Puel 'Facing the sack' - reports

[Mark - Reading]

15 minutes ago, STUHILL said:

He also mentioned we were close to a big name signing in the summer and Macia '...left weeks ago' (to west ham last summer) ...

 

I wouldn't trust the "ITK's" that much 

Did he leave though because there is nothing on any website other than he was being poached. Stories before Christmas say he is going to Bordeaux and everything suggests he is still here 

[STUHILL]

Just now, Babylon said:

Pretty much all teams rested players, this isn't just a Leicester thing. The pundits will slate it as they are sat there attempting to make people interested in watching a load of players not actually good enough for our first team any more.

 

 

They did and those teams within the 7th to 12th "group" in the Premier League, should seriously have a rethink about what they want to achieve. The way these teams treat these cup competitions is a disgrace. 

 

I don't believe that is why the pundits criticise these selections. I think they do so, because they genuinely can't see why a team Like Leicester won't throw everything at winning the FA Cup! 

[STUHILL]

3 minutes ago, Mark - Reading said:

Did he leave though because there is nothing on any website other than he was being poached. Stories before Christmas say he is going to Bordeaux and everything suggests he is still here 

Did he leave for West Ham last summer? 

[sylofox]

27 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

The club is looking to move both Iborra and Silva off the books trying to reduce the wage bill and get a much money for them as possible in this window.

 

They are hardly going to risk them picking up a injury and being stuck with them for another 6 months.

Reported Iborra is gone. 

[Guest MattP]

38 minutes ago, STUHILL said:

They did and those teams within the 7th to 12th "group" in the Premier League, should seriously have a rethink about what they want to achieve. The way these teams treat these cup competitions is a disgrace. 

 

I don't believe that is why the pundits criticise these selections. I think they do so, because they genuinely can't see why a team Like Leicester won't throw everything at winning the FA Cup! 

It's bizarre. If we don't even care about winning cups I don't see what the point of it all is.

 

Just hang around season after season in midtable until you finally have a bad year and get relegated.

Edited 7 January 2019 by MattP

[cambridgefox]

3 minutes ago, MattP said:

It's bizarre. If we don't even care about winning cups I don't see what the point of it all is.

 

Just hang around season after season in mutable until you finally have a bad year and get relegated.

Exactly.Everyone needs to get out of their heads about winning the PL again and even CL football for a long,long time.

Clubs like Leicester,West Ham and Everton realistically should go all guns blazing for a cup.

Really want to see us win the FA cup before the grave.Then it’s only Division 3 to complete the set.

[Mark - Reading]

19 minutes ago, STUHILL said:

Did he leave for West Ham last summer? 

I don’t think he did I think he was going too and then didn’t id love to know. I had this same conversation with a mate who said he had gone to Bordeaux yet the Internet says he is still here  

 

update: story from Christmas Day

 

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/leicester-citys-eduardo-macia-remains-2362331

Edited 7 January 2019 by Mark - Reading

[STUHILL]

Just now, MattP said:

It's bizarre. If we don't even care about winning cups I don't see what the point of it all is.

 

Just hang around season after season in mutable until you finally have a bad year and get relegated.

It would be so refreshing to hear a manager come out and declare his intention to play his best possible team to try win such a prestigious competition, rather than treat these games as a reserve/training outing to ease players back from injury or give some minutes to players not performing well enough to start each week. 

 

Teams like Fulham, Newcastle etc resting players all makes sense due to fighting for their lives to stay up, and even teams like Man City and Liverpool have bigger priorities at the moment, but we should have no excuse to not be taking this competition seriously and seeing it as a genuine chance to win some silverware. We beat Chelsea and Man City in the league! We are more than capable of getting to a Cup Final and even winning it, if we played our strongest 11. 

 

Just such a wasted opportunity in my opinion and Puel is rightly being criticised by pundits for it. 

[Babylon]

13 minutes ago, STUHILL said:

They did and those teams within the 7th to 12th "group" in the Premier League, should seriously have a rethink about what they want to achieve. The way these teams treat these cup competitions is a disgrace. 

 

I don't believe that is why the pundits criticise these selections. I think they do so, because they genuinely can't see why a team Like Leicester won't throw everything at winning the FA Cup! 

If they can't then they are fools, the reality of it is they do know the reasons why, but they can't sit there and slag off the competition they are being paid to advertise basically.

 

To make the cup a priority, it would need to make commercial sense for clubs to do so, you'd need to win the competition to pretty much make it worth your while making it a priority over the league. But everyone knows winning it is difficult (we haven't since the clubs inception), the chances are you're not going to so people focus on the league, where moving up one position makes you two or three million per place.

