We definately created more under Puel and played football around the opp's box but squandered a lot of chances. Plus we were a mid-table team under him remember? I think the perspective on Puel's season is slightly skewed because he followed Koeman and purposely played a slower, possession style because we had a crowded fixture schedule because of the EL. Players like Redmond were definately more threatening under him.
A midtable team that was only mathematically safe from relegation after 35 games, which kind of proves my point about how tight it is. And yes we were better under Puel than Pellegrino, and I was a big advocate of Puel. I blamed the personnel and schedule more than him about why we were so boring to watch and rubbish at attacking. But we still were bad going forward, you only need to dig up a few threads from around December 2016 to see how much people were moaning about his style. Just because it was better than under Pellegrino doesn't mean it still wasn't bad.
Oh come on Magic, we were never in danger of going down under Puel, we were in the top ten for most of the season.
I saw progress under Puel after Xmas when the fixture list eased we were playing around the box and getting to the byline and Gabbi in particular was benefiting from the service, Redmond looked really good then too. We scored 4 away from home a couple of times too.
Fans perceive that we have had a run of bad seasons, but in reality there was only last season. We may not have been entertained under Puel and people often mention how few points there were between us and teams at the bottom, but the reality is that we never flirted with relegation.
Yeah never in danger of going down, but also we weren't head and shoulders above relegation. I never said we would go down, just illustrating my point about there being not much difference in quality between a team finishing comfortably top half and one that goes down. I think we ended up about 10 points clear in the end of the team in 18th. I don't really know what we are discussing now I am simply saying that most teams are similar outside the top 6 and we will still struggle to score and create with the squad as is.
One of the reasons suggested for Puel's dismissal was that the players were unhappy...the subsequent season suggests it was the players at fault rather than Puel.
I'm basically saying that we have a solid enough PL squad under a reasonably competent Manager. but like I say it has yet to be proved.
Well you can't get more PL average than Mark Hughes so we will get to see this year. I agree with you btw, I just like to hope for a little more, because you know I'm super optimistic like that
Oh yeah, I'm not saying it is a bad thing. Just that if you had to pick a manager who fits "an average, competent PL manager" he would be pretty high up my list. There is no shame in that, just hopefully this year will have a bit more excitement on the pitch in terms of playing style.
A manager can't do it all on his own...it is the interaction between his ability and the quality of the players at his disposal. Therefore, Mark could do better with us than he did with Stoke if the players suit him.....or worse.
Biggest problems for me last season other than our general conservative build up was a lack of pace, physicality and goals from midfield. Pellegrino even went as far as playing Obafemi who hadn't even played for the u23's to address pace. Armstrong and Ely should hopefully go a long way to addressing those first 2. Our new CB certainly adds physicality and I'm actually hoping he will play a little bit ahead of the other 2 CBs and try to win clearances into midfield to add more of a presence there. I would like some physicality up front for when we need to hold the ball up but the main areas I wanted to improve we've covered. Anything else for me now is a bonus.
Goals from midfield can mean two different things. The good kind, where your wingers dribble and midfielders arrive late in the box. Or the bad kind, where you try and smash 25 yard shots through a packed penalty area for a whole season.
