StriderHiryu

^ That is a great post and important wake-up call!

It’s a fair point. You could say we showed Man City too much respect and were too passive. But had we got in at 0-0, or Maguire equalised or Kompany got sent off it would have very different. Our opponents today have thrashed plenty of other teams in the league. We had some moments and the plan partially worked. Before there goal we looked pretty solid. I think January will be a better time to judge.

If Ben Arfa can get fit, I think he'd be a hit at Leicester. With a player like Ndidi in the team who is there to destroy and win the ball back, we'd balance him nicely. By all accounts Silva is also a "workaholic" stlye player like Drinkwater at his peak, so I think Ben Arfa would propel our attack. Mind you having Demari Gray, Mahrez and Ben Arfa all in the same team might break the premier league record for players never passing to one another, so might need to be careful there! I don't see Riyad going this window, but maybe in the summer. To be honest I still can't believe no one took a punt on him given Sigurdsson for 45M. He's pure class on his day. Slimani might be the biggest casualty for us and I think a number of other PL clubs would want him. I genuinely think he could be a 20 goal a season striker, but he needs to be in a specific team, a bit like how Benteke did get good numbers in teams that crossed it a lot.

In the know!!!

Also a doubter here (and I made the thread!), but highly impressed thus far. We'll have to judge him after he has about 10 games. Jamie Vardy in an interview today said that Puel would change more things in the next few games, although he wouldn't change that much. My prediction is more full back play (definitely notable versus Stoke) and more interchange up front with players swapping positions. Maybe we will even see things like JV / RM / DG all swapping, incuding changing who is up top. It might be a bit too bold for our team, but Vardy for example is actually quite good on the wing if it's in small amounts during the game. To be honest the most refreshing thing is just the change in the style of play. Of course results are important, but I for one don't mind a transition season where we change our style to be more attacking and dynamic. It's weird because in the title winning season I felt that we didn't just hoof the ball, we did play it some too, although we were quite direct. But then after winning we became more and more catennacio (which is why Ranieri lost his job) and despite a good start from Shakespeare he didn't really address it. In just the last two games the potential is really there to see. If Puel gets it right, we could be a team that is fluid and comfortable in possesion, deadly on the break and secure at the back. And that I would like to see! Barring another miracle I can't see us ever getting the better of Man City or Man United over 38 games, but honestly I feel that even Liverpool and Arsenal are not all that. I loved the Champions League and would love to see us sneak our way in again one day. Would love to see that Puel-ed off by the club! (...I'll get my coat).

Old age is catching up with me :)! I forget what a great job Micky Adams did that year. It was a real shame the La Manga incident occurred, had we survived in the PL after going down I think Adams would have ended up being at the club for a long time. That Wolves game still haunts me!

Grounds really can make all the difference. Arsenal are a great shout, as there fans are more of the civilised types they don't really make much noise, but as the stands were so close to the ground at Highbury it made a big difference. The Emirates is an incredible stadium that is competely devoid of atmosphere, those fans really don't deserve it! I feel sorry for West Ham fans, some of whom are a good bunch. They didn't ask for the new ground and it's not their fault that both the new ground and their team have gone to shit at the same time. An interesting recent example is Atletico Madrid who are struggling badly in their new home, despite it looking incredible, and supposedly being designed to retain better acoustics. Mind you they have also been hurt by their transfer ban. Another one, but that has worked the other way is Zenit Saint Petersburg, who moved to a stadium outside of the city and from a cramped Filbert Street style ground to modern all seater, but they are top of their league and Europa league group and by all accounts are smashing it. Our own story is interesting in it's own right. Filbert Street was immense and that 3-3 game versus Arsenal will live with me forever. When we first moved we struggled badly, but most of that was due to running out of money and On Digital going bust and drying up the money for Championship cubs. For many years I wondered if leaving Filbert Street was a good thing, but then from NP's second coming it changed completely and it has had a ton of classics, even in the Championship days. Of recent the games against Porto and Sevilla at home last year were phenomenal and that 5-3 game versus Man U will also take some topping in terms of notable games.

Good post. Though Guardiola has had luxuries that few others have in effectively being able to buy anyone he wants, he's great at developing players and stamping his authority on a club. As great as Man City have been this season, IMO there are many weak parts to their team (Stones, Otamendi, Delph) or players that are OK that are playing much better for him (Sterling, Sane, Fernandinho). But despite that, his team is playing quality attacking football that is great to watch. If the league stopped today they'd be worthy champions and respect for playing that way even against other top teams. Man United spend a lot of money but couldn't be further removed from the Ferguson era. Nowhere near as good to watch and other than Rashford, not much emphasis on young players. It is true to say that the last 3 champions have been teams with good defences who are strong on the break, but given the amount of money Man United spend they are bit too pragmatic for my liking.

