The Claude Puel Era - what will he bring?

[Ric Flair]

Puel's style of play is a big change to how we have done things in recent years so it's to be expected that there's going to be teething problems. We're still doing ok during this process though and I don't know what people expect. Should he abandon his methods and go 4-4-2 which we were all moaning about under Shakespeare on the off chance we score first and then again before the opposition come at us, or should he mould this team in to a better all round unit who are comfortable on the ball, defend and attack in unison? It annoys me how quick our fans are to moan about change when it isn't immediately successful yet they're apoplectic when our managers refuse to change from the rigid 4-4-2 that we were once successful with.

 

I think the best team right now for Puel consists of the team Shakespeare picked but with Gray over Albrighton. The high press which Puel does favour his teams to do is much stronger if Okazaki plays. I don't believe we're any less vulnerable at the back with Gray in over Albrighton either, if we are to move the ball quickly through the defence to midfield and then have fast attacks then Gray is our most direct midfielder anyway. That's not to say Albrighton doesn't have a role to play, he's still needed but I think Okazaki gives us more and we need to focus on what we're good at and honing that. Iborra has bought some class to midfield and Ndidi continues to go from the sublime to the ridiculous but we have got the foundations to be more comfortable on the ball. It's painfully obvious that 3 out of our 4 defenders aren't going to find this shift in style easy to adjust to and I think that's where we saw some frustrations. Simpson got so much of the ball on Friday but he just cannot make a telling movement or pass, but then back down the other end he's dug 2 or 3 last ditch clearances out so it's one of them. We've just got to get behind the manager and let him develop this club, I believe in him. January is important, we badly need an attacking right back and I'd lob the kitchen sink at Ryan Sessegnon too.

[AlloverthefloorYesNdidi]

14 minutes ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

An over confident Guardiola made life easy for us, and we exploited it.

 

They played a high line, as well as us pressing them into mistakes eg, Vardys third goal.

 

It’s was us who took the game to them; we were on the front foot.Something that we failed to do in many many games last season.

 

Thats my point which you don’t seem to be grasping.

Your point isn't difficult to grasp:  you are saying that if we press and play high tempo football we will win games.

 

I dont really know what your overall meaning is though..  Are you saying Ranieri did everything right in that game, but everything wrong in the others?  Are you saying we tried harder for that game?  Are you saying Puel is wasting his time trying to get us to play better football, that we should just revert to the tactics that have been failing us increasingly so, but try harder, press faster, etc...?

 

Seems to me like you are over simplifying things massively

 

 

 

Edited 27 November 2017 by AlloverthefloorYesNdidi

[NotTheMarketLeader]

18 hours ago, ZeGuy said:

In all of those games the opponent played with a high line defense. Special mention for Guardiola who totally underestimated us. As soon as teams sat deep, we were shit again. That's what the supporters of "high pressing, counter-attacking style" (read hoofball) refuse to see. 

 

There are two tactics here which I think your combining as being one in the same.

 

Counter attack and high press; they don’t have to only be employed together.

 

When teams sat back we were shit because we abandoned the high press and instead slowed the game down and tried to pass it around teams which our players were incabable of doing with any proficiency.

 

What we should have been doing is maintaining a high energy system in the opposing teams half. That would have suited us much better as we remained with low possession percentages anyway. 

 

Other teams sitting back as you put it implies we had a lot of the ball which was not the case.

 

The opposing team had more possession and were sitting back as you suggest then that is the perfect conditions for the high press to work for us.

 

We simply just did not do it enough; that was the mistake imo last season.

 

 

 

[NotTheMarketLeader]

26 minutes ago, AlloverthefloorYesNdidi said:

Your point isn't difficult to grasp:  you are saying that if we press and play high tempo football we will win games.

 

I dont really know what your overall meaning is though..  Are you saying Ranieri did everything right in that game, but everything wrong in the others?  Are you saying we tried harder for that game?  Are you saying Puel is wasting his time trying to get us to play better football, that we should just revert to the tactics that have been failing us increasingly so, but try harder, press faster, etc...?

 

Seems to me like you are over simplifying things massively

 

 

 

Seems to me you are complicating things massively ?

For clarity.

1. I’m not saying Puel is wasting his time now.

2. What I am saying is our difficulties last season were mostly self inflicted by changing our style in terms of the tempo we played in the vast majority of games. We were far to passive rather than being proactive  We didn’t have the footballers for that tactic to be dropped and ever be successful.

3. Going forward my hope is that we can play a high tempo game,

incorprating attacking football; maybe like the first half against Everton; as opposed to a pedestrian sideways passing conservative style. 

