Claude Puel reveals his plan for Leicester City, involving Youri Tielemans and James Maddison

[Bablemikey]

1 hour ago, StriderHiryu said:

Not defending Puel's decision to start Gray because I think Vardy is by far our best striker and also my favourite player, but Wenger converted Thiery Henry from a winger into a striker. He was pretty gash in first 10 or so games, in fact he didn't score for the first seven games and he asked Wenger to put him back out on the wing because the fans were on his back, but the rest as they say is history. 

 

Gray is no Henry, but you never know perhaps he is a decent option to play as a back up? He has height which allowed him to get to that header against Spurs, and i think he linked play with Barnes and Ghezall quite well. At the same time I feel he drifted wide too often and forgot he's supposed to be in the box as the focal point!

 

When Arsenal signed Henry from Juventus in 1999, he was a winger who had struggled to make an impact in Serie A.

But Arsene Wenger had other ideas.

“At a certain point, I wanted to go to Wenger and tell him to put me back out wide,” Henry once said, reflecting on a period when he failed to score in his first seven Premier League appearances.

“Then, I said to myself that I had to react, that I couldn’t fail a second time, only a few months after a negative experience in Turin.”

The perfect lesson in perseverance, Henry went on to score 228 goals in 376 games for the Gunners. Wenger can feel pretty smug about this one.

 

https://www.planetfootball.com/quick-reads/13-players-who-thrived-after-changing-positions-henry-bale-pirlo/

 

 

In the couple of times Gray has played as the main striker I think he's actually looked better, and the team has looked better, than when he's playing as a winger.  I think the lack of defensive responsibility and his selfishness on the ball work for him as a striker.

It remains to be seen whether he really has the focus, strength, and cutting edge to make the position his own but it is encouraging.

[nettle]

I'm sure I posted stuff on here and it's all gone why?

[NotTheMarketLeader]

21 hours ago, sylofox said:

 

He's obviously a clueless tw@. Replacing fuchs with chilly Simpson with Ricardo Hamza coming in the team not to mention Mads and Barnes. 

 

No plan what so ever. 

Ffs I do wonder about some on here. 

So he’s doing a great job, as he is replacing over the hill players with younger ones.

 

Im not sure that is anything other than doing the minimum that would be expected; but be my guest Carry on Lauding Claude for having this team in 12th, after 16 months at the helm ???

 

Its top notch really when you look at it; he is definitely getting he best out of the players within the last year as 21pts in the league from 19 HOME games proves. ?

 

What makes me laugh is you and all the other Puel Cheerleaders have the gall, with your holier than thou attitude,to make out that such statistics don’t exist; and unless one says he’s doing a great job, we are idiots. 

 

Edited 13 February 2019 by NotTheMarketLeader

[AlloverthefloorYesNdidi]

3 minutes ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

So he’s doing a great job, as he is replacing over the hill players with younger ones.

 

Im not sure that is anything other than doing the minimum that would be expected; but be my guest Carry on Lauding Claude for having this team in 12th, after 16 months at the helm ???

 

Its top notch really when you look at it; he is definitely getting he best out of the players within the last year as 21pts in the league from 19 HOME games proves. ?

 

What makes me laugh is you and all the other Puel Cheerleaders have the gall, with your holier than thou attitude,to make out that such statistics don’t exist; and unless one says he’s doing a great job we are idiots. Have a look at yourself for gods sake. 

People keep talking about people on their high horse, holier than thou, its complete rubbish

 

Most people who are not Puel Out simply dont blame him for all our failings, they look at all the other obvious sources of issues our performances have and don't look at it ONLY through the lens of sacking the manager

 

When you lot come in and blame him for everything, call for his head and ignore anything positive he's done, you naturally get backlash as this is a very one-dimensional view, and then you get your knickers in a twist for getting that backlash

 

Nobody is claiming Puel doesnt make mistakes or that he is a tactical genius, its just that they dont want to talk about one thing (PUEL OUT) all the time and it gets a bit boring that we can only speak about the performances on the pitch through blaming Puel for everything 

[Ric Flair]

1 minute ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

So he’s doing a great job, as he is replacing over the hill players with younger ones.

