Claude Puel reaches first anniversary at Leicester - but why does he always feel so close to the sack?

[AjcW]

37 minutes ago, MattP said:

I do get the feeling the owners are happy though.

I think it’s whether Susan is that will make the difference. She’s ruthless and she’ll be looking at the business side of things and how we’re about to go into a very exciting development phase (ground and training).... she’ll want to make sure there’s a manager capable of backing up that good PR with results

 

Interesting couple of weeks ahead! This is usually the time the powers above get twitchy though.

[foxinsocks]

54 minutes ago, MattP said:

Probably because of how many totally baffling decisions he makes, in terms of selection, tactics and substitutions.

 

Like many others I keep flip-flopping. I wouldn't have minded had they got rid in the summer, they didn't so I'm well prepared to give him time, I like the youth he has brought through and performances like Newcastle were good - then you get Everton after. Then you get a superb half hour followed by a collapse. It's bizarre, it feels close to coming together but also with an expectation it never will.

 

I do get the feeling the owners are happy though.

It wasnt a collapse... arse changed things.. getting ball thru to mf quicker (back four are weak and were trapoed by high press). Getting numbers forward. ..in first half it was often their 2 v 5 of us in box.  Belerin got round the back too often. 

What did we do? Nothing.  The writing is in the wall... puel will do some good stuff but his results will be poor.  

Edited 23 October 2018 by foxinsocks

[Bob Weasel Fox]

Has he gone yet? 

 

We need a better manager 

[coolhandfox]

So interesting that people think you need to abandon fast attacking counter attacking football to play possession football.

 

To be successful you need a combination of the two, look at the speed that Man City and Liverpool break.

 

The problem is we don't have the players to play that way!

[Babylon]

1 hour ago, SuperMike said:

Fancy trying to outpass The Arsenal at the Emirates!! Ridiculous. He rattles on about qualitee but there was nil quality for the last hour of that game. Despite setting up for possession it ended up 70-30 to the home side and the second half must've been more like 85-15. His substitions were bizarre as usual. Other than against the two bottom sides we haven't won in the premier league since august - and that was a flukey smash and grab against a poor southampton side (poor, but better than us). He has no plan b and his plan a appears to be based around passing for passing's sake. The players dont look inspired or motivated. Half the team look to be playing out of position. People rant on about his commitment to youth but the young stars (Chilwell, Grey, Maguire, Barnes etc) were all here before he was -and I doubt he had much input into the signing of Maddison. Others point out the run of results when he first arrived - but how much of that was down to Appleton, who could at least communicate with the players. The last 8 games of last season pointed the way to what we were becoming. Other than thoroughly undeserved wins against Wolves and Southampton and wins against the bottom two, we have continued that losing form. He talks of regular Champions League football in much the same way as Paulo (one-win-in-nine-games) Sousa did. Surely the owners will react the same way as they did to his bull and bluster - and GET RID - NOW!

Do you believe the utter tripe that you type?

 

"Other than thoroughly undeserved wins against Wolves and Southampton and wins against the bottom two, we have continued that losing form." Yeah other than the four wins, we've continued that losing form. Laughable.

"Half the team look to be playing out of position" They aren't.

"Other than against the two bottom sides we haven't won in the premier league since august" So other than the two games we've won we've not won in the perm since August

"People rant on about his commitment to youth but the young stars (Chilwell, Grey, Maguire, Barnes etc) were all here before he was" We've slashed the age of the team and he's promoted them above older players. It's not even a debate.

"and I doubt he had much input into the signing of Maddison." You have no idea who he has input on.

"He has no plan b and his plan a appears to be based around passing for passing's sake." Other than the totally different formation last night.

[mozartfox]

3 hours ago, Bozman said:

Has he gone yet ?

 

Who?  Last nights Ref?   He should be binned off immediately for not applying the laws of the game.  Had that decision gone the way it should have,  people would not be berating Puel today.   Fine margins football and this game was influenced fundamentally by an incompetent oaf and I am not referring to Puel. 

 

We are all miffed and upset at the moment but need to get real about last night. 

