Thank You Mr Puel

Mainly agree with what Ian has put there, well except the FA cup game. Had we gone full strength we would have most probably got a draw against a very slick Arsenal. We had to throw in the towel and kids.
I really want us to get a few more points on the board to take the pressure off us while we contend with our worst injury crisis for many a month. (just missing Virgil feels like a crisis let alone anyone else)

 

How a Saints fan can't swallow their pride and bias view of someone and celebrate a great achievement for our club, I don't know. I really don't get it and don't get you.

I've read your post but got turned off with the first few words... "for what it's worth.." I find it pitiful that you still can't find it in yourself to just post something nice without throwing in other digs about Claude.

I'm not going to reply to your posts anymore (which will please you I am sure) because i find it depressing and they genuinely agitate me. I'm finding it unhealthy for me, so I will use the facilities available to me for the first time ever, so I don't have to see anymore of it.

I'm sorry but I can't respect an opinion that drips with some kind of poisonous agenda and one that can't accept a positivity at face value. Everyone is entitled to an opinion but that opinion does not have to be respected. I can't be dealing with people who only see the bad.

 

Whilst disagree with most of what Ian posted it really wasn't as bad as you are making out.

He did say he respected Puel for getting us to the league cup final a nd beating some top sides on the way. He also recognised the need for rotation, something which many others seem to be unable to do.

I get the feeling I must have missed other posts of a negative nature, so perhaps having seen them your response would seem suitable.

Just looking at that one individual post it really wasn't that bad. Bit negative and as I say, I don't agree with it, but it's not as if he has regarded Puel as completely useless and called for his head. He said after another season where the board allow him to get his own players, we will be better positioned to judge him. Which i think is quite a sensible approach as it's clear Puel has been left short in several departments this season and still does well with what he has had.

 

It's not his one post. I agree with some of why he says. It is the fact he ONLY posts when something has been bad or gone wrong. We hear nothing from him whenever something good happens and in particular our biggest victory taking us to our first Cup Final for years.

I don't mind people posting their views when they're not happy but it pisses me off when they either only post when bad or refuse to acknowledge (or make a belated, begrudged acknowledgement of something very good). He's even managed to turn a simple "Thank you" thread into a nit-picking exercise on Puel. We have countless threads for that.

So, I'm not looking at the one post. I'm looking at the man in general. Anyway I've had enough of reading him and I'm sure people have me moaning about him. I've ended that by pressing the appropriate button. The only one I've ever done it to.

Apologies.

Anyway - thank you Claude.

 

To be fair Fats you did invite his view in one of the threads.........that despite how you felt about his attitude.

 

People are entitled to their views.

If you don't like someone's post do what most people do to my posts and just ignore them.

I wouldn't let anyone know they piss me off as that just opens the door for some individuals to have a go at pissing me off even more.

 

Oh is that what we're doing?.........

 

This post just exemplifies my approach to this website. I shall simply ignore it.

 

There seems to be at least one point of agreement. Claude Puel cannot be faulted for the poor finishing of some of his players. At Liverpool the other week, Nathan Redmond gave Dusan a tap in and he played a great back pass. How many of us said or thought, oh god why did it have to be Tadic? And who would we rather it had fallen to? The "prolific" Jay, or "get out of my way and stop this" Steven Davis (who later showed his skill in front of goal).

Incidentally I really like the players named here. I accept that Dusan is never going to thump the ball a la Rickie; that Jay is still looking a pale shadow of the player he was; that Steven is never going to win the golden boot. What I get confused about is how Claude Puel is meant to ensure that these players score from the chances created. From the little I understand of the situation, it seems that Fonte may have found it difficult to settle after his amazing summer. If he was unwilling or unable to commit to Southampton FC he had to go. I am not sure how Puel is responsible for this. He has been very unlucky with injuries, and I've replayed the Virgil incident. I am now sure that it wasn't Claude Puel who trod on Virgil's foot. True, he may have slipped Vardy a back hander, but it seems improbable.

At the risk of repetition, can I please remind everyone that Claude Puel is manager of Southampton. He isn't in charge at Chelsea or Man Utd. He has to handle Southampton quality players and try and bring in players who may be better, accepting that if they are their tenure may be brief. I've supported Saints for nearly 60 years. In all that time I've held a very simple view when players have been criticised. They play for us. What do you expect? Bobby Charlton/George Best/Johan bleedin' Cruyff???! and so on ...

He has steered an average Premier League team to Wembley. He's bought on some good young players - Josh Sims was about the only light last weekend - and looks set to secure a position in the Premier League. Less than a decade ago I'd have killed for this situation.

 

This is a good post.

I don't think many managers would have done better than a mid table finish and cup win/final with this squad. I completely accept criticism of the board that they should have spent more and covered us going forward as well as at the back.

With the resources at hand, Puel has done well.

 

Puel knew what he was getting...a decent PL side with high aspirations, but not the endless resources necessary to meet those aspirations. It would involve hard work, versatility and commitment....which perhaps some managers wouldn't accept. The club knew what they wanted...a manager that would buy into the way we do things and not suddenly demand expensive sticking plasters in the form of aged stars probably unsuited to our system and likely to upset the mindset of the team. What Puel probably didn't expect was that his team would become goal shy despite playing well.

