hemelhorn wrote:Im onto the jerk
bonserout wrote:Andrew Brook I found him in twitter give him some stick, I have. Hours of fun. @andrew_brook_
With great enthusiasm I bought 2 The Football League Paper" for the first time having seen the headline "Zola Gets The Buzz". All seemed fine in Mr Andrew Brook's match report until I read ''The Eagles neat passing was far superior to Watfords Long balls"
Having witnessed the game where I consider this the best exhibition of controlled passing play by a Watford team since I started watching the Hornets ( Dog track in place then) I can only come to one of four concusions.
1. The reporter was not at the game
2. He was ****,
3. Both of the above
4 Andrew Brook is an anogram of Dougie Freedman.
The news paper is now in the bin!!
3 Both of the a
Roger "Studs" Joslyn says...
11:07am Sun 19 Aug 12