 

Im not sure that is anything other than doing the minimum that would be expected; but be my guest Carry on Lauding Claude for having this team in 12th, after 16 months at the helm ???

 

Its top notch really when you look at it; he is definitely getting he best out of the players within the last year as 21pts in the league from 19 HOME games proves. ?

 

What makes me laugh is you and all the other Puel Cheerleaders have the gall, with your holier than thou attitude,to make out that such statistics don’t exist; and unless one says he’s doing a great job we are idiots. Have a look at yourself for gods sake. 

I think it's time there was some.sort of acceptance of each side as it's clear Puel is doing some things that will benefit this club long term, its just it's likely to be carried out by another regime down the line. 

 

What amuses me is the Puel In brigade can be very abusive and irate towards the fans who want Puel out, dont take it so personal lads. Claude is a strong minded person and the years salary he'll be chuffed up in the summer will cushion the blow.

 

I hope we have a positive end to the season, these next 5-6 games on paper look like the sort of run we could put together and the feelgood factor about the place will return. We have been diabolical at home for a year now and the supporters of Puel can come up will all sorts of weird and wonderful reasons to ignore that but the fact is, if we dont turn this around before the end of the season then he is going and rightly so. 

 

 

[sylofox]

3 minutes ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

So he’s doing a great job, as he is replacing over the hill players with younger ones.

 

Im not sure that is anything other than doing the minimum that would be expected; but be my guest Carry on Lauding Claude for having this team in 12th, after 16 months at the helm ???

 

Its top notch really when you look at it; he is definitely getting he best out of the players within the last year as 21pts in the league from 19 HOME games proves. ?

 

What makes me laugh is you and all the other Puel Cheerleaders have the gall, with your holier than thou attitude,to make out that such statistics don’t exist; and unless one says he’s doing a great job we are idiots. Have a look at yourself for gods sake. 

Not sure where you get the cheerleader bit from? I'm not overly happy with the football. But because I have patients and understand we could not change everything in one window I'm a cheerleader. Then you call people prepared to wait holier than thou. 

 

But hey you don't have an attitude problem do you because your beliefs are right. 

[Deeg67]

Anybody who wasn’t happy with the football (not the result) against Spurs has their head so far up their own ass they could kiss themselves on the lips. We dominated the bastards.

[NotTheMarketLeader]

8 minutes ago, sylofox said:

Not sure where you get the cheerleader bit from? I'm not overly happy with the football. But because I have patients and understand we could not change everything in one window I'm a cheerleader. Then you call people prepared to wait holier than thou. 

 

But hey you don't have an attitude problem do you because your beliefs are right. 

Well yes I do think my beliefs are correct and that can be backed up by results at home, and in the round over a sustained period along with football which has been terrible to watch.

 

He has had three transfer windows if I am not mistaken.

[sylofox]

12 minutes ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

Well yes I do think my beliefs are correct and that can be backed up by results at home, and in the round over a sustained period along with football which has been terrible to watch.

 

He has had three transfer windows if I am not mistaken.

Yes three windows one of which you can realistically buy in. The other two you just get ripped off in. Oh sorry I forgot we are rich. 

 

I think most rational people can see he's three players short of what he wants. Then if it's not working its time for the axe. 

[The Doctor]

19 minutes ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

He has had three transfer windows if I am not mistaken.

How many teams carry out the sort of rebuild job needed here in the midseason window? None. He's had one summer window and addressed 3 positions fans had been complaining about for years straight away - an attacking right back, a proper number 10 and some young centre backs who could pass the ball. Both January windows have been about trying to take advantage of the inflated prices to clear the decks of people like Slimani, Ulloa, Musa, Iborra and Silva (even if only one of them went permanently in that window). You're being pointlessly pedantic when the point sylofox was making was clear.

