Should Claude Puel be sacked or backed? Poll

[BenTheFox]

The big question is what direction do we want the club to go in? That determines the type of manager we should be appointing. 

[The Doctor]

2 minutes ago, lgfualol said:

I just cant take sacking Puel seriously when the alternatives mentioned are Big Sam (ask Everton fans how football under him was) and Pearson. Those two could get us relegated faster than Puel and I dont know how either of them can solve the creativity problem, particularly as Vardy is our only decent striker and can only play in a counter system (if that, lost a bit of pace imo). You cant counter against teams that set up to stop you countering. 

I'd sort of agree but we've scored the most goals in the league from counters (at least 2 weeks ago when I last checked the stats). What teams have stopped us doing is the long ball dropped over the top, and that stopped late 15/16. It was behind our greatest ever season but it wasn't sustainable and people don't seem to quite grasp that. What we're seeing now, while not great, is streets ahead of Jan-Feb 16/17 season under Ranieri

[Fox92]

20 minutes ago, mod hero said:

 

That quote is bang on..... and that's an average football fan. So did the board/the owners not go in depth and look into Puel's games at Southampton? 

 

Honestly I do not trust them (our board) to pick the right manager. We constantly sack managers we hire, there's got to be something wrong.

[Happy Fox]

Top's own words..

 

When we began the process of identifying a new manager, the board quickly established the profile of candidate we needed to take the club forward and Claude Puel was a perfect fit.

"Upon meeting Claude, his attention to detail, knowledge of our squad, understanding of our potential and his vision to help us realise it were extremely impressive. He quickly emerged as the outstanding candidate and I am delighted we will have the opportunity to reinforce our long-term vision, aided significantly by his expertise."

 

I am sorry Top but you have been duped!

Edited 16 December 2018 by Happy Fox

[LCCFox96]

I more than understand people's frustration with Puel but I don't understand calls for him to change the tactics to suit the squad so much. He's laid out his blueprints for how he wants us to play and those plans were probably essential to his appointment and pre-agreed with the board of directors as their mutual long-term vision. So he has to work towards that as they move the squad towards being better suited to that approach. 

 

Is it working faultlessly right now? Nobody would say yes but everyone can name two or three players that don't quite click into place, everyone can name two or three players that are clogging up opportunities to move in the transfer market and everyone can see the faults in our progress thus far so I am confident Puel and his backroom team have the nouse to address them should he be given the time. If he is to go, we are halfway down this road now so it's essential that the new manager can carry this work on, ideally at a quicker pace. Sacking Puel and turning to Hughes, Allardyce etc would be a horrific move.

[Fox92]

7 minutes ago, Happy Fox said:

Top's own words..

 

When we began the process of identifying a new manager, the board quickly established the profile of candidate we needed to take the club forward and Claude Puel was a perfect fit.

"Upon meeting Claude, his attention to detail, knowledge of our squad, understanding of our potential and his vision to help us realise it were extremely impressive. He quickly emerged as the outstanding candidate and I am delighted we will have the opportunity to reinforce our long-term vision, aided significantly by his expertise."

 

I am sorry Top but you have been duped!

Not 'duped' at all. It's looking to be a poor appointment (again).

 

Not a good enough appointment and that's not Puel's fault. He didn't give himself the job.

 

Edited 16 December 2018 by Fox92

[lgfualol]

48 minutes ago, The Doctor said:

I'd sort of agree but we've scored the most goals in the league from counters (at least 2 weeks ago when I last checked the stats). What teams have stopped us doing is the long ball dropped over the top, and that stopped late 15/16. It was behind our greatest ever season but it wasn't sustainable and people don't seem to quite grasp that. What we're seeing now, while not great, is streets ahead of Jan-Feb 16/17 season under Ranieri

I would be interested to know how many of those goals were against teams in the bottom half? And how many were at home against the teams in the bottom half?

[fazzyfox]

I'm not going to throw my toys out of the pram because we lost. Some of our build up play was decent and on another day we get something out of that game. 

 

However! I have a couple of problems with Puel's work on days like that and the number of times this has happened now it's like groundhog day with no sign of avoiding repetition.  

 

Firstly his over caution when chasing games. OK Nacho came on but in the case of Okazaki and in previous games he only really goes for it for 2,3,5,8 minutes. I shouted out in one game, "great we're going to give it a go for 8 minutes, worth £45 of anyones money that is". We retain the two DM's regardless of what we're trying to do, yes our full backs are very attacking and vacate their areas and need covering but the over caution is painful and now predictable. The promise when you buy a ticket is like being offered a two week honeymoon where on the final night there might be half an hour of kissing and cuddling...if you're lucky.

