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Other Matches - 15-16th December, 2018


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44 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

@Dan @Stan who would you have if Puel leaves?

Stan's already said it. Jardim. The only reason I've not said him more is because I actually think he'd have a shout at the Manchester United job when Mourinho goes, his stock is very high as a manager so it would be one hell of a coup.

I've tried with Puel. I've wanted him to work but I've hit a point now where I'm convinced that it's probably already peaked under him. He had his initial burst here like all managers seem to (and this trend worries me, I must admit) but it's now been a whole 38 games, so a whole season's worth since that initial run and we've picked up 43 points. That isn't good enough for me, certainly not given how many beatable teams there are in this league.

When you consider as well over your 38 game season you will play 12 games against 'the big six', in that 38 games we have played only 10 so you would have to say we've actually had an easier period of 38 games as well and we're still producing, at best, bottom half form.

Puel's got some parts about him that are admirable, I do respect the risks he takes with players and the faith he has placed in the likes of Chilwell, Gray, Maddison, Iheanacho etc... (although frankly some of that faith has been misplaced) but this team just doesn't create chances. Vardy isn't having his best season but you cannot expect him to score every single chance that he gets. The fact some of our fans are slating Vardy's finishing rather than asking why he's only getting about a chance every two games is kind of telling about how defensive some have been over Puel.

I've stuck up for him and I stand by that a lot of these players are simply not hungry enough and have a worrying tendency to turn it on when they're getting slated, but he's just not the man. If he ever comes good here I will be delighted, but he won't, I've seen enough. Our ceiling under Puel is 9th and while that isn't a disgrace, it's just.... 'meh, nobody is excited by knowing that, there's no enthusiasm. 7th was there for the taking for us last year with our run-in and we went on a run of beating not one of about seven bottom half sides on the spin. Those trends, bar Huddersfield and Watford (who weirdly were the same two sides he beat at home last year) haven't gone anywhere.

His ultimate problem is he just doesn't get the most out of our players. For that reason I cannot see the point of it going on. That's not something that's going to going away.

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I still say that upstairs have a lot to answer for at Leicester. Don't get me wrong, they shouldn't expect to be winning titles every year but after the fairy-tale of the winning season they should have invested better and been a regular European side. Qualifying for the Europa League and perhaps flirting with the top four, instead they've gone backwards and are a mid-table side that won't be relegated but in the same breath won't be giving the top six a headache.

I just feel like the past few years have been a missed opportunity.

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I do get a lot of people's comments about "what do they expect" to a degree and do think that we're probably seen by most as very ungrateful and unrealistic, but the truth is that title win gave us the power to elevate to another level. We operate on the biggest transfer and wage budget we ever have done and I feel like we've squandered absolutely loads over the past few years, seeing performances like yesterday being the norm is simply unacceptable. A club who spends as much on wages as we do (Tottenham's wage budget is nearer to ours than the top five, for some context) should not be aiming to survive every year. There needs to be more ambition. I don't mean any disrespect by saying it but we should be capable of comfortably coming ahead of sides like Watford and Bournemouth and yet I feel like, save for their recent form, they'll probably both finish ahead of us at the minute.

Nobody planned for the title win and that happening was a culmination of a lot of things going our way, but also some really good investment from us, clever signings, talented players who really did have a mental steel about them. They'd won us the Championship with over 100 points following the most horrific play-off semi final loss, survived comfortably from looking dead and buried with 9 games to go, that was no ordinary side, they were capable of unlikely things. But you do feel like we built a particular way in order to be able to do that with the type of player and character we brought in.

Since the title win there's been very little direction. Do think we invested a lot better this summer and brought players with a high ceiling but we're not getting anything like the best out of them. Name me another club in the league who would spend £20mil on a centre half rated as one of the brightest young defenders in Germany and consign them to the U23s. It's utterly bizarre.

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2 minutes ago, Cicero said:

Really wish Ruben improves defensively. That's the only thing holding him back from starting atm

At least he is still getting game time, I was a little pissed off with Willian in that respect as well.. During one of Brightons breaks forward he was just strolling back with no urgency even though we were open defensively, lucky for us the move broke down 

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Just now, Bluewolf said:

At least he is still getting game time, I was a little pissed off with Willian in that respect as well.. During one of Brightons breaks forward he was just strolling back with no urgency even though we were open defensively, lucky for us the move broke down 

Yeah Willian is the first name for me that needs to be replaced. Much like Mikel, he's overstayed his welcome and has magically convinced the club he's good enough 

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