[AlloverthefloorYesNdidi]

15 minutes ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

Seems to me you are complicating things massively ?

For clarity.

1. I’m not saying Puel is wasting his time now.

2. What I am saying is our difficulties last season were mostly self inflicted by changing our style in terms of the tempo we played in the vast majority of games. We were far to passive rather than being proactive  We didn’t have the footballers for that tactic to be dropped and ever be successful.

3. Going forward my hope is that we can play a high tempo game,

incorprating attacking football; maybe like the first half against Everton; as opposed to a pedestrian sideways passing conservative style. 

I dont disagree with any of that. Think we'd all like to see those things in our game. Hopefully we'll find some balance again soon

[HighPeakFox]

You're fast becoming my favourite contributor @Ric Flair

[coolhandfox]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

Puel's style of play is a big change to how we have done things in recent years so it's to be expected that there's going to be teething problems. We're still doing ok during this process though and I don't know what people expect. Should he abandon his methods and go 4-4-2 which we were all moaning about under Shakespeare on the off chance we score first and then again before the opposition come at us, or should he mould this team in to a better all round unit who are comfortable on the ball, defend and attack in unison? It annoys me how quick our fans are to moan about change when it isn't immediately successful yet they're apoplectic when our managers refuse to change from the rigid 4-4-2 that we were once successful with.

 

I think the best team right now for Puel consists of the team Shakespeare picked but with Gray over Albrighton. The high press which Puel does favour his teams to do is much stronger if Okazaki plays. I don't believe we're any less vulnerable at the back with Gray in over Albrighton either, if we are to move the ball quickly through the defence to midfield and then have fast attacks then Gray is our most direct midfielder anyway. That's not to say Albrighton doesn't have a role to play, he's still needed but I think Okazaki gives us more and we need to focus on what we're good at and honing that. Iborra has bought some class to midfield and Ndidi continues to go from the sublime to the ridiculous but we have got the foundations to be more comfortable on the ball. It's painfully obvious that 3 out of our 4 defenders aren't going to find this shift in style easy to adjust to and I think that's where we saw some frustrations. Simpson got so much of the ball on Friday but he just cannot make a telling movement or pass, but then back down the other end he's dug 2 or 3 last ditch clearances out so it's one of them. We've just got to get behind the manager and let him develop this club, I believe in him. January is important, we badly need an attacking right back and I'd lob the kitchen sink at Ryan Sessegnon too.

 

Good post, we look more comfortable on the ball, however as you allude to, we need fullbacks who are more comfortable on the ball, and a number 10 who is more influential, hopefully Silva can be that number 10. 

 

We need to evolve, we can still be counter attacking team, but we need to be better when we have the ball.

 

The guy has had 4 game, 1 win, 2 draws and a loss, the PL is about fine margins, we could easy have had won both the Stoke and West Ham games. 

[Rusko187]

12 hours ago, Gerard said:

 

I think Puel is a great appointment. Who should we have brought in?

Given the other names quoted I'm absolutely chuffed we've got him. 

 

Personally we've looked fairly tidy, not going to go on a mad rush and win the league as we don't have the resources but we do look a better outfit compared to the Leicester under Shakespeare. 

[Royston.]

hopefully he's biding his time til january when he can buy players that play his style.

 

 

[urban.spaceman]

8 hours ago, Royston. said:

hopefully he's biding his time til january when he can buy players that play his style.

 

Apparently he's after some Sliva fella. Not heard much about him meself.

[deep blue]

23 hours ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

There are two tactics here which I think your combining as being one in the same.

 

Counter attack and high press; they don’t have to only be employed together.

 

When teams sat back we were shit because we abandoned the high press and instead slowed the game down and tried to pass it around teams which our players were incabable of doing with any proficiency.

 

What we should have been doing is maintaining a high energy system in the opposing teams half. That would have suited us much better as we remained with low possession percentages anyway. 

 

Other teams sitting back as you put it implies we had a lot of the ball which was not the case.

 

The opposing team had more possession and were sitting back as you suggest then that is the perfect conditions for the high press to work for us.

 

We simply just did not do it enough; that was the mistake imo last season.

 

 

 

I think this is a great post that hits the nail on the head and clarifies views that appear to be contradictory.

 

Pressurising, high momentum, active rather than passive - these are the ingredients that suit us best, and we should be aspiring to play in that style.

 

By being aggressive we can open up opportunities to counterattack and we are blessed with the players to do this.