So in his second game in charge, we ended up 2-2. With Chilwell injured, Puel brought Okazaki back into the side and shifted Mahrez back to the right hand side. The same formation we've played for a number of seasons now, but the manager clearly had his own stamp on things. To me, it was notable that: We played the ball on the ground more than I have seen since the Championship days. 60% possession in the first half and 54% overall. We had way less emphasis on hoofing it. Kasper played it shorter more often and I don't think Fuchs made one long throw in the entire game. We played the ball out from the back and side-to-side way more often. Iborra more or less orchestrated the game controlling the pace and tempo of the game. Some of our less technically gifted players struggled with their passing. Danny Simpson was the chief offender for this, though to be fair to him he looked like our most solid defender and did some great work at the back. We still looked lethal on the counter attack and Mahrez could have played in Vardy for 2-0, and Vardy made a great opportunity for himself before dragging it wide. Overall it was really encouraging to see us play this way. To begin with we definitely played it sideways a lot which might have come across as a bit boring, but to me it was more like gaining the middle of the park, before slowly turning up the pressure. As the minutes ticked by we got on the ball more and more, forced lots of corner and then our big lads came up with the goods. Harry Maguire got his 3rd assist already this season for Iborra to score. Defensively we weren't good but if anything Stoke "did a Leicester" to us as they looked threatening on the counter attack. Going forwards I feel a bit sorry for players like Albrighton, Simpson and Okazaki. These guys will forever be heroes but I think their lack of technical skill might hold us back from the style of play Puel is trying to establish. I think a Kyle Walker / Trippier / Clyne style right-back would fit in very easily into our new style of play, and I can see us going for another tricky winger / forward (it's going to be Ben Arfa for sure) so that we have a very dynamic forward line that is similar to Liverpool's Mane / Salah / Firminho combination. However, whop knows maybe Puel will get the best out of them as one thing that is notable is that our players all of a sudden look much better on the ball than we did with Ranieri or Shakespeare, which is probably down to the way we setup under those two. City up next which will be a very tough examination! Will Puel try to play football or lock up shop and try to hit them on the break?

KDB is the best player in the league right now though, he's basically tearing everyone in the division a new one! Iborra is good, but realistically against a midfield that could contain any of David Silva, DeBruyne, Gundogan, Bernado Silva, etc we are going to get outrun. If anything Ndidi is our key to getting something if he can activate full on Octopus mode and use those long legs to get a ton of tackles and interceptions in, maybe we can restrict his influence.

I agree with you both - if that's possible! The league is definitely the most exciting in the world. In fact I would go as far as saying that often the Premiership is more exciting than both the World Cup / Euros and the Champions League. Our title win was incredible, but even if it wasn't us but another underdog team like West Brom, Southampton, Stoke, I'd be made up for them because it was the most romantic story in all of Football history. Part of the reason for that was that we probably don't have too many stand-out teams (though Man City may be that club this season), if you compare our top teams to Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Juventus. But those leagues are very one-dimensional whereas in the Premier League anything can and will happen! Because of the money in the league and the way it's distributed every team can have a few star players and the top teams can't just raid the next best team for their best players like Juventus, Bayern or PSG do. 10-15 years ago there is no way we'd have had Vardy or Mahrez with us after winning the title, but the money now means we can afford to pay the wages to keep them. That means that even the "lesser" teams can have some great players and keeps the division exciting. Also this year the English clubs are doing very well in Europe. Spurs fans really drive me up the wall, but fair play to their club, they took 4 points out of 6 against Real Madrid and are going top a group that also features Borussia Dortmund! And they weren't even the champions of our league!

Let's be honest he's completely overrated. Too short to play up front, way too selfish as he always tries to dribble past everyone and hardly gets a tackle in. Never scores a header either. And he only has 361 goals from 392 games despite playing for Barcelona. Rubbish.

If we play consistently well then 7th is ours. Not only is our starting 11 good, but we have better options on the bench than teams outside the top 6 too. Whether we actually achieve that remains to be seen, but we are capable of it. Also this season though you could say that results against Huddersfield / Bournemouth / West Brom were disappointing, none of those teams beat us. So we've been not too bad. Once we clear Man City and Spurs we have the potential to climb quite a few places. I'd personally be disappointed if we are not top half by the time 2018 hits and Silva can play, barring any major injuries.

Another great performance vs Stoke. If he can keep up the consistency we will rise up the table and Southgate will take notice!

Says it all that once he went off today, we lost control of the middle of the park. After a slow start, he and Ndidi look like they've formed a real partnership and he's playing well. Still makes some poor passes at times, but he has that Cambiasso-like quality of influencing the game and those around him. Delighted he got his goal and really he should had two! Free header at goal for a big man should at least make the keeper work! Overall though he's now proved to be an integral part of the spine of the team in a short space of time, so well played to him. Hope he's not injured for too long, but after complaining about our midfield for a long time, we have the prospect in January of having to pick the two best from Iborra, Ndidi and Silva. Who knows maybe even Matty James will still do alright for us too.

