Guy

Like Shakespeare, then Pearson was only sacked once by the present owners in relation to his son's misdemeanour in Thailand. Their predecessor Mandaric was responsible for Pearson's so called 'mutually agreed' departure in 2010 after the Cardiff penalty shoot out play offs semis loss ….

As much as I wouldn't turn up my nose at Pearson being hired for a third spell to maybe finish the job he didn't get a chance to complete, then there are far worse options than Puel staying put next season. As others have said, the likes of Dyche, Howe and Benitez are happy where they are and loved by the fans so there's little to no chance of any of them coming here. Puel needs a pre season first of all and to properly sort out our imbalanced and now inadequate squad to improve upon this middling season - and then the time to properly judge him will be at Christmas. I think we've been better than his Southampton team despite them getting to a League Cup final of course and finishing a place higher.......although he's had better players at his disposal here of course.....albeit a fair few injuries to deal with too plus the Mahrez saga at a crucial point in the season when we were still on for doing well in both the FA Cup and qualifying for Europe via the league. Lest we forget we finished 9th with 47 points in O'Neill's first Premier League season in 1997...…….when many had us down as relegation certainties that season!

True about Puel being the only manager to defeat Arsenal in the Premier League era : although the day after Brian Little left for Villa (22/11/1994), was the only time we beat Arsenal in the Prem. before yesterday - which the caretaker duo of Tony McAndrew and Kevin MAcDonald oversaw on 23/11/1994. 23 & a half years later we finally pull it off again! :-)

Seems as if it's all turning out to be very much like the Ranieri saga towards the end of his time here last season...... with the players showing the manager no respect and basically not performing for him. Although Puel has the supposed full backing of the owners, I would think that was just a vote of confidence for the next three games, with two now remaining. Would be amazed if he was kept on here for next season now, especially if we get turned over by the north London duo - but stranger things have happened I guess.

The last time we beat these is when we were shite in our maiden Premiership season in 1994 - could history repeat this week?? - as we're about as bad now as we were back then, even if we have a better squad on paper!

Sorry if my above post wasn't acknowledging any above it on the same topic but it was supposed to have been the heading of a new thread by myself! Obviously the mods shoved it in here though!

Amidst all the moaning about Puel at present and about things off and on the pitch - and let's face it, it was always going to be every which way downhill after winning the Premier League two years ago! - then cast your minds back to this weekend a decade ago when things were to get a lot, lot worse!! That fiasco of a season of course ended at Stoke with us going down to League One with a -3 goals difference and fearing the worst - with Stoke going the other way and being promoted to the Prem. no less, all on a day where anything that could've gone wrong for us did basically! All rather ironic that yesterday Stoke were relegated from the Prem.

Admittedly I have moaned about Puel in recent weeks due to our current run (not least because of the fact that our season is showing all the hallmarks of how Southampton ended last season under his reign) but of course long term is what matters at any football club, not instant impressiveness. I don't know what Puel's track record is like in close seasons during previous seasons elsewhere but Southampton's close season under Puel in summer 2016 (after Koeman's departure from there) was probably not great as he'd lost Wanjama to Spurs and Mane to Liverpool. He did bring in Gabbiadini who was a good striker who hit the ground running there. Anyway I think he at least deserves a close season and then next season here. Southampton are now staring down the barrel of a gun as a consequence of their sacking Puel at the end of the last campaign and replacing him with somebody who was, let's face it was unproven and ultimately clueless at Premier League management level (Manuel Pellegrini). As for here, then sacking Puel at the end of this season would provide us with more problems I feel, especially as whoever we brought in to replace him - be it Marco Silva, Pearson Mk.III or Benitez would effectively be starting from scrath, not to mention have the World Cup distraction to contend with . In a way Puel reminds me of Brian Little's quiet persona and gradually getting it right on the pitch. Little saw us reach three play off finals with the third of them resulting in our promotion. A shame that he left for sentimental reasons for Villa when we were going through that adverse period in our maiden Premiership season back in 1994-95 but that's football.

