Leicester City Announce Restructure To Claude Puel's Coaching Staff

[MC Prussian]

50 minutes ago, yks said:

There's no such thing as "new manager bounce". That just doesn't exist. Just look at all the results from the club who changed their manager, some are better than before the change, other not.

I'm hopeful for next season(s) for this reasons :

- During the best games, the team seemed on par or better than a lot of Top 6 ones. (Tottenham x2, ManU, Chelsea, Arsenal).
- During the worst period, which is largely exaggerated, a lot of games were lost or drawn by lack of luck or stupid individual mistakes.
- Even with this "dreadful period" he still managed to get LCFC to 9th.
- Puel obviously has full support from the board, despite rumours and false stories coming from people wanting to hurt him/the club.
- He managed to put the club in 9th position coming when it was close to relegation, with a bunch of players not suited to his style and with a "dreadful relegation-form period".
- The worst period can partially be explained by lack of motivation from players who knew they will finish midtable no matter what, experimentation in tactics or formation, young players learning their job the hard way
- Next year, he will have players more suited to his style and the young ones will have more experience.
- Even without talking about if they are suited or not, the players will be better next season. The young ones will have one more year of experience and it's crucial at that age and can make a huge difference
- He repeatledly showed in France that he knows how to transform a relagation candidate into a regular European contender.
(- Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I think Mahrez leaving could be a good thing. He seemed unconcerned for a last part of the end of the season and I don't think his style is suited to Puel's tactics. He slowed down the tempo a lot by keeping the ball and trying to dribble and even if he scored a lot, I wonder if he didn't waste a lot more opprtunities by keeping the ball)

I don't know if LCFC's next season will be a success but I know there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic.

 

I think you're trying to shift the blame to a (large) extent - being French yourself, I suppose there's a bit of bias in there, too.

 

I agree with the notion that the manager isn't solely responsible for a club's malaise and that other individuals/departments should be held accountable also, but he's usually the first who has to pay for it and Puel did handle many things the wrong way as we entered 2018. We finished 9th by limping over the finishing line.

 

Again, just because Puel managed successfully in France doesn't automatically make him a success abroad.

 

Nobody wants to "hurt" Puel, but the mutual feeling at the end of last season was one of disappointment, resulting in a highly split fanbase, with many people very angry at Puel's tactics, personnel decisions and his public demeanor (including his communication skills). It felt like Groundhog Day, seeing what he had "achieved" with Southampton the season before.

Fans want what's best for the club and they voice their disappointment if they see it fit.

 

I wouldn't call myself "optimistic" right now. At this stage, I'm simply hopeful that we've learnt from past mistakes as a club, be it from sacking Ranieri, from sacking Shakespeare or from persisting with Puel - and that we've learnt from some of our rather shocking transfer dealings in the past two years and that there's a healthy, positive philosophy in place for the future. The Maddison deal seems to be a step in the right direction.

 

I'm not a fan of sacking managers for the sake of it and I acknowledge that it's not such an easy task to carry a club like Leicester forward and to establish ourselves as a force within the PL (and beyond), so maybe this time stability and common sense will prevail.

Edited 3 July 2018 by MC Prussian

[yks]

2 hours ago, MC Prussian said:

I think you're trying to shift the blame to a (large) extent - being French yourself, I suppose there's a bit of bias in there, too.

 

Yeah I might be biased too.
 

Quote

I agree with the notion that the manager isn't solely responsible for a club's malaise and that other individuals/departments should be held accountable also, but he's usually the first who has to pay for it and Puel did handle many things the wrong way as we entered 2018. We finished 9th by limping over the finishing line.

The thing is, I don't see where exactly was this failure so huge that nearly everybody wanted him to be fired ASAP.
9th, even by limping over the finish line is decent for LCFC. Even more considered where the club was when he was hired.
I think he was partially guilty of being too successful right after his appointment and fans had irrealistic expectations for the end of the season.

There were a period not so successful after January, with a lot of bad games, but do I have to remind about the Mahrez crisis, the number of injuries and suspensions in the midfield or the fact that during most of these games LCFC was extremly unlucky while the opponents were extremly lucky to score ?

And then, the "Crystal Palace fiasco". It's ok to be angry after a 5-0 loss against a team seen as extremely weak, but as I said multiple times, during that period CP was one of the best team in PL (their form in 2018 would have ranked them 6th !) and LCFC had a red card. That's certainly not a good result but it's not a shame that deserves an immediate firing neither.
 

Quote

Again, just because Puel managed successfully in France doesn't automatically make him a success abroad.

