Claude Puel calls for a Leicester City reality check

[koop.]

I tell you what, I've been anti Puel for a little while for a few reason but finally he's shown some balls and this is a great read and quite reassuring. Apart from this all we've had is "we must continue this work" 

[Col city fan]

1 hour ago, sycokilla said:

I agree he will be here till summer at least, unless results go rapidly downhill. I also think he will be here at the start of next season too if we end up mid table.

I have no problem with Puel coming out and telling us to be patient but I do have a problem with him making the excuse that because we can not compete financially with the top 6 that it is impossible to get there.

This was disproved only 3 seasons ago by the very club he is managing.

Personally I am just bored with the predictability and one paced playing.

I have watched every match this season and it seems easy to predict what will transpire during every. game apart from a couple of exceptions.

Im sure I am not the only one and this is tending to make our home atmosphere even more toxic.

Good post

[Lionator]

Since November 1st we have the second best defensive record in the league. If we could knock a few more in at the other end then we'd be in business.

[STUHILL]

1 hour ago, fuchsntf said:

From 21 of my LCFC friends or aquaintances, 6 want him out Before EOS,but only if there is an immediate Replacement,but do put it down

To the simple fact, it's not always boring but the performances and not the losses,that now after half a season have not shown improvement..

Though defence is a big improvement...But all said..no Rafa!!  1 thought on Wagner,mixed feelings on Howe!

 

[fuchsntf]

9 minutes ago, STUHILL said:

 

Good for you,I hope you have enough tea bags...I make miy lot share.. 3 dips at least...including subs..!!

Edited 14 January 2019 by fuchsntf

[Heathrow fox]

I think he is trying to warn everyone that there might be a couple of seasons of belt tightening to come.If the club is upgrading its infrastructure then transfer funds are the first casualty.

 

Im more bored of Puel in out than Brexit,but if he were to go then the new bloke would be left with yet another rebuild job with limited funds.While he is confident that he can get this young squad playing to a certain successful style.

 

Maybe he has to play with 3 dms because he has to.What is the alternative.Silva,can’t play in this league.James,totally done now.Ibora,sold.King,love him but can’t give him away.Im not totally convinced with him but he might just know whats round the corner.

[woznotwos]

11 minutes ago, Heathrow fox said:

I think he is trying to warn everyone that there might be a couple of seasons of belt tightening to come.If the club is upgrading its infrastructure then transfer funds are the first casualty.

 

Im more bored of Puel in out than Brexit,but if he were to go then the new bloke would be left with yet another rebuild job with limited funds.While he is confident that he can get this young squad playing to a certain successful style.

 

Maybe he has to play with 3 dms because he has to.What is the alternative.Silva,can’t play in this league.James,totally done now.Ibora,sold.King,love him but can’t give him away.Im not totally convinced with him but he might just know whats round the corner.

Possibly move Maddison into the middle and put Barnes no 10 , Maddie's constantly deeper than he should be anyway to get the ball as it is. Other than that option , i'm stumped too

[Clever Fox]

It's great to hear him speak honestly about our situation. It's so refreshing to hear what he was as the problems and the solutions. I know exactly where he is coming from.

It's frustrating when you know the problem but can't do anything about it in the short term. In Puel case the need to move people on before we can bring the quality needed in. That's not his fault yet he has to deal with it. This is why it takes 3 years to build a team.

We're 18 months in now, with things moving forward and progress being made.

Players are improving and the team is improving albeit with some bazaar performances. We've got to see the job thru and I'm excited to see the finished product.

With another year playing together and a few summer additions to the team ( not the squad ) but players who can make a difference in the team . Then I feel we really can go places.

[inckley fox]

5 hours ago, Babylon said:

Well people did I ask for it, I said it was lunacy but there you go. Puel was a fool one week for not trying it and a fool the next for trying it. As I said before, even those who don't like Puel don't even agree with each other on what he should do.

 

How was the atmosphere when plummeting down the table under Ranieri and being just as shit against West Brom. Again, I don't agree with laying the blame at his door entirely on that. This shit had been in motion for a year and a half before he turned up.

No it didn't work out, but I'm not sure the selection in itself was responsible for the loss. Had Mendy performed as he usually does or Ndidi done more of the defensive dirty work instead of Mendy it would have been a different story. There were other factors which would have damaged our chances regardless of the shape. We didn't get much of a chance to see whether that line-up and formation could develop an attacking threat because we conceded too early, they packed their defence and our game plan was out of the window.

