Claude Puel calls for a Leicester City reality check

[CosbehFox]

I know it’s my third post in a row. 

 

But people have found it incredibly easy to forgot Vichai’s death. We saw what he meant to the inner workings of the club and just like a family member, that takes time. 

 

The entertainment yhing about our games - that’s a halfway house between the selected personnel and that we have quite a young squad still learning the game. The Cardiff game was a massive sign of what happens when you have no leaders and the Newport game a sign when you weigh heavy on experience.

[UniFox21]

Brilliant interview there, he's really come out and said how he feels with all the sh1t and speculation he gets. 

 

A lot of good points raised as to our situation, he clearly has a plan and wants to implement it rather than defending his job from speculation when we're sat 7th in the league with one of the youngest squads in the league.

[The Doctor]

6 minutes ago, ttfn said:

Well said Claude.

 

He comes across as very engaging in the written press.

 

Just like Pearson. Playing style is a bit different but I see more of Pearson in Puel than most managers in terms of approach towards building a side and the infrastructure behind it.

[st albans fox]

2 minutes ago, Farrington fox said:

I don’t understand the financials he’s eluding to, he says we can’t compete with the likes of Utd Arsenal et al, I get that, but West ham and Wolves! Really! Why?

 Is it to do with the financial FairPlay thing or what?

West Ham in London with a ground capacity of 60k and a much larger fan base than us

 

wolves - I can only assume that’s to do with their owners being a hugely wealthy corporation 

 

everton -  that’s got to be historic. Their fan base is larger than ours but Moshiri isn’t such a big wig unless he is usmanovs frontman in which case they will hugely outspend us

 

i get the feeling that the vision for our club is to spend the windfall from the PL win on the new training ground and stadium expansion so that we can stand on our own two feet at the top table 

[1972 Fox]

31 minutes ago, Lesta2014 said:

The still for me isn’t the league position, that’s very good and I certainly don’t expect us to be here. Around 10th is where I see a club of our size finishing on a regular basis! It’s the level of entertainment particularly at home where we struggle. I am bored when I go to home games these days something I have never felt even under levein/rob Kelly etc. I just know that if we haven’t scored by half time we won’t win the game and the other team are likely to nick one. We have some good young players with pace and think we can utilise this a little more. Possession football is all good if you have a purpose, we at times look like we are keeping the ball with no real plan especially when teams come and sit back which about 10 teams will do. Finishing 7th is a good acheievement but we saw how we dropped away last season and I fear the same again! Hoping Barnes gets some minutes today and he turns out to be like a new signing.

 

 

[mozartfox]

The cost of the Training Centre (Build) is cheaper than giving the cash equivalent to our Recruitment Team who have made several high profile screw ups and lost us Millions.  IMO The Club is moving in the right direction.  Puel is very good at developing young players where ever he has been.  Once we offload ALL of the out contract players this summer (no exception), with the wages this frees up, we can start to recalibrate the squad.   He needs to be time and chance to do this. This will take several windows.

[CosbehFox]

3 hours ago, Swan Lesta said:

He’s doing some great stuff. I’m unsure if though he’s the only person that can do the things he is doing. 7th is great so far even though the football to get us there has been mainly awful. I’m all for developing young talent and plucking players from the championship, I also think we should be plucking young players from other global divisions too who possess differing technical abilities due to where they learn their football.

 

In that interview he kept repeating “it’s not possible” when sometimes I think clearly some stuff might be and he kept banging on about a difficult atmosphere with the players.... Is that post crash or because they are unhappy for footballing reasons?

Your argument’s decent but do you have names of managers you think can achieve it? 

 

Theres a two fold problem there bevauae the managerial market at market at the moment is filled with crap. And even if there was good managers on the market, I wouldn’t trust Rudkin to ever pick him out 

[Nick]

6 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Your argument’s decent but do you have names of managers you think can achieve it? 

 

Theres a two fold problem there bevauae the managerial market at market at the moment is filled with crap. And even if there was good managers on the market, I wouldn’t trust Rudkin to ever pick him out 

Honestly, if you’re asking I’d pay a small fortune compensation to the cherries and offer Howe £12 million over 4 years to come play his 4411 brand of attacking and actual possession based football which in all honesty I think would really suit the players we have.

[Nicolo Barella]

To all the people claiming he is being defeatist when he said that we can't compete with Wolves, Everton, and West Ham in the transfer market - he is not wrong. Two are in big metropolitan cities with bigger supports/stadiums, so they both are in more attractive destinations (particularly West Ham) and make more money (particularly Everton). Wolves, on the other hand, are gaming the system with Mendes, and can get players of a calibre much better than a mid-table club would normally get. 

 

What he isn't saying, though, is that we have to restrict ourselves in the transfer market. I would expect to see plenty of money in the summer for him to bring in a quality RW with potential, a rotational striker, and another CM or two. 

[Blue-fox]

I really hope most of the fans now will give him a little bit of slack, get behind him and the team until the end of the season. Really glad he has came out and said this. 

 

Imagine how much of a boost it could be to the younger players for the fans to be behind the team, especially at the home games. 

[Swalshed]

20 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

West Ham in London with a ground capacity of 60k and a much larger fan base than us

 

wolves - I can only assume that’s to do with their owners being a hugely wealthy corporation 

 

everton -  that’s got to be historic. Their fan base is larger than ours but Moshiri isn’t such a big wig unless he is usmanovs frontman in which case they will hugely outspend us

 

i get the feeling that the vision for our club is to spend the windfall from the PL win on the new training ground and stadium expansion so that we can stand on our own two feet at the top table 

Exactly right. The owners want us to be sustainably competing in the top half for the long term. i.e. no longer a yo-yo club

[Guest MattP]

7 minutes ago, Swan Lesta said:

Honestly, if you’re asking I’d pay a small fortune compensation to the cherries and offer Howe £12 million over 4 years to come play his 4411 brand of attacking and actual possession based football which in all honesty I think would really suit the players we have.