 

Regarding the first paragraph, I honestly thought Tadic was the ideal person to be on the end of that Redmond pass.
In the first place, the cross was ideal for a left footer, and secondly Tadic is usually very good at seeing the options.
On the night he chose the wrong option, trying to go under the keeper (and nearly succeeded). In hindsight a chip over the keeper would have been better, but had the keeper stayed more upright, and stopped it, we'd all have been saying that he should have hit it along the ground.
But for all that, I agree that we don't have enough players who I would back to tuck away a decent chance more than 3 times out of 10, in a proper match, not at Staplewood, where all of them are, apparently, natural goal scorers.
Perhaps we should relocate the stadium there?

 

What Dusan should have done was 3 step overs at lightning speed to bamboozle Karius, then turn his back, flick the ball in the air and pull the neck of his shirt so the ball landed inside, then ran over the goal line while singing Oh When The Saints. What could possibly go wrong?

 

I made a comment on another thread several weeks ago that the current squad will need a good number of recruits. The teams put out by Redknapp and his successors seemed a nadir in the football we produced and Southampton lost their identity until Pardew instilled some discipline. Since the point, I think that we have seen almost continued improvement in the squad and the style of football played. For me, Nigel Adkins probably encapsulated the spirit of what I believe Southampton to be about and was choked when he was fired. In hindsight, the appointment of Pochettino was necessary and both the Argentinian and his successor Ronald Koeman have presided over an era which I think will rank alongside the teams put out by Lawrie McMeneny. All three managers fronted teams that combined some of the best talent of their era with some of the best players the club have ever produced. There was always going to be a point at which the improvements would flatten out in all instances but this has been more to do with more prestigious clubs poaching our star players. In fairness to Puel, the current side he has inherited was depleted before he began and as has been constantly argued by many others on this board, the new recruits made in the summer fall some short of the calibre of our previous acquisitions. On top of this we have had to compete in four competitions and been affected by injuries to the extent that younger players like Targett have not been able to develop, new signings like Pied remain largely unknown quantities and our best player is likely to be absent for three months. It would be difficult to argue that Puel has not been unlucky.

I think the problem for him started with the lacklustre home performance which seemed to demonstrate a style of football that was totally alien to what had gone before. The difficulty has been that the changes have not improved either the performances or the results. There have been signs of optimism and performances where things have come together and you start to believe that Puel knows what he is doing. On the plus side, he has introduced McQueen and Simms who have both impressed and JWP is beginning to realise the potential that I thought had deserted him up until recently. However, the style of football played does not always work and , whilst never terrible and excruciating as what Ian Branfoot produced, it is rarely entertaining. We are never going to rip sides apart 5-0 or complete the kind of demolition of teams like Villa a few years back when Mane got the rapid-fire hat-trick under Puel's more patient approach. Personally, I prefer it when football is played at a faster pace, more physical and more creative. There have been moments this season where we have done this but not enough. I would add that the both home games against Liverpool and the Inter Milan match were fascinating spectacles. The performances were totally absorbing.

However, the big problem is that Puel is almost attracted to making big decisions with who he picks and this frequently unsettles the side and does not always get the expected result. In short, we are too erratic. in our last 6 league matches, we have managed one win and collected 3 points from a possible haul of 18. If we don't get things right tomorrow I would be very worried even though I do not think we will get relegated as there are many more teams worse that us in this league. What is probably more salient is that the team will need some major restructuring next season and my concern would be that the hard work done by previous incumbents could be undone by a manager who understands the reasoning as to why he needs to tinker with the squad and tactics but seems unable to find a solution in the league at least. Granted that the league cup final appearance is a massive achievement for an average Premiership side, the lacklustre performance in other competitions could have cost Puel his job with less tolerant clubs than Southampton to our credit. Clubs like West Ham, Palace, Sunderland and even Man City would probably have pulled the trigger by now. Saints are in transition but 2017 / 18 will need to see a marked improvement in what fans have been offered if Puel is to be considered more favourably by supporters.

 

Matt Targett has been injured since October, that's why his development has been curtailed. If that's what you said I apologise, I couldn't see the meaning for the words.

 

Apologies - I wanted to say that Targett's injury has impeded his development this season and he has not had the chance to improve.

 

Not sure I agree with this. West Ham, who had a terrible start, stuck will Bilic, Sunderland who are going to get relegated have stuck with Moyes and Man City (currently 5th) have got Pep so where do they go from there? Puel is doing a pretty good job I think. More games and injuries than any of our recent managers but still mid table and in a cup final. I don't think Koeman would have done any better with what we have.

 

I think it is a fair comment about Koeman but he might have swayed some bigger names to sign in the summer had he stuck around. I was looking forward to this season before he left as I thought he would do well. Most people would quibble with the point about injuries and the number of games, The issue is the style of football isn't so good and the constant changing of the line up each week which seems to deliver Puel's expected results only infrequently. As I said, we will be better able to judge next season.