I think he did change gears. We had that little spell, Feb/March so I think the players need a look at themselves. I really don't believe (and it is only a belief) that Puel didn't not suddenly instruct the players to go defensive in that last third of the season. I think they'd decided by then they couldn't be arsed and he couldn't change them. It's been harder for me to compare this season as I've not been at the games like I was last season and I don't believe you can really get a feel of everything watching on the television. Early last season when everyone was moaning, I could see the sparks and the plan. It wasn't polished but I could see what we were trying to do. I went to Watford this season and I genuinely couldn't even make out a plan. (One game I know, but that was far worse than anything I saw served up by Puel in the first two thirds of the season).
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5017617/Claude-Puel-new-Leicester-boss.html An article suggesting that Leicester fans aren't overwhelmed....well, why would they be? He's not a big name. However, Lineker's tweet: Puel. Really? put me firmly on Claude's side.
It didn’t go well for Puel down here mainly because he tried to introduce a different style of play. Sadly in my opinion he did not have the right type of player for that style. The premier teams found it too easy to manipulate it and sadly Puel did not appear to have a plan B. As a result he lost the backing and belief from the players. I think he will have learned a lot from his time here. I wish him all the best........but not agains us if he wouldn’t mind.
He played most of the season with us without a recognised goalscorer, so making us hard to beat made sense. It's not easy to be expansive when Shane Long is your number one goalscorer. But possession football, with an emphasis on patience and hitting opponents with the quick punch when the opportunity presents, might work pretty well with Jamie Vardy up top. Anyway, I wish him well. With the obvious proviso that I don't want Leicester to finish above us, I'd like to see Claude take the opportunity to prove himself in English football; I'd have liked to see him try that with us, because I think he could have succeeded here, but unfortunately he didn't get a ****ing chance, really.
He improved several of our players with his coaching which is one of the reasons I liked him. I didn't like the attitude of some of our fans towards him which on occasions verged on the racist. I do wish him well at Leicester and no doubt his English has improved a little which should mean his press conferences might be a little less sleep inducing. His appointment does make a mockery of the view often expressed that his wife didn't like England.
All because we have a hell of a lot of thick, impatient fans who couldn't see the bigger picture.... Good Luck Claude..
In fairness to Gary, that was a tongue-in-cheek reference to a Tweet he wrote, "Ranieri, really?" which was the forerunner for Claudio going on to win the title with them.
I liked the guy, & think he did okay here, but lets not start rewriting history. There were lots of failings, issues that were not addressed, decisions not taken. My biggest fear of him continuing with us was actually the players discontent that was seeping out. I thought we were going to lose Ryan & Virgil with him as the excuse. Obviously the blame does not sit with him regarding that, but the last eight games of last season well & truly does. If his first 11 are not putting in a good enough shift, you drop them, not persist. How we finished 8th I will never understand, 6 points of 14th seems a more leveled way of putting it. Its set to be a very interesting season with Claude taking over the Foxes, but we should try not to see things through the rose coloured mist too much, its far to distorting. What I'm looking forward to the most is, if he can carry on annoying the hell out of Klopp.......starting on the 30th Dec!
Claude's first press conference for Leicester is tomorrow....better make sure you clear your diaries for that one. Personally, he couldn't talk me into eating a chocolate.
All the games I watched last season he put out a team that created chances every game but we failed to take the majority of those chances and eventually lost or drew a game where if the chances we taken we would have won easily. How many times did people post that we will rue a chance that was missed and eventually it came back and bit us in the ass. A manager can only do so much. Good luck to him.
I don't buy into the "he changed a pacy attacking team into a slow sideways team". No, Les Reed did that when he sold Mane (the pace in the pacy team) and Pelle with his stupid flicks all the time for Mane to run onto that a lot of our fans loved for some reason. despite them coming off once in 50. The team he inherited couldn't play that quick style football effectively in my view. Who replaced Mane? Long? Redmond? J-Rod? they all had a go and all are no Mane in terms of pace or finishing, so we didn't score as much. We (much like this year) have a strong group of defenders and defensive midfielders, so why shouldn't the manager try and play to the strengths of the team? We aren't Liverpool with a crap defence and really good attack trying to win every game 4-3. We should absolutely be aiming to achieve 0-0 every game and try and nick a goal.
