We should have bought Kessie when we first looked at him at the start of the season. The guy has been amazing, but Chelsea now want him.
Puel has really grown on me during this cup run. I think the 2 Liverpool games really did prove he is very tactically astute (making me look a right mug in the process) and now he has Gabbiadini to work with. If we keep Virgil next season could be very exciting.
I liked Puel before all of you. Now we're not playing twice a week, we will start to look really quite good. I think we will finish 10th or 9th now.
I think next season could benefit from having a long summer with no early Europa games and no tournaments...a proper preseason....hopefully after we have brought in new players early enough to take part. Will we start earlier in the League Cup because we are out of the Europa?
Another good point that I keep forgetting. We had seven players at the Euros including two of our starting back four winning it. And we will have a manager for this pre-season. Yeah we will play one round earlier.
Nice 'letter' to Puel FLT. We could quite easily do the same for yoshida, Redmond, Cedric etc. All received harsh criticism on here and at st Mary's. They may not be the best players in their positions in the epl but they are all improving, work well as team players and give 100%. Thank you to them and the rest of the squad for a memorable season. I can only see us getting better.
I think Puel has learned a lot over the last two months. There were threes areas where I think he "fell down" prior to Christmas. Firstly. I feel the use of a rotation system was necessary but Puel went too far and made too many changes alienating core players like Jose Fonte. The second problem was the employment of the diamond formation - never quote sure how this system is supposed to work or whether the system is not more fluid than most people imagine. We now seem to be playing with two banks of four to really good effect. I think the third element has been the recruitment of a decent goal scorer which has probably made the biggest difference. I would have to say that, up until January, I would say that Puel neither appreciated how difficult the Premiership was nor actually understood the expectations of Saints fans. Add to that the fact that the football had been frequently uninspiring and I can understand why their were calls for his head. At that point I felt that he was worth another season but it was probably sensible to say goodbye at the end of the current season. Post FA cup, I feel that Puel seems to be learning. I think that the formation seems to have changed and the pace of play has definitely picked up. Yesterday we were hitting Man Utd on the break and there was a more concerted effort to get the ball in the box. Over the last few weeks we have played a different style of football. Redmond seems to be more featured on the flanks where he is better suited and there is more of a tendency to press the opposition. It is an interesting change. Yesterday's match was not only the best performance under the Frenchman, but one of the best since Pochettino left. Whilst I cannot agree with the uncritical shrill and hysterical comments of the one poster on this board whose raison d'etre seems to solely be to expound his own opinion and woe betide anyone who begs to differ, I think that Puel has learned from his experience. The first half of the season was erratic at best and dull beyond belief at worst. However, the style of football being played is significantly different to the patient mantra being religiously employed during the autumn. It is not a case of being "right" to begin with but more a case, in my opinion, of Puel learning from his mistakes.
I'm glad to hear some are beginning to have a better opinion of Puel. Let's face it it was a huge step up for him when he came to Saints. A gigantic learning curve perhaps in and around the premier league. I don't think he is quite there yet. He made a bad decision last summer by not getting a striker. Some previously have mentioned the improvement in the side since we have had a consistent striker. That on its own can give the side the confidence they had previously lacked. Let's just hope we can move forward now and move up the league. During the summer we will see what the board is really made of let's see if they really support the team and the manager by keeping the talent we have. Maybe even buy a couple to improve the squad. I'll be making my final decision on Puel at the end of the season. Although he certainly is making it easy at the moment to feel confident he is the one to carry on with.. we will see.
Err... that's not actually true, unless you were jesting without the smiley. He's managed a champions league side and done well.
Redmond has impressed, its still his final ball selection that lets him down, he has to sit a whole day watching Scooby Doo cartoons so during a game all he has to do is look for Shaggy
You're right, it is his final selective ball. A couple of times yesterday he chose to shoot [not the volley - that was fine] when he should have passed. However, just as the ManU player tripped him and he staggered but stayed on his feet to charge at a defence which parted before him, I was thinking... go for it, Nathan, shoot, shoot, SHOOT.! And he made a very nice pass to Manolo instead who had drawn the ManU defender in order to create the cavernous gap. But that's Nathan. Technically brilliant feet, but needs work upstairs.
I still say on the whole it was a step up while I agree the champions league sides are of a good standard my opinion is it is a different type of football. The football in the UK is unique and requires a more specialist management team. That in no way should infer that any team previously managed by Puel is of poor quality just that the English game is vastly different.