 

I'm desperate to win the cup, it completes the set as far as I'm concerned. But I'm not going to ignore the financial implications and I can understand why clubs and managers don't focus on the cups, no matter how much I actually want us to.

[The Quick Brown Fox]

I am openly Puel out, yesterday there wasn't alot he could have done and we attacked all game which the lack of is my biggest criticism of him. His team selection yesterday should have been plenty good enough to beat Newport, due to this I'm giving him some slack after this game. 

[ROB-THE-BLUE]

2 minutes ago, browniefox said:

I am openly Puel out, yesterday there wasn't alot he could have done and we attacked all game which the lack of is my biggest criticism of him. His team selection yesterday should have been plenty good enough to beat Newport, due to this I'm giving him some slack after this game. 

That's basically how I feel as well. The players completely let him and the fans down yesterday. 

[STUHILL]

1 minute ago, Babylon said:

If they can't then they are fools, the reality of it is they do know the reasons why, but they can't sit there and slag off the competition they are being paid to advertise basically.

 

To make the cup a priority, it would need to make commercial sense for clubs to do so, you'd need to win the competition to pretty much make it worth your while making it a priority over the league. But everyone knows winning it is difficult (we haven't since the clubs inception), the chances are you're not going to so people focus on the league, where moving up one position makes you two or three million per place.

 

I'm desperate to win the cup, it completes the set as far as I'm concerned. But I'm not going to ignore the financial implications and I can understand why clubs and managers don't focus on the cups, no matter how much I actually want us to.

To be honest, I think most the pundits are ex-players in a time where the FA Cup still genuinely meant something and they see a team like Leicester who did the most incredible only a few seasons ago, and so rightly believe we are more than capable of actually winning the FA Cup. Look at Southampton getting into the Final and were the better team for most the game. It really isn't that much a of a stretch to think we could win it, if we took it seriously or at least more seriously than we did last night! 

 

Does our Billionaire owner really care that much about the two or three million difference in a place or two or does he want to go for what would be another incredible story to add to what has been a fairy tale so far. I get he is a businessman at the end of the day, but when we are losing 10's of millions on sacking managers or player flops, a finish between 7th and 12th is not the be all and end all. An FA Cup final/win and 12th place finish? Yes please!!! 

 

This is all predicting that we WILL see a big drop off in the league if we play a stronger team in the FA Cup but I'm not sure how an embarrassing defeat to League 2 Newport does us any favours with confidence in the League, so I'd rather have gone full(ish) strength and swept them away in style and kept the players on a wave after the Christmas period and hungry for an FA Cup run! 

[mozartfox]

Survival in the EPL must be Top priority and the prize fund that goes with it.  No one can argue this is as being the best business plan 

 

But that Team he selected was a car crash. Many called it out before the game. All this bollo* about there were 7 title winners means jack-shite. We have to face facts, Father time exposed quite a few players last night and the lack of firepower is well, negligence personified.  He could have put out a more youthful Team and still rested a few and maybe got a result.

 

Now if we slip up at the weekend Puel will be crucified and I am fast running out of things to defend him with when he does what he did yesterday.  His only solace is, he now sees the size of the clear out required and that there is absolutely no room for sentiment anymore.  Lets the contracts run down and move on. If not, your tenure will be cut short.

[FoxFossil]

56 minutes ago, Tuna said:

It wouldn't surprise me if as a football club we've already made a decision on Claude and are waiting until the end of the season to replace him where their preferred candidate is available.

 

I think our business in this window may be interesting; we need reinforcements, we need more quality and players that fit his philosophy. Claude is doing a rebuilding and clear-out job and although we seem to be getting rid of a few, there are no rumours of anyone coming in which obviously means nothing but it wouldn't surprise me if we went through the transfer window without signing anyone. If we are intending to replace the manager, why allow him to make any new signings that any new manager may not want? 

 

I'm not saying this is what I would do, but I would not be surprised if this is the situation. We'll see.

Yes,

Did I hear a rumour (on here?) that he was to be sacked, and the helicopter crash meant the Monday meeting was never held? 

Therefore his target short term (which may well be written into his contract) is to simply to stay in the Prem, which with 3 wins he will have achieved, and would explain his bizarre ignoring of the cups, especially against Man City. How else can you explain his actions unless there was something more behind this? 

We are often told on here that we don't know what's in the clubs contracts, but many of us are experienced enough in corporate body language to read when something a bit odd is going on.

Certainly seems to be treading water on the transfer front when there as some obvious shortcomings to be resolved, so again adds to the suspicion of a short term arrangement only.