 

But, the simple question is - would you rather be patient, let the necessary rebuild happen, accepting that form will be inconsistent and frustrating in that time, with eyes long term on greater things or would you rather keep sacking managers, chasing a past that isn't possible to repeat (15/16) and tread water in the bottom half until one isn't good enough?

Edited 13 February 2019 by The Doctor

[foxes21]

Just a theory, @StriderHiryu but what are the Mercury’s sources for that article? How do we know it’s not total bollocks.

 

My worry is that some journo has read your threads on here and thought this is a great topic to get clicks. Will be a shame if Puel doesn’t persist with the 4-3-3, with one destroyer behind Tielemans/Maddison! 

 

It’s still likely he will resort back to the 4-2-3-1, which could still work due to Tielemans but in that system it feels like we’re reliant on Pereira / Chilwell crossing into Vardy which 9 times out of 10 is pointless.

[HighPeakFox]

1 hour ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

 

What makes me laugh is you and all the other Puel Cheerleaders have the gall, with your holier than thou attitude

Names please.

[KrefelderFox666]

Just now, HighPeakFox said:

Names please.

Everyone is called Claude or Claudia.

[Xen]

1 hour ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

So he’s doing a great job, as he is replacing over the hill players with younger ones.

 

Im not sure that is anything other than doing the minimum that would be expected; but be my guest Carry on Lauding Claude for having this team in 12th, after 16 months at the helm ???

 

Look around the league. Replacing old players with younger ones is not something that happens with any degree of consistency. And certainly not on the scale we have seen here. He's setting this club up for the future (whether or not he is a part of that is another topic), which is far more than the 'minimum that would be expected'. Craig Shakespeare was an example of the minimum; revert to type with the older players playing a tried-and-tested formation which gets mixed results but will never progress the club.

And we're in 12th, but only 1 point off 9th and with FAR favourable fixtures coming up than our closest rivals.

 

1 hour ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

Its top notch really when you look at it; he is definitely getting he best out of the players within the last year as 21pts in the league from 19 HOME games proves.

We should be doing better at home. I can't/won't argue against that.

 

1 hour ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

What makes me laugh is you and all the other Puel Cheerleaders have the gall, with your holier than thou attitude,to make out that such statistics don’t exist; and unless one says he’s doing a great job, we are idiots. 

Noone is making out those stats don't exist. The 'Puel In' crowd seems to generally be far more comfortable acknowledging both sides of the debate than the 'Puel Out' crowd. We admit he has faults and needs to improve things to keep his job long-term, but is doing good things for the club in the grand scheme of things. Every Puel-outer seems to be adamant on their view and pass any of Puel's achievements off as 'anyone can do that, so he doesn't deserve any credit'.

 

37 minutes ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

He has had three transfer windows if I am not mistaken.

Yes, three transfer windows.

One: January so fees were high, he'd only been at the club 2 months, managed to bring in a young player with potential and hold onto Mahrez despite the airport theatrics.

Two: Our most succesful transfer window in years. Net spend was one of the lowest in the league but we managed to address (almost) all the problem areas that have gone untouched by numerous managers. We inevitably lost Mahrez but replaced his creativity with players across the pitch who can contribute.

Three: January again, so limited spending. Particularly as we have this huge loan restricting us for the next few windows. Shifted out some deadwood and brought in a highly rated youngster to get us playing Puel's preferred style more effectively.

 

I'd say that's been pretty succesful

[Dames]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

I think it's time there was some.sort of acceptance of each side as it's clear Puel is doing some things that will benefit this club long term, its just it's likely to be carried out by another regime down the line. 

 

What amuses me is the Puel In brigade can be very abusive and irate towards the fans who want Puel out, dont take it so personal lads. Claude is a strong minded person and the years salary he'll be chuffed up in the summer will cushion the blow.

 

I hope we have a positive end to the season, these next 5-6 games on paper look like the sort of run we could put together and the feelgood factor about the place will return. We have been diabolical at home for a year now and the supporters of Puel can come up will all sorts of weird and wonderful reasons to ignore that but the fact is, if we dont turn this around before the end of the season then he is going and rightly so. 