I've never said that. I said that's a reason to be optimistic.
Maybe he'll failed but we all know he can success. He's not Alan Pardew.
 

Quote

Nobody wants to "hurt" Puel, but the mutual feeling at the end of last season was one of disappointment, resulting in a highly split fanbase, with many people very angry at Puel's tactics, personnel decisions and his public demeanor (including his communication skills).

Yeah, sure, and nobody wants to hurt Raheem Sterling... False rumors, accusations and negative propaganda are just things that magically appear without anyone's will.

About the tactics he clearly said the end of the season would be here for experimentations and preparing next seasons. It was a bit weird or delusional to expect beautiful games and consistent results.
About personnel decisions, I don't know what you're talking about.
About communication skills (and that means : with the journalists), that's totally irrelevant.
Nobody here knows how he communicates with his players in the locker room or on the training pitch.
I posted articles about him in France multiple times that prove he is the complete opposite of the boring, uninspiring, dull guy that everyone talks about here because he's extremely calm during press conferences and interviews.

Anyway, I know you're not the kind of fan who was against him even before he signed and twist every little thing to make him look bad.

I get that nobody can be convinced he will succeed, but I think looking at the big picture, last season wasn't so bad and there are a lot of factors that can explain why this "apparent underachievement" was mainly contextual.

[NotTheMarketLeader]

On 03/07/2018 at 16:41, yks said:

Yeah I might be biased too.
 

The thing is, I don't see where exactly was this failure so huge that nearly everybody wanted him to be fired ASAP.
9th, even by limping over the finish line is decent for LCFC. Even more considered where the club was when he was hired.
I think he was partially guilty of being too successful right after his appointment and fans had irrealistic expectations for the end of the season.

There were a period not so successful after January, with a lot of bad games, but do I have to remind about the Mahrez crisis, the number of injuries and suspensions in the midfield or the fact that during most of these games LCFC was extremly unlucky while the opponents were extremly lucky to score ?

And then, the "Crystal Palace fiasco". It's ok to be angry after a 5-0 loss against a team seen as extremely weak, but as I said multiple times, during that period CP was one of the best team in PL (their form in 2018 would have ranked them 6th !) and LCFC had a red card. That's certainly not a good result but it's not a shame that deserves an immediate firing neither.
 

I've never said that. I said that's a reason to be optimistic.
Maybe he'll failed but we all know he can success. He's not Alan Pardew.
 

Yeah, sure, and nobody wants to hurt Raheem Sterling... False rumors, accusations and negative propaganda are just things that magically appear without anyone's will.

About the tactics he clearly said the end of the season would be here for experimentations and preparing next seasons. It was a bit weird or delusional to expect beautiful games and consistent results.
About personnel decisions, I don't know what you're talking about.
About communication skills (and that means : with the journalists), that's totally irrelevant.
Nobody here knows how he communicates with his players in the locker room or on the training pitch.
I posted articles about him in France multiple times that prove he is the complete opposite of the boring, uninspiring, dull guy that everyone talks about here because he's extremely calm during press conferences and interviews.

Anyway, I know you're not the kind of fan who was against him even before he signed and twist every little thing to make him look bad.

I get that nobody can be convinced he will succeed, but I think looking at the big picture, last season wasn't so bad and there are a lot of factors that can explain why this "apparent underachievement" was mainly contextual.

I will be brief;

 

Last 5 months of a 10 month season; 

 

1.Awful boring football where attempts on goal were at a premium.

 

2. Relegation pts haul over same period.

 

3. Zero personality. This is a massively underestimated issue in this game.

Edited 4 July 2018 by NotTheMarketLeader

[yks]

24 minutes ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

I will be brief;

 

Last 5 months of a 10 month season; 

 

1.Awful boring football where we where attempts on goal were at a premium.

 

2. Relegation pts haul over same period.

 

3. Zero personality. This is a massively underestimated issue in this game.

 

What about the 5 first months ?

1.What ?
2. Thats simply false.
3. That doesn't mean anything.

You're welcome.

Edited 3 July 2018 by yks

[NotTheMarketLeader]

20 minutes ago, yks said:

What about the 5 first months ?

1.What ?
2. Thats simply false.
3. That doesn't mean anything.

You're welcome.

 

Yeah. 

 

Thats normal for people on here. 

 

No answers to facts

[yks]

That weren't facts, that were opinions, irrelevant and subjective stuff and false affirmations.
I only answer extensively when I don't have the impression that the conversation would me more interesting with a chair.

[NotTheMarketLeader]

15 hours ago, yks said:

That weren't facts, that were opinions, irrelevant and subjective stuff and false affirmations.
I only answer extensively when I don't have the impression that the conversation would me more interesting with a chair.