 

What frustrates me, and I guess other supporters, is when we play passive football that doesn't make anything happen (sideways & backwards passing, players showing lack of movement, no desire to win back the ball). These tactics present no opportunity to counterattack and use our speed, opposing defences having all the time in the world to organise and stifle any attacking intent.

[Matt]

15 hours ago, Royston. said:

hopefully he's biding his time til january when he can buy players that play his style.

 

 

 

Then you remember we consistently fail in the transfer market.

[NotTheMarketLeader]

2 hours ago, deep blue said:

I think this is a great post that hits the nail on the head and clarifies views that appear to be contradictory.

 

Pressurising, high momentum, active rather than passive - these are the ingredients that suit us best, and we should be aspiring to play in that style.

 

By being aggressive we can open up opportunities to counterattack and we are blessed with the players to do this.

 

What frustrates me, and I guess other supporters, is when we play passive football that doesn't make anything happen (sideways & backwards passing, players showing lack of movement, no desire to win back the ball). These tactics present no opportunity to counterattack and use our speed, opposing defences having all the time in the world to organise and stifle any attacking intent.

Why.....I  thank you Deep Blue for your very kind words.

 

I confess it doesn’t happen very often. 

[jayfox26]

On 27/11/2017 at 09:48, Ric Flair said:

Puel's style of play is a big change to how we have done things in recent years so it's to be expected that there's going to be teething problems. We're still doing ok during this process though and I don't know what people expect. Should he abandon his methods and go 4-4-2 which we were all moaning about under Shakespeare on the off chance we score first and then again before the opposition come at us, or should he mould this team in to a better all round unit who are comfortable on the ball, defend and attack in unison? It annoys me how quick our fans are to moan about change when it isn't immediately successful yet they're apoplectic when our managers refuse to change from the rigid 4-4-2 that we were once successful with.

 

I think the best team right now for Puel consists of the team Shakespeare picked but with Gray over Albrighton. The high press which Puel does favour his teams to do is much stronger if Okazaki plays. I don't believe we're any less vulnerable at the back with Gray in over Albrighton either, if we are to move the ball quickly through the defence to midfield and then have fast attacks then Gray is our most direct midfielder anyway. That's not to say Albrighton doesn't have a role to play, he's still needed but I think Okazaki gives us more and we need to focus on what we're good at and honing that. Iborra has bought some class to midfield and Ndidi continues to go from the sublime to the ridiculous but we have got the foundations to be more comfortable on the ball. It's painfully obvious that 3 out of our 4 defenders aren't going to find this shift in style easy to adjust to and I think that's where we saw some frustrations. Simpson got so much of the ball on Friday but he just cannot make a telling movement or pass, but then back down the other end he's dug 2 or 3 last ditch clearances out so it's one of them. We've just got to get behind the manager and let him develop this club, I believe in him. January is important, we badly need an attacking right back and I'd lob the kitchen sink at Ryan Sessegnon too.

Good points and I agree with what you're saying. I'm all for Puel changing our style as we have become easy to play against so it's good to change things and it will take time to get the players used to his style and he'll want 1 or 2 of his own signings as well as Silva to help his plans work. However, my only criticism of him has been his subs and him keep not playing okazaki. Okazaki is key to our team regardless of what tactics we implement and I can't understand why hes not using him. And leaving 3 strikers on the bench against west ham and bringing Chilwell on was bizarre. West ham were there for the taking and if we'd have thrown on slim earlier and played more direct I reckon we'd have won. And also I found it odd he brought Iheancho on against city. He was never going to influence that game at that stage and all that will have achieved is draining more confidence from the lad. 

[Papasmurf]

16 hours ago, Royston. said:

hopefully he's biding his time til january when he can buy players that play his style.

 

 

Some of the clowns on here would have him sacked by then.

[Guest]

On 27/11/2017 at 05:28, bpfox said:

WELL I THINK SINCE THE NEW MANAGER HAS COME IN WE HAVE BEEN DEFENSIVELY VERY POOR. and that last game was a shocker we could not hold onto the ball, we were great passing it back and across the back but going forward we were terrible, most teams in the top3 tiers move the ball better than we do.this really needs to be fixed all with a stronger all round defence. 

And when have you seen us defensively good and holding onto the ball? We couldn't even hold onto the ball the year we won the title. Perhaps the championship was the last time we could do that with any regularity. I think Puel has had better possession stats than others.

 

Anyway way to early to be criticising a new manager who hasn't had a transfer period let alone a summer and pre-season to begin to install his own game.

