Puel so far, not a good fit for saints? or the man to take us forward?

[Mr X]

He has some good points he clearly can get a team passing & seems to be able to tighten up a defence.

 

Not sure he has the charisma or respect from the players to be our long term solution though, & some of the football is painful at times.

 

Are you happy to give him the rest of the season?

 

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd]

Didn't want him in the first place. He's shown nothing that makes me think that he's the man to take us forward. Gut feeling is that he has to go. His insistence on playing Redmond every week is driving me mad.

[onthemarch]

His safety first approach means that we won't be in danger of a relegation battle despite losing Koeman, Mane and Pelle.

 

So that is his first objective complete

 

The football is terrible though

 

I would give him to the end of the season then move on

[wild-saint]

Im think we need to back him in the transfer market to bring in his own team. I think the midfield pairing of Jwp, clasie davis and hoijberg are the issue. None offer that box to box driving runs (on and off the ball) that creates additionL number im and around the box and overlaps behind the lines.

[Heisenberg]

Mate of mine is Saints fan for 30 years - has been taking his son for last 2 seasons and his son asked for a Saints shirt in the summer (my mate obviously delighted)

 

Fast forward 16 games this season his son doesn't want to support Saints or go to games anymore as "we are boring and have no fun players"

 

Puel has simply sucked the fun out of football!!

 

They could use his pre/ post match interviews as a torture technique

[Saints foreva]

Still on the fence.

[trousers]

Are you happy to give him the rest of the season?

 

Yes.

 

Points wise, we're on track to match, or possibly surpass, last year's total at the half way stage.

 

Of course, that means we need to improve substantially in the 2nd half of the season, much like Koeman did.

 

So, bottom line, it's still way too early to judge Puel. One thing we can say is that we haven't gone backwards.... yet... but if we can't start finding the back of the net more regularly in the 3rd quarter of the season then that will be the time to start questioning the manager's credentials.

 

IMHO of course.

Edited 15 December, 2016 by trousers

[SuperSAINT]

9th after not scoring any goals is the good news.

 

We better sort this out in January otherwise the combination of not being able to score & possibly selling our 2 centre-backs in the summer doesn't bode well for next season.

[gr00031]

We haven't had any stand out fixture win really this season. Under Koeman we had that 3-1 win away against Wham. We of course beat them away this season, but they weren't really the same team in their new stadium.

 

Apart from that, away form has been really bad, and the home form has been OK, remaining undefeated in majority of games, just not really doing anything special to get the crowd off their feet.

 

Lack of goals last night means a new striker is an absolute priority, who could potentially link the midfield and attack more. Results like yesterday it's sometimes hard to blame the manager entirely. If Jrod scored a sitter we'd have won... Sometimes the players need to take responsibility.

[Gunnery]

Mate of mine is Saints fan for 30 years - has been taking his son for last 2 seasons and his son asked for a Saints shirt in the summer (my mate obviously delighted)

 

Fast forward 16 games this season his son doesn't want to support Saints or go to games anymore as "we are boring and have no fun players"

 

Puel has simply sucked the fun out of football!!

 

They could use his pre/ post match interviews as a torture technique

HAHAHAHAHA Now you resort to making up lies about mates and their kids to suit your agenda....what a piece of work you are.

[shurlock]

Mate of mine is Saints fan for 30 years - has been taking his son for last 2 seasons and his son asked for a Saints shirt in the summer (my mate obviously delighted)

 

Fast forward 16 games this season his son doesn't want to support Saints or go to games anymore as "we are boring and have no fun players"

 

Puel has simply sucked the fun out of football!!

 

They could use his pre/ post match interviews as a torture technique

 

6.4/10

 

Experimental and audaciously shameless. Only needed the image and pathos of a distraught father for a full house.

 

Not without potential but meanders at the end, trying to do too much and is ultimately raw.

Edited 15 December, 2016 by shurlock

[ALWAYS_SFC]

Mate of mine is Saints fan for 30 years - has been taking his son for last 2 seasons and his son asked for a Saints shirt in the summer (my mate obviously delighted)

 

Fast forward 16 games this season his son doesn't want to support Saints or go to games anymore as "we are boring and have no fun players"

 

Puel has simply sucked the fun out of football!!