 

 

This pretty much echoes where I stand on things.

 

Puel has done some really good stuff there is no denying that but at the same time he's done things really awfully too. On the balance of things the form since the turn of the year seems to swing things against him slightly, performances recently have been encouraging but the results just have not been there to back it up. As you've said Home form for the past 12 months if not more has been dreadful and as much as people on here love to abuse their own fans part of me feels sorry for the people that only get to watch us at home and I sympathise with some of the frustrations they are having. We definitely do not have the worst fans as some people claim to make out, we just have an extremely frustrated fan base that experienced the highest of highs and then the biggest anti climax right after. It is a problem that predates Puel but as the man in change currently and who has failed to turn home form around he's going to take the brunt of the frustrations. It also doesn't help that they are attacked by a few borderline fanatical people for airing their views or frustrations even if they are valid points or not.

 

If he can get the team to string a few positive results together to go along with the recent positive performances then the mood will lift and things will feel completely different. A good performance against Tottenham has already lifted the mood of a lot of people around here (I remain skeptical personally as we've been catfished before) and a positive result to go with a performance like that in the next game will do wonders.

 

I really hope he doesn't put Mendy in for NDidi - It really won't work and will leave us massively exposed. Mendy is a bang average player at best and a midfield 3 of Ndidi, Tielemans and Maddison can do bits if they are allowed too.

 

 

[MC Prussian]

1 hour ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

So he’s doing a great job, as he is replacing over the hill players with younger ones.

 

Im not sure that is anything other than doing the minimum that would be expected; but be my guest Carry on Lauding Claude for having this team in 12th, after 16 months at the helm ???

 

Its top notch really when you look at it; he is definitely getting he best out of the players within the last year as 21pts in the league from 19 HOME games proves. ?

 

What makes me laugh is you and all the other Puel Cheerleaders have the gall, with your holier than thou attitude,to make out that such statistics don’t exist; and unless one says he’s doing a great job, we are idiots. 

 

I see where your frustration is coming from and I share the sentiment in general; however, despite my patience being tested big time by Puel (and the players, I may add), I'm willing to give him more time, but he needs to deliver at some stage. Just like last season, he's currently living off a couple of great results (two, to be precise) and a short unbeaten streak last year. The rest of the season has been forgettable at best.

 

We've got a lot of youngsters in the starting XI, so my guess is the next nine league matches are all a testing ground as to how we can perform best eg. under what system and with which formation. Having said that, it reminds me of last season again - I can understand that Puel didn't have a pre-season before he joined us in the fall of 2017, but this experimenting during a season needs to stop. He's had a full summer and has now realized (maybe too late) that the 4-2-3-1 with the players at his disposal doesn't work, so he's paying the price for his stubbornness.

 

Results need to pick up, especially at home, otherwise it's "Au revoir, Claude et merci pour ton effort" in the summer, with somebody else taking over who's more apt at motivating and shaping these players. The longer this winless run continues, the more frustration and impatience will build up among the fanbase, rendering home matches in particular into a walk over hot coal.

[CosbehFox]

52 minutes ago, HighPeakFox said:

Names please.

You'll find that 75% of 'Puel Cheerleaders' are largely realists of our situation, and there's very little reason to advocate changing manager mid-season in our circumstances. Puel has a personality which doesn't fit with our squad or current staff - that's the hard edge of the scenario. However, benefits exist which can't be ignored. 

 

Largely my arguments are defending Puel are because opinions are form off 'edited' statistics rather than looking at things as a whole. 

 

It's not that I am Puel In. I am 'why the **** tarnish the clubs reputation by hiring some rent-a-manager which occurs mid-season?' I am 'why insist that Top and his family go through unnecessary hardship at a culturally difficult time for them?' I am 'why not just have some faith given the club's general success in past few years has been where patience is shown?' I am 'why continually allow a squad to manage the club?'