 

He needs to realise we're often chasing games because due to the slow tempo we get so little done in the first half in particular. Why not use those 45 minutes to play at a reasonably bright tempo too? It's like watching a testimonial team who are protecting their hamstrings by starting at walking pace with the intent of slowly turning the screw so that by 75 minutes it'll be a decent tempo. These are professional, generally young, athletes, they don't need to stick to such a gradual arc of intensiteeeeeee.

 

Secondly his post match waffling - although I'm also more angry that he doesn't get asked the right questions like "why did you retain such a cautious shape despite chasing the game" or "you seem to change a lot of creative players at half time, was your initial selection wrong", "Are you happy with the tempo of passing", "Your side seem reluctant to break at pace when the opportunity arises, does your system and philosophy give them freedom to play instictively?"

 

I want more from him on these difficult days, I'm not seeing it and can't see him changing.

[The Doctor]

6 minutes ago, fazzyfox said:

.

 

Secondly his post match waffling - although I'm also more angry that he doesn't get asked the right questions like "why did you retain such a cautious shape despite chasing the game" or "you seem to change a lot of creative players at half time, was your initial selection wrong", "Are you happy with the tempo of passing", "Your side seem reluctant to break at pace when the opportunity arises, does your system and philosophy give them freedom to play instictively?"

 

That's been true of every manager we've had for the last decade, no-one gives a good interview, partly because Stringer is completely useless both as a commentator and an interviewer, but also because so many interviews are platitudes done only out of obligation, it's not just our club.

[Crinklyfox]

I don't like where the club is now but will tolerate it if we are indeed in a transition period and the end result will be a stable team that we can confidently predict will finish in the top half of the table.  As an outsider I don't know if the plan is on track or not, only that the current position is not sustainable in the medium term.

 

I understand that in management you have to take a long term view, sometimes at the expense of the short term one.  I have some management experience, though not in football.  I held a management role in one company for eight years; when I began I could see that change was necessary and put measures in place.  The immediate result of those changes was insignificant, over the next couple of years profits did not increase, however after that they did and by the end of my tenure the company had 25% more employees, 50% more customers and over 100% additional turnover.  If I had been sacked in the first couple of years because the benefits of the changes hadn't been realised then the company wouldn't have eventually achieved the results it did.

 

So unless the owners perceive that their goals cannot be realised with Puel, my inclination would be to provide him with the backing necessary.  They are, in my opinion, astute businessmen, and if they take the view that he cannot take the club to the level they expect, then they will get a replacement.

[Foxes1]

2 hours ago, Happy Fox said:

Top's own words..

 

When we began the process of identifying a new manager, the board quickly established the profile of candidate we needed to take the club forward and Claude Puel was a perfect fit.

"Upon meeting Claude, his attention to detail, knowledge of our squad, understanding of our potential and his vision to help us realise it were extremely impressive. He quickly emerged as the outstanding candidate and I am delighted we will have the opportunity to reinforce our long-term vision, aided significantly by his expertise."

 

I am sorry Top but you have been duped!

It says the board decided on the profile of the candidate needed to take the club forward and he fitted that profile whatever it was we don't know (Could it be he was out of work and we didn't want to pay compensation to another club), lets not forget there is more than one person on the board. Top & Co are not football people but they need to be guided by people who are knowledgeable about football and obviously they are not, if Puel goes the club need to get the appointment right or 12 months from now we will be in the same situation.

[Poznan34]

Back him unless we get into a relegation fight we don't look like winning.

 

Is sacking another manager mid season really the answer? He should be given time to work things out. We were better than Palace yesterday, first 20 mins aside. 

 

(And yes, I was there yesterday, it was miserable.)

[TonyN11]

Totally agree, mid season sacking doesn't make sense - unless you are Fulham (and I reckon they could have a 3rd manager before the season ends).

There is a reason why certain managers are available mid season.

We should be sounding out potential new managers now though to start in May and then make a decision in March/April if we should be appointing one of them.

I may be deluded but I still think Puel could get us to a cup final.   

[Shaun the fox 1]

Top puel out puel out puel out purl out purl out 

[sdb]

I'm so so so so so so so bored. If this is his brand of football then I've had enough. 

 

For what it's worth I think he'll go in a few weeks when we're 13th and out of the cup, and not before. 

