Puel

[Kitchandro]

1 hour ago, SonicBoom said:

Saints fan here. I came on here last year when you employed him. Everyone was baffled as to how a "club like us" thought that a cup final and 8th place wasn't good enough. 

We got loads of stick in the media for wanting him gone and we were told that the fact he is boring to listen to shouldn't make any difference. 

It seems that you guys are coming to the same conclusion. 

Above all there is just something about the football isn't there. 

Then again by all means sack him but just make sure you replace him better than we did. Most Saints fans will tell you that getting rid of Puel was the right thing to do, but we replaced him with a total idiot and now we are hanging by a thread. 

Not everyone, there was a fair amount of us who knew this was a poor appointment and respect football fans wanting to enjoy watching their team.

 

Of course you just get the mickey taken out of you by people who think being positive about something makes them more thoughtful.

[AjcW]

53 minutes ago, SonicBoom said:

Thanks for the good wishes although I fear we're doomed. We never get anything at Everton and City at home is our last game. Aah well, it's not so bad in the Championship where you have a laugh and won a few more games...

Then again as Claude would say "there are still possibilities....." .

Is there a detach between the football the board want to see and the football the fans want to see?

From the outside it appears the board just want you to be safe every season to pocket the cash.

What gives me that impression is going from a perceived failure in Puel to appointing another manager who arguably player even more boring conservative football. As much as I hate to say it it's clear to see that Hughes taking the shackles off has worked in parts so it's obviously not 100% a player issue. 

 

Any thoughts?

[st albans fox]

2 hours ago, SonicBoom said:

Saints fan here. I came on here last year when you employed him. Everyone was baffled as to how a "club like us" thought that a cup final and 8th place wasn't good enough. 

We got loads of stick in the media for wanting him gone and we were told that the fact he is boring to listen to shouldn't make any difference. 

It seems that you guys are coming to the same conclusion. 

Above all there is just something about the football isn't there. 

Then again by all means sack him but just make sure you replace him better than we did. Most Saints fans will tell you that getting rid of Puel was the right thing to do, but we replaced him with a total idiot and now we are hanging by a thread. 

a serious question from here - he is trying to change us to a more possession based outfit and some of the first team squad are struggling to adapt..  you already were that. what did he struggle to get the team doing?  was it just a lack of a decent front man coupled with VVD's absence ??  after all, scoring goals has continued to be a problem for you.

[TheUltimateWinner]

Not seen any of the usual ITK's sniffing around here after we got told his position was at stake before the 5-0 loss... have they heard any updates? 

[Happy Fox]

21 minutes ago, TheUltimateWinner said:

Not seen any of the usual ITK's sniffing around here after we got told his position was at stake before the 5-0 loss... have they heard any updates? 

 

59 minutes ago, sylofox said:

Yeah it's not coming fast enough. Only know Whealan Rudkin and the owners legal representatives  had a meeting at a secret location.

 

 

[sylofox]

1 hour ago, Foxes1 said:

Or sack him at the awards evening,.

And one extra award this year goes to a very special person. Mr Puel please step forward here's your P45 now please feck off.  

[daddylonglegs]

I reckon if he was going to be sacked he would've gone by now. 

[Matt]

Gotta hope tomorrow is the day, which I had a feeling about anyway or it ain’t happening before the weekend imo.

 

Gonna be horrible down there on Saturday if he’s still in charge though, lose and I simply do not know how he can survive another week.

[StanSP]

2 minutes ago, Matt said:

Gotta hope tomorrow is the day, which I had a feeling about anyway or it ain’t happening before the weekend imo.

 

Gonna be horrible down there on Saturday if he’s still in charge though, lose and I simply do not know how he can survive another week.

i actually dread the boos if we don't win .

[Guest Col city fan]

I’m quite sorry he’s not gone already tbh. Horrid thing to say but I just have a feeling it would be for the best.

[STUHILL]

4 minutes ago, Matt said:

Gotta hope tomorrow is the day, which I had a feeling about anyway or it ain’t happening before the weekend imo.

 

Gonna be horrible down there on Saturday if he’s still in charge though, lose and I simply do not know how he can survive another week.

Can't see it now mate. Would have been an early Monday announcement or at least a leak about it being imminent. 

 

I do think however, that the owners may well have identified this West Ham game as his last chance. 

 

[Guest Col city fan]

The West Ham game could be nasty. They are rubbish but, of course, are fighting for their lives. So it will be no end of season dead rubber.

I can’t imagine how things will be at the KP if we lose this game. ESPECIALLY if we lose heavily.

[brisfox]

Just one thought. I was at a certain game at Barnsley when NP was manager. We had lost 3-0, played terrible and everybody was howling for blood. The management stuck with him, they rest, they say, is history. That being said, if they sacked Puel, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Peter Taylor mark two (as if there could be another!). 

