Leicester city 1-4 Crystal palace post-Match thread

[inckley fox]

1 minute ago, The Doctor said:

Well most have been their level - there's a lot of young players who have the potential to be top players - Chilwell has already broken into the England side and a Gray, Maddison and Barnes could easily do so before the next world cup if they develop as you'd hope; but young players tend to be inconsistent. Let's be clear, Puel obviously isn't coaching Vardy to miss chances, he's not coaching him to limit his game and not get chances, Vardys just well short of what we know he can do, and has been all season - responsibility for his poor finishing has to lay on his shoulders

You always revert to naming and shaming Vardy. Again, if you think one of the first and foremost reasons for our thumping today was that Vardy severely let us down, when he clearly isn't receiving the sorts of opportunities that he has previously thrived off, then you're simply seeing what you want to see. In contrast, you point to Maddison and Gray as proof of our huge potential, and yet neither have been fantastically creative in recent weeks. Maddison, especially, was very poor.

 

There were so many more obvious culprits today - Maguire, Maddison, Ghezzal among them - than the ones you keep singling out, so I'm not sure why you repeatedly pursue this line of argument when it doesn't always seem relevant. If it's because you think Puel can be spared the blame by us pointing the finger at the old guard and supposing them to be either traitors or not up to it any more, then I'm not sure that blaming players instead of the manager is any more loyal or patient than the fans who were calling for Puel's head months ago.

 

This isn't, by the way, a defence of Vardy's form this season - and yes, he may well be on the decline - but your criticism of him has been disproportionate. No other striker has ever been successful under Puel in the EPL for any team, and it's clear that the supply is poor. It mostly consists of crosses of variable quality being flung into the box with few bodies and a limited physical presence to attack them, while the likes of Maddison gobble up a lot of our promising situations by shooting from distance or making a mess of set pieces.

[MPH]

9 minutes ago, tewkesbury-fox said:

Afraid Puel lost me tonight that was decent team we fielded tonight  this has all the smell of Mourinho at UTD i think he has lost the team

 

 

he lost them weeks ago. what was reported, was true.

[murphy]

Well... 

 

I really thought we had turned a corner with performances against Liverpool and Spurs, but it seems that we only look good against the better teams because they allow you the space to play knowing that they have more quality.  The rest of league knows how to play Leicester at the KP.  We are simple to defend against.  We have absolutely no ability to stretch defences or get in behind.  The opposition just needs to keep it's shape and let us play in front of them until we lose the ball or send a long shot into the stands.   Being so toothless in the final third bottleneck then leaves us vulnerable to the counter.

 

As for Puel, well the out brigade are in full pitchfork mode tonight but I am proud to be among those that chose to wait let the project succeed or fail, rather than be among the frothing mass that wanted him out months ago when we were doing well or just didn't take to him from the start.

 

1-4 to Palace at home is unacceptable.  It's another embarrassment yet this feels like a watershed moment.  Unless something remarkable happens, I don't see Puel surviving now.

[UniFox21]

1 minute ago, Mark 'expert' Lawrenson said:

Cheers , why not do something clever for once and add a constructive reply instead of weak irrelevant commucomma

You aren't getting a decent response when you're saying everyone wanting the manager to stay thinks they're above the rest. Don't know if you'd be able to comprehend a "clever" reply

[Ian S]

1 hour ago, Larry_LCFC said:

Sack him immediately. The bloke is a ****ing moron. We are going backwards at an alarming rate and we are going down if he stays.

 

Maddison is one of, if not the, most overrated players I've ever seen at this club. Free kicks straight at the wall, useless floating corners to absolutely nobody and the finishing of a horse. He needs dropping.

 

Fuming with that performance. Utter bullshit.

Spot on with the Maddison comment, his umpteenth terrible set piece led to their 2nd however more than that; he was just garbage.

[Al-aLondon-Foxile]

1 hour ago, sylofox said:

The thought of work on Monday seems like a bonus. 

Not if you work in Sydenham, just a couple of miles from Selhurst and alongside plenty of their fans. This sucks like hell. Next week will be shite, although, just lately most weeks have been. 

[deep blue]

Puel sets up his team as if it's a chess game. When in possession it's slow, predictable and pedantic moves, side to side and backwards rather than forwards. When defending it's as if the opposition are expected to attack in the same way, but they are fast, direct and clinical, and we can't cope.

 

For me, Puel hasn't "got" the Prem, hasn't adapted to it and doesn't know how to tackle it.

 

Who's to blame - him or the players? For me, we have a squad of very promising young players, admittedly with more development needed, but who are not performing as a team that are anywhere near the sum of their parts. My definition of a good manager has to include the ability to get the team performances to be greater than the sum of their parts.

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

22 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

You aren't getting a decent response when you're saying everyone wanting the manager to stay thinks they're above the rest. Don't know if you'd be able to comprehend a "clever" reply

You haven’t got a  decent response in you, I see nothing I your reply which says otherwise 

Say something constructive about our performance today and our form in general instead of irrelevant snipes regarding my comments 

[Rusko187]

Hate to be that guy...but....

 

Told you so

 

Can he go now?

[BigGibbo]

59 minutes ago, lcfceaves said:

Poor defensively as a team, no structure, look flakey everytime we are attacked. Going forward, looks pretty but no clear cut chances ever created. I’d say that’s a recipe for disaster 

Summed it up pretty well there chap. 

[Ian S]

42 minutes ago, filbertway said:

Short of walking on the pitch and scoring some of the 27 chances we had today though, what can the manager do?

What chances.? Are you drunk.

[Ian S]

41 minutes ago, filbertway said:

Ive watched coalville and leicester today, both teams must have had probably 50 shots between them against teams that defended all game and had about 10 attacks.

They have lost 2 0 and 4 1. It happens.

