Team V Crystal Palace

I wouldnt start Ghezzal tomorrow. We need someone better going both ways which Barnes is

Ghezzal would do better against Brighton on Tuesday where he will see more of the ball and wont need to do as much defending

 

Neither Gray or Barnes are right wingers so I wouldn't play either of them there.

I really don't rate Simpson anymore so wouldn't push Perrera forward so that leaves either Albrighton or Ghezzal - out of the two I would play Ghezzal and tell him to put in a performance that shove the boos down the throats of our more dickish "fans".

 

Possibly normal back 5 (well Fuchs if Chilly is out)
Ndidi Tielemans
Ghezzal Barnes (if Maddison is out) Gray
Vardy

Shame to miss Chilwell and Maddison but at least this keeps the creativity in the middle (watch Claude bring Mendy and Ndidi back in together). Tbh even Nacho could come in to one of the positions behind the striker, he did on last time out

 

Can anyone serious defend Puel now?

Bloke is a clueless twat

 

He’s lost me. I genuinely didn’t believe we should change manager when in mid table rebuilding. After this latest round of games and with us in free fall, relegation is a genuine threat. There’s no inspiring options out there but it might just be one of those where it’s anyone but sadly. Wouldn’t be surprised if he does go to see Sam rock up and steady the ship. Would be a backwards step as far as off the pitch is concerned but would likely get the results to stay up.
Tbh I just can’t see where the next win is coming from at this point let alone enough points to reach 40

 

I would give Neil Lennon the job until the end of the season and then go after a more long term appointment

Puel is a clown and were at serious risk of being dragged into a relegation battle. We have lost the last 6 games and he has a lower win percentage then Peter Taylor now

I walked out at 3-1. I cant sit there and watch us get pulled apart any longer and im seriously considering not going on Tuesday. I want to support my team but I cant support Puel any longer. He is making it seem like a choir watching us play. There is no excitment there anymore

 

When i said a few games ago that we would probably reach 40 points this season, i was being sarcastic, now though ...

Id still give him until the end of the season, even I could get 8 points betweem now and then.

Hes certainly done though if he cant finish off this season better than he did the last one, and i just cant see it.

 

Didn't watch the game but mate of mine did and put a lot of blame on Maguire - how bad was he this time?

Looking at the stats, we had more of the ball and had much more shots - Barnes still misfiring?

 

He's lost the crowd so he's a dead man walking. he's not a bad manager, but like the others he's a victim of your success. The year you won you were massive favourites to go down, so everyone attacked you and you won games, and the league, on the counter-attack, even when you were top it was considered luck. the following seasons you've been taken a bit more seriously, so that tactic isn't the option it was, and you lost your 2 best players. You're about where you belong, in the 7-14 bracket, fighting for that last UEFA spot.

 

I was at the rugby in Cardiff and didn’t see it. Was it as bad as it sounded?

 

No way was that a 1-4 game. Thought we looked bright early on, but we don't have that killer pass in the final third!

Not sure what the crowd expected when Puel brought on Iheancho. He would have got booed if he took Maddsion off,Barnes off, Vardy off or Ndidi! A lot of people was saying before the game that it was our strongest 11 (probably Gray for Ghezzal)

Puel will go at the end of the season,maybe before....just not sure who we are going to get to take us forward.

 

So to sum up yesterday. Ghezzal was beyond ****. Spent more time giving the ball away and nearly put Palace in with a bad pass. Demarai Gray is nearly as bad

We had alot of the ball and alot of shots but no real chances in the first half. We was much the better side. But all this possestion football doesnt work for us

Their first goal was extremeley lucky but yet again we concede first. 2nd half we started ok but once Jonny Evans had scored that was it. We crumbled.

Puel genius subs yet again. He subbed Iheanacho on for Tielemans to put Iheanacho on the right wing and push Gray up front.

Then subbed probabaly our best player off in Harvey Barnes for Okazaki.

