Are we short sighted?

[Foxhead]

I have my issues with Puel like most people on here. I can't ignore the fact however that he seems to have identified "poor signings" and wants them out. At the same time, he seems to be promoting excellent young players and transitioning the squad into something more competent.

 

Are our short comings the gaps that haven't been bridged yet but HAVE been identified?

 

I'm starting to wonder if Puel actually knows what he's doing and we just can't see the bigger picture?

[Trav Le Bleu]

I feel the same way. Yes, sometimes he's baffling, but you can't deny he's building for the future. I'd take a couple of seasons of slow improvement, rather than risk change to get instant improvement, which rarely works.

[The whole world smiles]

In the past few days we have seen stats that show Puel has given nearly twice as many minutes to young players, than any other premier League manager and then tonight you see a superb tactical performance away against one of the best sides in Europe.

 

Even if you are Claude's biggest critic if you can't see several big positives you are either stupid or willfully ignorant. 

 

 

[Foxhead]

Just now, Trav Le Bleu said:

I feel the same way. Yes, sometimes he's baffling, but you can't deny he's building for the future. I'd take a couple of seasons of slow improvement, rather than risk change to get instant improve, which rarely works.

Don't get me wrong, he is frustrating but he seems to know a player when he sees one. Just not sure he'll get the time.

[taffyfox]

He needs to realise that we are far more effective when we drop deep and surrender possession. It may not be his philosophy but tonight we restricted a very good attacking team to very limited chances and looked dangerous on the break.

Slow starts killing us as well which doesn’t help!!

[zealot]

That Chaudhury tackle towards the end tonight was truly beautiful! 

 

Give Puel more time - let him build.

[Tielemans63]

Well I am actually short sighted so the answer is yes.

[foxfanazer]

Whether Puel is the right man or not I feel a lot of people on this forum think they know more about football than they actually do. It's been worse since the title win but we do have a fickle section of fans

[Wolfox]

No shit Sherlock ?️‍♂️ 

[winteriscoming]

Is he an improvement on Shakespeare? Yes 

Have we improved under him? Yes 

Would young players like chilwell and chodury been given the playing time under Shakespeare? No

Will puel be here next season? No. 

That's my opinion. I agree that I'm split at times with puel. I just see someone else being in charge next season. 

[Foxhead]

1 minute ago, taffyfox said:

He needs to realise that we are far more effective when we drop deep and surrender possession. It may not be his philosophy but tonight we restricted a very good attacking team to very limited chances and looked dangerous on the break.

Slow starts killing us as well which doesn’t help!!

1

I agree mate. As I said, I am far from Puel in mob. I do think that he maybe thinks we'll write off a season or two in order to get where we need to be though. let's be honest though, he'll never get that time in the Premier League. If he addressed the fans properly, maybe we would understand what he is trying to do. I don't think this will ever happen though. As many have said. He would be a much better DOF.

[TheUltimateWinner]

I don't know, the problem for me is what do we do when we play teams who let us have possession. Same problem we've had for a few years now.

 

Puel has realised that, but for me, during those games, we are far too negative. That problem will rear its ugly head again when we play Palace. Not gonna moan too much right now as I'm chuffed we drew, but yeah, todays game played right to our strengths.

[shailen]

It's frustrating because what we have done tonight is great and quite frankly we should have beaten Liverpool today. 

 

He is tactically very good when a defensive performance is needed but can't seem to find the right answer when we should be on the front foot and clear favourites. 

 

I've changed my mind on him and I'm willing to give him more time but he needs to find a way to play against the so called weaker teams

 

 

[Hammo]

If he could get the team to boss and beat weaker sides than us at home with a bit more pace and zest, then everyone would be behind him. But he can't and that's a problem he must fix before the end of the season to unite the support. Otherwise he remains on shaky ground.

[Foxhead]

5 minutes ago, Hammo said:

If he could get the team to boss and beat weaker sides than us at home with a bit more pace and zest, then everyone would be behind him. But he can't and that's a problem he must fix before the end of the season to unite the support. Otherwise he remains on shaky ground.

This is what I mean by has it been identified but not fixed yet? I think that maybe this is the case now.

[Charl91]

I dont think so.

We seem to do well against the 'big' teams, where we just play the usual counter-attacking game we've always played. But I thought part of the reason he was brought in was to adopt a style to help us break down the smaller teams (or so people say). And as far as I can tell, we seem to be worse than before against the smaller clubs.

 

I am just hugely indifferent to Puel. It's hard to have particularly strong feelings about him either way. 

[TheLittleBigMan]

43 minutes ago, Foxhead said:

 

Are our short comings the gaps that haven't been bridged yet but HAVE been identified?

I'm not so sure about the gaps, but the short comings I can vouch for. 

 

#ilovezonalmarking 

[jayfox26]

I like Puel and what he is slowly trying to build here but i do understand others frustrations. 

 

Good points: 

- clearing the deadwood

- giving youth players a chance and developing them

- good signings in key areas needed with Maddison, Ricardo and Evans plus Soyuncu and Benkovic are young and could create our cb partnership for years to come if we develop them right.

- changed our style of play to try and give us more control of games rather than just lumping hopeless balls forward. 

- doesn't seem like he'd waste multi millions on crap players like we have in the past. Even his potential dud signing Ghezzal didn't cost a huge amount in comparison to crap we've previously bought.

 

Bad points:

- really struggles against poor teams who throw everyone behind the ball, causing frustration amongst fans, especially in home games like Cardiff and Southampton for example.

- does seem to have a bad run in him, end of last season and our recent run before our draw with Liverpool have been worrying. 