[Kopfkino]

20 minutes ago, Babylon said:

 

 

To make the cup a priority, it would need to make commercial sense for clubs to do so, you'd need to win the competition to pretty much make it worth your while making it a priority over the league. But everyone knows winning it is difficult (we haven't since the clubs inception), the chances are you're not going to so people focus on the league, where moving up one position makes you two or three million per place.

 

I'm desperate to win the cup, it completes the set as far as I'm concerned. But I'm not going to ignore the financial implications and I can understand why clubs and managers don't focus on the cups, no matter how much I actually want us to.

 

Why does either need to be prioritised over the other? To win the FA Cup it's an extra six games, for which three are already scheduled into the calendar so they don't disrupt other fixtures, by the time you get to the latter rounds we only play every Saturday, and after the next round you no longer have the possibility of replays.

 

It's a not a choice between the league and the cup. It is entirely possible to take the cup seriously rather than treating it as a rotation opportunity and still do well in the league.

[Guest Markyblue]

There was no logic in not playing our best eleven whatsoever.  We are safe in the league no chance of relegation.  Is 3 points against Southampton more important than a chance of the fa cup. No need to rest the best players at all, always backed puel but I'm fuming. 

[Babylon]

13 minutes ago, STUHILL said:

To be honest, I think most the pundits are ex-players in a time where the FA Cup still genuinely meant something and they see a team like Leicester who did the most incredible only a few seasons ago, and so rightly believe we are more than capable of actually winning the FA Cup. Look at Southampton getting into the Final and were the better team for most the game. It really isn't that much a of a stretch to think we could win it, if we took it seriously or at least more seriously than we did last night! 

 

Does our Billionaire owner really care that much about the two or three million difference in a place or two or does he want to go for what would be another incredible story to add to what has been a fairy tale so far. I get he is a businessman at the end of the day, but when we are losing 10's of millions on sacking managers or player flops, a finish between 7th and 12th is not the be all and end all. An FA Cup final/win and 12th place finish? Yes please!!! 

 

This is all predicting that we WILL see a big drop off in the league if we play a stronger team in the FA Cup but I'm not sure how an embarrassing defeat to League 2 Newport does us any favours with confidence in the League, so I'd rather have gone full(ish) strength and swept them away in style and kept the players on a wave after the Christmas period and hungry for an FA Cup run! 

They don't put money into the club any more, what we spend comes from what we earn. The £10m between 7th and 12th is a large amount of money and dwarfs what you get from the cup unless you win it. In 25 years the cups been won twice by teams outside the big boys, clubs just don't bother any more because the money isn't enough to focus people on it and the big clubs are often so far ahead in terms of what they invest, you stand little chance of winning the cup anyway.

 

It's sad, but that's how it is. The only way to make clubs take it seriously is for the prize money in lower rounds (4th & 5th) to be higher than it currently is. Lets say we won yesterday, won in the next round and then the 5th round. We'd have got a whopping £675k, about a quarter what one place in the league nets you.

 

 

 

[STUHILL]

6 minutes ago, Markyblue said:

There was no logic in not playing our best eleven whatsoever.  We are safe in the league no chance of relegation.  Is 3 points against Southampton more important than a chance of the fa cup. No need to rest the best players at all, always backed puel but I'm fuming. 

Some light rotation maybe! But to start James, bring King on, pair Okazaki with Iheanacho and not have Vardy on the bench? Criminal. 

 

I don't get this idea that modern day players are incapable of playing more than 1 match a week! Look at them in the Championship playing Sat and Tues, as well as teams in the Champions League playing their strongest too. 

 

Add to that, the fact we are very comfortable in the Prem, there really is zero excuse to make such changes in a competition we should have ambitions to win, not treat as reserve/training outing. 

[Babylon]

11 minutes ago, Kopfkino said:

 

Why does either need to be prioritised over the other? To win the FA Cup it's an extra six games, for which three are already scheduled into the calendar so they don't disrupt other fixtures, by the time you get to the latter rounds we only play every Saturday, and after the next round you no longer have the possibility of replays.

 

It's a not a choice between the league and the cup. It is entirely possible to take the cup seriously rather than treating it as a rotation opportunity and still do well in the league.

You'd best ask pretty much every single club that decides to do so. Especially on the back of stupid festive periods where clubs play a silly number of games.

[STUHILL]

1 minute ago, Babylon said:

They don't put money into the club any more, what we spend comes from what we earn. The £10m between 7th and 12th is a large amount of money and dwarfs what you get from the cup unless you win it. In 25 years the cups been won twice by teams outside the big boys, clubs just don't bother any more because the money isn't enough to focus people on it and the big clubs are often so far ahead in terms of what they invest, you stand little chance of winning the cup anyway.