I had enough of the Puel excuses that we didnt play that bad etc. We got whacked and there is only so many times you can be unlucky. We not unlucky we are just crap. His tactics and subs let us down massivley yet again and ive ran out of patience with him. Half the stadium walked out at 3-1. And alot wont return on tuesday night

Shambles

 

What a load of nonsense

He is a shocking manager. Victim of our success? We nearly the relegation zone and losing every week. We expect more then that whether we won the league a few years ago or not.

And to claim any part of us winning the luck was luck is laughable. You cant be lucky over 38 games. Never mind us only losing 3 games all season and winning the league by 10 points. We didnt nick it on goal different on the final day

The tactics have been changed by us rather then being forced. Yes we needed to alter our tactics but not change them

 

Ghezzal was poor yesterday and was quite rightly subbed for Gray at half time.

What subs would you have done yesterday Proud, as it seems it doesn't mater which ones Puel does, you seem to think he should do something else?!

Tielemans was shattered yesterday, so that is probably why he was taken off.

 

Claude Puel sacked. Thank **** for that

 

alter but not change? WTF is that supposed to mean? Alter and change are each others primary definition.

 

We was the best counter attacking team in the country. We needed to keep that as a strength not start passing the ball around and boring everyone to death

We needed a slight change of style not a complete overhaul

 

Those times we were passing the ball around and boring people were when we were facing teams that kept everyone at the back looking to counter attack us - shows that we need that complete overhaul as we the opposition aren't going to let us play to our strengths.

Our best performances where when we played a high pressing game like we did against Man City - maybe that is the way to go?

Also we where the best counterattacking team we had a fit Vardy, someone with the creativity of Mahrez and the defensive ability of Kante. Now all we have left is a 32 year old with a dodgy groin.

 

The problem was that everyone had finally sussed our tactics so something had to be done. Unfortunately, we lost our most adaptable players so were left with a team in which half to two thirds of the players only suited one style together with a load of new blood with little or no PL experience. Even if we'd replaced the likes of Kante, Drinkwater and Mahrez with like-for-like, we'd have never got to be fighting in the top 6 without developing a different way to attack. However, Puel was never the right manager for us. Too technical and not capable of connecting emotionally with the fans nor (I suspect) the players. No Ranieriesque 'Dream', no Pearson-like 'backs to the wall lads'. Nothing. His work in developing younger players has to be commended though and will leave a positive legacy. Glad we've moved on sooner rather than later.
Looks like the foxes are back on the rollercoaster we're so used to riding - I've kind of missed that under Puel..

 

I wasn't able to see the game yesterday so may be talking cobblers here, (but it wouldn't be the first time).

I always feel that having Vardy as our main striker (or player most likely to score before we get into the whole what defines a striker argument) requires the team to play a certain way. We have to try and put him through clear on goal with no one in front of him because his strength doesn't lie in holding the ball up or dribbling past a defender. That means he is only really successful if the team is playing on the quick counter. But we aren't playing predominantly that way now - and nor would I like to go back to that system. It has had its day and run its course. Our current more possession based approach shouldn't rule out the possibility to counter attack at pace, but counter attacking can't be our only way of playing because, as we have seen before, it means we give possession away far too easily.

Because we don't have a striker whose game suits our approach play we struggle against deep lying defences. We don't have the option of laying the ball out wide and then putting a simple cross into the box for our striker to compete with and cause problems for defenders. In Albrighton we have had one of the best deliverers of a ball in the league for a number of years but never had anyone effective on the end of those crosses. We've had Slimani, but although he fitted the big and ugly part of the job description, he was one of the worst finishers I've ever seen, and Iheanacho hasn't shown either the determination or movement to fulfill that role as yet.

What Puel has done is to change the way the midfield plays but doesn't have the type of goalscorer to suit that change, so we have the worst of both worlds at the moment. It will be interesting to see how the new incumbent to the manager's job works that one out.