Claude Puel defends his Leicester City record

[smr]

Shakespeare had better stats and was sacked.... 

 

Craig had 1.38 points per game. Won as many games as he lost. Scored more goals than conceded.

 

Puel has 1.35. Has lost more games than he has won and the goal difference is negative.

 

Also, at home  we have scored a meagre 13 goals this season. 13 goals at home since august we have got up out of our seats. 

 

Make of that what you will. For me, the football is awkward and dull as well.

 

 

[foxile5]

1 minute ago, smr said:

Shakespeare had better stats and was sacked.... 

 

Craig had 1.38 points per game. Won as many games as he lost. Scored more goals than conceded.

 

Puel has 1.35. Has lost more games than he has won and the goal difference is negative.

 

Also, at home  we have scored a meagre 13 goals this season. 13 goals at home since august we have got up out of our seats. 

 

Make of that what you will. For me, the football is awkward and dull as well.

 

 

Shakespeare got a raw deal. That doesn't mean we should just flip through managers on a carousel. 

[Babylon]

1 minute ago, escos said:

And yet we beat, Everton, Chelsea, Watford and the first goal against City playing a style you say is bust? 

 

All im saying is he can’t change the whole team so if we continue losing games he needs to stop being so stubborn and change the way we play. 

You clearly aren't reading what I said. It works against teams who attack us. It does not work very often against those who don't and we've had exactly the same struggles against people trying to shithouse us since about 2/3's of the way into the title winning season.

 

He hasn't changed the tactics against Wolves or Watford or Cardiff for instance. We've managed to break away and score in two of those games as they came to play where as Cardiff did not. 

[volpeazzurro]

45 minutes ago, Gazza M said:

I don't agree. I just think we are set up wrong and we aren't playing to our strengths. Set up better we certainly would win more home games and hopefully not lost 10 games already again this season. 

Yet each week, there are about two dozen people on here who pick a different team, a different formation and all of them think they're right and are setting the team up to play to their strengths. Yet not one of them, like you, watch them in training all week to evaluate their strengths, have knowledge of their current injuries,  fitness levels or other personal matters. Then if we lose and your particular team and formation wasn't picked with a dozen or so other ones,  you can yet again proclaim that had your's with your superior knowledge had been selected, we could have been in a Champions League spot by now ?

 

Exaggerated I know, but sometimes guesswork from an armchair armed with little or no facts is par for the course on here.

[escos]

2 minutes ago, Babylon said:

You clearly aren't reading what I said. It works against teams who attack us. It does not work very often against those who don't and we've had exactly the same struggles against people trying to shithouse us since about 2/3's of the way into the title winning season.

 

He hasn't changed the tactics against Wolves or Watford or Cardiff for instance. We've managed to break away and score in two of those games as they came to play where as Cardiff did not. 

Fair enough. So why are we not changing the way we play against the sides who just defend?   Granted we don’t have the magic of Mahrez, and I strongly believe that is hurting us more than some realise, but surely there are other tactics we could apply?

[Babylon]

7 minutes ago, southfox66 said:

 we play his style we win 29% and when we played in our old counter attacking style we win 50% which tell me which style is best. 

These stats are a falacy, that's based on the amount of posession and not the style we played. 

 

Us having 49% posession in one game and the opposition 51% doesn't mean we've played counter attack football.  Yet any points we've won during those games get lumped into your "old counter attacking style" numbers.

 

We win more points having less posession. But that's often because the other team has come to play and not just put 11 men behind the ball trying to nick a goal against us.

[smr]

Genuinely wonder how many of the puel in lot have been to every home game this season. ie. got season tickets.

 

Because i have just had a thought... if i didnt have a season ticket i probably wouldnt be frustrated... if you watch motd and listen to the radio and maybe go to one or two games here and there you probably arent getting the same picture as those of us who have been every game. On the face of it our league position is good. 7th is for me, top of the league that we are in realistically.. behind the budget and stature of the top 6 clubs.

 

So you should be happy, but when you play at home and see how we play, how incredibly slow, laggy and lethargic the players look starting games, how tactically shambolic the games are, it wears your enthusiasm down. 

 

We go to football to be entertained, but when the man steering the ship sets us up to be so defensive against teams we should be beating its beyond frustrating.

[Dames]

2 minutes ago, escos said:

Fair enough. So why are we not changing the way we play against the sides who just defend?   Granted we don’t have the magic of Mahrez, and I strongly believe that is hurting us more than some realise, but surely there are other tactics we could apply?