[lifted*fox]

Dragging this across into here because it'll get lost in the helicopter thread. ZeGuy was mentioning that Puel isn't the only issue we've got and I've expanded on that below.

 

Whilst Puel isn't squeaky-clean here; there is a HUGE amount of over-belief in the current squad we've got. 

 

Kasper - poor form, still can't command his area.

Simpson - solid as a defender but totally one dimensional, no ability going forward; won't work with any manager who wants to attack from the back.

Morgan - done. past it. over.

Maguire - still green. talented but needs a solid, mobile defender to play next to him to give him confidence and help him learn. 

Fuchs - legs gone. more intelligent than Chilwell but not the future here.

Chilwell - prospect and can run but **** me; not the most intelligent defender.

Ndidi - currently injured and more one dimensional than most of his fans seem to realise. good at getting the ball back but not great once he has it.

Ibbora - needs time on the ball, doesn't get it in our current system.

Silva - will he come good? who knows.

James - no, come on. for a team with aspirations of 8th and up, not happening. 

Choudhury - not yet. 

Gray - meh, again - probably a good player sometime soon or for someone else but we're either holding him back or he really isn't that great.

Vardy - does what Vardy does but isn't going to be the answer forever. makes our play very one dimensional, really. 

Iheanacho - maybe, eventually. 

Diabate - promising considering he's been chucked in at the deep end, looks fairly comfortable tbf. - Puel signing, funnily enough. 

Okazaki - his time is probably up here.

 

There's other players and I could go on - but we're not the amazing powerhouse some people like to think we are. Half of this team was amazing when it was on the up and up and they had something to prove / played with everything for each other. They've been damaged and broken by a series of terrible decisions since the PL win. They are NOT the same players from 3/4 years ago. The chemistry is gone / dead. 

 

I think a LOT of managers would struggle with this ageing, fractured and despondent squad. 

 

We're in much deeper trouble than many realise and just chopping and changing managers every half a season isn't going to fix it.

 

We've got a DOF who hasn't got a ****ing clue. We've got owners who mean well but don't know football too much and trust Rudkin who, as stated, ain't all that. 

 

We've got an incoherent backroom setup, fractured from several different managerial tenures and it would appear our once highly regarded sports science and psychology dept. have gone down the toilet too. 

 

We STILL can't take corners or free-kicks - what the **** are we doing on the training ground - it's been YEARS ffs. We can't defend set-pieces either. 

 

People laugh but Pearson has been the only manager in recent years who got everything and everyone pulling in the same direction and it culminated, albeit with a little luck and a little help from Claudio in our greatest achievement. 

 

We're currently SO FAR away from the steady, reliable, well-planned, highly-prepared team of Pearson's tenure that it's almost laughable.  

 

If the owners / Rudkin **** the next few months up then we can all wave goodbye to PL football next season - we'll go down and it'll take A LOT for us to get back up. 

Edited 1 May 2018 by lifted*fox

[LestaAl]

He is still here then...

 

Keeping  him in post is just delaying the inevitable, would rather he was gone and hear confirmation the owners were on the case for a replacement.

 

will be some conflicted supporters at times on the weekend.

 

 

[lifted*fox]

3 minutes ago, brisfox said:

Just one thought. I was at a certain game at Barnsley when NP was manager. We had lost 3-0, played terrible and everybody was howling for blood. The management stuck with him, they rest, they say, is history. That being said, if they sacked Puel, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Peter Taylor mark two (as if there could be another!). 

 

Pearson had done significantly more at this club than Puel has - he'd earnt his time and proved he could improve things. 

 

It's hard to argue the same for Puel at the moment. But is that Puel's fault? 

 

Pearson instilled a philosophy into the entire club, from top to bottom. 

 

Puel is battling against the collapse of that philosophy and it seems he's struggling to instil his own. 

[chicagofox]

3 hours ago, brucey said:

What damage has Rudkin done?

He is to blame for the disastrous post-title winning transfers.  But bringing back Steve Walsh would be great for the club.

 

Oh and he colluded with the Russians to rig the US election and he is chief advisor to the Syrian regime.

[Dan]

20 hours ago, orangecity23 said:

The biggest worry for me is the way the team seems to have no clue what they are supposed to be doing off the ball recently. Our shape is completely undisciplined, the first goal against Palace was down to Morgan wandering over to the right, the midfield dropping back into the box in a vain attempt to cover the gap, and Maguire and Chillwell shuffling right leaving an enormous gap on the left side which Palace easily exploited by passing sideways a little and finishing easily in acres of space.

 

Likewise, against Burnley, the first goal came from both CBs charging forwards into a gaping hole in midfield whilst the full backs were left behind by the total abandonment of any semblance of a defensive line, leaving a massive gap behing the CBs for Chris Wood to stroll through and score. First goal against Newcastle, shape all over the place again, as Morgan wanders into midfield again, and the ball goes sailing over his head to a Newcastle player to exploit.