 

They could use his pre/ post match interviews as a torture technique

 

Read the bit in bold and knew you were lying

[Fabrice29]

If we/he had a decent striker we'd be raving about him. We'd be in complete control of games and winning 2-0 every week and everyone would be happy. Once he has a capable striker at his disposal then I think we can start to judge him, if it's still blunt then fine but I dont imagine it will be.

[Charlie Wayman]

If there was serious risk of relegation then the club would have to get off their backsides and make decisions but if we bumble along the way we are, not actually losing and picking up enough points to survive nothing will change simply because MONEY is involved. MONEY to pay off Puel if they sacked him and MONEY in the transfer market to give a new manager a fighting chance of turning things around.

 

Puel appears to be so supine that he won't ruffle board feathers so will get zilch in the transfer window whilst the new Henry will still trot out every weekend and the club's poster boy will continue to pass from opponents 18 yard box back to Forster.

[ashnats]

Mate of mine is Saints fan for 30 years - has been taking his son for last 2 seasons and his son asked for a Saints shirt in the summer (my mate obviously delighted)

 

Fast forward 16 games this season his son doesn't want to support Saints or go to games anymore as "we are boring and have no fun players"

 

Puel has simply sucked the fun out of football!!

 

They could use his pre/ post match interviews as a torture technique

 

Boufal could be the most fun player we have had since Le Tiss, so I think your mate needs to improve his parenting skills, as his kid is obviously a spoilt little **** who should be supporting Man City.

 

re; Puel, when it clicks, it's some of the best football we've seen at St Marys, so I think he deserves time. He is Arsene Wenger MkII, basically, so will always be liked by those who understand good football and sustainability, and disliked by those who want a quick buck and wish we would spend big on the likes of Enner Valencia or Bolasie.

[John B]

What a lot of whingers

 

Semi Final of League Cup 9th in League after lots of games in Europa Cup youngsters being brought through not many goals being scored but quite a lot being missed.

 

Long and Rodriques are International Strikers it is hardly Puel's fault that they are not scoring if they were things would look a great deal better

 

I dont know what the fans want but realistically 7 to 10 in the PL and a good run in a cup is what we can expect from the team.

 

But yes a new striker and a few goals would be great and probably this will happen soon

[Golden Balls]

To me the football is boring and the players look frustrated at the way they're being told to play.

 

Occasionally we bring out a bit of pressing play. We did it against Everton and Boro a bit and it worked really well. The players looked fired up and the crowd got going.

Unfortunately that doesn't happen often or for long enough and the players are clearly told when they have possession to retain it at all costs, which is just ****.

 

Puel is lucky he inherited some fantastic players. It's those players that mean this lack of cutting edge and poor football won't see us get into a relegation fight (yet).

 

One positive, he plays youth. Which I think will help him retain his job for a while yet.

 

I look forward to seeing how Bournemouth play on Sunday. They'll play a great brand of football, with a real edge and fight to their game and will most likely win by 2+ goals. Their players aren't better, their manager is.

[doddisalegend]

Under Puel was are solid at the back and defensively in midfield we wont get overrun by anyone ( baring a keeper calamity hour) puel should get credit for that especially given people,said wed struggle,without Victor.

 

By the same token though up front its just not working. Jrod was always a gamble but I was happy to see him get a chance, Austin was doing ok (and before the injury I'd bet on him to get more goals than Pelle this season). Long is the big disappointment he hasn't pushed on from the decent season he had last year. With Austin out, Jrod unlikely to ever get back to the player he was and Long not performing we need to do something in Jan. Get Sammy G back ( I believe we have a recall option in Jan) and look for someone else maybe a proper AM.

 

I think if we can sort out the goals problem we will have a decent season.

[RobM]

If our famed recruitment team had bought a couple of goalscorer's, or hadn't sold the ones we had, but everything else remained the same, I don't think this debate would exist.

 

We defend well, control games, get forward frequently, create chances, promote youth, use the entire squad (with no real negative consequence or obvious dips in form), have played more games so far than most other teams, are 9th in the PL, progressing in the EFL... but we can't score goals, even if the ball is fired at a striker stood in front of the goal.

[Chris27687]

Quite clearly the man to take us forward - we are developing youth players and playing decent football.

 

We are lacking a little bit of a cutting edge - but there's a lot of new players being used (particularly up front) so it's not surprising it's taking a bit of time to gel.