The pts haul is a fact.

 

The other two are opinions based on watching the games. I presume you didn’t watch them if you disagree with point No1

[Papasmurf]

2 minutes ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

The pts haul is a fact.

 

The other two are opinions based on watching the games. I presume you didn’t watch them if you disagree with point No1

Point number one is barely a comprehendible sentence.

 

[NotTheMarketLeader]

5 hours ago, Papasmurf said:

Point number one is barely a comprehendible sentence.

 

 

Sorry.

 

Amended now, so will

make sense to most hopefully

[yks]

6 hours ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

The pts haul is a fact.

No it's not.

Considering only the last 5 months, LCFC is 5 points above the relegation line. That's about 9 points on a whole season, that's not even close to relegation form.

[MC Prussian]

On 03/07/2018 at 17:41, yks said:

The thing is, I don't see where exactly was this failure so huge that nearly everybody wanted him to be fired ASAP.
9th, even by limping over the finish line is decent for LCFC. Even more considered where the club was when he was hired.
I think he was partially guilty of being too successful right after his appointment and fans had irrealistic expectations for the end of the season.

There were a period not so successful after January, with a lot of bad games, but do I have to remind about the Mahrez crisis, the number of injuries and suspensions in the midfield or the fact that during most of these games LCFC was extremly unlucky while the opponents were extremly lucky to score ?

And then, the "Crystal Palace fiasco". It's ok to be angry after a 5-0 loss against a team seen as extremely weak, but as I said multiple times, during that period CP was one of the best team in PL (their form in 2018 would have ranked them 6th !) and LCFC had a red card. That's certainly not a good result but it's not a shame that deserves an immediate firing neither.
 

I've never said that. I said that's a reason to be optimistic.
Maybe he'll failed but we all know he can success. He's not Alan Pardew.
 

Yeah, sure, and nobody wants to hurt Raheem Sterling... False rumors, accusations and negative propaganda are just things that magically appear without anyone's will.

About the tactics he clearly said the end of the season would be here for experimentations and preparing next seasons. It was a bit weird or delusional to expect beautiful games and consistent results.
About personnel decisions, I don't know what you're talking about.
About communication skills (and that means : with the journalists), that's totally irrelevant.
Nobody here knows how he communicates with his players in the locker room or on the training pitch.
I posted articles about him in France multiple times that prove he is the complete opposite of the boring, uninspiring, dull guy that everyone talks about here because he's extremely calm during press conferences and interviews.

Anyway, I know you're not the kind of fan who was against him even before he signed and twist every little thing to make him look bad.

I get that nobody can be convinced he will succeed, but I think looking at the big picture, last season wasn't so bad and there are a lot of factors that can explain why this "apparent underachievement" was mainly contextual.

Sorry for being picky, but there's some things I'd like to clear up:

 

First of all, I'm not anti-Puel, but I hate the way the club was headed under him last season, and he's (to a large part) responsible for that outcome.

 

It's not the fact that the fans simply wanted Puel to be sacked, but after the atrocious second half to last season, it was the only logical consequence and to be expected - mostly based on previous results and streaks at other clubs and football procedures in general. Our only progress under Puel was right after he took over, taking us up from 13th to the middle of the table. Everything that followed was part of a slow, but steady decline. Nobody expected beautiful results on a constant basis, just for a start that the series of negative results and uninspiring football would end at some point. Which it really didn't.

 

Nobody says that finishing 9th isn't a good result for a club like Leicester - it's what could've been instead that's most frustrating. We were at some stage ahead of Burnley, with arguably a less demanding schedule ahead and blew the chance of playing Europa League - well, a glory tie in Aberdeen. But still... I'd say only thanks to a win late into the season did we finish in 9th, by trend and tendency, we were headed for 10th or below. Given the money spent on players and the owners' expectations, that's not good enough.

If your manager states that he's using league games to experiment, then that's a bit of a worry. Because as a logical consequence, it means he intentionally threw away a better league finish for the sake of experimenting. Experimenting that should be done in pre-season, in particular with new players coming in and old players leaving.

 

Nobody will deny the fact that Puel was successful in France, particularly with Monaco first, then Lille and Nice. But that doesn't mean he will be a success in the Premier League, as well. You never said anything about "being optimistic based on that" in your previous post, that's what I deduct from 

Quote

He repeatledly showed in France that he knows how to transform a relagation candidate into a regular European contender.

That's all fine and dandy - in France. But we're not a relegation candidate, nor is Ligue 1 comparable to the Premier League. The quality of play and opposition is better on the Island, there's more money involved, more at stake, more exposure, etc. etc.

