Oh no the really dull press conferences are back. At least we can change channel without feeling guilty.
I Considering what it ultimately cost us, I think Saints fans hatred towards Vardy is warranted. Had it been the other way around in your run for the title and you'd ended up not winning it because Van Dijk had stamped on Vardy, you would forever hold a grudge. Of course Vardy had nothing to do with the FA giving a United fan the job of linesman a team Wembley.
As it happens, here's one Saints fan who doesn't hate Vardy. I have no like or dislike of the bloke other than that he's a PL professional footballer, and that means he gets paid too much, but that's it. I've seen the incident loads of times. It's not exactly as if it was deliberate.
I can see that, I'd probably feel the same as you say. For the record I don't think Vardy would deliberately try to injury, a professional surely wouldn't want to make a fellow professional miss such an important game. I think he was extremely frustrated given how awful we were at the time as he was feeding on scraps. He went in a bit late. It happens and is really unfortunate it put him out the final (I was rooting for you in that match).
That's what he started with last season. But it was largely derided, and he scrapped it before Christmas. Went to more of a 4-2-3-1 thereafter. Which, come the end of the season, transpired to be even worse than the diamond.
I agree I don't think he would try to injure a fellow professional, but as mentioned before I think he knew what he was doing. I also agree that I think his intention was fuelled by frustration and so it was unfortunate it ended up with dire consequences, had it been a normal season I think it would have blown over by the next week. For the record I'm surprised how bad I still feel about it. I hadn't even thought about it for a good while but I guess it bring brought up again has displayed how annoyed I was at the time.
The appointment of Claude Puel has got to have been the strangest one of the season. After winning the League the season before last, the profile of Leicester City has gone up considerably and I am sure that they could have attracted more promising and inspiring candidates. In my opinion, Leicester have got to be aiming for someone better than this and whilst I think that City will not get relegated under him, they will simply transform them from a team that delighted with their counter-attacking and never-say-die attitude to another West Brom or Stoke. I loved the fact that Leicester won the league. It was more than a breath of fresh air and proof that the richest clubs could not have the right to win everything. If you like, it re-introduced an element of what sport should be about. Fair enough, you need the big clubs to be everyone else's pantomime villain yet Leicester's success gives every club outside the top four encouragement to win the competition and think beyond premiership survival. Leicester's title re-vitalised what was previously stale and unexciting competition for the supporters of about 80% of the EPL. Claude Puel will certainly not make the same mistakes he made at Southampton and will have learned from the experience. However, this is, as much as Craig Shakespeare's bizarre appointment, tacit acceptance of the status quo by Leicester. The Foxes will become difficult to beat and not too exciting to watch. They can practically guarantee Puel's dogmatic approach will secure survival for one more season. This will come at a price and the fans will find there is very little enjoyment from the patient and uninspiring football Claude will serve up. In my opinion, he looked unsuitable for the English game and maybe not appreciative of the vast difference in France where there is largely indifference to the smaller clubs. It totally lacks the romanticism of Ranieri's appointment but I have no ill-feelings towards the fans of the Foxes and hope that this appointment is not the disappointment that it seems.
I'd love to know what was going through Claude's head. On the one hand, you'd think that he'd be looking to ensure that he has a decent January transfer budget to work with - given the lack of support he had on that front from us. Tough to again work with one hand tied behind your back. We all know that Puel was not at sole fault for his sacking. But on the other hand, there are only 20 PL clubs and his reputation was hardly sky high. Beggars can't be choosers, and everything.
