Time for a Puel in thread.

[Fox92]

35 minutes ago, HighPeakFox said:

A certain percentage of people enjoy moaning - presumably it is because they have nothing else to offer.

It's amazing. I heard someone say "yeah Wolves battered us for twenty minutes too" ... wow, twenty minutes. Good job they didn't the rest of the game.

[HighPeakFox]

1 minute ago, Fox92 said:

It's amazing. I heard someone say "yeah Wolves battered us for twenty minutes too" ... wow, twenty minutes. Good job they didn't the rest of the game.

These people exist everywhere, not just at football matches. Find fault with as much as possible, deflect and ignore everything else.

[coolhandfox]

Playing style is developing nicely, greatly reduced the average age of the squad and team. He's also managed to clear a lot of deadwood.

 

He's style is becoming more embed, and is easy on the eye. However he's still far to negative, we can play nice football but still be on the front foot!

 

Some of his subs are baffling at times....

 

[Derbyfox4ever]

I was standing on the platform at Leicester yesterday waiting for my train back to Derby and was listening to a group of Liverpool fans dissecting the game. One said, "We won but it feels like a defeat". As a lifelong Foxes fan I felt the opposite! So many positives from yesterday and this season's performances and it was great to once again hear the KP stadium make some noise and get behind the team. Puel deserves a great deal of credit for the summer signings and for resurrecting Mendy's career, he along with Madison, Chilwell and Ghezzal were our best players yesterday I thought. Of course we need to tighten up at the back and upfront we don't have a clinical edge yet but we are heading in the right direction. We shouldn't forget that Jürgen Klopp has had over three years to build his squad and get them playing his way, Puel has had less than a year and only one pre-season. We need to get behind him and the club,  be patient and enjoy the ride!

[CosbehFox]

The thing I do find odd is the amount of players committing to long term contracts. I know a manager could change tomorrow but it suggests that the training ground must be a decent environment. Something I was told would fall down on the departure of Appleton

Edited 2 September 2018 by Cardiff_Fox

[Gwyn]

4 games in and very positive signs. We haven't played like crabs since last season and we are genuinely exciting to watch. Still we must remember that we are not the finished article and this season is about establishing our identity and moving forward towards Claude's style of play.we are a couple of players short of our best but it excited me to see us play like that against a very good team.

It's the best time ever to be a city fan, and quite frankly, I've got a hard on for Puel.... There I said it ?

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

I yo-yo’d Puel in/out toward the end of last season. But I’ve seen enough now in this transition period. Not easy to adopt a new style of play, and in a relatively short period of time. I think in hindsight many of us will admit we were calling for his head far too soon. Modern football is so short sighted, and it would be nice to buck the trend in that respect.

 

I must admit I was also concerned when Appleton left, but it seems to have been a catalyst in further embedding Puel’s style. Perhaps the squad were getting mixed messages as Puel and Appleton hardly looked like a cohesive duo last half of last season.

 

I’m glad the broad consensus seems to be that we are happy with the transition (there will always be some moaners). We are now a young exciting side, and we can only improve. No one can criticise how we won the league, but it wasn’t sustainable in the long term. A divided fan base and club suits no one.

 

Loving the flurry of long term contracts too. The players are obviously on board. Vive la Napueleon evolution!

Edited 2 September 2018 by bmouth_fox

[Sampson]

I get the frustration, I really do. Puel isn't the most tactically minded and a lot of his substitutions are strange.

 

BUT the one thing he's been superb at his entire career is building young hungry sides and developing young talent and that's exactly what we need right now - in truth, its exactly what we needed 2 years ago after the title win.

 

I don't know how successful Puel will be in the short or medium term and it wouldn't surprise me if a season or two down the line he isn't here. But I'm sure the club will benefit from him long-term. He may be one of those managers a bit like Gordon Milne who was very frustrating at the time but when you look back you realise what he did.

 

I think he's what we need right now, the squad has needed to evolve for 2 years - Ranieri didn't know how to do it and Shakespeare didn't want to, but I think Puel is trying to consolidate us as a good mid-table side with great potential which is what we should have looked to do after the title win rather than throwing silly money at panic buying "established" players like Slimami and Musa.

[waylander]

Am I on the right forum with all this positivity. Actually enjoying the change. A butterfly flaps his wings. ???