 

 

 

[SuperMike]

56 minutes ago, Babylon said:

Do you believe the utter tripe that you type?

 

"Other than thoroughly undeserved wins against Wolves and Southampton and wins against the bottom two, we have continued that losing form." Yeah other than the four wins, we've continued that losing form. Laughable.

"Half the team look to be playing out of position" They aren't.

"Other than against the two bottom sides we haven't won in the premier league since august" So other than the two games we've won we've not won in the perm since August

"People rant on about his commitment to youth but the young stars (Chilwell, Grey, Maguire, Barnes etc) were all here before he was" We've slashed the age of the team and he's promoted them above older players. It's not even a debate.

"and I doubt he had much input into the signing of Maddison." You have no idea who he has input on.

"He has no plan b and his plan a appears to be based around passing for passing's sake." Other than the totally different formation last night.

Okay, Claude, guess you're right! We are a truly great side with qualiteee leadership!

[StriderHiryu]

1 hour ago, coolhandfox said:

So interesting that people think you need to abandon fast attacking counter attacking football to play possession football.

 

To be successful you need a combination of the two, look at the speed that Man City and Liverpool break.

 

The problem is we don't have the players to play that way!

Agree with this. The issue is that will we ever have the players to play this way? To be honest with the sums of money we have spent, we should have players who can do it better, so far whilst we've seen progression we are quite far away from truly being able to play possesion football. At least there are spells we can do it in, but we need to do it for the full 90, not just 30 minutes.

 

Personally though I'd like to see us stick with this style for the season and tough it out. IF we can master it we could become a very good team. And I think if we ever have dreams of getting up to the lofty heights of 15/16 again we probably need to go that way. The title winning season was a perfect storm.

 

One thing that does frustrate me though is that this summer Moutinho, Seri and Schurrle all came to the league, and all for promoted clubs. Those are exactly the sort of players that would help us play a possesion style. Seri even played for Puel before!

[Babylon]

1 minute ago, SuperMike said:

Okay, Claude, guess you're right! We are a truly great side with qualiteee leadership!

I do love it when you call out the utter bullshit that people like you come out with, all you can offer is an attempt to make my opinion something it isn't. I'm not sold on Puel, I'm completely indifferent to him, I appreciate what he's trying to do but have doubts whether he can pull it off. There are problems.

 

But believe it or not, it's possible to not be entirely happy with things without needing to exaggerate and warp everything to discredit him. Nobody is going to take you seriously.

[Rusko187]

Can't take to the guy, played fantastic for 35 minutes and went to absolutely nothing afterwards. I'm finding that if we get a goal I feel it's not "if we concede" it's more "when we concede".

 

I just don't have the faith that he is the guy to move us forwards as a club, I'm not enjoying it under his tenure and I feel as though he's answerable to some issues.. not all.

 

I feel he underestimates or is going into some games unprepared and I don't think he can change the game nor recognises the need to at times. Never truly feel "safe" when we're up and winning.

[Realist Guy In The Room]

He makes it really hard to back him 100%.

 

Last night sums it up.  Up to us scoring, it was perhaps the best i’ve seen us play.  High press, high intensity, quality on the ball and completely dominant creating chance after chance.  After the goal though, what the fvck??  We didn’t react to a single thing that Arsenal changed.  The substitutions were just weird and there was huge absence of belief that was there just a few minutes previous.

 

He signed Diabate who by and large performed very well for us last year and provides a really good option off the bench but where is he?  Stuck in the u23’s.  Ghazzel is absolute dogshit, Ricardo is hit and miss, god knows about the 2 cb’s he’s signed and whilst Mendy has done pretty well since coming in, should he really be in ahead of Iborra?

 

All in all, under Puel I can see us finishing where we are now so the choice is, do you accept that between 7th and 13th, it’s basically a lottery where you finish and it’s not particularly important who is in charge, or, do you get Benitez in?

 

Newcastle’s position in the league is not a reflection on Benitez’s management.  Newcastle are just a poison chalice at the moment.  With the squad we have and the financial backing he’d get, I could see

us getting the consistency required to be a top 7 team constantly.

