Claude Puel - Contender

[Wdywd]

Worth saying that Fonte has been absolute shit at West Ham so he wasn't exactly wrong to get rid there

[Bob Weasel Fox]

1 minute ago, EnglishOxide said:

 

It's not just that.

 

We appear to be completely chancing it when appointing managers.

 

Southampton have a good reputation of employing managers and staying afloat seems to be the reasoning for seeking him out as opposed to any actual research. There's no way we would be interested in him for his Ligue One career alone and we wouldn't be interested if we weren't exposed to him already being in the league.

 

It's the same as us employing Claudio simply because he put it out there in the press that he would be interested in the job.

 

So we get this guy and we sack this guy 12/18 months down the line.

 

Where's the long term planning!?

Totally agree bud

 

its smacks of desperation again from us, a really poor short term shitty choice

 

get Eddie Howe (or another up and coming Manager) in and give him 2/3 seasons to build

[Wymsey]

Knowing some of our fans, I can just imagine some booing him when he takes his first steps on the touchline..

 

 

[Koke]

10 hours ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

 

NOT ME M8 LIKE WATCHIN PAINT DRY AINT IT 

 

The funny thing watching us currently is like watching paint dry

 

Have people already forgotten the Bournemouth, Huddersfield and WBA games!! Absolutely turgid 18th century football. 

[Buzzcrow]

When Koeman left Southampton we were linked to all sorts of names. Walter Zenga was odds on favourite at one point and Alan Curbishley was mentioned (shudder). When Pellegrini the ex Man City manager said he was interested we were ecstatic at the thought of him coming to St Mary's. 

Then Puels name came up and most of us had to google him and we found this:

 

 

You can understand our anxiety. I think that is partly why Puel got off to a bad start with Saints fans after being linked heavily with Pellegrini.

In the end despite all that negativity plus injuries plus EL football plus communication problems, Puel's first season at Saints wasn't that bad.  

[filbertway]

14 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

"Southampton are a side that we should be looking to emulate, they always seem to lose their players and manages and still bounce back!"

 

*Leicester appoint Southampton manager that got them to 8th in the league and a cup final*

 

"Nah he's shite, boring, no idea what we're doing, he'll be gone be Xmas"

 

Leicester that. 

What does this mean?

 

It reads like you're saying Puel has stamped that footballing philosophy on the club - which is the thing about Southampton that a lot of clubs our size would like to emulate.

 

Which I'm pretty sure wasn't the case, the fact he was sacked probably shows he didn't fit what they were looking for in a manager...

[Grey Fox]

4 hours ago, 80's fox said:

Looking for tactical analysis on Puel I came across this. Interesting read on Southamptons pre season last year. 

 

http://freshsaints.com/a-tactical-analysis-of-claude-puels-southampton/

 

Based on the read I'd play something along the lines of this

 

Schmeichel 

Albrighton Maguire Dragovic Chilwell 

Ndidi 

Silva(James/King for now)  Iborra 

Mahrez 

Vardy Iheanacho

That blog also has a post reviewing Puel's full season in charge.

 

Positives and negatives...

 

http://freshsaints.com/an-in-depth-review-of-claude-puels-first-season-as-southampton-boss/  

[Bob Weasel Fox]

14 minutes ago, Wymeswold fox said:

Knowing some of our fans, I can just imagine some booing him when he takes his first steps on the touchline..

 

 

 I don’t agree with this Wymesy

 

i absolutely detest the idea of him being manager but will still give him chance if he is appointed and still cheer him to the rafters to start with and see how it goes

 

doesnt stop me being desperately disappointed that we are making another mistake 

[danny88]

Slimani and Mahrez, algerian hope of Leicester  Great match yesterday. MVP Iheanacho. It was nice to look at his game. Maybe best summer transfer. 

[Wdywd]

I kind of assumed they played that diamond thing because they had so many CMs. Davis, Clasie, Hojberg, JWP, Tadic, Romeu.

 

We have 2 at best so might have to mix it up

[Great Boos Up]

CP fits neatly between CR and NP.

I'm OK with this.

[BenTheFox]

If he's announced today or tomorrow, do you think he'll be in the dugout for the game on Sunday or will Appleton take charge with Puel watching in the stands?

[Number7]

Puel isn't defensive minded manager. He plays on team's strenghts and attack wasn't Southampton's strenght last season as they sold Mane, Pelle and lost Austin to injury. Also don't read too much into his bad run after they secured safety. Behind the scenes players and he himself probably already knew he won't be staying. So motivation was probably low after there really was nothing to play for anymore after they secured their position in the league for the next season.

 

Here's good article about his time in France: http://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/2016/who-is-claude-puel-southamptons-new-manager/

 

His last job at Nice before moving to Southampton:

Quote

 

In his first season in charge (of Nice), the team performed magnificently in finishing fourth, a young side featuring the likes of Valentin Eysseric and Timothee Kolodziejczak exceeding all expectations, the team having flirted with relegation for much of the previous season.