[StriderHiryu]

Posted this in another thread but it really should go here:
http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/11485854/behind-the-scenes-with-claude-puel

 

This was shown just before the game, so you might have missed it if you were at the match - I could see it being broadcast muted at the stadium :)!

 

I think this gives you a really good insight into Puel and what he is trying to do here. It makes me very excited for the next few seasons.

Edited 3 September 2018 by StriderHiryu

[Milo]

I was firmly in the Puel out camp - I've been scarred by the absolute dross that we played for most of last season. Just writing this now is bringing me out in hives.

Although I was bored with the chopping and changing managers, I just didn't want the manager to be a dull, incomprehensible, dour bloke that played turgid, unimaginative football. 

 

I'm now wavering (almost to the point that I wouldn't actually drive him to the Channel Tunnel).

 

He's still dull and incomprehensible. He makes dull and incomprehensible substitutions - but if we can meet in the middle a little, and he behaves/plays/tinkers with a wee bit more dynamism then I suppose he'll do.

 

[Koke]

I fully support him and have been in the dark days of 0-5 Palace. Some of his errors were trying to play football with players incapable of doing that. But Puel will probably argue he needed to see who was up to the job and subsequently move on the ones who weren't up to it (Slimani, Simpson etc). His other error is his weird obsession with Amartey.  Without going full Col, Amartey just isn't that good and should only be used as an emergency or if an extra defender is needed in the last 10 minutes. 

 

Some people expect a near perfect manager. Puel has faults but his positives way outweighs his negatives. 

 

Puel negatives (so far)

 

1. Starting games painfully slow. 

2. Obsessed with Amartey

 

Puel positives

 

1. Brought down average age of the team and have improved some young players

2. Play much better progressive exciting football

3. Given us an identity.

4. Moved on players who were not contributing anything to the club.

5. He will likely give some academy products game time, in due time. Im sure he has a plan for Barnes, Hamza etc.

 

Puel is a net positive to LCFC. 

[OhYesNdidi]

30 minutes ago, Milo said:

I was firmly in the Puel out camp - I've been scarred by the absolute dross that we played for most of last season. Just writing this now is bringing me out in hives.

Although I was bored with the chopping and changing managers, I just didn't want the manager to be a dull, incomprehensible, dour bloke that played turgid, unimaginative football. 

 

I'm now wavering (almost to the point that I wouldn't actually drive him to the Channel Tunnel).

 

He's still dull and incomprehensible. He makes dull and incomprehensible substitutions - but if we can meet in the middle a little, and he behaves/plays/tinkers with a wee bit more dynamism then I suppose he'll do.

 

Not sure you can complain about his subs. Shakey used to just sub a striker in with no game plan or idea how they would effect the game & Ranieri used to bring on Andy king when were chasing a game. 

[Milo]

50 minutes ago, OhYesNdidi said:

Not sure you can complain about his subs. Shakey used to just sub a striker in with no game plan or idea how they would effect the game & Ranieri used to bring on Andy king when were chasing a game. 

Agree completely - I didn't say he was better or worse than either of those.

 

 

[Bunyip]

7 hours ago, Koke said:

I fully support him and have been in the dark days of 0-5 Palace. Some of his errors were trying to play football with players incapable of doing that. But Puel will probably argue he needed to see who was up to the job and subsequently move on the ones who weren't up to it (Slimani, Simpson etc). His other error is his weird obsession with Amartey.  Without going full Col, Amartey just isn't that good and should only be used as an emergency or if an extra defender is needed in the last 10 minutes. 

 

Some people expect a near perfect manager. Puel has faults but his positives way outweighs his negatives. 

 

Puel negatives (so far)

 

1. Starting games painfully slow. 

2. Obsessed with Amartey

 

Puel positives

 

1. Brought down average age of the team and have improved some young players

2. Play much better progressive exciting football

3. Given us an identity.

4. Moved on players who were not contributing anything to the club.

5. He will likely give some academy products game time, in due time. Im sure he has a plan for Barnes, Hamza etc.

 

Puel is a net positive to LCFC. 

Agreed on all but number 2. Not seen one iota of that so far.

Edited 4 September 2018 by Bunyip

[Koke]

One more thing..