[Edingleyfox]

All managers coming in so close to a title winning season are  to some extent on a hiding to nothing

Add to that the inconsistency in performances with brilliant half hour spells in games against United,Arsenal and Liverpool which we ultimately lose just adds to the frustration.I think we have the core of a very good young side but overall lack stamina and decent options on the bench. The managers future will depend on the next 4 or 5 games non of which will be easy but pressure will be on to get results.I hope he can turn things around but my gut feeling is that he will be gone by Christmas 

 

[SuperMike]

26 minutes ago, Babylon said:

I do love it when you call out the utter bullshit that people like you come out with, all you can offer is an attempt to make my opinion something it isn't. I'm not sold on Puel, I'm completely indifferent to him, I appreciate what he's trying to do but have doubts whether he can pull it off. There are problems.

 

But believe it or not, it's possible to not be entirely happy with things without needing to exaggerate and warp everything to discredit him. Nobody is going to take you seriously.

Firstly - you say you 're not sold on Puel, yet you pounce viciously on any and all criticism of him.

Secondly - I apologise if my opinions upset you. I simply hate to see what Puel is doing to my team - the one that I've supported through thick and thin for fifty years. It saddens me no end and I'm quite surprised more on here aren't as upset as I am!

[Babylon]

8 minutes ago, SuperMike said:

Firstly - you say you 're not sold on Puel, yet you pounce viciously on any and all criticism of him.

No, not all critisism. Just the stupid over the top stuff like you have posted. Read back the stuff you wrote, you're one step away from saying if you ignore all our victories, we've lost all our games.

 

8 minutes ago, SuperMike said:

I simply hate to see what Puel is doing to my team - the one that I've supported through thick and thin for fifty years. It saddens me no end and I'm quite surprised more on here aren't as upset as I am!

We're 11th in the premier league for Christs sake. The two managers before him were sacked for getting us in the bottom three. To seemingly suggest that this is some sort of low is absolutely ridiculous, in fact didn't they say last night before the game, barring the title winning season it was our best start to a premier league campaign!!

[Mark]

6 minutes ago, Babylon said:

To seemingly suggest that this is some sort of low is absolutely ridiculous, in fact didn't they say last night before the game, barring the title winning season it was our best start to a premier league campaign!!

Take no notice, they say anything to belittle us for some reason, like we should be worthy when clearly something isn't right. And that can't be true unless we're only counting 2014 onwards.

[Finnaldo]

10 minutes ago, SuperMike said:

Firstly - you say you 're not sold on Puel, yet you pounce viciously on any and all criticism of him.

Secondly - I apologise if my opinions upset you. I simply hate to see what Puel is doing to my team - the one that I've supported through thick and thin for fifty years. It saddens me no end and I'm quite surprised more on here aren't as upset as I am!

 

I've seen Babylon, several times, agree with people arguing that Puel makes questionable subs and can pick the wrong game plan.

 

Claims that Puel is 'doing' something to the team other than a departure from our previously faltering tactics is baseless. Whether he's a good manager or not is up for debate, but hes doing little harm to our club. We're 11th in the League, I'm sorry if it upsets you, but it's melodramatic drivel. If you have any valid criticism of what Puel is doing I'm all ears however.

[Babylon]

2 minutes ago, Finnaldo said:

I've seen Babylon, several times, agree with people arguing that Puel makes questionable subs and can pick the wrong game plan.

I think my problem is I spend more time going down the worm hole of battling against over the top shite than I probably do stating my position.

[OhYesNdidi]

20 minutes ago, SuperMike said:

Firstly - you say you 're not sold on Puel, yet you pounce viciously on any and all criticism of him.

Secondly - I apologise if my opinions upset you. I simply hate to see what Puel is doing to my team - the one that I've supported through thick and thin for fifty years. It saddens me no end and I'm quite surprised more on here aren't as upset as I am!