 

It's sad, but that's how it is. The only way to make clubs take it seriously is for the prize money in lower rounds (4th & 5th) to be higher than it currently is. Lets say we won yesterday, won in the next round and then the 5th round. We'd have got a whopping £675k, about a quarter what one place in the league nets you.

 

 

 

As I said in my previous post. This is all implying that for some reason our team drops for 7th to 12th for playing a few more games?! I still feel an embarrassing loss to League 2 Newport does way more harm than an extra game for the players. 

 

A cup run and performing to the level we have in the league (not that impressively..) is too much to ask for? 

[Dames]

1 hour ago, Babylon said:

Or perhaps it's fact to the person picking the team and just a rumour to a bloke sat behind a computer.

 

It's this kind of one layered thinking that's so annoying on here. Did you not consider that it's actually true before using it to bash him?

Wouldn't it have been prudent to play them to put them in the shop window? Generate more interest?

 

If you want me to think out the box what I've just said makes more sense. Not playing someone incase they get injured by the way is a daft excuse before you come back with that. These guys get paid to play football and the chances of injury are very low. They could equally get injured in training which has a higher chance of happening because they train more than they play.

 

Also it puts the buyer in a stronger position because they can offer less and say 'Well you don't think they are good enough to play against Newport so they can't be worth as much as you are asking'.

Edited 7 January 2019 by Dames

[Babylon]

Just now, STUHILL said:

As I said in my previous post. This is all implying that for some reason our team drops for 7th to 12th for playing a few more games?! I still feel an embarrassing loss to League 2 Newport does way more harm than an extra game for the players. 

 

A cup run and performing to the level we have in the league (not that impressively..) is too much to ask for? 

Yes and you're presuming we'd win the cup, when in reality we'd likely just get drawn against a massive team and lose. Like we have done for 135 years.

[Captain...]

The problem is the FA Cup comes right after a busy festive period, made busier for us by having a League Cup quarter final at the start. There is no right way to manage the schedule, you need to rest players and keep them fresh but without significantly weakening the team. The problem is we have too many squad players that do not play except for the odd game, they have no chance to get any form or rhythm and are then suddenly expected to play. We also have a number of players that just do not fit Claude’s system (although some of them are playing every week).

 

Having said that that there were still very obvious mistakes in selection. I think it was a mistake to play James, perfect game to bring him on from the bench if we’re winning but you can’t start someone who has been out for that long and expect him to perform, same with bringing on King frozen out all season of course he will be rusty.

 

Nacho’s confidence must be shot Okazaki cannot be the link up number 10, why would you not play Gray, he has not played a huge amount over Christmas and always look up for it we effectively started with no real pace and Okazaki pulling the strings as a number 10. Why start with the most defensive full back in the league and then when things aren’t going well, why would you put Albrighton at full back? Especially with Ricardo on the bench.

 

It was just a mess all round.

 

 

[Ric Flair]

3 minutes ago, Babylon said:

You'd best ask pretty much every single club that decides to do so. Especially on the back of stupid festive periods where clubs play a silly number of games.

Certain managers rotate their team WAY more than others though, i'd love to see the injuries statistics for us vs Spurs for example. Poch makes changes, but never in the same manner that we do under Puel and certainly not when reaching the quarter finals of competitions. Harry Kane would never be left out of a quarter final, whether it be the League Cup or the Champions League where the difference in wealth from one round to another is off the scale. That team yesterday was vulgar, I know we were against League Two opposition and if you're ever going to rotate then do it in the early rounds against dross but it was a mis-matched line up you'd pick for a friendly when half of your squad aren't even back in training yet.

[FLAN]

1 hour ago, Tuna said:

It wouldn't surprise me if as a football club we've already made a decision on Claude and are waiting until the end of the season to replace him where their preferred candidate is available.

 

I think our business in this window may be interesting; we need reinforcements, we need more quality and players that fit his philosophy. Claude is doing a rebuilding and clear-out job and although we seem to be getting rid of a few, there are no rumours of anyone coming in which obviously means nothing but it wouldn't surprise me if we went through the transfer window without signing anyone. If we are intending to replace the manager, why allow him to make any new signings that any new manager may not want? 

 

I'm not saying this is what I would do, but I would not be surprised if this is the situation. We'll see.

My only hope is this is true and they are letting this fool do some of the dirty work in weeding out the dross around the squad so the new guy has a cleaner slate. 

There cannot be anyone at the club pleased with the actual football even if the league position is probably better than expected.  Remember being in this position last season though and we just completely stagnated.