 

I don't think enough people appreciate the size off the job he inherited. A number of aging players were starting for us pre Puel. Huth, Morgan, Fuchs, Simpson, Okazaki, Schmeichel & Vardy all 30+. Of those only Vardy & Schmeichel are still guaranteed first teamers now. Puel had to break up a pretty successful side, a job the men before him was incapable of doing. Secondly, Puel had to move on several dead wood players. King, Musa, Slimani, Ulloa etc. Thirdly, he had to identify a style & system, identify players who can play that system and implement it.

 

Puel has sucesfully done the first 2 parts  Now he is in the process of the 3rd part which is the most difficult.

 

He is doing all this with a significant section of the fan base on his back.

 

We could sack Puel, hire another high profile mansger like Pellegrini, sign another 6 players on huge contracts, and when that doesn't work then sack him in 6 months time. Or we could support our manager during a slow but gradual process into better things.

[adam95581]

Need to get a couple of chants going for him at the next game to show we appreciate what he’s doing and the direction we’re starting to move in 

[Xen]

16 hours ago, Koke said:

I fully support him and have been in the dark days of 0-5 Palace. Some of his errors were trying to play football with players incapable of doing that. But Puel will probably argue he needed to see who was up to the job and subsequently move on the ones who weren't up to it (Slimani, Simpson etc). His other error is his weird obsession with Amartey.  Without going full Col, Amartey just isn't that good and should only be used as an emergency or if an extra defender is needed in the last 10 minutes. 

 

Some people expect a near perfect manager. Puel has faults but his positives way outweighs his negatives. 

 

Puel negatives (so far)

 

1. Starting games painfully slow. 

2. Obsessed with Amartey

 

Puel positives

 

1. Brought down average age of the team and have improved some young players

2. Play much better progressive exciting football

3. Given us an identity.

4. Moved on players who were not contributing anything to the club.

5. He will likely give some academy products game time, in due time. Im sure he has a plan for Barnes, Hamza etc.

 

Puel is a net positive to LCFC. 

I think we'll start to see Amartey less and less as we go on through the season. With Soyuncu now available, and Ghezzal looking like a realistic option on the wing (instead of bumping up Pereira into that role) I can't see Amartey being much more than a utility sub. Even then, Albrighton might take his spot.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that we've had a reasonably steady start to the season so far, but still haven't fully settled on our play style. We're getting there, but Ghezzal has only just settled in, Soyuncu hasn't yet played, and Vardy has only played 25% of minutes and wasn't at full fitness for most of those. When everything comes back together after the international break we'll start to see what we can play like with a proper attacking outlet and a youthul backline with a bit more pace. As individuals improve as well (Maddison's fitness, Gray's confidence building etc) then things could be looking very good for us. We've got a perfect run of fixtures now to get some momentum built up.

 

 

Of course there are negatives, as you mention, but by-and-large they can be easily worked on. Starting slow is unacceptable at this level, but Puel and the players will be aware and hopefully we see improvement on that front. Puel's substitutions have also been pretty bizarre at times, but some of that is because of player's limitations (i.e. Maddison tiring) which can be worked on, or experimentation. When we have a full cohort available for selection and a bit more consistency, this should hopefully take an upwards turn.

Edited 4 September 2018 by Xen

[foxinsocks]

14 hours ago, Koke said:

I fully support him and have been in the dark days of 0-5 Palace. Some of his errors were trying to play football with players incapable of doing that. But Puel will probably argue he needed to see who was up to the job and subsequently move on the ones who weren't up to it (Slimani, Simpson etc). His other error is his weird obsession with Amartey.  Without going full Col, Amartey just isn't that good and should only be used as an emergency or if an extra defender is needed in the last 10 minutes. 

 

Some people expect a near perfect manager. Puel has faults but his positives way outweighs his negatives. 

 

Puel negatives (so far)

 

1. Starting games painfully slow. 

2. Obsessed with Amartey

 

Puel positives

 

1. Brought down average age of the team and have improved some young players

2. Play much better progressive exciting football

3. Given us an identity.

4. Moved on players who were not contributing anything to the club.

5. He will likely give some academy products game time, in due time. Im sure he has a plan for Barnes, Hamza etc.

 

Puel is a net positive to LCFC. 

re 1. starting slow - and so few bodies getting forward - I think we have lost a level of fitness - we need a fitness coach.  Skill may take time to develop... but at least we can have one of the fittest squads - liverpool energy was far higher for all 90mins

I would ad that we haven't solved the alternative centre forward question - we lack cutting edge - and for a team that crosses so much we have no target even with vardy on the field

[HighPeakFox]

I think 'obsessed' with Amartey is a tad strong, but I take your point.