Being able to match the intensity of these teams would be a start. To many times we just let these teams play the way they want or let them impose themselves on the game because our tactical masterplan is to be patient and stand off them.

 

Letting the players press the opposition would be a good start and it would get more fans back on side.

[Freeman's Wharfer]

31 minutes ago, Babylon said:

And this is based on what exactly? Because all the players ever still say is how together the group is and how those who leave miss it. We still battle to get back into games on the pitch.

 

It's speculative, uninformed comments like this that piss so many people off.

 

Dont like the football? Fine.

 

Don't think the results are good enough despite the fact every other midtable team goes through the same up and down shit? Fine, I can accept at times we should be doing better.

 

But just chucking in this sort of stuff is ridiculous. How together we look in Ranieri's second season? 

Sorry, where did I say this was explicitly referring to the players?

 

It’s clear to see that our fans and manager have zero connect: that is a lack of togetherness.

 

So no need for anyone to get pissed off unless they start to read into it more than that.

[AylestoneRaider]

I think Puel is preparing for a dignified exit. Sounds like he’s getting his excuses in. 

 

He could be more balanced and state that our home form has been inconsistent and the FA Cup loss was a huge blow. Instead he is trying to blame everything on the fans.

 

Whilst some might have sympathy with Claude, no-one can be entirely happy with the way we are playing with the players we have. I find his attitude a bit arrogant and condescending. I believe in the squad  and feel they are capable of better performances and more consistency; even if he doesn’t.

[MPH]

i can deal with losing, Mr Puel.

 

what i cant deal with is losing with totally inept performances, players who don’t seem to know what they are doing( slow and clueless first half’s) and losing boring boring games.

 

Yesterdays  game wasn’t really one of them although it’s fair to say we started very slowly again.

 

 

 

Defensive set ups are boring! that’s the problem  .

 

He seems to be a little bit out of touch with what people are moaning about.

 

 

[smr]

1 hour ago, Cadno'r Cymoedd said:

Were we boring yesterday? 

No, we were that shit it was impossible to be boring. But at home we are boring.

[The whole world smiles]

17 minutes ago, smr said:

Shakespeare had better stats and was sacked.... 

 

Craig had 1.38 points per game. Won as many games as he lost. Scored more goals than conceded.

 

Puel has 1.35. Has lost more games than he has won and the goal difference is negative.

 

Also, at home  we have scored a meagre 13 goals this season. 13 goals at home since august we have got up out of our seats. 

 

Make of that what you will. For me, the football is awkward and dull as well.

 

 

Craig had Mahrez.

[Babylon]

3 minutes ago, escos said:

Fair enough. So why are we not changing the way we play against the sides who just defend?   Granted we don’t have the magic of Mahrez, and I strongly believe that is hurting us more than some realise, but surely there are other tactics we could apply?

That's a fair point, i think the issue is that the best way of beating those teams is what he's got in mind. Technical players capable of pulling defenders around and making space... unfortunately it's not working, yet. 

 

I belive he has the right ideas, no way he just wants Chilwell crossing it into the box all game. The question mark isn't the style I think he's got in mind, it's whether he's capable of getting the players to play that way. Has there been any real improvement in the movement of players up front, crucial to making that style work? I'd say not, and that's my major issue.

 

 

[southfox66]

3 minutes ago, Babylon said:

These stats are a falacy, that's based on the amount of posession and not the style we played. 

 

Us having 49% posession in one game and the opposition 51% doesn't mean we've played counter attack football.  Yet any points we've won during those games get lumped into your "old counter attacking style" numbers.

 

We win more points having less posession. But that's often because the other team has come to play and not just put 11 men behind the ball trying to nick a goal against us.

Don't you think teams outside of the top half haven't done the same thing in previous seasons but we managed to beat them, the amount of time I watched the side this season play this slow ponderous build up play, its becomes embarrassing and annoying 

[Corky]

21 minutes ago, smr said:

Shakespeare had better stats and was sacked.... 

 

Craig had 1.38 points per game. Won as many games as he lost. Scored more goals than conceded.

 

Puel has 1.35. Has lost more games than he has won and the goal difference is negative.

 

Also, at home  we have scored a meagre 13 goals this season. 13 goals at home since august we have got up out of our seats. 

 

Make of that what you will. For me, the football is awkward and dull as well.

 

 

They've both suffered from the same issue in that they've started their reigns well before tailing off. Shakespeare started with 5 wins then 3 wins in 16, Puel won 5 in 8 with one defeat before regressing.

