Claude Puel (Split)

[SuperSAINT]

My memory of his run was it wasn’t great.  But he did a decent job, considering.

Boring football, weird Fonte stuff in Europe (was that a club thing?) and lots of rotation… But he could organise a side (0 goals conceded in 4 matches vs Liverpool).

Worth mentioning his tenure coincided with the start of our crap recruitment and the had the rather difficult task of following King Ronald but without Pelle/Mane/Wanyama on the pitch.

[Convict Colony]

Claude Puel managing Split, how the mighty have fallen

[Tank]

People often compare Puel with ole Hootle, the only comparison I see is frustration, but Puel was mind blowingly boring something Ralphy never is. I also think Hassenhutl has put in a lot of work with Saints, he is visionary.  I totally believe there are good times ahead.

[TWar]

7 minutes ago, Tank said:

People often compare Puel with ole Hootle, the only comparison I see is frustration, but Puel was mind blowingly boring something Ralphy never is. I also think Hassenhutl has put in a lot of work with Saints, he is visionary.  I totally believe there are good times ahead.

One took a team that was a top 6 contender side, yeah lost a couple of key players but we did spend to replace them and absolutely crashed it. We have not had a bigger dip in quality in a side in years than we have between Koeman and Puel.

The other took a team that was nearly relegated multiple seasons running and from the first moment turning up never had us in a relegation battle again and even had us pushing top half. It's not even close as a comparison for me. Puel oversaw our biggest drop in quality of the last decade, Ralph oversaw one of the biggest boosts in quality (bested by Poch from Adkins)

Edited 8 January, 2022 by TWar

[Lord Duckhunter]

22 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

You obviously don't know what plastic support is.

Being there and paying for it is the cornerstone of professional football.

How often did you watch away from home? 

[Lord Duckhunter]

In the last 100 years only Ted, Lawrie, Chris Nichol, & Koeman have had a higher placed finish than Claude. In the same 100 year period only Lawrie & WGS have taken us to a major final. 
 

 

 

Edited 8 January, 2022 by Lord Duckhunter

[Lighthouse]

46 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

In the last 100 years only Ted, Lawrie, Chris Nichol, & Koeman have had a higher placed finish than Claude. In the same 100 year period only Lawrie & WGS have taken us to a major final. 

Just out of interest if, in 2005, all other 19 clubs had been relegated for financial irregularities, a la Rangers or Juve, and Saints had been declared league champions; would you be declaring that the greatest season in our history?

[Lord Duckhunter]

55 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Just out of interest if, in 2005, all other 19 clubs had been relegated for financial irregularities, a la Rangers or Juve, and Saints had been declared league champions; would you be declaring that the greatest season in our history?

Don’t be so fucking stupid. Grow up.

Anyway I’m done with arguing over Puel. His record is in the book in black and white. One of our best ever cup runs, decent final performance, (certainly better than WGS’ effort. Fuck me imagine the clog Puel would have taken had he set us up like Gordon did at Cardiff) and a 8th place finish. That’ll do for me, particularly after losing Mane, Pelle & VvD for half a season. I wouldn’t want him back and neither would you, so what’s the point in going over old ground. Over and out…..
 

 

[Whitey Grandad]

3 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

How often did you watch away from home? 

What's that got to do with anything? Once or twice. Away games are an irrelevance and only give money to the other teams. Home season tickets are where the support is.

[Whitey Grandad]

3 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

How often did you watch away from home? 

How often did you watch at home?

[Singapore Saint]

19 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

In the last 100 years only Ted, Lawrie, Chris Nichol, & Koeman have had a higher placed finish than Claude. In the same 100 year period only Lawrie & WGS have taken us to a major final.

The League Cup final isn’t a major final?

[saintwbu]

A league cup run that not only got us to the final, but that we were fucking brilliant in every single game. He brought through a number of youngsters who all made decent contributions that season, many of whom have gone on to do nothing since. Whether you liked his football or not, he knew what he was doing. He should in no way be clubbed together with Pellegrino and Hughes. He was dealt a shit hand, and he did alright, sometimes better than alright. 

[Huffton]

Three words sum up why Puel had to go, Hapoel Beer Sheva.