 

Before the season we all kind of expected somewhere around 9th/10th and a good cup run and we are exactly there.

[shurlock]

If our famed recruitment team had bought a couple of goalscorer's, or hadn't sold the ones we had, but everything else remained the same, I don't think this debate would exist.

 

We defend well, control games, get forward frequently, create chances, promote youth, use the entire squad (with no real negative consequence or obvious dips in form), have played more games so far than most other teams, are 9th in the PL, progressing in the EFL... but we can't score goals, even if the ball is fired at a striker stood in front of the goal.

 

I don't think we created nearly enough chances or looked sufficiently penetrating. Obviously if Jrod's gilt-edged chance goes in, we win and the mood is different on here.

 

But how many other times did we genuinely test the keeper? Bertrand's long range shot was about it. More generally how often do we get behind defences or create overloads? Time of a move is the best predictor of chance creation -the lower, the better. But we rarely play at a quicker tempo. Our best chances come from pressing the opposition into mistakes. But we are at times schizophrenic: we don't know if we're a pressing side or a counterattacking side.

 

I hoped the strange obsession with a 'striker' would have ended with the signing of Austin. Even with him in the team, though granted he's been quite wasteful, we don't look significantly more threatening. Arguably a more aggressive and dynamic midfielder, a proper no.8 who can drive into space and commit players from central positions is a bigger must.

Edited 15 December, 2016 by shurlock

[Verbal Kint]

Quite clearly the man to take us forward - we are developing youth players and playing decent football.

 

We are lacking a little bit of a cutting edge - but there's a lot of new players being used (particularly up front) so it's not surprising it's taking a bit of time to gel.

 

Before the season we all kind of expected somewhere around 9th/10th and a good cup run and we are exactly there.

 

I really don't understand people that say we are playing good football. We're not in 90% of games (although I thought we did ok for the first hour last night). The tempo is far too slow and we spend most of the game passing it sideways and backwards. How is that good football?

[woodsaint]

What a lot of whingers

 

Semi Final of League Cup 9th in League after lots of games in Europa Cup youngsters being brought through not many goals being scored but quite a lot being missed.

 

Long and Rodriques are International Strikers it is hardly Puel's fault that they are not scoring if they were things would look a great deal better

 

I dont know what the fans want but realistically 7 to 10 in the PL and a good run in a cup is what we can expect from the team.

 

But yes a new striker and a few goals would be great and probably this will happen soon

 

Spot on sir

[Saint Billy]

Undecided atm, yes we are tight defensively but we are god awful to watch.

 

Whilst being relatively safe I do wonder how long the fans patience will last being subjected to this every week.

[Mallagroth]

Players who were good last season are not performing as well this season. Negative

Players who didn't get a look in are playing this season and look better. Positive

We have performed much better in the cups. Positive

Youth players are getting a chance and impressing. Positive

The football is dull to watch. Negative

The tactics to win away from home appear to be missing. Negative.

Our home form is very good on the whole. Positive

Puel isn't great at interviews. Negative.

Puel doesn't sensationalise to the press or make outlandish promises he can't keep. Positive.

We are getting good results against Title contending teams. Positive

We are losing or drawing to sides at the bottom of the table that we should be beating. Negative.

 

Still more positives than negatives as I can see, but maybe I've missed some. I don't see how he can be credited with the defence as that hasn't changed since end of last season where it was as solid if not more.

[doddisalegend]

I really don't understand people that say we are playing good football. We're not in 90% of games (although I thought we did ok for the first hour last night). The tempo is far too slow and we spend most of the game passing it sideways and backwards. How is that good football?

 

 

What is the definition of good football? The issue is everyone has different ideas of what is good football. Some like ball possession and controlling games, some like fast counter attack, some like route one to the big man, some like high press. Chances are their definition of good football is just different to yours.

 

If I'm honest good or bad football is less of an issue than winning or losing to me. I'd rather saints win playing ugly/bad/boring football than lose playing sublime/beautiful/exciting football but others will disagree.

[Jai27]

I'd give him until the end of the season. His game plan is reminiscent of Pochettino's tactics but without the high pressing (the exciting bit...). The problem is that if we finish in the top 10 and have had a good cup run, we don't really have good grounds to sack him. I'm more concerned about him loosing the dressing room than the fans to be honest.