 

We never seem to press the opposition higher up the pitch any more, and when we do press it is a disjointed half hearted effort, a far cry from the co-ordinated "hunting in packs" of the title winning season. Liverpool, Man City and (yuck) Spurs all press aggressively, so there is no reason why "possession football" has to be wedded to placid, gentle backing off when we don't have the ball.

 

When we are on the ball as well, the shape is still a cluster****. Mahrez spends half his time cocking around in central midfield, causing absolutely zero danger in an area overcrowded with players, as we have zero width apart from Simpson on the right. We have no chance of launching a counter attack, as Mahrez is never in the position to be able to do any damage half the time. Gray on the left seems a waste of time, providing zero width and having to cut inside on his right foot into traffic all the time, except when he stays wide as Chillwell is trying to push forwards, forcing Chillwell to cut infield instead, followed by some swift backwards passing by the pair of them.

 

Puel's style looks a million miles away from the likes of Guardiola, Pochettino, Klopp or other successful Prem teams - he most resembles the very worst of the death throes of Wenger's Arsenal, a team which seems years out of date, but with players less suited for it, so we are performing like a crap approximation of a team of total failures (who we will be donating 3 points to shortly to end their run of no away wins all calendar year).

 

Forget getting new players in, Puel is demonstrating he seems to have no concept of how to even organise the ones he has, putting better ones in will just lead to an equally disorganised shambles with slightly better dribbling ability. No manager worth their salt would ever send out a team which looked as poorly prepared and drilled as us against Palace on Saturday.

That's a worryingly accurate description of us at the minute.

 

We look such a badly coached side. We play some nice passing football occasionally, but we don't really function well as a team at all. Defensively we're a complete shambles, a mixture of both stupid mistakes and lack of organisation.

 

I want to think Puel would get it right with different players (I'm talking in this tone because I reckon he'll stay now, he'd have gone by now if not) but I can't see how anyone can be confident of that.

 

My mate's said similar about Puel that he's like Wenger-lite, and with a group of players like ours that's a recipe for disaster.

 

If this was a 46 game season we would be relegated.

[Bossman Blessed It]

3 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

Puel's style looks a million miles away from the likes of Guardiola, Pochettino, Klopp or other successful Prem teams - he most resembles the very worst of the death throes of Wenger's Arsenal, a team which seems years out of date, but with players less suited for it, so we are performing like a crap approximation of a team of total failures (who we will be donating 3 points to shortly to end their run of no away wins all calendar year).

 

 

I think this is absolutely spot on. Our lack of aggression certainly seems to correlate with a lot of the speculation that players are unhappy with the intensity of Puel's methods. Even Vardy seems unnaturally conservative. Aggressive pressing is surely if he's going to persist with young players like Gray, Diabate, Choudhury, Chilwell and Iheanacho. In the past few games it's almost as if they're too unfit to actually chase and badger opponents. 

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

I’m sympathetic to those who are antii Rudkin, and have been myself IF things are to be believed. But people never mention he has been part of the set up that won the Premier League. A sense of perspective please!

[m4DD0gg]

7 hours ago, brucey said:

What damage has Rudkin done?

And herein is the problem....

[mozartfox]

4 minutes ago, bmouth_fox said:

I’m sympathetic to those who are antii Rudkin, and have been myself IF things are to be believed. But people never mention he has been part of the set up that won the Premier League. A sense of perspective please!

In most business models,  it is what you have done ‘since’ and not dining out what you may have helped achieve two years ago.

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

3 minutes ago, mozartfox said:

In most business models,  it is what you have done ‘since’ and not dining out what you may have helped achieve two years ago.

Yes, those in charge at the club seem to have largely wasted that one off opportunity to get to the next level.

 

Mind, I think getting into Europe on a regular basis constitutes that next level and we weren’t far away this season. Although we might end up quite far off!

[Clever Fox]

9 hours ago, Gerard said:

 

I'm a great believer in "horses for courses".

 

The Sport Science team and fitness coaches should be dictating the optimal cardio vascular and strength training of players. Just like the manager shouldn't have the majority decision on transfers and the bulk of this should be specialists in scouting, etc.

 

I want my manager to be a great tactician, leader and motivator and nothing more is necessary. 

Totally agree, I couldn't have put it better except to add,he has to be a good listener also and know when a player needs a hug or a rollicking.

[maynefox]

1 hour ago, bmouth_fox said:

I’m sympathetic to those who are antii Rudkin, and have been myself IF things are to be believed. But people never mention he has been part of the set up that won the Premier League. A sense of perspective please!

 

It's this sort of view which is why we are still putting up with Morgan at the back.