mrfahaji

Don't forget Patrick Colleter ;-)

Norway, Portugal & Wales Paul Jones Soares, Lundekvam, Fonte, Bale Tessem, Soltvedt, Horne, Boa Morte Ostenstad, Ron Davies Think I've got that right...!

Agree on Wanyama. It's not an age thing, it's a Spurs thing

The first one is only temporary as well. Being a big name may attract players, and it might initially impress players. But if you're not up to it as a coach they'll soon see through it and lose respect for you. It probably gives you a little bit of extra time to get things right, but that's about it.

Reflecting on the summer now, it does rather look like this was a key factor in the decisions. I'm sure Puel was considered for a number of reasons - Nice played good football, good record with youth players etc - but I do wonder if his willingness to work under a strict budget, understanding that the squad wouldn't be strengthened a great deal, was behind him actually getting the job ahead of others. All total conjecture of course...!

I've always sided more with the 'In' brigade, without being totally convinced about Puel. However, reading through some of the suggestions on here makes me think we're better off keeping hold of him! I've been impressed with Silva, but there seems to be an awful lot jumping on the bandwagon. Probably the same people who dismissed Crab Lungs in the summer are now clamouring for him (Silva, not Crab Lungs) to replace Puel because he's won a few games with Hull. Not sure that qualifies him as "PL proven". Quique Flores, Gus Poyet and Francesco Guidolin should be considered on that basis.

Not saying you're wrong but how do these rumours start? Players changing formation themselves sounds quite a major and severe thing to happen! Sounds like the sort of thing started by a Puel-doubter who can't bear to give him credit! As regards Eric Black, again I certainly don't have any reason to like him or advocate his work, but equally what evidence is there that he is a problem? Track record perhaps, but isn't it otherwise just a hunch?

Our league position perfectly sums up our season really. Things could still go either way, there is still opportunity for us to finish 8th and give his supporters reason to say "I told you so", but equally we could fall several places before the end of the season and give the doubters reason for added scepticism. My concern about our current situation is that this season has had plenty of moments, but they tend to be short lived, maybe even "false dawns". We certainly weren't helped by the fixture congestion this year, but even so I'd have hoped for a few more positive runs. Although we have a habit of getting a result when we look to be struggling for form, we seem incapable of sustaining good performances over a longer term. I have regularly questioned whether our players are good enough, as we surely have the poorest team since Pochettino joined, not helped by losing VVD. I'm willing to give Puel the benefit of the doubt here, because we have won games with Clasie and JWP in midfield, and with Stephens and Yoshida at CB, and with J-Rod or Long up front. However, I have been alarmed recently by his insistence to persevere with Tadic, Boufal and Redmond. We've seen it doesn't work not once but twice, yet does it again with the same outcome. A home draw against Hull is poor, but forgivable if we play well and get unlucky with missed chances etc. Sounds like that was far from the case (and would still be relevant even if the penalty had been scored). I have been excusing some of our results, I'd argue for good reason, but we can't continue to not quite be good enough. It's no good being valiant losers to the top six if we can't put teams below us to the sword.

Since the OP has specifically said not to list players we will sell, but rather ones we'd be happy to see sold (seems most people are incapable of sticking to the brief!): J-Rod Clasie Forster. Feel that we could get decent money for all of them and we wouldn't be losing much in terms of quality. It wouldn't bother me in the slightest if Martina, Gardos & Isgrove left, but I doubt we'd get much in the way of a fee for them for reinvestment.

Gabbiadini wasn't on the pitch when we won the penalty. People may think he should have stayed on (I didn't see the game so can't comment), but not sure you should keep someone on purely in case you get a pen.

When he missed, I thought the same - "why is Tadic our main penalty taker?" And then I thought about who else should be taking them. Bertrand was the only one I could think of (who was on the pitch) that may be a better alternative. Pretty sad indictment of our team though!

This

If Huddersfield get promoted along with Brighton it will start feeling like our League 1 promotion season all over again...

In fairness, he "didn't give warning about what he was about to do"...

interested to know where he got the figures from... I thought maybe he did total goals conceded / home games played but even that only works out at about 4 per game!

Yeah, our season never recovered after the injury to Matty Targett. Reckon we'd be nailed on top four otherwise.

I'm sure some managers would have done better this season in terms of league points/position, perhaps managers who rely less on a style of play or a 'philosophy', but rather on tactically preparing for each game differently, or taking a more pragmatic approach. I'm not sure this should necessarily used against Puel though, as in the longer term I think the ceiling is higher for how he is preparing the team. For example, Pulis has got West Brom to 8th. Ok, our players wouldn't suit his style anyway, but just because they are above us and Pulis clearly knows how to get results, doesn't mean I'd prefer him to Puel. If we get one or two players that strengthen the team and we then have another season like this campaign, I don't think that's good enough, but in that scenario I have a feeling we'll be faring a lot better next season.

The reason I said "Puel?" earlier is because your statement says "90% of Chairmen would choose the former", and Puel is "the former", seemed counterintuitive to the point you were trying to make!

Puel?

Just a theory, but maybe we set up exactly the same way in both, but the opposition set up differently. Man City wanted possession, Chelsea set out to counter attack. That meant is appeared like we approached the game with different tactics but in both cases ended up playing according to what the better team and better players dictated.

I'm not sure that's strictly true. If they maintain their recent form they would end up on 39 points, enough to survive most seasons, regardless of who is in the league. Under Phelan they were on course for 25. Their home record since he joined, in all competitions, is phenomenal, P9 W8 D1 L0. Thankfully we are at home against them! I don't think we should fire Puel, but to dismiss the effect Silva has had at Hull is churlish.

True, I guess then it comes down to whether you think Puel wants to be flexible enough in his tactics to have a 'direct' alternative. I like how we play at the moment, albeit with a few tweaks, but I'm not sure I can see Puel introducing that style. Do you not think Austin offers a bit more in that regard? You're exactly right about Davis in your other post btw, unfortunately he isn't a big enough goal threat (as a creator or scorer) to convince me that he should be a starter for us in that AM position if we are going to improve next year. Currently he may be good enough to be in our strongest starting XI, but would like to see an upgrade.

Agree with most of this, but probably not with needing a Pelle-type player. Gabbiadini holds the ball up decently due to his good ball control, and generally our style of play means the ball will be coming in to his feet. And we'd probably be sacrificing Gabbiadini in order to play this player you suggest. Pelle was good at dealing with more direct balls that we played under Koeman, but I can't see we will play enough of those to justify a 'big number 9' type. In addition, we do have Austin who is a bit more in that mould, if not a like-for-like replacement.

He has to play on Saturday. I know he's only 5'11, but surely he will save more than Forster.

Come on Fulham! A nice walking distance stadium for me, plus with the neutral end a very good chance of getting tickets. All have their merits though - the 90s kid in me likes the idea of having Leeds or Wednesday back in the top division, Reading means another away fixture where the team and the fans don't have to travel far, and Huddersfield would surely struggle, so it would be a team we wouldn't have to worry about competing with!