Dodgy, too much of a big time charlie manager I'd say who would jump ship at the first opportunity from a club like ours to a supposedly bigger and better one, if one came knocking ie what happened at Watford last season re the Everton scenario....even though he fell on his own sword in that fiasco to be fair. Still a bit risky for my liking but then again we didn't take a risk with Puel and are perhaps now just treading water, if that........

Yes, if Puel does get the chop anytime soon then keep Appleton on as interim until the end of the season but for obvious reasons then don't repeat the mistake of promoting him to the role permanently in the summer, as happened with Shakespeare last time out of course.......

Ndidi has been immense since he came here last season and it's a shame Kante never stayed on after the unbelievable title winning season to now be partnering him in midfield perhaps.....but then again maybe one would cancel the other out! It has to be Ndidi for me now as I think that if Kante returned here for some odd reason (assuming that's what this poll is based upon), then he wouldn't be as motivated in our present team as he was a couple of seasons ago when we were doing the unthinkable and therefore not be performing as well. Arguably that's already happening to him at Chelski now after having a stormer there last season....in spite of his decent performance in midfield for the opposition today and in spite of his being injured for some of the time this season too.

A need to win sort of game really, regardless of anything else. Despite the FA Cup providing something of a sparkle in this somewhat strange season to date, I'm now not quite sure what's happened to our league season tbh, it seems to have somewhat stagnated and we now seem resigned to just finishing no lower than 9th, Everton and Burnley permitting. A pity really as Arsenal are presently shocking and had we strung a few more wins together of late (rather than drawing silly games of late like v Swansea and Stoke), then we could have well been chasing down 6th place by now. That said Arsenal are our no.1 bogey team since Wenger's reign so maybe they would have still edged it over us on goal difference or something!

I have only been two times since Puel got the manager's job in October due to my location but I don't think we've even got a chant for him yet - unreal if so!!

He loves the club, he has shown no contempt of his association with us (unlike some...!) and will hopefully be player of this mixed bag of a season come May/June - a season which is already 100% better than last 'under pressure as defending Champions' season.....

Not wanting to sound preposterous or OTT but even now, no longer having the brilliance of Vardy and AWOL Mahrez in our present team would be akin to losing the crown jewels from our Premier League title winning team crown, with Kante already gone. With excellent new recruit Diabate in the team then I appreciate we were fortunate with yet another gem of a midfield find from French League Two for peanuts to potentially have replaced Mahrez had he indeed got his move to Man City already but I think by March all this fiasco will have been forgotten about (deja vu when we were last in the spotlight nearly a year ago re Ranieri's sacking and had won 6 on the bounce under Shakespeare). By the summer it will then hopefully have turned into a 'win win' for all when Mahrez gets his move to Pep Guardiola land. and we'll have made £70million profit - watch this space??

Have to say after all the talk of us possibly closing in on the top four in the weeks ahead after our excellent run of late (and assuming everyone ahead of us - and behind us - faltered), then today's reality lesson perhaps will now make us think again! That said I don't think the combo. of playing on Wednesday night and then having an early kick today off helped our cause much either and Puel should've rang the changes for today's fixture because of that, bringing in some fringe players who would've been fitter and less fatigued and by doing so playing a different formation to accommodate them - maybe in hindsight now. Whereas Palace had a day's longer recovery so appeared to be fitter on the day and possibly more up for it mentally than us, as the team looked jaded. Recovery is everything with the pace the game is played at these days of course and I think our lack of recovery between games told today.