I don't think Eddie Howe would leave Bournemouth anyway for us, but I certainly don't think he would if he knew he was coming into a club where he could be sacked for sitting in 7th. 

[Nick]

Just now, MattP said:

I don't think Eddie Howe would leave Bournemouth anyway for us, but I certainly don't think he would if he knew he was coming into a club where he could be sacked for sitting in 7th. 

Money talks and I was asked who I’d want and why. 

[Chocolate Teapot]

1 hour ago, Babylon said:

We were bottom three... bit different to "not being 7th".

 

It tallies with exactly what they said in the summer, they've not been coming out with grand statements of intent for a long term. It was all "consolidation", "sustainable" and "transition".

 

Perhaps knowing we are loaning £150m and that it needs paying back and that previous managers pissed £150m up the wall on rubbish has out a hold on that.

 

And seriously, why do people still keep going on about losing players. Chelsea lose players, Spurs lose players, Liverpool lose players.... if a huge team comes in there is nothing you can do but dig in your heals. No amount of perceived ambition will stop players going unless it's backed by ridiculous sums of money we don't have.

 

This is a long term project, not two or three seasons. But long term club growth over 5/10/15 years.

The owners went to the training ground and told the players they should be 7th, ask the players, ask any of the coaching staff.

 

This is confusing and clearly we changed strategy at some point but i dont understand exactly when.

 

And if we are where we are at in terms of finances why are we playing our strongest teams in the cups?

 

All feels quite middle of the road to me and that isnt exciting nor going to inspire fans to fill an expanded stadium.

[bfox]

7 hours ago, Pete from the USA said:

Not quite. But the point is that I'd rather have a competent manager who can take the club forward than one who is charming in press conferences.

I worry about what the result of taking the club forwards for Puel and the board is. Puel raised some fair points here. However if you go through a develop the youth policy then how are we going to retain all these when we are floating around 10th every and a top 4 team comes in with an offer. I hope this progession of youth also brings with it success fairly soon and frequently otherwise we risk being another southampton. Its a risk, probably one we have to take but we also have to get it right. But it really depends on expections after winning the league, for that i think we should be aiming to compete for the title and not just matchdays. But thats my opinion! 

Edited 12 January 2019 by bfox

[Nicolo Barella]

1 minute ago, Swan Lesta said:

Honestly, if you’re asking I’d pay a small fortune compensation to the cherries and offer Howe £12 million over 4 years to come play his 4411 brand of attacking and actual possession based football which in all honesty I think would really suit the players we have.

Would he want to make such a sideways move? Yes, yes, we are the bigger club, but right now we are on similar levels of quality, and he'd essentially be swapping a project he nurtured from League 2 to a brand new project with a hostile environment which didn't trust their previous manager to carry it through despite mostly doing a good job.

[Guest MattP]

Just now, Swan Lesta said:

Money talks and I was asked who I’d want and why. 

You don't think Bournemouth would match our 3 million a year to keep him?

 

We aren't anywhere near as powerful as we think we are. Bournemouth have signed Lerma and Solanke for not much less than our record fee.

[Lionheart10]

If he had played full strength against Man City & Newport and won both games the attitude towards him would be completely different,I just don't understand why he didn't do it!

[abdul_fox]

29 minutes ago, Blue Fox 72 said:

 

 

[Carl the Llama]

Fantastic. The parallels to Nigel "delusions of grandeur" Pearson continue. Keep the faith.

[CosbehFox]

20 minutes ago, Swan Lesta said:

Honestly, if you’re asking I’d pay a small fortune compensation to the cherries and offer Howe £12 million over 4 years to come play his 4411 brand of attacking and actual possession based football which in all honesty I think would really suit the players we have.

Which as we know due to the bank loan and lack of liquid finance is a fantasy suggestion. 

 

Bournemouth have just paid £19miion and a right back on top dollar wages. His resources are similar. Add to that, he manages expectations at Bournemouth and can do no wrong. He’s likely to be the next England manager if he stays at Bournemouth

 

 

Edited 12 January 2019 by Cardiff_Fox

[zealot]

 

2 minutes ago, Lionheart10 said:

If he had played full strength against Man City & Newport and won both games the attitude towards him would be completely different,I just don't understand why he didn't do it!

We lost to Newport through mistakes from two title-winners. Big Wes misjudging a cross for one of the only times in his life and Marc Albrighton giving away a needless penalty. To say they are not full strength players is a weak argument. 

 

We lost in the third round of the FA Cup away. For god's sake man it happens sometimes. Get over it. Most on this forum have.

 

It's not and shouldn't be the biggest defining moment of our season! Securing European football would surely make it one of our most successful seasons ever. With big games against Liverpool and United coming up good on Puel for resting a few. It's not his fault Ihenacho and title-winner Shinji have lost their shooting boots this season!

[Swalshed]

He's doing a good job in what has been a tragic season off the field. Clearly fans are not happy with the style of play, but we need to be more patient to see how it evolves over the fullness of time and with the right personnel in place. 

 

For once, we're actually having a season where we're not having to look over it shoulder at a relegation scrap. 

 

And for those who constantly worry about players leaving - as other posters have pointed out, this happens at all levels, not just to us; it's a part of football we have to accept. However, booing the team off at the final whistle is probably a pretty good way of helping players feel less settled here.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Good on him. 

 

Let's back the lads to Europe!

[CosbehFox]

12 minutes ago, Swan Lesta said:

Money talks and I was asked who I’d want and why. 

Money Bournemouth have thanks to a Russian petroleum millionaire