[doddisalegend]

Undecided atm, yes we are tight defensively but we are god awful to watch.

 

Whilst being relatively safe I do wonder how long the fans patience will last being subjected to this every week.

 

My take is most fans would happily take are current style if we were winning 1-0 in most of our games and sitting in the top six tight now. I bet playing super exciting football but losing nine goal thrillers most weeks would get old pretty quick.

[Mallagroth]

My take is most fans would happily take are current style if we were winning 1-0 in most of our games and sitting in the top six tight now. I bet playing super exciting football but losing nine goal thrillers most weeks would get old pretty quick.

 

I think most would be happy if we simply tried to play more positively.

[doddisalegend]

Players who were good last season are not performing as well this season. Negative

Players who didn't get a look in are playing this season and look better. Positive

We have performed much better in the cups. Positive

Youth players are getting a chance and impressing. Positive

The football is dull to watch. Negative

The tactics to win away from home appear to be missing. Negative.

Our home form is very good on the whole. Positive

Puel isn't great at interviews. Negative.

Puel doesn't sensationalise to the press or make outlandish promises he can't keep. Positive.

We are getting good results against Title contending teams. Positive

We are losing or drawing to sides at the bottom of the table that we should be beating. Negative.

 

Still more positives than negatives as I can see, but maybe I've missed some. I don't see how he can be credited with the defence as that hasn't changed since end of last season where it was as solid if not more.

 

 

I think Puel can take some credit on the defence because

a. He is doing it without Victor sitting in front.

 

b. We are only playing one holding DM instead of two like last season

 

c. The defence has still looked solid when we have rotated in Yoshida, Cuco and McQueen which wasn't the case last season.

[Mr X]

I honestly don't think puel we be given the funds to make our team competitive & exciting again..... I believe we probably are being lined up to be sold... I don't see puel as the type of man to fight his case to reed either

 

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[doddisalegend]

I think most would be happy if we simply tried to play more positively.

 

 

Tbh though I've heard the manger say the same thing so you have to assume the players aren't taking it on board.

[shurlock]

I think Puel can take some credit on the defence because

a. He is doing it without Victor sitting in front.

 

b. We are only playing one holding DM instead of two like last season

 

c. The defence has still looked solid when we have rotated in Yoshida, Cuco and McQueen which wasn't the case last season.

 

Agree with c, though re. b you might argue we play with 3 holding midfielders instead of 2 given a combo of Romeu, Hoj, JWP, Clasie, Davis and Reed rarely drive forward.

[mrfahaji]

Hard to comment about him 'losing the dressing room' unless there are obvious signs or reports about it. Just because he is boring in interviews doesn't necessarily mean he can't inspire the team (Pochettino managed it, after all).

 

I'm undecided whether it's the manager's tactics that bring out the worst in our players or that we simply don't have good enough players to make the system work.

 

At the start of the season Hojbjerg looked a class act and never gave the ball away, now he does it all the time! Steven Davis has never been the best shooter in the world but he has often been a key cog, bursting with energy and making key forward passes. Now he looks like a thoroughly average player that would struggle to get in any PL team. Our style of play doesn't suit Long at all, who now looks a shadow of his former self.

 

However, our system relies on attacking full backs and we are currently utilising a 3rd-choice RB who never does anything quickly. Control, touch, check back, look up... chance gone. Rinse & repeat. JWP and Clasie have never established themselves and when they play together we have no energy or threat from Central Midfield. And finally we are depending on second rate strikers to get goals. Austin is good, but even he is not in the top bracket. Pelle was on a similar level to Austin and then we had Mane, who when he could be bothered was unplayable. Boufal is getting there and looks to have great potential but I'm not sure he is a 'goalscorer' in the same way.

 

I know that Reed wanted us to get back to more of a Pochettino style, but reports were (and you'd like to think this is why Puel was appointed) that Nice played exciting football. It could boil down to the fact that in France, playing possession football is a lot more effective as you do break through eventually, and games are more open for an entertaining passing game. Try and implement the same game here and teams say "go on then, have the ball. We'll just snuff you out as soon as you start getting close."

[mrfahaji]

I don't think we created nearly enough chances or looked sufficiently penetrating. Obviously if Jrod's gilt-edged chance goes in, we win and the mood is different on here.