 

In fact, the last three managers have had almost identical records after 8 games which suggests the players respond to a new voice and then can't keep it going barring Ranieri, who as we know had a shocker of a time before he left.

[elvisfmcfly]

Once again with the expectations,let’s break it down shall we? What I don’t expect Clueless Claude is to get beat at home to the likes of Cardiff and Southampton or away to a mid table league 2 side.

 

i don’t expect that you keep picking the same players who underperform or the tried and untrusted Morgan Maguire pairing.

 

i don’t expect that the first time we score 3 goals in a long time it comes at the cost of conceding 4 

 

and I certainly don’t expect that the only time we look threatening is when we are 2 goals behind.

[Babylon]

8 minutes ago, smr said:

Genuinely wonder how many of the puel in lot have been to every home game this season. ie. got season tickets.

 

Because i have just had a thought... if i didnt have a season ticket i probably wouldnt be frustrated... if you watch motd and listen to the radio and maybe go to one or two games here and there you probably arent getting the same picture as those of us who have been every game. On the face of it our league position is good. 7th is for me, top of the league that we are in realistically.. behind the budget and stature of the top 6 clubs.

 

So you should be happy, but when you play at home and see how we play, how incredibly slow, laggy and lethargic the players look starting games, how tactically shambolic the games are, it wears your enthusiasm down. 

 

We go to football to be entertained, but when the man steering the ship sets us up to be so defensive against teams we should be beating its beyond frustrating.

I've got one, hope that helps answer the question.

 

Please don't make the mistake of thinking that anyone who thinks a manager who has been here 13 months should be given more time, are "happy".  Neither should you presume that defending him against some of trash that gets posted on here means we are entirely happy with everything he does.

[smr]

1 minute ago, Babylon said:

I've got one, hope that helps answer the question.

 

Please don't make the mistake of thinking that anyone who thinks a manager who has been here 13 months should be given more time, are "happy".  Neither should you presume that defending him against some of trash that gets posted on here means we are entirely happy with everything he does.

What do you think then?

[Babylon]

4 minutes ago, southfox66 said:

Don't you think teams outside of the top half haven't done the same thing in previous seasons but we managed to beat them, the amount of time I watched the side this season play this slow ponderous build up play, its becomes embarrassing and annoying 

What seasons would those be? The season Ranieri got sacked, or Shakespeare got sacked. 

 

We've struggled against these teams since the Man City away 3-1 win. As soon as people started respecting us it's been an absolute grind against those teams coming to defend. We scraped past them in the title win season, but one look at the games like Norwich, Newcastle, Southampton you could see what was coming. The same thing followed the next season and Ranieri lost his job because of it. Shakespeare then struggled against Huddersfield and West Brom, every bit as bad as what we are seeing now playing counter football.

 

We need another way of playing, Puel is spot on. It's whether he can implement it is the question.

[ARTY_FOX]

42 minutes ago, AlloverthefloorYesNdidi said:

Ask me again in September, if he's still here

 

Whilst Mendy and Albrighton and the crew are gifting the opposition pens and assists and our games are full of other such blunders my first thought is the players arent performing consistently

Albrightons brain fart yea that’s his fault. I mean you just don’t do that but we were ****ing woeful that game. Cardiff poor. Southampton. Poor. Wolves every time we pulled it back we reverted back to the sideways negative poor football. Everton was awful. Fortunately so were they and it was a bad game of football but we were very very fortunate to win that. 

 

Man City we obviously were never going to be seeing a lot of the ball that game so we weren’t playing the usual game style and that was brilliant. Aguero himself missed 2 absolute sitters but you’ll always need luck to beat them. 

 

Chelsea was absolutely a fluke, I mean we were absolutely battered until we scored. Then had a really good 10 mins on the front foot before going back to the battering. If it wasn’t for the fact we beat Man City and Chelsea would you have said they were exciting games?? 

 

 

@AlloverthefloorYesNdidi I just read what you quoted back and the last part came across way more aggressive than it was ment. Not trying to be a dick  sorry man

Edited 20 January 2019 by ARTY_FOX

[sphericalfox]

2 minutes ago, Babylon said:

That's a fair point, i think the issue is that the best way of beating those teams is what he's got in mind. Technical players capable of pulling defenders around and making space... unfortunately it's not working, yet. 