[brucey]

Voted in for now, but then again I have low expectations and am generally reasonably happy with survival every season as long as there is sufficiently interesting drama along the way.

 

Can't see Top getting rid before the summer anyway, unless we get genuinely sucked into the relegation battle. Hopefully the bottom of the table continues to be as shit as they are because we aren't going to pick up many more points.

 

I wonder if Top would actually be more willing to splash to cash on transfers than Vichai. There's been freebies at the last 4 away games now which never happened. Fingers crossed Walshy is back in Jan and has been looking at some players whilst unemployed.

 

Puel has done most of what he needed to do - the dirty work of replacing several 30-35 year olds with players 10 years younger. It was a job that needed to be done, it may have come at a cost of losing the dressing room, but it's what he was tasked to do and he's implied as much. He's mostly served his purpose now, just Vardy and possibly Morgan left to see off. So maybe it's time for the next phase of transition under someone else. But unless there are interested outstanding candidates mid season.. we risk getting someone worse who starts undoing any good bits that have been put in place (think 2nd season Claudio), coming in and giving all of the old guard starts and contract extensions.

[Bazly]

People crave entertainment. In the promotion year it was entertaining. In the great escape year it was entertaining, playing well just not getting the rub. During the title year it was highly entertaining. Since then its got really boring. We have become the snore bore team of the EPL. If I didn't feel compelled to follow the foxes I can think of 9 other games I'd probably rather watch each weekend.

Edited 16 December 2018 by Bazly
typo

[Guest Mee-9]

We're having apparently the best training ground in Europe being built.

 

They want to expand the ground.

 

I don't think Puel's the manager to steer the club to the next level. 

[BenTheFox]

I know people want what they believe is right for the club and I'm certain he's not going to read what is on here or on twitter etc. But can people please not try and put pressure on top? The man's just lost his Dad in a helicopter crash only meters away from the stadium. Show a bit more class. 

Edited 16 December 2018 by BenTheFox

[Foxxed]

9 hours ago, Fox92 said:

My bigger concern is that all Southampton fans said this about his football and lack of goals etc yet our owners wanted him. Do the board not go and watch managers?

 

Even if we sack him they'll not get the next manager right.

Or they wanted him for his youth development skills, the ones he developed and became famous for at Monaco. Puel did talk about a 'project' when he started. I don't think they're judging him solely on exciting football but whether he fits with the long term academy project.

 

I think he'll survive until the summer unless we get close to the relegation zone. Then Top will try to find a manager who better fits the long term academy project and if we find noone he'll keep Puel. As soon as we're pumping our premier league quality academy products we'll get a manager who's main quality isn't youth development.

[woddyuk]

Look on the bright sides de, we could have Jose Mourino imagine what we'd be watching then 

[fuchsntf]

Just proves the intellectual genial  30% a 3rd of foxestalk are carrying the burden,and are willingly sacrificing their own reputations for the good name

Of Our beloved Leicester city.............  Faith of the fearless........Santa comes to our houses,because we believe and are good lads n lassies

[Monsell1976]

Feel for the guy, like the style he’s trying to bring in, but he hasn’t got the style of players to play that way.

 He’s had time to get rid of the poor footballers, and bring in his own, but has done little to improve the side.

 His decision making stuns me at times, stuck by him to now, but bored as ****, time for a change, and I know I keep saying it, but get rid of some of these shit players aswell, ffs some can’t even make simple passes, or scared to keep hold of a ball and just hoof it

[Monsell1976]

7 hours ago, TonyN11 said:

Totally agree, mid season sacking doesn't make sense - unless you are Fulham (and I reckon they could have a 3rd manager before the season ends).

There is a reason why certain managers are available mid season.

We should be sounding out potential new managers now though to start in May and then make a decision in March/April if we should be appointing one of them.

I may be deluded but I still think Puel could get us to a cup final.   

I am new to the puel out, but totally agree, wait until the summer, he won’t get us relegated, just bore us until the summer 

[AlloverthefloorYesNdidi]

3 minutes ago, Monsell1976 said:

Feel for the guy, like the style he’s trying to bring in, but he hasn’t got the style of players to play that way.

 He’s had time to get rid of the poor footballers, and bring in his own, but has done little to improve the side.

 His decision making stuns me at times, stuck by him to now, but bored as ****, time for a change, and I know I keep saying it, but get rid of some of these shit players aswell, ffs some can’t even make simple passes, or scared to keep hold of a ball and just hoof it

He hasnt had time..thats ths crucial point