Surely the most overreactive comment on this forum. You sound as if we’ve been within the top 3 teams for 10 seasons and are now in a relegation battle or something. Shocking to think we’ve actually improved since the raneiri/shakey saga of embarrassing performances. At least we are able to put away the teams we are competitive with. 8th-12th is where we will finish because of the players we’ve got. Arsenal showed us how much better they are than us, people on here thinking we should be challenging the top 6 are deluded imo and won’t be happy unless they re adjust their expectations 

Edited 23 October 2018 by OhYesNdidi

[Babylon]

1 minute ago, OhYesNdidi said:

Surely the most overreactive comment on this forum. You sound as if we’ve been within the top 3 teams for 10 seasons and are now in a relegation battle or something. Shocking to think we’ve actually improved since the raneiri/shakey saga of embarrassing performances. At least we are able to put away the teams we are competitive with. 8th-12th is where we will finish because of the players we’ve got. 

I have no idea what it is people actually expect. Yes there are issues, nobody is denying that. But in terms of points and position it's not much different to what anyone said would probably have predicted at the start of the season.

[Finnaldo]

1 minute ago, Babylon said:

I think my problem is I spend more time going down the worm hole of battling against over the top shite than I probably do stating my position.

 

I don't think that's an individual issue. The whole 'Puel lovers' myth is phrased by the people who constantly post emotional drivel based on a disliking of the man rather than any critical thought of his strength and weaknesses, being told so by those who can see more than just "French man boring so must be bad".

[foxinsocks]

6 minutes ago, Babylon said:

I have no idea what it is people actually expect. Yes there are issues, nobody is denying that. But in terms of points and position it's not much different to what anyone said would probably have predicted at the start of the season.

Hes a nice guy and will improve players..i like that. ..

He is outwitted in games.... thats nit recoverable.

He is not an inspiring leader we...club..players ...fans can get behind

 

We can't put that right

Edited 23 October 2018 by foxinsocks

[Stadt]

I've defended Puel a lot, now I don't really care. I'd even go as far as saying I don't like him, I don't dislike him either but the constant over the top comments in here are what rile the balanced posters. Every issue with club or the squad isn't solely attributed to Puel, the game should have been won in the first half, Puel can't put the ball in the net himself. The second half he made some questionable decisions and I don't think he adjusts well in games but only so much is in his hands.

[yks]

I think the major flaw in the Puel out camp (except for the ones who just dislike him) is they can't accept or understand a project takes time to be accomplished.
We're not the finish product.
We may not be it at the end of this season, or the next one, so it's basically ludicrous to draw conclusions after each game.

The real question is "Do we trust Puel to accomplish that project ?".
My answer is "yes". Why ? Because he already did it several times in France, with worst clubs than Leicester City.

I prefer being midtable for 2 or even 3 seasons if it lays the foundations for success than being a one season wonder like Burnley was last year.

According to Ruby Payne Hidden Rule of Class theory : The poor are so because they refuse to defer gratification for longer term benefits. (thta's partially false for a number of reasons, but it still has part of truth)

I think it's applicable to football clubs : The small clubs are small because their owners/fans refuse to defer gratification for longer term benefits.

The long term plan is way more important than week by week results and our owners seem to agree on that with the new stadium, the new training center, the signings of young exciting players and the choice of a manager known to develop clubs, so : I'm ****ing enthusiast about the future even with last night defeat, even if the lose next week, even with all the disappointing results we'll have this season. Puel in, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha in. Top 6, hide your ass, we're coming for you.

[UpTheLeagueFox]

This 'long term' plan thing. How long is it? 2-3 years?

Maguire, Maddison and others won't be here in 2-3 years unless we're winning trophies or playing in Champions League.

Do we then have to give Puel (or any manager) another 2-3 years as he puts the next long term plan in action with replacements for those above?

[Voll Blau]

1 hour ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

This 'long term' plan thing. How long is it? 2-3 years?

Maguire, Maddison and others won't be here in 2-3 years unless we're winning trophies or playing in Champions League.

Do we then have to give Puel (or any manager) another 2-3 years as he puts the next long term plan in action with replacements for those above?

Surely, even in the world of modern football, 2-3 years is the *minimum* term we can consider "long term"? You'd have to be insane to consider it anything less.