 

I belive he has the right ideas, no way he just wants Chilwell crossing it into the box all game. The question mark isn't the style I think he's got in mind, it's whether he's capable of getting the players to play that way. Has there been any real improvement in the movement of players up front, crucial to making that style work? I'd say not, and that's my major issue.

 

Vardy has come out and stated that he's having trouble changing to a different type of play. Funny how that came out in the press, and not via LCFC channels. Then you have media voices coming out confirming that there's unrest in the squad, and 'you wouldn't believe some of things going on'.

 

Besides Nacho, we don't have any other real options, and he is a confidence player. I did see flashes in the pre-season & early games he did play that his signing wouldn't be wasted. 

 

There's a pattern forming in behaviour. The same happened before, so that even those who are stalwart 110%ers end up dragged down by the negativity and they end up in shite form, as heel draggers do their best to not do their best.

 

What I have noted is that Puel has not thrown his players  either senior or young under the bus individually for mistakes, errors, lack of desire, or motivation. It's commendable given circumstances regarding his more experienced players and how they are performing.

[Babylon]

3 minutes ago, smr said:

What do you think then?

That he gets to the end of the season, unless there is a huge slide down the table and we reassess our options then based on a full season and what progress, if any, has been made.

 

The club also need to look at it from different angles. For all we know there is no money to spend, if that's the case I'd rather stick with an average Puel than bringing in someone who is going to want to have money to spend and want to change the squad around again.

 

There is a big squad transition going on and that could get vastly more complicated by switching managers.

 

In fantasy football world I'd like a new manager, playing better football, finishing top 10 minimum with loads of money to spend. But it's not a fantasy world and until we've got the training ground paid for, a boring safe pair of hands might appeal to the club.

[StriderHiryu]

21 minutes ago, smr said:

Genuinely wonder how many of the puel in lot have been to every home game this season. ie. got season tickets.

 

Because i have just had a thought... if i didnt have a season ticket i probably wouldnt be frustrated... if you watch motd and listen to the radio and maybe go to one or two games here and there you probably arent getting the same picture as those of us who have been every game. On the face of it our league position is good. 7th is for me, top of the league that we are in realistically.. behind the budget and stature of the top 6 clubs.

 

So you should be happy, but when you play at home and see how we play, how incredibly slow, laggy and lethargic the players look starting games, how tactically shambolic the games are, it wears your enthusiasm down. 

 

We go to football to be entertained, but when the man steering the ship sets us up to be so defensive against teams we should be beating its beyond frustrating.

I don't think the manager should be sacked, but I do understand this point. I haven't been to every home game, but have been to most and sometimes it's beyond frustrating watching us play. I also went to Brighton and Palace away and being incredibly miserable at times freezing my bollocks off watching us not even have a shot on target for the first 45 minutes of both games.

 

That said despite losing both our last two league games, I actually thought the Southampton home game and Wolves away were much better to watch even though we made shocking errors in both. I guess that's because those games were exciting, even if the result was not positive. In fact though we beat Everton away, I'd go as far as saying that I'd prefer to watch more games like the Wolves one, just hoping that we don't lost them all the time!

 

Football is basically a hobby / interest for us all, so first and foremost we want to be entertained. That doesn't mean we have to be a silky Man City style team, we just want to see our lads have a go. The 5-3 win over Man United in our first season back for example was one of the best games I have ever been to even if it was more of a blood and thunder type of affair.

[volpeazzurro]

23 minutes ago, smr said:

Genuinely wonder how many of the puel in lot have been to every home game this season. ie. got season tickets.

 

Because i have just had a thought... if i didnt have a season ticket i probably wouldnt be frustrated... if you watch motd and listen to the radio and maybe go to one or two games here and there you probably arent getting the same picture as those of us who have been every game. On the face of it our league position is good. 7th is for me, top of the league that we are in realistically.. behind the budget and stature of the top 6 clubs.

 

So you should be happy, but when you play at home and see how we play, how incredibly slow, laggy and lethargic the players look starting games, how tactically shambolic the games are, it wears your enthusiasm down. 

 

We go to football to be entertained, but when the man steering the ship sets us up to be so defensive against teams we should be beating its beyond frustrating.

Understandably you go to games with your season ticket to be entertained like I do. A manager however sets out to win a game by whatever means,  entertainment will rightly be the last thing on his mind. Football is first and foremost a business. If we as supporters are entertained it is as a chance byproduct of what has been happening on the pitch. It is the same at any club, though if you're a Man City or Barcelona season ticket holder your odds are quite a bit higher. The only sure way of getting entertainment is by going to the cinema or similar.