 

To add I think Puel will be gone in the Summer which sits fine with me. Gives a larger pool of managers to attract. Gives an opportunity for a new manager to asses the squad etc. The next few fixtures define if Puel has done the unfavourable work for someone else to succeed or if he will deemed as a total failure. 

 

If Puel gets sacked in the next month, we will either rush an appointment or we will appoint someone like Shakespeare till the end of the season. 

Edited 13 February 2019 by Cardiff_Fox

[StriderHiryu]

51 minutes ago, foxes21 said:

Just a theory, @StriderHiryu but what are the Mercury’s sources for that article? How do we know it’s not total bollocks.

 

My worry is that some journo has read your threads on here and thought this is a great topic to get clicks. Will be a shame if Puel doesn’t persist with the 4-3-3, with one destroyer behind Tielemans/Maddison! 

 

It’s still likely he will resort back to the 4-2-3-1, which could still work due to Tielemans but in that system it feels like we’re reliant on Pereira / Chilwell crossing into Vardy which 9 times out of 10 is pointless.

It came from the post match press conference that is given to all journalists about 1 hour after the game is finished.

 

We will see in the Palace game what happens, but pretty sure he will persevere with it as long as everyone is fit. 

[AlloverthefloorYesNdidi]

6 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

I see where your frustration is coming from and I share the sentiment in general; however, despite my patience being tested big time by Puel (and the players, I may add), I'm willing to give him more time, but he needs to deliver at some stage. Just like last season, he's currently living off a couple of great results (two, to be precise) and a short unbeaten streak last year. The rest of the season has been forgettable at best.

 

We've got a lot of youngsters in the starting XI, so my guess is the next nine league matches are all a testing ground as to how we can perform best eg. under what system and with which formation. Having said that, it reminds me of last season again - I can understand that Puel didn't have a pre-season before he joined us in the fall of 2017, but this experimenting during a season needs to stop. He's had a full summer and has now realized (maybe too late) that the 4-2-3-1 with the players at his disposal doesn't work, so he's paying the price for his stubbornness.

 

Results need to pick up, especially at home, otherwise it's "Au revoir, Claude et merci pour ton effort" in the summer, with somebody else taking over who's more apt at motivating and shaping these players. The longer this winless run continues, the more frustration and impatience will build up among the fanbase, rendering home matches in particular into a walk over hot coal.

I have defended Puel, but agree results need to pick up.  Like him or not, results have  kept him in a job until now.  Recently the form is poor, but the fixtures have not been kind

 

Now we have as nice a run of fixtures as we will get in this league and now is the time to go and get results.  If we dont start picking up wins (tbh at least 5 out of the next 12 games)  then changing the manager will become a reasonable prospect

[foxinsocks]

On 11/02/2019 at 22:07, chapero82 said:

The problem is the tele man is only here for 3 months  

Yes ...the next step is to get a new manager who can inspire the players and fans 

[Grebfromgrebland]

Like others have said this feels a bit line the great escape season where we were figuring things out and at times playing well but not getting our rewards.

 

We're not far off things falling into place and for this reason I think we have to see how next season goes and being optimistic I think it'll be great.

[foxinsocks]

4 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

It came from the post match press conference that is given to all journalists about 1 hour after the game is finished.

 

We will see in the Palace game what happens, but pretty sure he will persevere with it as long as everyone is fit. 

We are at at poorest.. at home agaibst a nin top 6 club who park a bus abd the either coubter atrack or ecploit our mustakes.  Brighton and  palace games will show where we're at

[Mike Oxlong]

4 minutes ago, foxinsocks said:

We are at at poorest.. at home agaibst a nin top 6 club who park a bus abd the either coubter atrack or ecploit our mustakes.  Brighton and  palace games will show where we're at

You been on some early morning sauce fella ? 

[Xen]

28 minutes ago, Grebfromgrebland said:

Like others have said this feels a bit line the great escape season where we were figuring things out and at times playing well but not getting our rewards.

