St.JonB

Would work if we played one up front and two defensive midfielders. Not in the diamond though.

I'm trying to come up with a list of players who constantly score from long range - i've only come up with Le Tiss and Roy Race so far. Unfortunately both have retired. Any others?

People are concerned. The only person that can prove them wrong is Puel; the vast majority hope to be proved wrong. What i find annoying is the posters that are trying to rewrite last season. We finished 6th and will probably not ever have a better season in the league. Please happy clappers stop trying to rewrite history to prove all is good now.

They need to sack Puel now before this crazy experiment goes any further [emoji17]

Totally agree. Is there any chance he will change the formation?

Wish we had signed him 12 months ago - think he would have looked even better playing with better players and in a more positive system.

Worked well for England in the summer......

I think the frustration comes from the fact after a great last season we were all hoping that we would not have to go through another depressing pre-season. I don't care what you post on here, if you were told after the Man City game what was going to happen next it would have wiped the smile of your face. Just hope we get a player in we can all get excited about.

Footballs all about opinions. Hopefully in a few months he will have won everyone over and people can get back on picking on individual players!

I don't see what's wrong with questioning his ability? As people point out, he will be judged on results and will win people round if he does well. He will go up in my estimate if he is willing to try different formations. If we keep with the diamond it could be tough.

Thought he was average - we wont miss him when he goes in two years time

12th. Can't see where goals will come from if Charlie isn't allowed to do his thing; but lock Font in a room for 3 weeks and our defence should be fine.

The good thing about this site is the positive posters. Please can someone please sell Puel to me as I'm not seeing anything to fill me with confidence. Thank you.

Yeah remember that game against Sunderland when we only scored 8? So frustrating!

Would some on here not argue we should sell him? Not sure what's different between his and Pelle's situation.

Maybe you should watch the youth team rather than the first team? [emoji12]

He has not done great in a poor league. Not that young either. Why was he on loan last year? Just wish we would set our sights a bit higher.

Very under whelming. Hopefully not true.

He did not look comfortable when he played in SKD's match in May. He kept looking to the bench; thought at the time it was probably just a tweak.

Really good news. He must feel very settled with us. Our next captain after Fonte as well.

I don't think anyone wants the players not to perform. They just want us to be able to keep a player another club wants off us.

Anyone know what sort of formation we are likely to play this season? If we're going to play two up front I don't think a Mane replacement is quite so important. Even with the loss of the two (with Pelle to come) we can still put a good team out and a strong bench.

I think that was Mane. Oh hang on...

It was not long ago people were talking about how well Newcastle were being run signing cheap French players and selling them for big profit. We have managed to improve after two difficult summers; does not mean we will always get better. I really don't think people can be knocked for being concerned that we will be able to consistently replace good players (and managers) with cheaper alternatives.

Must say i'm slightly disappointed. I know every appointment is a bit of a gamble but this seems a higher gamble then need be for a club that just finished 6th. I hope he's not been given a quota of youth players he needs to bring through or told to play a certain 'Southampton Way'. Think we should have let Koeman see his contact out.