[fuchsntf]

On 02/09/2018 at 10:33, bmouth_fox said:

I yo-yo’d Puel in/out toward the end of last season. But I’ve seen enough now in this transition period. Not easy to adopt a new style of play, and in a relatively short period of time. I think in hindsight many of us will admit we were calling for his head far too soon. Modern football is so short sighted, and it would be nice to buck the trend in that respect.

 

I must admit I was also concerned when Appleton left, but it seems to have been a catalyst in further embedding Puel’s style. Perhaps the squad were getting mixed messages as Puel and Appleton hardly looked like a cohesive duo last half of last season.

 

I’m glad the broad consensus seems to be that we are happy with the transition (there will always be some moaners). We are now a young exciting side, and we can only improve. No one can criticise how we won the league, but it wasn’t sustainable in the long term. A divided fan base and club suits no one.

 

Loving the flurry of long term contracts too. The players are obviously on board. Vive la Napueleon evolution!

Napolean...ballsed it up....!!!  So vive le   Puel-revolution.  No winter great retreats!!! No Waterloos,a bit of Sharpe,and wellington,

With some stubborn..De Gaulle

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

Puel has injected his style of play into the team, and I am very happy with it.

[Stadt]

His biggest task was rebuilding as Koke said, whether he's sacked or not anytime across this season or next he'll have played a very vital role in steering us away from scattergun recruitment of players and managers. It seems crass to be speaking about his successor but whoever comes in will have a great foundation and the last time a manager had that coming into the club was the summer of 2015 and what followed went reasonably well.

 

I think under Puel we'll be a consistent top 10 side but never with enough cutting edge to challenge the top 6 which is ok and what we'd expect. The important thing is that we need to be stable with so much investment in the stadium and training ground. Puel's dealt with both in his career and seems sensible and undemanding which isn't inspiring but necessary at this juncture.

[Ric Flair]

I teeter from being on board with what he's doing once I get a few days rationalising over the previous game, to then wanting to ping the bloke again come the weekend. If we never had to play football again, he'd be spot on for me. However, it's very difficult to stomach the very odd tactics and team selections that he's picking.

 

He keeps saying he's unhappy with how we start games but there must be a reason for how cautious and sluggish we look from the off, he needs to find the solution. Interestingly in his early reign as manager here we scored a lot of opening goals inside 10-20 minutes and we've always been a team that if we score first are good at getting the job done. 

 

Man Utd and Liverpool we gifted them a comfortable start, it was too little too late even if we appeared to play some decent football here and there. I'd argue that the Liverpool game was a mistake, they were hugely ordinary and we set up with a winger as a striker. We only started to properly look menacing when Iheanacho was on and Maddison and Ghezzal were picking up more space to hurt them. Against Man Utd we were genuinely a bit unlucky, but it was moronic from Amartey inside 75 seconds. It gave a team under pressure and out of sorts the perfect platform to get the win and was an annoying opportunity missed from us.

 

Thankfully we've picked up 2 wins when we've been 2nd best and it's an ok points return out of the first 4 games. The performances weren't overly impressive but we're a work in progress, I have to keep telling myself that. 

 

I've calmed down from Saturdays missed opportunity, on the face of it we played some good football in the 2nd half and we have our talisman back in Vardy. Mendy is looking like a new signing and you can't help but feel like Maddison is on the cusp of giving it big licks. Gray and Chilwell are improving and Ricardo is a beast going forward. Then there's Ghezzal who seems to be a good fit for this team, his work rate is great for a player with a reputation as being a maverick. I love him.

 

There's so much to be positive about and the future looks bright. Puel should be afforded the time to take us forward, I just hope he can do. He needs to start getting his tactics and team selections both from the start and in game right though. It'll be his downfall if not. Bar a powerful striker as an option, this squad is as good anything outside the top 6. 

[HighPeakFox]

I like Ghezzal too - there's obviously something about elegant players that appeals to me, given I'm an Iborra fanboy.