 

I'd say an uncharacteristic performance by one player, and a premature substitution by the manager had bigger roles in what happened that the 4-3-3. I agree that it backfired, but I'm not sure we're a great deal more effective creatively with, say, Gray, Maddison or Iheanacho in the side ahead of Choudhury. 

 

The wider problem isn't whatever particular shape or line-up we go for. It's hard to blame the line-up or the personnel, because (1) effort levels seem decent, by and large and (2) we seem to suffer much the same problems regardless of the formation, the personnel, or even whether the opposition has 11 players, or plays in the top 3 tiers of the league. The issue for Puel, in English football at least, is how he sets his sides up at home and specifically against teams which pack the defence. Something is overdue a rethink in that department.

[Ian Nacho]

4 hours ago, Lionator said:

Since November 1st we have the second best defensive record in the league. If we could knock a few more in at the other end then we'd be in business.

I think that is partly because we have the most defensive players on the pitch at one time, still an achievement though.

[Dahnsouff]

9 hours ago, Clever Fox said:

It's great to hear him speak honestly about our situation. It's so refreshing to hear what he was as the problems and the solutions. I know exactly where he is coming from.

It's frustrating when you know the problem but can't do anything about it in the short term. In Puel case the need to move people on before we can bring the quality needed in. That's not his fault yet he has to deal with it. This is why it takes 3 years to build a team.

We're 18 months in now, with things moving forward and progress being made.

Players are improving and the team is improving albeit with some bazaar performances. We've got to see the job thru and I'm excited to see the finished product.

With another year playing together and a few summer additions to the team ( not the squad ) but players who can make a difference in the team . Then I feel we really can go places.

Excellent post. 

[hejammy]

The thing is, 16/17 we continued to try and play counter attack and we were found out. Teams knew how to play against us. He's clearly trying to change the system however he has the wrong personnel for it. Yes the players he currently has want to stick to the style they know, they should be willing to accept that their style needs to change. This is why for example vardy was class for us but not so good with England. No matter which manager we bring in we cannot go back to counter attack in the Premier league if we have further ambitions, we just need the right players for it. 

[mozartfox]

I am not a Puel out man, but just listening to Danny Higginbottom on Talkshite, he put forward some excellent theories and observations.  Very interesting. Maybe some clever person can somehow find and post his comments?

[foxinsocks]

Yesterday's times report on Southampton game by reporter Steve Madeley:

"The experience core of Puel's squad are convinced that his methodical approach to training and measured style of play cannot work at the king power stadium and an increasing number of supporters seen to agree"

 

I expect that like us fans there are people inside the club who are not happy.  ..   but steve seems to know so. ..

Any evidence?

[foxinsocks]

There's puel the man... not an inspiring guy... is he able to enthuse our players?

And theres the style of football. ... way too pondetous.  I remember shakey saying how we need to shift the ball with one touch to keep the opposition panicing.

 

When a bus is parked  we have to go round or  thru it ... not just lobbing balls in.

[MC Prussian]

22 hours ago, yks said:

Your first sentence is once again a selection of some specific results.
We are a midtable team, we will sometimes lose against weaker teams than us and win against stronger ones. This isn't "going bad", these are the expected results of a midtable team.

When I talk about the "Puel Out" crowd (and not those who are only critical, I don't have anything about them) lying about the numbers they chose, the most obvious example is when they all talked about "relegation form" when we were in fact something like 12th or 13th with the results they chose.
Even the most recent topic is "home results are relegation cadidate results" when in fact we're 11th away.

And no, I'm not exactly the same since I consider all the games he was our coach for us. How that can be being selective ?

For last season, how the **** does that matter we were one loss away to be 12th ? Now he's critized on the loss he could had ? It's a whole new level of dishonesty.

About the next four games, maybe we'll lose them all and we'll be 13th after that (but people were already saying that before the end of December and Chelsea/Man City/Cardiff/Everton, so..), that wouldnt change my opinion.
I'll be disapointed by the results ofc, but that's it.
There is no shame losing against those teams and the season won't be over, we'll still could have results that'll lead us to the first part of the table.

And finally, I quote you "But at some stage, you need to look forward and build towards the future.". Exactly and that's precisely what he is doing this season and why our team isn't the finished product yet.
Being so high in the table is remarkabale in this context, and even more when our only player being able to regularly score goals is a mediocre Vardy and when a lot of our players seem to be only interested to make decent efforts against Top 6 clubs once in a while.