Hello! Hit and hope shots from 20 yards+ don’t actually count for a lot.

[breadandcheese]

We can't be losing 4-1 at home to Palace.

 

But there's little point getting rid of Puel at this point in the season, with the transfer window long gone. A new man in the summer.

[foxes_rule1978]

We never created a clear opportunity their goalie made no real saves 

[Al-aLondon-Foxile]

With all the possession we had, Vardy only had 6 touches in the box, let that sink in. We’re toothless, we rely on someone like Maddison/Gray/Barnes etc to fulfill the role left by Mahrez, someone to do something match winning, but whilst they huff and puff in the final third we just don’t score anywhere near enough, or worst still, we don’t look like we ever will. We throw crosses into the box, or like today, beyond the box, in the hope that one of our towering players with massive heart will actually win a header. It’s all a bit pointless, pretty much like we have been side New Year’s Day. Time for a change I’m afraid, I don’t see him lasting. I’ve been for him staying, hoping for the bigger picture to come in to view, but his win ratio is just awful, and the decline too pronounced. 

[midland_red]

In the end the manager takes the rap for this. The clue is in the name. I have not hatred or disrespect or anything else for Claude, he has made some improvements and his identification of holes in the team and finding people to fill them has been good. We are successfully moving out some of the old players. All good stuff.

BUT...in the end it hasn't worked, for any number of reasons discussed on here. That means, I think that he will have to go, and I say that as someone who has been, on balance and despite the frustrations, pretty much Puel In.

[oxford blue]

41 minutes ago, Marshall Cockney Fox said:

We dominated these feckers for vast chuncks of the game and out shot them by loads. Yet the score line says we were battered. This manager needs to go, but surely we are not far off being g half decent??

Yes, but nearly all the shots were from ouside the penalty area. Guaita was never troubled in goal.  Vardy needs more support; playing him as a lone striker - particularly at home - does not work. On several occasions there was no-one playing wide on the right when that pass was on if there was someone there. Was Pereira playing too narrow? is it time to give Maddsion a rest from taking all the set pieces? His delivery from corners (apart from the last one) was very poor and his free kicks were no better. 

[Grebfromgrebland]

I think the thing to remember about our squad is that we have good players but so does every other team. 

 

Maybe our players and squad aren't as good as we think they are.

 

[splinterdream]

2 minutes ago, Grebfromgrebland said:

I think the thing to remember about our squad is that we have good players but so does every other team. 

 

Maybe our players and squad aren't as good as we think they are.

 

I think we have great players, but no mix of experience and youth which I think you need unless your young players are exceptional

[Guest seanfox778]

We’re not an intimidating side to play, we never pose a threat and I don’t even know what our strengths are, if we have any? We’re not exciting to watch in the slightest unless you love watching long shots blocked and neat short passes around the box. Incredibly frustrating given the talent within our squad which is in there somewhere, it just needs unlocking which I now believe Puel cannot do. I’m not having a go at Ghezzal, I just think he best sums up what we are, a team afraid to showcase what they can do. We have the mentality of “keep it safe lads and we’ll be fine, the game will work itself out”. Someone needs to take charge and make something happen.

[H.a.r.r.y]

1 hour ago, Beechey said:

I didn't see him staying past the summer, now I don't see him staying past this week.

more the reason for him to stay then

[fox_up_north]

Players, particularly Maddison, need to be given a clip round the ear every time they try a worldie from 30 yards.

 

Personally I'd like to see Maddison dropped, Nacho to either sit behind vardy or play with him. Let two strikers bully the defence and the wide men can whip balls in from the byline. 

 

Could even play 3 at the back, Chillwell and Ricardo cover the wings with Ndidi/ Hamza, Tielemens and and Barnes in midfield.

[H.a.r.r.y]

Last win - Everton 1st January

8 points off of relegation, with our form we will be playing fo*rest in no time

[Guest Col city fan]

Had to smile at what Jon Hartson said when Iheanacho came on. Something like he hadn’t scored in 20 Prem appearances. Hartson said that just is not acceptable and of course, it isn’t.

I can not believe how this club has ridiculously left itself with so few striking options.

Okazaki btw hasn’t scored in 30 appearances.

And people on here want to blame and to slate Vardy!

Its embarrassing.

[inckley fox]

1 minute ago, Grebfromgrebland said:

I think the thing to remember about our squad is that we have good players but so does every other team. 

 

Maybe our players and squad aren't as good as we think they are.

 

Of course, we finished 12th in 2017 and were 14th when he took over, so for us to be in 12th, having finished 9th last season, is normal enough. If we think we should be 6th or 7th (and, in fairness, not everyone who wants Puel out is saying that), we're getting carried away.

 

And you have a point about the squad. We have key, legendary players on the decline - Fuchs, Okazaki, Morgan, Simpson, perhaps Vardy - and some of our younger players are the victim of the usual media hyperbole. Maddison springs to mind as a promising young player who hasn't performed anywhere near as well, nor as consistently, as the press would have you believe. He, like Gray and Maguire, should really be finding it a lot harder to get into the side. In fact, on the topic of Maguire, our goals conceded per game rate with him in the side (1.5) vs. out of the side (0.8) is alarming, but we've kidded ourselves that the guy is something special. That's not to say that these players won't go a long way, it's just that the squad is far from rounded.

 

But Puel has been here for 16 months, some of his additions have also failed to deliver and there's a serious question about whether he's found the best eleven, made sensible match-day decisions, or even found the right formation to accommodate his better players. Certainly you can't say that selections appear to be based on merit. And, above all, we have to remember that Shakespeare finished 12th and was fired very soon after, so even if that's unfair (when you consider the lack of serious investment in the team), it wouldn't be a surprise if the board adjudged that the current run is unacceptable.