A real job to say at present, it really is! Along with the irrepressible Man City, we are the other form team in the league at present and are on the crest of a wave so it's easy to get carried away but after what happened two years ago then it is also highly understandable that we are thinking so positively again re asking about the possibility of a top four finish. I predict a 5th place finish if we maintain this form - sorry - but I'd obviously love to be completely wrong! On the other hand if a journeyman side like Burnley can occupy the top four right now then why can't a team as ours blessed with riches of underrated talent on form at present (and with a newly appointed pragmatic manager keen to impress after his 'beyond harsh' sacking at Southampton), emulate to do the same? Puel along with Appleton's know how from his time here already and prompting are a huge factor in this too so far, or so it seems. People say we have not come up against any of the big four in recent weeks but lest we forget we have beaten one of the teams that should on paper finish well clear of us by May, the Spuds! Liverpool and Arsenal are clearly going through an inconsistent spell for now so it will be interesting to see where they are in the New Year too. All to play for but I'll say we'll finish (a disappointing?) 5th!!

I just need to know when the next one's due then so I can put a tenner on us and then buy a mansion a year later !

Great result, team performance - and things are back to looking very rosy again all of a sudden, the most so since our majestic one off title win :-) A great night for Puel too - and talk about rubbing your former team's nose in it! Also to his credit he didn't visibly over rejoice in the win after the final whistle and handshakes as he appears to be a man of great dignity but I bet he was loving it inside. Something strange going on at Southampton though re managerial changes, not as whacky as at Watford these days but not far off it. How do you sack a manager who finishes 8th and gets to a League Cup final?! - it would have been like us sacking O'Neill after four top ten finishes and two league cup wins - and like us, Southampton are no Man U, Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool or Arsenal so 8th and a cup final appearance has to be a good season, not one whereby the manager gets his marching orders at the end! Still, their loss is our gain to date!

Maybe a tad harsh comparing him to Donkey De Vries (Mark's crucial winning goal against Spurs in FAC R3 in 2006 perhaps being the exception), but then again the Dutchman didn't set us back £29 million! For that fee you could have brought the entire 2005-06 LCFC Championship squad about five times (or more) over!!

Yes, in many regards Slimani is 2016-17's near equivalent to Akinbiyi re paying vastly over the odds for mediocrity at best - at least so far! I think Akin'badbuy' ended up at Burnley after his horrendous time with us - then disappeared into oblivion! I'm not saying Slimani will end up going down the same 'downhill fast' road as Ade A. did but he shows all the hallmarks of being a similar overpriced flop as was Akinbiyi - but for being surrounded by better players than we had in the infamous 18 months or so of Peter Taylor's reign!

I had high hopes for Slimani when he banged in those two goals against Burnley at home on his debut early on into last season, exactly a year ago this weekend in fact but to say he has flattered to deceive ever since then is a huge understatement! He has since proved to be very overpriced at £29million and I can't see him 'bedding in' more this season either from what we've seen so far. I know it took Vardy a season to do so when he appeared to be overpriced at £1million for a non league player at the time but I can't see Slimani suddenly start to bang them in like Jamie did in our Championship title winning season 2013-14, after a non starter of a first season.

I personally think he could still be everything next season that he promised to be last season when he ultimately failed miserably to deliver (and then some!) and live up to expectation when playing under 'Ranieri mark two'......that's provided the existing caretaker or 'new' manager keep the faith. That goal, albeit in a pre season friendly last summer v Barca was something else. Maybe a player for the big occasion only (see tonight re internationals) but he needs to be a player for all seasons to succeed in the Prem.

I don't rate AK as much as the likes of Vardy, Mahrez, Albrighton and co. in technical terms but considering he's had to improve and adapt more than any other existing team member - aka move with the 2007-2017 times (and talk about arguably the biggest transformation EVER in that decade within one club from relegation to League One in 2008 to Premier League Champions in 2016!). then I think he's been fantastic. His winning goal against West Ham on April 4th 2015 arguably led to the great escape and that is something which led us to the unthinkable the season after of course! Whatever you think of him in the here and now tense then a testimonial for this player is well overdue.........

Great to see our Championship talisman from 2-3 years ago doing much the same at Brighton at present Let's hope he's rubbing shoulders with our stars next season in the Prem. and that he'll get a great reception.........