- playing weakened teams in cups annoys many fans even though most prem teams and even some champ teams do so, and i still believe the team put out against Newport should have been more than good enough to win that game.

 

Whether he'll be here next season im not sure. All depends on how we finish this season. If we have a decent run till the end of the season and we finish 7th/8th i think he'll stay. If we continue to drop points, especially at home to the bottom half teams and we have a similar run like the end of last season then he'll be gone. I genuinely don't think any decisons have been made either way and i feel our results will determine his future.

 

   

[Grebfromgrebland]

Glad to see the penny finally drop with some people!

[Stadt]

The uncomfortable truth is we've reached our ceiling with Puel and there's very few managers out there that could take us beyond it and even fewer that we could realistically appoint.

[vanity]

4 hours ago, Foxhead said:

I have my issues with Puel like most people on here. I can't ignore the fact however that he seems to have identified "poor signings" and wants them out. At the same time, he seems to be promoting excellent young players and transitioning the squad into something more competent.

 

Are our short comings the gaps that haven't been bridged yet but HAVE been identified?

 

I'm starting to wonder if Puel actually knows what he's doing and we just can't see the bigger picture?

Absolutely fans are short-sighted. This is a process. Puel is building the program. He is filtering out the players who don't work. He is developing younger players. We have improved massively on the ball. MASSIVELY. I shudder to remember the first game against Man United our title defense season, we couldn't get the ball past the half line. We were simply dispossessed at every turn. Now we are playing out the back at Anfield FFS, against one of the best teams in the world. Yes, their press worked at times, but never led to any goals.

 

The benefits of having Claude here are massive. The list of young players who have significantly improved since he arrived is long. Barnes worked under him the 2nd half of last season, become as dominant a player in the Championship as is in the league. Maguire went from an inconsistent CB with attention issues to a monster CB wanted by top sides like Man U. Chilwell is basically an English International coveted by Man City. Ndidi has improved greatly on the ball. Mendy was poor in Ligue 1 last season, has been a terrific performer under Puel. Suddenly Hamza looks a legit Prem starter. Daniel Amartey was turning into a legit RB before his injury. Ndoidi has improved on the ball of late IMO, he is moving much more decisively, though I think both our DMs needed this break, I think they simply hit a wall, they looked much better for the rest.

 

Plus he attracted Pereira, and now Tielemans. We don't get these players if Claudio or Shakey are here. These are terrific signings worthy of a top-6 side. 

 

That is not to say his development has been perfect. Iheanacho sucks. Gray still makes bad decisions. Sometimes you can only shine a player up so much.

 

And don't think I don't get the frustration. I have defended him for months, and his behavior at times is beyond inscrutable. He enrages me with his arrogance, his seemingly random personnel decisions make me want to chuck the remote at the TV. But he is improving. he is communicating more. He is learning how to reach the players, he is understanding the league better. The one thing I see is how we play when we are on. We have seen it intermittently since we beat Arsenal last season, then we had that, what 5-4 loss to Spurs? We probably should've won our opener at Man U, and the brilliance of our play against top sides tells me that we just need to give time.

 

I strongly suspect that the reason we are conceding early -- and the reason Claude cannot prevent us conceding early -- is that this possession-based style is not yet reflexive. We are thinking when we start games before settling in and simply reacting. The team is a bit too much in its head, and it slows us down just a tick, but that is enough of an advantage for Prem-level clubs to seize upon. The most important thing to remember about this happening is that it is entirely natural and part of the process -- as you gain experience in a style, the game starts to slow down, as you begin instinctively making the right decisions instead of taking that split second to think before acting. 

 

Sure, on occasion I think maybe we should fire him and start over. IDK. But he is clearly building something, and once we have another summer window, we will almost certainly have m ore players comfortable in this style than not. We need a CF now, someone who can come back to the ball and play in wings and FBs, who can do a bit of hold up and participate more in the build-up. Vards still has his role, but at the same time, we are playing a man short trying to crack the box at times with Vardy. We need another option, and Nacho isn't it. I suspect this is all going to click and click quickly once we get our DMs getting the ball fwd with more urgency. It may require something different, Tiel and Maddison and Ndidi in a 3 with Gray, Barnes, and Vardy up top, IDK. But I feel like we are close. Tielemans may be the piece we need, or we may need another couple this summer. But let' see this through to next season, and if we have to can Claude, let's get someone different but with a similar preference for flexibility in style. This stuff can work. We can play with the best in the world. We just need to figure out how to beat the more modest sides. 

[lanefox]

The majority massively 

[knitro]

Sounds like you're starting to understand why the Puel-Out Brigade makes me pull my hair out. They'd rather keep doing the same fire/rehire/fire cycle in perpetuity.

[M0901]

I'm still baffled there was a fan who went on TalkSport a few weeks ago and said he was the worst manager the club has ever had. Genuinely baffling. 

[indierich06]

10 hours ago, The whole world smiles said:

In the past few days we have seen stats that show Puel has given nearly twice as many minutes to young players, than any other premier League manager and then tonight you see a superb tactical performance away against one of the best sides in Europe.

 

Even if you are Claude's biggest critic if you can't see several big positives you are either stupid or willfully ignorant. 

 

 

I think it's great that he's giving time to young players, and the performances against Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool have been fantastic - the problem is, why can't we do it against Cardiff, Wolves, Newport, Southampton etc? And why has he shown such little interest in actually trying to win a domestic trophy? Despite last night's result, we've still only had 1 win in the last 5 games, crashed out of the FA Cup and we're still slipping down the table.

 

Even if you're Claude's biggest fan, if you can't see several big negatives then you're either stupid or wilfully ignorant.