 

An unseemly exit in the play-off stages of the Europa League and a 17th  place finish saw Puel’s status once again in doubt, but Nice, perhaps leery of paying a sizeable fee towards his dismissal, persisted, to their credit.

Once again, the manager did quite well to forge a team centered around youth, with Jordan Amavi, Nampalys Mendy, and Alassane Plea becoming key figures. Despite some mid-season stumbles, the club recovered to finish solidly mid-table, despite a mediocre defence.

In the most recent off-season, the surprise arrival of Hatem Ben Arfa saw the former Newcastle man join the likes of left back Ricardo Pereira, midfielder Jean Michael Seri and on-loan Monaco striker Valere Germain. Wanting to get the best out of Ben Arfa’s talent, the club employed an exciting, attack-minded diamond 4-4-2, the pace of Plea as one of the two central strikers key in stretching the defence.

In midfield, Mendy sat deep, while academy product Vincent Koziello and Seri operated centrally, both turning in revelatory seasons. Nice played some of the best football in Ligue 1, even with the odd mis-step at the back, and the development of the midfielders, as well as the young goalkeeper Yoann Cardinale, was the source of much optimism.

Les Aiglons remained in contention for the Champions’ League for much of the season, eventually falling just short. Even with the departure of Ben Arfa, Puel left the club in good stead, adding promising French youth inetenrational Remi Walter from Nancy in the winter window.

This takes us to the present, and Puel has, by this point, established himself as a fairly predictable manager, even if he doesn’t exactly have a foreseeable tactical philosophy. His teams play a high-energy game, but, despite the impressive aesthetics this season at Nice, are generally fairly prosaic.
 

 

 

 

[Wymsey]

It does feels as if Puel is being a scapegoat/getting criticised already, despite not being officially named as manager.

 

I understand I'll be in the minority, considering the contents within this thread, but I'll give him some patience and time to see how things go under him..

[fuchsntf]

Wow, wow fking wow !!!

We aint a club like Southampton, our squad is set up totally different.

But no nooooooo, we have to forum whiners jump on the negative horse before, taking a breath...

 

I have no idea how the talks will end, but one thing is for sure Claude Puel, if chosen will get my full support.

No baggage, no stupid boring east midlander negative statements.No whimpering, no prepared posts

that build up to churlish  'I told you so'  continual door banging..

 

IfcAppleton and Puel are given the yes...They get the Season from my stand point, unless catastrophy really strikes.

usell, turgid performances, hanging in around 16th position.

If we get the results, the performances but still get a good 12th, and we see a new platform to build on,a future perspective, thats all

I ask for. 2 good cup runs for the gravy, top 8, means above expectations.

 

So lets cut this 'beginning with negative platforms', we love to build on this forum.....

This goes for anybody who gets the nod to be our manager...6-10 games even before we can

even begin to throw out general future statements. 

If then no smell of developement...then 

[ZeGuy]

19 minutes ago, Buzzcrow said:

When Koeman left Southampton we were linked to all sorts of names. Walter Zenga was odds on favourite at one point and Alan Curbishley was mentioned (shudder). When Pellegrini the ex Man City manager said he was interested we were ecstatic at the thought of him coming to St Mary's. 

Then Puels name came up and most of us had to google him and we found this:

 

 

You can understand our anxiety. I think that is partly why Puel got off to a bad start with Saints fans after being linked heavily with Pellegrini.

In the end despite all that negativity plus injuries plus EL football plus communication problems, Puel's first season at Saints wasn't that bad.  

Your post doesn't fit the current narrative. Please delete it.

[Daz93]

People jumping to massive conclusions already, and he's not even got the job! Remember when we appointed Claudio and everyone was completely miffed? His record in France is good, and it may work out well with our squad of players if he likes to play defensive. We don't need fancy football at this stage, we need effective football. 

 

I'm sure all of us would take what he did with Southampton here - 8th and a cup final appearance at Wembley.

[Tuna]

He obviously Impressed Southampton enough to be named their manager, and they were obviously so unimpressed by their season and him they couldn't wait to dismiss him after the end of the season. Not really sure what to make of it. 

 

 

[cc_star]

We need to establish ourselves in the Premier League, unlike the likes of WBA & Saints, amazingly we STILL aren't

 

If he can sort out the at-times sloppy defence & especially goalkeeping, great.

Attacking will obviously be cause for concern if he replicates his Saints form, but if he replicates his 3 years at Nice we could be in for fast-transitioning treat, much like our title winning season.

 

I don't have an opinion either way on him, his record at Nice is great, his record in the Prem is indifferent at best!

 

It really could go either way, I hope he's learned from a dour uninspiring time at Saints & he can motivate both the players & the fans

 

[Happy Fox]

Puel is the best of a bad bunch, but I think he is being used as a smokescreen.

[Ric Flair]

1 hour ago, Fox Ulike said:

OK well that's good to hear at least.