 

But how many other times did we genuinely test the keeper? Bertrand's long range shot was about it. More generally how often do we get behind defences or create overloads? Time of a move is the best predictor of chance creation -the lower, the better. But we rarely play at a quicker tempo. Our best chances come from pressing the opposition into mistakes. But we are at times schizophrenic: we don't know if we're a pressing side or a counterattacking side.

 

I hoped the strange obsession with a 'striker' would have ended with the signing of Austin. Even with him in the team, though granted he's been quite wasteful, we don't look significantly more threatening. Arguably a more aggressive and dynamic midfielder, a proper no.8 who can drive into space and commit players from central positions is a bigger must.

 

Agree with most of this Shurlock, the bit in bold particularly pertinent. When Martina was subbed, the commentator said "I'm surprised, he's been putting in some good balls", but the problem is he takes so long to deliver them, the defence are all back in place and the attack is static. In the end he might get the ball into the right area, but unless it's inch perfect we're not scoring from it.

 

Only thing I'd say is, regarding your opening line - obviously people would be happier with a win, but even against Middlesbrough there was a feeling of "good result, but questionable performance". A draw away at Stoke isn't a dreadful result but the way we went about it left me thoroughly annoyed. As much as 'papering over the cracks' became a bit of a joke on Sunday, a last minute 1-0 winner last night probably would have been in a similar vein.

[ADutchSaint]

What is the definition of good football? The issue is everyone has different ideas of what is good football. Some like ball possession and controlling games, some like fast counter attack, some like route one to the big man, some like high press. Chances are their definition of good football is just different to yours.

 

If I'm honest good or bad football is less of an issue than winning or losing to me. I'd rather saints win playing ugly/bad/boring football than lose playing sublime/beautiful/exciting football but others will disagree.

 

At the end winning is all that matters but right after that comes entertainment and entertainment is good football. You can play bad tactically and make mistakes on the pitch but as long put a lot of entertainment against that then people will say that you play good.

 

Possession and controlling games might be good football in some peoples eyes cause 'the other team cant score when you have the ball' (and that kind of nonsense) but its boring, its been the biggest topic in Dutch football the last few years where coaches and players were padding themselves on the back because they had 70% ball possession, well who cares, you created one chance with that so thats a pretty poor job you did there. Passing the ball from your CB's to your midfielders, back to the CB's, then to the full backs and then back to the midfielders again isnt exciting and very easily to defend against.

 

Playing it safe with a good organisation on the pitch and going forward with as less risks as possible will get you some results, might even give you some compliments in the media but at the end, it will all blur away in the minds of the fans cause there's nothing memorable about that. And lets be honest, those are the only moments that stick in your mind while the rest of the season fades away.

 

In my eyes we dont play good football, havent been impressed this entire season so far and that started with the first game i saw in the pre-season. Now i wont blame Puel for the options we have on the midfield but then i dont understand why he wants to play in this style we play. So im not that impressed with Puel, havent seen a single substitute or change on the pitch as well that changed a game. Its all the same and very predictable, last night was a another prime example of that.

[doddisalegend]

Agree with c, though re. b you might argue we play with 3 holding midfielders instead of 2 given a combo of Romeu, Hoj, JWP, Clasie, Davis and Reed rarely drive forward.

 

 

True but I don't think that's the intention of the manager more to do with the players available. Hoj does at least try to get forward and Clasie has looked more threating in in his last couple of games but we don't really have a proper attacking central midfielder.

[ashnats]

I don't think we created nearly enough chances or looked sufficiently penetrating. Obviously if Jrod's gilt-edged chance goes in, we win and the mood is different on here.

 

But how many other times did we genuinely test the keeper? Bertrand's long range shot was about it. More generally how often do we get behind defences or create overloads? Time of a move is the best predictor of chance creation -the lower, the better. But we rarely play at a quicker tempo. Our best chances come from pressing the opposition into mistakes. But we are at times schizophrenic: we don't know if we're a pressing side or a counterattacking side.

 

I hoped the strange obsession with a 'striker' would have ended with the signing of Austin. Even with him in the team, though granted he's been quite wasteful, we don't look significantly more threatening. Arguably a more aggressive and dynamic midfielder, a proper no.8 who can drive into space and commit players from central positions is a bigger must.