The task on Puel's desk is different this time around, much more different.

 

Communication skills isn't irrelevant, far from it. Especially not in the Premier League. May I refer you to Nigel Pearson's "Are you an ostrich" incident? The yellow press in the UK are fervent, blood-thirsty and unforgiving.

It's a sign of a good manager if he's able to get his idea across correctly - the fact that Puel irritated even his own players shows how much he still has to make up for.

Again, Puel did probably very well back in France in terms of communication, because it's his home country. He speaks the language. So far, he's made no effort or has given no indication that he's willing to adapt to England or the English language or embrace the new culture. You could say that's arrogance.

 

Nobody wants to "hurt" Puel - my god, he's been in the business as a manager for close to 20 years and it's not as if he's never come under scrutiny in France - remind us again how it ended at Olympique Lyon or what the OGC Nice president Rivière said about Puel after his four years in charge as a manager.

 

Last season wasn't so bad, but it could have been so much better.

 

My hope is that everyone at the club has learnt from last season and that we don't repeat the same mistakes again - that includes Puel and his decisions on and off the pitch.

I salute our owners for the decision to stick with Puel, because it shows the intention of persisting with the idea of consistency rather than a simplistic hire-and-fire mentality.

But now it's time to deliver on that promise.

[NotTheMarketLeader]

2 hours ago, yks said:

No it's not.

Considering only the last 5 months, LCFC is 5 points above the relegation line. That's about 9 points on a whole season, that's not even close to relegation form.

The last 19/20 league games garnered an average around 1pt a game.

 

Sadly for you that does equate to a relegation level of performance 

[Nickfosse]

20 minutes ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

The last 19/20 league games garnered an average around 1pt a game.

 

Sadly for you that does equate to a relegation level of performance 

We took 20 points from our last 20 games which equates to 38 points over the season. Swansea were 18th with 33 points and 38 points has not been relegation form since way before we came up. 

Statistically it is not relegation form. 

[yks]

48 minutes ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

The last 19/20 league games garnered an average around 1pt a game.

 

Sadly for you that does equate to a relegation level of performance 

Yeah I was talking about "the last 5 months" you first talked about, but yeah, I guess if you randomly choose a period of time that suits your point of view, you will think your POV is justified...
Unfortunately even like that, as said by Nickfosse, that wasn't even relegation form.

[NotTheMarketLeader]

22 hours ago, Nickfosse said:

We took 20 points from our last 20 games which equates to 38 points over the season. Swansea were 18th with 33 points and 38 points has not been relegation form since way before we came up. 

Statistically it is not relegation form. 

Excellent

[ealingfox]

Oh great, 38 points! Puel In then.

[Nickfosse]

I didn’t say it was excellent or great. Simply that statistically it isn’t relegation form. 

[HighPeakFox]

13 minutes ago, Nickfosse said:

I didn’t say it was excellent or great. Simply that statistically it isn’t relegation form. 

Asking people to stick to the facts is hard work sometimes...

[ealingfox]

Or maybe people think that technically being just a bit better than relegation form isn't a saving grace for a manager in Puel's position.

[HighPeakFox]

22 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

Or maybe people think that technically being just a bit better than relegation form isn't a saving grace for a manager in Puel's position.

OK you're right, despite being wrong. That's how it works isn't it? 

[Nickfosse]

14 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

Or maybe people think that technically being just a bit better than relegation form isn't a saving grace for a manager in Puel's position.

Well if you’d like a saving grace, you could always take his points average per game since taking over. It comfortably gets us into the top 10, which is exactly what happened. 

[ealingfox]

1 minute ago, HighPeakFox said:

OK you're right, despite being wrong. That's how it works isn't it? 

 

What am I wrong about?

 

Not arguing the fact that 38 points is enough to stay up most seasons, I know full well it is.

[ealingfox]

1 minute ago, Nickfosse said:

Well if you’d like a saving grace, you could always take his points average per game since taking over. It comfortably gets us into the top 10, which is exactly what happened. 

 

Shakespeare's points per game average after 5 games was 3. Doesn't mean it wasn't a bad idea to give him the job.

[HighPeakFox]

15 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

 

What am I wrong about?

 

Not arguing the fact that 38 points is enough to stay up most seasons, I know full well it is.

OK allow me a different way of discussing this. Assuming you're of an open mind, what does Puel need to achieve next season to change your perception of him? 

[Dr The Singh]

1 minute ago, HighPeakFox said:

OK allow me a different way of discussing this. Assuming you're of an open mind, what does Puel need to achieve next season to change your perception of him?

If he blew me off, I might respect him more