It was coming. We all knew it was coming. Even Puel knew it was coming.
As we all struggle with the emotion of the situation and face the usual barrage of uninformed abuse from the media and fans of other clubs, should we have any sympathy for Claude?
A balanced view:
The Good:
1. He has had to gradually dismantle the aging, title-winning squad and build for the future, and this is something he has done well. Big names have been let go or sold and there is only Vardy and Schmeichel left that are regular starters.
2. He's had to rely more on youth and ensure we have a young vibrant squad that is capable of taking the team forward. This is perhaps Claude's biggest plus point. We now have one of the youngest squads in the Premier League and players aged 22 or younger have played more than twice as many minutes in league games this season as those at any other club.
Ward (25) Chilwell (22), Soyuncu (22) Maguire (25), Pereira (25), Tielemans (21), Chowdry (21), Ndidi (22), Gray (22), Barnes (20), Maddison (22), Amartey (24), Iheanacho (22)
3. He has changed our playing style to a more possession based game and succeeded to the point where we usually have more possession than the opposition and at times play some really good football.
4. He handled the whole helicopter tragedy with calmness and dignity and led the club bravely though its darkest period.
5. He has always protected his players from criticism and kept in-house issues in-house. He has quietly dealt with rumours of player unrest and refused to publicly criticise his team. In this respect he has led from the front.
The Bad:
1. He is stubborn. A refusal to brook opposition and a determination to drive his ideas forward can be a strength. On the other hand, to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is a sign of madness. The team has conceded first in 19 out of 27 league games this season and yet there does not appear to have been any discernible attempt to alter tactics to resolve this.
2. Bizarre team selections and substitutions. I have lost count of the times Puel has made a bizarre substitution that seems to befuddle the players, only to make another equally baffling change 10 minutes later that completely changes the first substitution.
3. Tactics. On paper I think many of us agree with the possession based approach, but why does Claude persist in a system that leaves Vardy up front on his own? He cuts an isolated and lonely figure. Why do we set up our team in a way that gives one of the best strikers in the Premier League so few opportunities?
To be continued.
Sympathy for Puel...
posted on 25/2/19
Sorry but why the sacking ?
LCFC roughly where they should be in the table, win a few and lose a few, Man U/Liverpool they're not.
posted on 25/2/19
comment by puffinthebushkangaroo (U1950)
posted 10 minutes ago
Sorry but why the sacking ?
LCFC roughly where they should be in the table, win a few and lose a few, Man U/Liverpool they're not.
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Yes you are right..... We could be worse. Look at a team like Spurs for instance, not won a thing in 20 odd years!
posted on 25/2/19
comment by puffinthebushkangaroo (U1950)
posted 17 minutes ago
Sorry but why the sacking ?
LCFC roughly where they should be in the table, win a few and lose a few, Man U/Liverpool they're not.
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Win a few (1) lose a few (7) in the last 9 games. Some of those defeats include Cardiff, Southampton, Wolves and NEWPORT. I’ll let you fill in the rest.
I’m just happy to be 12th though.
The OP sums this up well. Puel did some good things, but ultimately his stubbornness around “his way” needed to bring in results. It didn’t and sadly his sacking was inevitable.
posted on 25/2/19
Puffin - We were told a few weeks ago to be grateful that we were 7th. Now we should be grateful that we're 12th. After relegation, we should no doubt be grateful we ever got the chance to grace the Premier League, and fans of every Championship club will be telling us we all have delusions of grandeur for ever daring to want to be better than them.
It's competition out there. Everyone will drag you down if you give them the chance. And not just that, but every fan wants more for their club. I'm sure everyone else in the league thinks that Spurs have been punching above their weight for seasons, but you won't see it that way. Nor should you. Reasonable ambition and the wish to progress is not the sin that modern society tries to convince you it is.
posted on 25/2/19
Very well put Dunge. All we strive for as a football club is to improve and see progression. That’s fair enough - nobody plans to go backwards and accept the finance crippling risk of relegation.
Hey, some of us supporters dare to dream, that one day our little club could do something as magnificent as winning the league!
posted on 25/2/19
I'm disappointed that Top panicked unnecessarily and pulled the trigger. I'd have liked to see if Claude could have got some results with Tielemans in the team.
So yes I have a bit of sympathy for him but ultimately it's a results business so no real shock.
posted on 25/2/19
No sympathy whatsoever.
Turgid football which may work in parts of Europe but has been pretty unsuccessful here.
It has obviously worked in the past with the quality of players that graced Barcelona's ranks but many of the new style of managers prefer to play on the counter-attack and I would include Liverpool, United and to some degree, Spurs in that approach.
Outdated philosophy, no charisma and it seems very little loyalty from the players.
In his favour, he has brought through some talent and may be crying in his beer in a few years time when some of them reach their potential. But he was never going to motivate them and his departure now may just mean that we could keep some of them.
Out with the old, back to the new.
posted on 25/2/19
comment by The_Dungeon_Master (U4830)
posted 4 hours, 26 minutes ago
Puffin - We were told a few weeks ago to be grateful that we were 7th. Now we should be grateful that we're 12th. After relegation, we should no doubt be grateful we ever got the chance to grace the Premier League, and fans of every Championship club will be telling us we all have delusions of grandeur for ever daring to want to be better than them.
It's competition out there. Everyone will drag you down if you give them the chance. And not just that, but every fan wants more for their club. I'm sure everyone else in the league thinks that Spurs have been punching above their weight for seasons, but you won't see it that way. Nor should you. Reasonable ambition and the wish to progress is not the sin that modern society tries to convince you it is.
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Perfectly put!
posted on 25/2/19
comment by Nuneaton_fox (U7936)
posted 3 hours, 16 minutes ago
I'm disappointed that Top panicked unnecessarily and pulled the trigger. I'd have liked to see if Claude could have got some results with Tielemans in the team.
So yes I have a bit of sympathy for him but ultimately it's a results business so no real shock.
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Do not see the panic here? More of final straw!
posted on 25/2/19
comment by Florida Fox (U2500)
posted 1 hour, 51 minutes ago
comment by Nuneaton_fox (U7936)
posted 3 hours, 16 minutes ago
I'm disappointed that Top panicked unnecessarily and pulled the trigger. I'd have liked to see if Claude could have got some results with Tielemans in the team.
So yes I have a bit of sympathy for him but ultimately it's a results business so no real shock.
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Do not see the panic here? More of final straw!
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Saturday morning - no plan to replace Puel.
Sunday morning - Puel sacked.
= panic/knee-jerk reaction