I think our team is good enough to beat Watford and Sunderland if we don't play the diamond.... But yeah it still needs strengthening.
People were lukewarm on the hire anyway. Losses at the start of a season and the start of a new regime are always under a microscope. And fans tend to panic anyway. I think the fans would have sacked Koeman last year, and he'd already had a great season as manager under his belt. Which isn't really a defense of Puel. He might be crap. Just not because the fans think so.
I think the club will react before the manager does. It will be interesting to see how the relationship with the board is maintained. At Lyon he fell out with the directors and also lost the fans.
Genuinely can't believe there are fans calling for Puel's head already, for ****s sake. It's 3 matches into the season, give him some ****ing time to get used to the players and the league. He's new to the league, he's new to the country for heavens sake. We've got to give him at least 10 games before even beginning to question him, imo. Last season? 2 points from 3 matches. The year before? Not much better, with 5 points from 3. Year before that? Only 2/3 poitns from 3. The point is, we always start poor and take our time to start up again. Far, far too early to be writing anyone, or anything, off. When did we get so spoilt, that we demand instant success? Too boo the team off 3 matches into the season is a ****ing disgrace. It is improving, thought we were much better than the Watford match.
We would have won today if not for Fonte. We wouldn't have won in a 4-2-3-1 today if Fonte were in it.
not enjoying conceding penalties........normally we are better. Anyhow I will be there screaming my lungs out for the cause for the "must win" game against Swansea.
The game was crying out for width. Fonte played poorly, but would have far more protection if we had a midfield two. The diamond leaves massive gaps in our midfield, it also gives our lb/rb no cover at all. Targett yet again had two players on him with no help.
5 points from 3 matches is a lot better than 2 points, tbf. I don't think there would be much complaining if we were at 5 points right now. People are not wrong to be frustrated at our poor start. I'm not convinced Puel/the Diamond are the source of the problem, I think there could be a little scapegoating/overreaction there. But we haven't played well overall. There's no getting around that. And while there is plenty of time to turn things around, there's no guarantee it will happen.
Part of the reason Fonte looked so terrible is that the defense had no protection. And part of the reason the defense had no protection is that Romeu was left by his lonesome in the middle. So the diamond certainly played its part...it really demands a very different defensive mid than we have in the squad.
He's probably not much more interesting to listen to than Koeman was. But Koeman had an incredible personal history behind him, plus some gravitas (plus it was funny when he said "can't"). Puel was a good manager (not exceptional) in France. It's all a bit of a comedown from before... and I suspect the players feel that way too.
The point was more that we didn't win till our third match of the season, as not much better than now.
As someone already pointed out, were not expecting any points away to arsenal so the Swansea game is already looking like a massive game.
Thought Targett had a very good game especially because of the lack of protection - for me as good as VVD. Need to get to 4-2-3-1 the sooner the better.
Yep, I've just made that point on another thread. Unless you have a superhuman in there like Kante, or your FBs never venture forward (Pulis likes the four CBs tactic), then good luck having much success playing just one DM.