 

Only Man City, Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool have had more shots on goal this season than Saints.

 

(The same teams, plus Man Utd and Arsenal, are the only teams with higher possession stats than Saints, i.e. possession = chances)

[DuncanRG]

I hate these baseless claims he lacks charisma or especially respect in the dressing room (?!). You've got to be a special kind of thick to judge a manager's character on post-match interviews, where most are intentionally boring.

[ashnats]

At the end winning is all that matters but right after that comes entertainment and entertainment is good football. You can play bad tactically and make mistakes on the pitch but as long put a lot of entertainment against that then people will say that you play good.

 

Possession and controlling games might be good football in some peoples eyes cause 'the other team cant score when you have the ball' (and that kind of nonsense) but its boring, its been the biggest topic in Dutch football the last few years where coaches and players were padding themselves on the back because they had 70% ball possession, well who cares, you created one chance with that so thats a pretty poor job you did there. Passing the ball from your CB's to your midfielders, back to the CB's, then to the full backs and then back to the midfielders again isnt exciting and very easily to defend against.

 

Playing it safe with a good organisation on the pitch and going forward with as less risks as possible will get you some results, might even give you some compliments in the media but at the end, it will all blur away in the minds of the fans cause there's nothing memorable about that. And lets be honest, those are the only moments that stick in your mind while the rest of the season fades away.

 

In my eyes we dont play good football, havent been impressed this entire season so far and that started with the first game i saw in the pre-season. Now i wont blame Puel for the options we have on the midfield but then i dont understand why he wants to play in this style we play. So im not that impressed with Puel, havent seen a single substitute or change on the pitch as well that changed a game. Its all the same and very predictable, last night was a another prime example of that.

 

Just in the last week, - Boro, Redmond coming on changed the game.

[Jai27]

To be clear, I wasn't suggesting he lacks charisma or respect in the dressing room. I said I'm more worried about him loosing the dressing room than the fans, meaning it doesn't really matter what we think, it's what the players think.

[doddisalegend]

At the end winning is all that matters but right after that comes entertainment and entertainment is good football. You can play bad tactically and make mistakes on the pitch but as long put a lot of entertainment against that then people will say that you play good.

 

Possession and controlling games might be good football in some peoples eyes cause 'the other team cant score when you have the ball' (and that kind of nonsense) but its boring, its been the biggest topic in Dutch football the last few years where coaches and players were padding themselves on the back because they had 70% ball possession, well who cares, you created one chance with that so thats a pretty poor job you did there. Passing the ball from your CB's to your midfielders, back to the CB's, then to the full backs and then back to the midfielders again isnt exciting and very easily to defend against.

 

Playing it safe with a good organisation on the pitch and going forward with as less risks as possible will get you some results, might even give you some compliments in the media but at the end, it will all blur away in the minds of the fans cause there's nothing memorable about that. And lets be honest, those are the only moments that stick in your mind while the rest of the season fades away.

 

In my eyes we dont play good football, havent been impressed this entire season so far and that started with the first game i saw in the pre-season. Now i wont blame Puel for the options we have on the midfield but then i dont understand why he wants to play in this style we play. So im not that impressed with Puel, havent seen a single substitute or change on the pitch as well that changed a game. Its all the same and very predictable, last night was a another prime example of that.

 

 

On the subs I think the replacement of Tadic with Redmond, and the formation change, against Boro changed the game in our favour

 

Last night the only real game changer we had on the bench given the way the game was going was Tadic but he hasn't looked good since he came back. Jrod wasn't likely to make much difference in his current form.

[shurlock]

Only Man City, Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool have had more shots on goal this season than Saints.

 

(The same teams, plus Man Utd and Arsenal, are the only teams with higher possession stats than Saints, i.e. possession = chances)

 

I'm afraid to say that's completely bogus.

 

Even we accept that raw shots on goal, unadjusted for quality, are a good measure, no complex phenomenon such as shots on goal is determined by a single variable i.e. possession. There are so many other confounding factors that may be correlated with possession and shots on goal that will bias your estimate.

 

As I say your point is completely bogus unless you control for and disentangle these other factors.

[RobM]

I don't think we created nearly enough chances or looked sufficiently penetrating. Obviously if Jrod's gilt-edged chance goes in, we win and the mood is different on here.