 

The tactics is going to be a problem though. We don't like too much possession, we counter-attack. We play with two out-and-out wingers. There's only one midfielder who I think would work well in a diamond and that's Iborra. The rest would probably struggle. A diamond also wouldn't suit Vardy's style-of-play. He needs, quick, over-the-top balls to latch on to, not a slow possession game. You need good attacking full-backs with a diamond but both our first choice full-backs are defensively-minded.

We play inverted wingers though who often go large parts of the game never giving us much width at all. 

[SonicBoom]

Another Saints fan here. 

Reading your comments with interest and those of the other Saints fan. 

I would say that football is strange. He may well come to you and do an amazing job much like Ranieri. Who knows. 

From my point of view I'd never heard of him. He seemed to have an ok record in France although if you are at Lyon then you have a decent chance. 

That said his low profile gave him a blank page at the start. 

One of the biggest issues is his demeanour. you might think that doesn't matter but interviews are the way most fans get to see their manager. He loves to talk. Often he will give a two minute answer to a simple question but it is monotone and rambling and you realise that he really hasn't made a lot of sense. I gave up listening after a few months of the season. It was frankly uninspiring and dull. My fear was that he must come across to the team in the same way. 

The style of play reflected that. We felt we were a good team after finishing 8th, 7th then 6th in the previous seasons but suddenly we were frustrating to watch. We weren't expecting 5th or better just that we would have a good go at most teams. 

Problem was we often didn't go for it. We went around Europe and never scored a goal on our travels and failed to qualify form what appeared a simple group. Team selection in Europe was also baffling when we needed to win. 

We (like you) got stick for binning him off when it appeared a cup final and 8th was good. How we were 8th is anyone's guess. I can't remember the stats but we didn't score a single goal in the last 6 home games. We did play well in the cup run although the early games were a lottery as we played reserves. The final might have been the best we played all year. 

In the end the vast majority of fans were delighted to see him goal though the feeling was he was a decent man and a good organiser. The frustration and his lack of ability to connect with the fans became too much. 

I suppose we should be careful what we wish for though as our new guy isn't that much better. We do feel lie we are a good side playing poorly and the hope is we will start playing well and pushing up the table. 

You are used to marauding counter attacks and scoring goals. Not really his style. I think he'll steady the ship and you'll pull away from the bottom of the table,  but you might not like the football and for god's sake don't listen to the interviews. Good luck ! 

[Number7]

8 minutes ago, Tuna said:

He obviously Impressed Southampton enough to be named their manager, and they were obviously so unimpressed by their season and him they couldn't wait to dismiss him after the end of the season. Not really sure what to make of it. 

They expected Puel to play same attractive football as Pochettino or Koeman did previously but you can't always expect to do that when you sell half of your squad every summer. Especially if most of them are strikers (Pelle, Mane) who you replace with rather avarage players (Redmond). Their expectations were just way too high. Their new manager isn't doing  better at all. And their style of play hasn't changed at all.

Quote

 

 

[The Horse's Mouth]

Weren't quite a few here worried that Ranieri would subject us to the negative Italian way? Managers adapt to what squads they're given, his side at Nice played some quality football

[ZeGuy]

5 minutes ago, SonicBoom said:

Another Saints fan here. 

Reading your comments with interest and those of the other Saints fan. 

I would say that football is strange. He may well come to you and do an amazing job much like Ranieri. Who knows. 

From my point of view I'd never heard of him. He seemed to have an ok record in France although if you are at Lyon then you have a decent chance. 

That said his low profile gave him a blank page at the start. 

One of the biggest issues is his demeanour. you might think that doesn't matter but interviews are the way most fans get to see their manager. He loves to talk. Often he will give a two minute answer to a simple question but it is monotone and rambling and you realise that he really hasn't made a lot of sense. I gave up listening after a few months of the season. It was frankly uninspiring and dull. My fear was that he must come across to the team in the same way. 

The style of play reflected that. We felt we were a good team after finishing 8th, 7th then 6th in the previous seasons but suddenly we were frustrating to watch. We weren't expecting 5th or better just that we would have a good go at most teams. 

Problem was we often didn't go for it. We went around Europe and never scored a goal on our travels and failed to qualify form what appeared a simple group. Team selection in Europe was also baffling when we needed to win. 

We (like you) got stick for binning him off when it appeared a cup final and 8th was good. How we were 8th is anyone's guess. I can't remember the stats but we didn't score a single goal in the last 6 home games. We did play well in the cup run although the early games were a lottery as we played reserves. The final might have been the best we played all year. 

In the end the vast majority of fans were delighted to see him goal though the feeling was he was a decent man and a good organiser. The frustration and his lack of ability to connect with the fans became too much. 

I suppose we should be careful what we wish for though as our new guy isn't that much better. We do feel lie we are a good side playing poorly and the hope is we will start playing well and pushing up the table. 

You are used to marauding counter attacks and scoring goals. Not really his style. I think he'll steady the ship and you'll pull away from the bottom of the table,  but you might not like the football and for god's sake don't listen to the interviews. Good luck ! 

Tell us more about you selling your top players and losing the rest to injuries. Might also have something to do with dull football.

 

Or you sacked him just because he didn't connect with the fans