st albans fox

fine margins were decimated by dreadful tactics/defending ......... btw, was albrightons header the first ‘decent goal’ we have scored this season ? (Ie. Not a mistake or a deflection/fluke)

If we aren’t having a great season then recalling him in January won’t make us have a good season. If we are doing well then we don’t need him. As long as he continues to excel in a decent West Brom side then he should be left to see out the season there - he could easily get into the championship team of the season which would be great for both his profile and confidence.

The pairing got rinsed several times by wolves first half hour ...... yet second half they were fairly comfortable. Infect once neves had induced the injury break first half to get us tactically tweaked. Will be interesting to see if Wagner can come up with a plan

indeed - I don't understand why so many see 4-2-3-1 as being of no use to us. plenty of top sides around Europe continue to play it. its not the system that was wrong on Saturday - it was the two holding midfielders being out of position - too high/too deep/too far apart and the central defenders, too high or too ponderous. claude has bought/kept players to fit this broad system and to chop and change on the back of Bournemouth makes no sense to me. whilst we will have seen the game once, the coaching staff will have studied it in depth. I wonder if he will give wilf and demarai weekend off ?

Puel has the excuse that he is evolving the playing style - if he can no longer show evidence that he knows what he’s doing then we won’t hold back getting rid

Depends who pulled the trigger ..... i know what was said to me the evening we played West Brom and he went the next morning as I recall ...... EDIT: the results shakey was getting early last season was not the motivation for his removal - it was the perception that the players were only getting up for top six games and couldn’t raise themselves against the lower half opposition

Try and watch a recording of us playing under shakey at Huddersfield or Bournemouth early last season - both draws but miles behind the quality of football we are now playing it it takes time and changes of personnel to get to where we are at the moment ........ if his personality is the issue then I get that but he should be afforded the time to bed in the new players and see where we are once that’s achieved if we find ourselves wallowing around in a relegation scrap then the owners will likely be forced into a change but otherwise I don’t see any radical alteration toniur current direction of travel

It was Steve Walsh - it’s on an interview from a couple years back

Shakey got sacked because the players weren’t ‘putting it in’ against the ‘smaller clubs’ - our effort when down to ten men on Saturday shows that this isn’t currently the situation although I still wonder if we were really ‘at it’ first half hour .......

Perhaps Puel wanted to see if we could play like that .... he took a chance and it didn’t work out .... we could easily have got the first goal and then it’s a different game. Maybe he tried that approach to get rid of the slow start cobwebs we keep suffering .... anyway, he has probably learned a lesson we may be sorry about if it prevents him from being more gung ho in the month ahead ....

I’m a little confused by what is a ‘lack of attacking intent’ i didn’t see our early season policy last year under shakey of just launch it forward for vards to chase as having ‘attacking intent’ ...... it was more often than not embarrassing to watch. this manager wants to manage the ball and control the game - just as Southgate is trying to evolve the England team into one who can do that, so is Puel ..... he may not be the right personality but he is doing the right thing overall.

Sat was an open game we were more open than the opposition for once - and we saw the consequences .... so expect to see less bravado in the games ahead - which won’t make the boo boys happy but could well see us taking a decent points haul ......

Many are proposing an even more attacking line up than did for us on Saturday - playing three at the back 3-5-2 allows you to have two up top and keep three in the middle of midfield to avoid being outnumbered in that area if Maddison is one of the three then you are going to risk being out fought in that area at home to Huddersfield we should be playing the same line up as against Liverpool but with vardy for gray and evans for Morgan. That means a rest for gray. We should have enough guile and creativity without risking being caught too open for a counter attack sucker punch

It could be his ‘least worst’ position

Ah .... another ‘sack the manager but pretend to be something else’ thread .....