 

But how many other times did we genuinely test the keeper? Bertrand's long range shot was about it. More generally how often do we get behind defences or create overloads? Time of a move is the best predictor of chance creation -the lower, the better. But we rarely play at a quicker tempo. Our best chances come from pressing the opposition into mistakes. But we are at times schizophrenic: we don't know if we're a pressing side or a counterattacking side.

 

I hoped the strange obsession with a 'striker' would have ended with the signing of Austin. Even with him in the team, though granted he's been quite wasteful, we don't look significantly more threatening. Arguably a more aggressive and dynamic midfielder, a proper no.8 who can drive into space and commit players from central positions is a bigger must.

 

I think we're sort of agreeing... we didn't test the keeper enough. We had a lot of shots - as somebody else pointed out, only a handful of teams have had more shots than us - they just don't hit the target often enough and certainly don't go in enough.

 

How many times per-game do we make it to the oppositions penalty area? Plenty, IMO. We get there frequently and often quite easily, we just make bad decisions when we get there (Redmond in particular is superb right up until his final decision making), or don't have the quality, confidence or ability to score enough.

[saintoaks]

Back the guy, support the team, what will be will be..

Fed up of of these negative comments, things are no way near as bad as what i am reading above.

 

Get a grip.

[Monkou]

He came into someone else´s team, lost 2 quality international strikers, had to contend with 2 games a week pretty much every week so far and still we are 9th in the league with a cup semi final to come. In that time he has given debuts to some of our most promising youth academy players who were overlooked under the last regime.

 

Before the start of the season most people were at least pretending to be realistic about this season. The consensus, apparently, was that we would struggle with the weight of fixtures, having lost our two main strikers and that a mid table finish with a cup run would be a decent season. Now suddenly people are saying he is not the guy for the job.

 

Lets give him this season and the next (3 transfer windows) and see how he does. I think he´s the right guy, but whatever you think lets not write him off in december of his 1st season.

[Nordic Saint]

Les told us that he thinks Puel is a perfect fit. He also told us that this season we have the best midfield options in the Premier League and he saw Redmond as the ideal replacement for Mane. So, what's not to like?

 

http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/southampton/news/reed-southampton-have-best-midfield-in-pl_276561.html

[richard]

I like Puel, and I think the problem we have right now is really down to Rodriguez and Long's form coupled with the injury to Austin. I'm happy with the organisation that he has the team playing with and the chances created. Give him at least a season to show what he can do, so far I'm fairly impressed. I'd like to see us buy a striker in January.

[Mallagroth]

Les told us that he thinks Puel is a perfect fit. He also told us that this season we have the best midfield options in the Premier League and he saw Redmond as the ideal replacement for Mane. So, what's not to like?

 

http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/southampton/news/reed-southampton-have-best-midfield-in-pl_276561.html

 

Did Les bang your sister? You seem really keen to make this about him. At least 2 posts on 2 different threads trying to turn it into a Les Reed bashing when thats not really what is being discussed. Troll or nutter?

[ADutchSaint]

On the subs I think the replacement of Tadic with Redmond, and the formation change, against Boro changed the game in our favour

 

Last night the only real game changer we had on the bench given the way the game was going was Tadic but he hasn't looked good since he came back. Jrod wasn't likely to make much difference in his current form.

 

I dont see how Redmond made it possible that we won against Boro with a deflected shot from outside the box. That was the only difference between the first and the second half cause we didnt create more of bigger chances.

 

Last night you could have taken off Davis or JWP or a fullback to put in Tadic on the left, Redmond on the right and Boufal behind Long or Jrod. Or put Fonte or Van Dijk up top and pull Romeu back down the pitch, just get some more people in attacking positions, you could even put in Yoshida as a pinch hitter etc etc etc. Possibilities are endless but nope, it was more of the same against a mediocre (cause how many of them would be starters in our squad?) Stoke with 10 players. Winger for winger, striker for striker and everything stayed as it was.

 

And what was Puel afraid of? Walters to beat Fonte and Van Dijk in a sprint on a counter attack or some? The had zero pace in their entire team with Arnautovic and Shaqiri gone. Said it last night but i didnt get it and will never get it and to me this was as poor of a display of a manager as you get.