A midtable team isn't expected to win against Chelsea or Manchester City or expected to lose against Cardiff, Newport or Southampton. That's just a bizarre type of logic. Maybe it's because you're French, but it doesn't make any sense whatsoever the way you put it.

It's not about expecting results, it's about performances, and the recent losses have been one big letdown. Again, even the Everton away match was a turgid affair, Jamie Vardy's goal a lifeline after a horrible first half, and apart from the goal, the rest of the match wasn't that much better, either.

 

"Relegation form" means exactly what it means, this isn't "lying". When you win five out of 21 matches, that IS relegation form, no matter where you are in the table. No matter which team wins less than 25% of its matches, home and away, is performing like a team destined for relegation. And current results indicate that we may enter just the same phase than we did last season, it's frightening how similar it's starting to become.

 

It's perfectly reasonable to look at a certain period of time and a certain number of results in order to detect a tendency. Here, I'll give you another: Ever since the Watford home match, our record (FA Cup and EFL Cup included) reads W3 D1 L6, winning only one home match in the process.

 

Seems to me you don't get the way fans think and are also highly defensive of Puel. I wonder whether that is because he's a fellow countryman or whether you two are related in some ways. Strange thing is, I can't recall you criticizing Puel even once ever since you joined, the only time you ever pop up is when people are criticizing the manager (for good reasons, among others). Then you're all over them. That's a very one-sided approach. And bizarre in itself.

 

Again, we are currently in 8th (previously in 7th) and given the fact that we're facing three more PL powerhouses in the next four matches, my guess is that we'll continue to slide down the table. March is a month where he could recover, but even then, I'm skeptic about beating teams we should beat - on paper - because we usually don't. We seem to have a very hard time acting as favourites in a match, the winning mentality that made us so strong seems to have evaporated. And to me, part of it is down to the manager - I'm not excluding the players from making mistakes.

I'll take my hat off to Claude should we finish 7th in May, but it's still a long way to go until then. To me, he's not getting the mix right between younger and more experienced players, we're looking at offloading even more older players (Silva, potentially Benalouane, Okazaki, Fuchs, etc.) and a young team alone can't win you things - exceptions prove the rule.

Puel's football is bland, uninspiring, highly defensive and cautious, he gets the odd results here and there, I just don't see an evolution in the progress that we're supposed to be making. To me, we are stuck in a very similar situation that we were a year ago. There's little to no progress. All in all, I suppose the argument(s) surrounding Puel now are a carbon copy of last season. He divides opinion massively, and right now, there's certainly more of a shift towards him getting sacked.

 

Your last paragraph is interesting, because once more, you absolve the manager from all responsibilities. It's all the players' fault, Claude set them up perfectly (in your mind), I guess. I'm sorry, but I can't take that sort of argumentation serious. Puel deployed three defensive midfielders against a team third from bottom and gave the instructions to be patient and hold back with attacks. 35 minutes until the first chance in front of the Southampton goal! Unable to break down a team with ten men. Sideways and backwards passing galore. Bizarre.

 

More and more fans are giving up on that kind of football, leaving matches ten, fifteen minutes before the end. People are fed up with it. That is disheartening, just as much as the football on show is. And it's about time Puel addressed this issue instead of giving interviews that mean fvck all midway through a season.

Edited 15 January 2019 by MC Prussian

[Foxxed]

1 hour ago, foxinsocks said:

There's puel the man... not an inspiring guy... is he able to enthuse our players?

And theres the style of football. ... way too pondetous.  I remember shakey saying how we need to shift the ball with one touch to keep the opposition panicing.

 

When a bus is parked  we have to go round or  thru it ... not just lobbing balls in.

Even if true, he has however a great reputation of developing youth players, and our young players have given him praise, and he has succeed with young players before.

[Grebfromgrebland]

Let's just stick with him and support our team at least until the training ground is complete.

 

He stated facts of who we can compete with and as fans go off all emotional thinking we know the clubs finances better than he does. 

 

Look we never going to be able to sign the likes of Felipe Anderson, Samir Nasri, Richarlison, Pickford, Sigardson, Walcott, all the wolves lot who have a unique relationship with that agent etc.

 

We need to be realistic and we need to get bored at least for the time being.

[Babylon]

6 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

"Relegation form" means exactly what it means, this isn't "lying". When you win five out of 21 matches, that IS relegation form, no matter where you are in the table. No matter which team wins less than 25% of its matches, home and away, is performing like a team destined for relegation. And current results indicate that we may enter just the same phase than we did last season, it's frightening how similar it's starting to become.