[Dark Munster]

7 hours ago, saintwbu said:

A league cup run that not only got us to the final, but that we were fucking brilliant in every single game. He brought through a number of youngsters who all made decent contributions that season, many of whom have gone on to do nothing since. Whether you liked his football or not, he knew what he was doing. He should in no way be clubbed together with Pellegrino and Hughes. He was dealt a shit hand, and he did alright, sometimes better than alright. 

And the "turgid" second half of the season at home that the anti-Puel mob love to focus on, after the brilliant cup final, we were without Mane, VW, Pelle, Fonte, as well as VVD and Gabbi (our only decent striker) out injured, with Yoshi and Stephens as first choice CBs FFS. It was a disgrace that the board sacked him.

[Lighthouse]

7 hours ago, saintwbu said:

not, he knew what he was doing

Yes, he was playing for a 0-0 at home to Hull, Bournemouth, Middlesbrough, Stoke and Be’er Sheva.

[TWar]

2 hours ago, Dark Munster said:

And the "turgid" second half of the season at home that the anti-Puel mob love to focus on, after the brilliant cup final, we were without Mane, VW, Pelle, Fonte, as well as VVD and Gabbi (our only decent striker) out injured, with Yoshi and Stephens as first choice CBs FFS. It was a disgrace that the board sacked him.

One or two games does not a good manager make. He made us shite for the vast majority of the season.

Edited 9 January, 2022 by TWar

[Chickendippers]

Watching Swansea the other night reminded me of us under Puel. When they showed a bit of urgency and passed the ball forwards they scored. Then it was back to low risk, ball recycling crab football. Dull dull dull. We were a decent side iirc when we moved the ball quickly - but too often the safe option was taken especially at home.

[sydney_saint]

I was never keen on the way he ripped up the way we played as soon as he arrived. Usually when a manager arrives, the team is in a hole and ripping things up is needed. But we had just come off a couple of exceptional campaigns, and for the most part had played some really good football with a good system. I know we had lost Pelle and Mane, and they were huge losses I am not understating that, but there was still plenty of talent within the side. Tadic in particular. Puel did have a bit of money to spend, and could have used the money to buy players that could fit into a system that was already working well. Instead he replaced it with this turgid possession based crab football. Of course the fans were not gonna be happy seeing both worse results and worse style that stifled our players. I personally feel Tadic never got his mojo back with us after that, yet he was a truly fantastic, entertaining player on our books.

This is all more on Reed than Puel in fairness, it was an atrocious fit. 

Puel did have a chance to turn this all around. Which is why I don't think people need to sympathise with him. After the final there was a real good-feel factor around. Gabbiadini looked the ducks nuts, and there was no realistic risk of us going down. It would have been the perfect time to let the handbrake off a little, especially at home. Give a little something back to the fans and also the players who wanna have some freedom. Instead he doubled down, things got even worse, goals totally dried up at home, and many of the fans turned, and also the players did as well. I certainly do not miss him, neither do Leicester fans.

[Dark Munster]

4 hours ago, sydney_saint said:

I was never keen on the way he ripped up the way we played as soon as he arrived. Usually when a manager arrives, the team is in a hole and ripping things up is needed. But we had just come off a couple of exceptional campaigns, and for the most part had played some really good football with a good system. I know we had lost Pelle and Mane, and they were huge losses I am not understating that, but there was still plenty of talent within the side. Tadic in particular. Puel did have a bit of money to spend, and could have used the money to buy players that could fit into a system that was already working well. Instead he replaced it with this turgid possession based crab football. Of course the fans were not gonna be happy seeing both worse results and worse style that stifled our players. I personally feel Tadic never got his mojo back with us after that, yet he was a truly fantastic, entertaining player on our books.

This is all more on Reed than Puel in fairness, it was an atrocious fit. 

Puel did have a chance to turn this all around. Which is why I don't think people need to sympathise with him. After the final there was a real good-feel factor around. Gabbiadini looked the ducks nuts, and there was no realistic risk of us going down. It would have been the perfect time to let the handbrake off a little, especially at home. Give a little something back to the fans and also the players who wanna have some freedom. Instead he doubled down, things got even worse, goals totally dried up at home, and many of the fans turned, and also the players did as well. I certainly do not miss him, neither do Leicester fans.

Gabbi got injured after the final, and didn't get back to himself for the rest of the season.