 

We're not far off things falling into place and for this reason I think we have to see how next season goes and being optimistic I think it'll be great.

Weve been our own worst enemy at times. I don't think we've been outplayed by anyone in particular since the Palace/Spurs games in early December. We've made it difficult for ourselves by giving away cheap goals early on, at which point the opposition has sat back and we've struggled to penetrate their defense. If we'd managed to hold firm at the back for a bit longer I'm absolutely confident we would have taken the lead and gone on to win against Newport and Southampton, possibly even Liverpool and United. Spurs was down to poor finishing, and we were generally just awful against Cardiff (although I still wouldn't say we were outplayed, and we had opportunities to win it).

 

Things seem to be clicking now and with Tielemans we'll be much more potent going forwards, and if we can become a bit more clinical up front there's no reason that we can't go on a run similar to the great escape. If we do, it might just save Puel his job.

[MC Prussian]

31 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

You'll find that 75% of 'Puel Cheerleaders' are largely realists of our situation, and there's very little reason to advocate changing manager mid-season in our circumstances. Puel has a personality which doesn't fit with our squad or current staff - that's the hard edge of the scenario. However, benefits exist which can't be ignored. 

 

Largely my arguments are defending Puel are because opinions are form off 'edited' statistics rather than looking at things as a whole. 

 

It's not that I am Puel In. I am 'why the **** tarnish the clubs reputation by hiring some rent-a-manager which occurs mid-season?' I am 'why insist that Top and his family go through unnecessary hardship at a culturally difficult time for them?' I am 'why not just have some faith given the club's general success in past few years has been where patience is shown?' I am 'why continually allow a squad to manage the club?'

 

To add I think Puel will be gone in the Summer which sits fine with me. Gives a larger pool of managers to attract. Gives an opportunity for a new manager to asses the squad etc. The next few fixtures define if Puel has done the unfavourable work for someone else to succeed or if he will deemed as a total failure. 

 

If Puel gets sacked in the next month, we will either rush an appointment or we will appoint someone like Shakespeare till the end of the season. 

No matter whether you're "Puel In" or "Puel Out", I don't see a large portion of the people against the current manager advocating for him to be axed midway through the second half of this season. I'd say they do see the benefit of the upcoming fixtures as some sort of a testing ground.

Although you could equally say that a new (permanent) manager taking over in March or April would have the chance to get to know the players and the league a tad bit earlier and "in action" instead of having to go through the regular proceedings with a proper pre-season first. I'm not an advocat of temporary solutions, especially given our current situation. We're not in immediate danger of a relegation scenario, but I'd be very wary. Clubs further down the table are picking up the points we should've picked up earlier, so the next matches will be decisive and very important in that regard, as well.

 

The hint at the Srivaddhanaprabha Situation is a bit far-fetched, as nobody can really tell how much the loss of Vichai has affected them or still affects them. There's the duty-free business to take care of first and foremost, I doubt our club or the managerial position are that high up on the agenda at present (ok, so it's me guessing here). In all likelihood, they are assessing Puel on a game-to-game or surely a weekly/monthly basis as well and are weighing up the pros and cons.

What is sure is is that the sportive situation isn't satisfying. I have my doubts over Puel's ability as a manager to move this club forward, he may be able to lay some healthy foundations, but beyond that, he doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence. My doubts can either be dispelled with a string of positive results and performances in the next nine matches or reinforced should this winless streak continue. Motivation of this squad is a big issue right now.

 

With regards to the "Player Power" allusions, I think it's clear to see that it's diminishing with each title-winner forced out of the squad and/or leaving the club. Which is a good thing, as seen with a look ahead to the future.

Sure, they deserve respect and yes, no player is bigger than the club - it's always a matter of how you deal with these personalities on an individual basis.

Maybe the players never really warmed up to the manager in the first place due to several reasons (dry personality, language issues, temper), who knows? In the end, it's a people's business and not that easy to keep everyone happy. But at least you can try.