[StriderHiryu]

What do people think after the Spurs result then? We were definitely hanging on at the end, but I think this was one of our best performances overall under Puel, if not the season. We started with the 15/16 energy and attitude, but Iborra in the middle of the park was so classy, and we weren't just hoofing it, we were being intelligent in our play. Of course it helps to score two worldies, but there was great build up play for both those goals, with both involving multiple high quality passes and transitions.

 

At the back we still aren't up to 15/16 standards. If we were we'd have a lot more points than we do now, but I don't thimk we are shocking. I just mark it down as room for improvement. I'd also say we still arent as clinical on the break as we could be, although it seems to be improving.

 

Lastly Puel gave Chowdury his debut despite us being at sixes and sevens after Kane scored. Talk about a baptism of fire!!! Incredibly risky but I love the cojones to do something like that, it will encourage every single academy player we have. Had it gone wrong we would have crucified him, but it paid off in the end.

 

The only negative, and which remains a constant under Puel is that we end games very badly. We just get deeper and deeper and can't get out. Now this is not something new to us, in fact we played this way even when winning the title at times, but I don't get why it is. In each first half, even against top teams we've shown we can put our foot on the ball and knock it about a bit. But this goes out of the window at the end! Is it because we are tired? I don't know but I think it's a definite area to improve. We give teams a chance when we really shouldn't.

 

Overall though, put me down in the "mildly impressed" category so far.

 

[Koke]

Fair play to Puel for showing faith in Hamza against a big team 2-1 up with 10 mins to go. 

 

Good rotations with Chilwell and Gray as well. As I predicted against big teams like Spurs Albrighton has a role to play. At home to Burnley I bet Gray is back in the starting line up.

Edited 28 November 2017 by Koke

[lgfualol]

Bossman

 

Doubters still think he's boring?

[Ric Flair]

Will reiterate what I said yesterday, I believe in him. Whether he'll achieve success with us is another matter but he's yet to really do anything I don't agree with. His willing to throw our youngsters in as well which could potentially really go wrong but if it doesn't then it's invaluable for them and us. We've been crying out for a bit more of that.

 

Go on Claude!!!

[Blue ROI]

Have to take your hat off to Claude  for tonight. 

 

Making so many changes from west ham showed a bit of courage. Shakey would have still persisted with the same old you would feel. 

 

Still a long season ahead but tonight especially the first half felt like a giant leap forward. 

[Babylon]

It's a work in progress, we've improved and we're playing some good football. It's going to take time for the players to adapt and be able to play that way in every situation. At the moment the second the pressure comes on we revert to old habits. The more comfortable they get with it, the longer we'll be able to produce it.

 

I'm happy with how things are progressing so far. 

Edited 29 November 2017 by Babylon

[Corky]

Content with how things are going. It's not spectacular but we are mixing our play up more and Iborra is dictating our play which is badly required and has been for a while.

 

The difference between the first and second halves needs to be addressed but the fears that we would lose all attacking threat hasn't come true at all.

 

 

[StriderHiryu]

A bit cheeky of me, but this definitely belongs in this thread, it's Puel's post match interview after the Spurs game:

 

 

Some things he says:

 

"We try to play the ball on the floor."

"We played counter attack but without long kick."

"With good football, they can win games and it's important for the players to see they can get results."

"Give the players opportunities for a different style of play and not always counter attack."

 

As far as I can remember, this is the most detail he has given as to what the Puel LCFC side will look like. We still haven't quite got it working 100% yet, but I for one am a lot more excited than I was after some of our performances earlier in the season.

 

IMO, the Burnley game will be a big indicator of how we've progressed since playing Huddersfield away.

 

[Matt]

Better.

 

I'm basically going to repeat what I said in the post match thread in different words.

 

Played well.

 

But we do sit back alot, invite pressure and look massively vunerable - I understand people are saying this is a work in progree and I understand we need some new players (easier said than done with certain personnel currently at the club) and to adapt to this style but currently I think we'll struggle.

 

When we got the 1st, like the West Ham game we sat back, rode our luck, managed to get a 2nd just before half time - A goal on the stroke of half time in our favour for once, bout time!

 

For the first time under Puel we actually turned up for the 2nd half, that said it was still very defensive, very worrying, rode our luck even more, luck seemed to be on our side, another day and we'd have lost, but today wasn't another day and thankfully Tottenham wasted their chances though. We had a couple of attacks, decent attacks which we should have done better with.

 

When they got one it was a waiting game until they got a second, again, luckily they ran out of time.

Edited 28 November 2017 by Matt