I'd go a bit further than that. I genuinely think we have a better squad than Liverpool. Up front they are class with Coutinho, Mane, Salah, Firminho and Sturridge, but I'd rather have our Keeper and set of defenders than theirs. They also don't have a player in the Ndidi category and in recent games we have had Nacho and Slimani on the bench for additional firepower. Those are some strong options to have!

Great news! This is what we want for the long term. Think the Puel appointment also starts to make more sense - a coach with a track record of playing youngsters.

Shame we can't bring him back. Excellend in League One, did well at the youth world cup, now excelling in the Championship. He does well wherever he goes! Puel would probably play him too.

https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players/total_tackle Currently on 42, 15 ahead of Kante (!). Though of course Kante has been injured.

So an interesting first game for sure! In his first game in charge, he dropped Okazaki to start with Mahrez in the hole behind Vardy with Gray and Chilwell on the flanks. Not many saw that coming, especially having just been in charge for a few games. The interchange between Vardy, Gray and Mahrez was fantastic and might hint at what is to come. With Nacho, Slimani and Okazaki on the bench you have to wonder what it means for them, but the positives were the for us all to see. It was interesting to see Chilwell and Fuchs in the same team - is Puel trying to "do a Bale" with Chilwell? We will continue to watch this development with interest. Chiwell had good moments was not as good going forwards as Gray so I wonder if we will be on the lookout for another winger or creative player? Certainly the rumors of Ben Arfa would make a lot of sense if we play this system. I think we also saw that Puel is more than happy to shut down a game once we go ahead. I think he will be happy with the second half, even it was a snooze fest. To be fair, the title winning team did exactly the same thing and if we can get back that ability to shut teams out then we can really push up the table - goals win games but defences win titles. Kante, Morgan, Huth, Simpson, Fuchs and Kasper proved it already! Morgan started and was surprisingly good on the ball too. I do wonder what we will do with him long-term but he remains captain and doing a good job thus far. Albrighton and Okazaki are the players that can feel the hardest done by with Puel 's new regime (Shinji especially), but we need competition for places and surely the fact that he started with two of our brightest talents gives inspiration to every academy and young player we have in the team. Also for King, James, Ulloa and Benny... I think the future might look bleak for these guys. Sad for James if true because no matter what, to come through what he has takes guts. For me the biggest thing in the first half was how much we passed the ball. It was great to see and we looked so threatening playing this way. Sure Everton were poor but this was a new style implemented in just a few days. The players were smiling, Puel and Appleton shared a joke and Vardy and Mahrez looked happy. Gray even smiled! Very encouraging. It will be interesting to revisit this thread in a few games time!

This is more what I want to hear! Play good football to encourage our team to stay, develop and achieve something. The jury’s out on Riyad on FoxesTalk but I think he would thrive in a more technical team where he receives the ball in ways other than a hoof from Kasper. We don’t have to be a hardcore possession side, but I do want to see us play a more technical style. To be honest this is why I feel we have both won and played well in our last two games.

Sometimes with a new manager, a player gets a new lease of life and becomes really good all of a sudden. Maybe that will be Demarai Gray for us? I could also see Mahrez picking up quite a bit having a french speaking manager in charge.

Now we have a new number 1, what do we think he will bring to the team and how will he change things up, if at all? What do we know? Well looking at Southampton and at his previous clubs, we might expect some of the following: - A 442 Diamond formation was used at Southampton. - Not averse to using a 4-5-1 at times. - Usually sorts out a team's defence and makes them hard to beat. - Good track record of developing youth and bringing them into the team. - Prefers technical football. Likes players building from the back. The end of hoofball? How will that affect the mighty Foxes then? In terms of formation given we have so many strikers at the club I think we will continue to see a 442, but the diamond formation is a possibility, perhaps with Mahrez or Okazaki behind the front two and Gray coming into the team. I do also think that in our upcoming games versus Spurs and Man City that we might go 451. For changes of players, though I don't think it will happen overnight, I think Gray and Chilwell will be first team come the end of the season. Ihenacho might also, but given Okazaki's form it will be interesting so see what happens here. Players that are likely to fall victim of the manager include Albrighton, Fuchs, Simpson, Huth and Morgan. All legends for us, but I think with a manager who has no past with this set of players, that they will slowly be moved to the periphery. It will be interesting to see what happens to Kasper and Vardy as these are the two that I worry about the most. They could easily move to another club and will they get on with the new gaffer? Time will tell, but I hope that they do! Right now it's all guesswork, but would be interested to hear what others predict.

Biggest difference for me was how confident he looked. Confident when defending that he’d get to the ball first and had his opponent beat and for the first time I’ve seen, looked confident on the ball and driving forwards with it. Usually he just plays it simple. Given we beat Swansea, Simpson will start but Amartey’s performance was so good you’d say he deserves another start. Needs to play to this level more consistently and he’ll win us all over.

Good stuff kushiro, keep it coming! What do the media in Japan think of Okazaki this season? If the season stopped now, he would win our player of the season award!