James

Disagree with that. If you can't guarantee something then don't make an affirmative statement that you can't stick to. No one forced him to make an implicit promise of a replacement, he chose to say it. He could have given the interview pretty easily and just omitted that bit. Also, I'm sure some people would have continued to have a pop at Reed at the club but you can't deny that the criticism of him has exploded since the Fonte incident.

If he thought Fonte was going to stay then why make a public statement that he wouldn't be sold without a replacement? If, at the time he gave that interview, he thought he was staying then there really was no need to add that part on. This is an example of my major gripe with Les, he only speaks at times of intense speculation, says something positive and then it turns out to be wrong within a matter of days sometimes. He needs to either keep his mouth shut or only say something if he knows damn sure it's true. He wouldn't be getting anywhere near as much stick if a) he hadn't said we'd get a replacement for Fonte if we released him or b) he didn't have a previous track record of saying things and then subsequently not delivering. It just means he loses credibility amongst the fan base.

Intentionally not replacing Fonte is the root of it. Even if VVD hadn't been injured against Leicester we were effectively banking on him staying fit and playing every game for the next 4 months. That is, IMO, a completely ludicrous risk for a PL team to take. In reality we are pretty lucky VVD got crocked when he did, had it happened next month we probably wouldn't even have Caceres available as an option.

There were still almost 10 days to go when Vardy did for Virgil. That's almost a third of the window.

Agreed. Fair enough they messed up and are trying to salvage it but the fact this situation was allowed to arise in the first place, when completely avoidable and with weeks to sort, is ridiculous. Also not particularly happy with the fact that had VVD not been crocked we would have likely just risked it with what we have. Given LR's assurances about how well run we are it's not surprising they've taken a lot of flack here for dropping the ball and leaving us short in two consecutive windows.

Word. No one can credibly say anything else. Let's hope we get Caceres.

Whilst I appreciate the quality of this post I don't agree with it. I work in the City on a lot of relatively high profile "deals". I don't claim to know much about the football business world but what I do know is that you should absolutely never put yourself in a position where you get caught out on deadline day. Whilst he may not have foreseen what happened he should not, as a premier League director of football, have allowed himself to be caught out with no time to rectify the situation. The fact he has been caught out so brutally will always attach criticism and, Imo, justifiably so.

Well said.

Quelle Surprise.

Hopefully we will get him.

Genuine q for you - what has Puel done to prove he is an excellent manager? I suspect that, for every good result, I could cite twice as many awful ones.

Agreed. He has got to go. You can't present yourself as a smug know it all and then fail to deliver so spectacularly. His arrogance could relegate us. I don't even care if he reads this. In fact, I hope he does.

This whole "I feel sorry for Puel" act is getting pretty tiresome. The majority of this squad finished sixth last year. I get that we sold some very good players but to have us so close to the bottom is the fault of the manager only. The squad we have is much better than it's showing and that is the fault of the manager. It's almost a parody that you have a French word as your username and are defending a French manager to the hilt. We've been, for the most part, complete garbage this season and that's down to Puel. He's been let down but we shouldn't even be flirting with relegation.

They won't be replaced.

Out. Whether he keeps us up this year or not. I don't want him as our manager long term.

Not sure they can be labelled bed wetters now. Most on here are concerned.

I almost wish Pamplemousse would start saying we were going down. Given his lack of luck with predications that might actually save us!

Sorry Claude, time's up.

Not too much wrong with the tactics?! Were you at the game today? I presume not.

Have you looked at our recent form? It simply cannot be nothing to do with Puel. To say otherwise is just ridiculous. Change the record.

Well and truly in the scrap this year. Cheers Les you fool.

You also said we'd beat West Brom and win today's game easily...

Gardos might be useful against Carroll but I'd be tempted to let Yoshi handle him and then play Bertrand next to him with McQ at left back. It may end up being our best hope so may as well try it as we've only got 2 games pre Wembley. In reality I can't see CP dropping Stephens.

All sorted. Block 129. COYR.

We've got 27 points, realistically we need 10 more to survive as there's no way you'll need 40 this year. We will scrape survival I think so Wembley is the only thing that will realistically save our season.