Match Day Thread West Ham United vs Southampton 25/09/2016 4pm Kick-off

Because he had one good week? That's silly.

Then what happens when he has a bad week? Do all the people moaning about Puel's performance against Sunderland suddenly become right again?

I like Puel. I defended his hiring, and I have defended his use of the diamond and lots of other things and generally said most of his critics were over-reacting. I said we need to give him time before we know for sure.

But fair is fair. If three bad games don't make Puel a bad manager, then three good games don't suddenly make him a good one.

 

Yep, amen to this. Also if you download Kodi, you can watch every game back in HD with fast forward, rewind etc.

The other day I was watching some of Saints 3-2 Liverpool from March in HD. It was great.

 

I don't mean forever and forever ... at this moment in time, he's got us 3/3, we can't complain or question him too much, in my opinion.

Things could change if we go on a bad run, but in the midst of a good run, with no goals conceded, I think he's earnt our trust for the time being.

 

Yeah, that's fair. I agree with that. He's had my trust (for the time being) this whole time anyway. And certainly my confidence in him has grown given recent results.

 

Can I clarify? Are you using Kodi and Sportsnation together, or using another add-on for the replays? If it's Kodi and sportsnation, is that how you're viewing the streams?

Once I've got all this junk working together I'll pop a guide up.

The European Court ruled in 2014 that as long as you're not downloading it to your machine and just streaming (a la Kodi) you're acting legally. The streamer isn't but you are. Which is nice.

Vin

 

Sure. I'm using Kodi with SportsMania as an add-on. I watch live through that and watch the replays via Kodi (with the add-on) too. There's a guide on how to do it on the SportsMania website.

Using Kodi means that Kodi backs up and saves everything that gets aired so you have a big archive to go back through. Great for when you get in late and miss some or all of MOTD.

 

Ref Charlie, Shane has gone through period before where he couldn't score in a brothel. Then he gets a couple, calms down and he just bangs them in. So, I trust Claude to play Shane enough to get to that stage. I also trust him to listen to our physios, etc, and not overplay anyone, particularly Charie (if he's as suspect as people seem to think). We saw the end result of that with Graziano last year when he was mindlessly played again and again while carrying a knee injury. It doesn't do any good to overplay someone.

Vin

 

Thanks DTLW. Not sure where Kodi backs it all up; where would I look for that?

Cheers,

Vin

 

What you have to do is:

1. Sign up to SportsMania
2. Follow the guide to make SportsMania an 'add-on' in Kodi
3. Once you've done that, go to the channel guide in Kodi
4. 'Sports on demand' will appear in there, click that and then there'll be a mahoosive list to scroll back through
5. Happy watching

 

But the first 3 games were poor, new team new manager new league. Next 3 games he has the benefit of having worked with the team that much longer, so may give a more accurate indication of his ability.

 

No but looking positively at things is far nicer than the other way

 

This is the game Long hits form and scores a 95th minute winner, he then goes to celebrate with the saints fans behind the goal but stops as he realises it's a good 2.5 miles from the pitch, thinks to him self " oil beef hooked if I'm running that" and casually trots back to the centre circle.

 

Jesus! Let him manage for a period of time and see how he does.

Long and Rwdmond doesn't work? Based on what? Three games? It hasn't worked well I agree, but is that it? All over? Rip that up and never look at it again!

 

I'm not even sure that it hasn't worked. Had we not missed a hat full of chances (as we tend to do!) then I doubt anyone would be saying the partnership doesn't work. It's just Long being Long. Hopefully he bags one this weekend and he will go on a little run.

 

We still have only played 7 games (well less if you don't count the "****" teams ). The bloke is still learning about his players and how they work together in the formation he likes. Making any sweeping, judgemental statement about any of it is quite frankly ludicrous (not you) and we really should just let the bloke pick his teams and see how we go for a few more games.

 

I agree, I don't think the first 3 made Puel ****e, and these last 3 haven't suddenly made him Wenger.

Let's see where we are end of October-mid November before making proper judgements on the man. All we can do in the meantime is support him n the lads.

 

OK, it hasn't worked so far. I just think that Austin deserves to start ahead of Long as he's scored 4 times in a week. And Long has been very wasteful. I am also keen to see Redmond and Austin up front together.

 

I agree with you Tom. I just don't understand your adamant stance every time. I want Austin to play but if Puel does something else, I can see some reason for that and will hope it works out.

 

True. I just think he's still a long way from "unassailable" status, which tbf was NOT what the original post was saying. Once I understood what SF4L meant, I agreed with him (and you).

 

Austin has earned a run in the team, but he's also supposedly made of glass. The key to him being able to get us 4 goals in a week has been careful management of his game time. If Long and Redmond start and Austin scores from the bench again, I'll certainly have no complaints. Having him fit all season is key, and if that means him missing a few halves or even full games in between then Puel is in a good place to make those decisions.