 

It's perfectly reasonable to look at a certain period of time and a certain number of results in order to detect a tendency. Here, I'll give you another: Ever since the Watford home match, our record (FA Cup and EFL Cup included) reads W3 D1 L6, winning only one home match in the process.

 

We've won 4 in 11 at home (14 points the 12th most), which whilst isn't great is pretty much in line with what all other midtable teams currently have other than Everton. Attempting to stretch back to last season when we have different players in the team and squad is a bit pointless. You don't get relegated or win leagues for what happens in calendar years.

[MC Prussian]

21 hours ago, yks said:

And also probably why when a French club play against an English club which isn't in the top 6, they beat them.
To be clear the Premier League is considered better than Ligue 1 only because of the Top 6.
2-20 in Ligue 1 and 7-20 in the Premier League is basically the same.

Also the reason why French top teams usually lose against PL top teams in European competitions.

 

Also the reason why French clubs have won pretty much nothing in Europe since 1993.

 

*cough* Bernard Tapie *cough"

 

And also the reason why French football teams have lost to some pretty shit teams in the Europa League and Champions League qualification process in the past ten years, including dodgy teams from Hungary, Denmark, Cyprus, Romania or the Ukraine.

 

Also the reason why French teams tend to finish in the bottom half of group stages more often than they qualify for the knockout phase in Europe, with the exception of PSG.

[MC Prussian]

23 minutes ago, Babylon said:

We've won 4 in 11 at home (14 points the 12th most), which whilst isn't great is pretty much in line with what all other midtable teams currently have other than Everton. Attempting to stretch back to last season when we have different players in the team and squad is a bit pointless. You don't get relegated or win leagues for what happens in calendar years.

That's not what I'm saying. I simply detect a tendency of history repeating when it comes to second halves of the season.

 

Look, I'm not claiming we can't get anything out of the next four matches, I'm just not super hopeful we will. Not after what I've seen against Everton, Newport, Cardiff or Southampton - and going four matches back is a pretty good indicator.

 

Wolves - can go either way, I think they are playing some brilliant football for a newly-promoted side (the amount of expensive or good players they have surely play into it)

Liverpool (a) - we tend to perform badly at Anfield and this Liverpool team is from another planet

Manchester United (h) - have you seen the team lately? Solskjaer has completely transformed them, they are playing with joy and determination again, like a steamroller

Tottenham (a) - also scoring for fun, and we no longer have Robert Huth with us

 

But of course, Puel will then serve us another tactical masterclass against Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham, coming across as the saviour, leading everyone else to think why we couldn't muster a similar performance and result against a team like Wolverhampton, for instance.

 

Then we're playing Crystal Palace, Brighton, Watford and Fulham, Burnley, Bournemouth... And I pray to god it's not going to be Cardiff at home or Southampton at home revisited.

Edited 15 January 2019 by MC Prussian

[foxinsocks]

27 minutes ago, Foxxed said:

Even if true, he has however a great reputation of developing youth players, and our young players have given him praise, and he has succeed with young players before.

Yes he does. Agree. That's why it not black abd white (.... its grey).

I wasnt nigels biggest fan... but i liked the way he buot a squad of characters who would work and progress. (Have we lost this?)

Yet on balance i think Puel's bad outweighs his good. ... 

...i hope who ever comes next is similarly supportive of developing "youngsters"

[Dahnsouff]

I do wonder if Pearson had been appointed (Having no history with City) around the same time as Puel, would he to be currently hounded out? (or attempts to that end)

Guess in one sense Pearson was lucky, as his rebuild came at an all time low in terms of expectations

[Babylon]

6 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

That's not what I'm saying. I simply detect a tendency of history repeating when it comes to second halves of the season.

I'm not sure 3 games is any sort of measure for suggesting a 19 game second half season is going to repeat what came before.

[Foxxed]

33 minutes ago, foxinsocks said:

Yes he does. Agree. That's why it not black abd white (.... its grey).

I wasnt nigels biggest fan... but i liked the way he buot a squad of characters who would work and progress. (Have we lost this?)

Yet on balance i think Puel's bad outweighs his good. ... 

...i hope who ever comes next is similarly supportive of developing "youngsters"

I half think most of his success has been playing with young players because their enthusiasm and thankfulness towards Puel balances things out.

 

Until we reach the relegation zone or we nose dive horrifically I'd still stay his goods outweight the bads.