benjii

Agreed, plus the absence of a striker that suits his system (other than Jay Rod but he is still clearly sub-optimal in performance level). It's a work in progress. If the club wanted a quick-fix approach they could have appointed someone else but clearly they see something in him for the long-term. Talk of "giving him until the end of the season" is therefore, in my opinion, short-sighted. I don't think Puel will have had any real say in what the current squad looks like, with the probable exception of endorsing the Boufal signing. I would give him until the end of next season, at least, and give him the opportunity to sign a decent forward that he thinks will suit his system. We also need a central midfielder who makes decent runs beyond the striker. There's also a lot of rewriting history and plan-wrong assessments of the football. As though Koeman was some sort of total football maverick coach. We played a lot of crap under Koeman too at times. Our 6th placed finish was excellent but also a bit freakish in the context of how we played in a lot of matches. Given the number of games we've had already and the strengthening of Man U, Chelsea and Liverpool, our current league position is pretty decent, I would say. People are just getting annoyed because they aren't saying many goals. That's understandable but sometimes longer-term gains mean a bit of adjustment in the short term.

I'd be happy enough with a point from each of the next three games, although two points and a win would be great. Romeu being missing is annoying, particularly as we have a ten day break after. It would have been better to be suspended for one of the hectic run after Xmas. But never mind. I'd go with: Forster Cedric Fonte Van Dijk Bertrand Reed Clasie Long Boufal Tadic Jay Rod But we will play 4-3-3 with Davis, Hojbjerg or JWP instead of Long or Jay Rod I expect.

That's not a **** up though, is it? It's a nasty, vindictive, mean, selfish act of deliberate criminality. I should note he has only been charged though, not convicted, so he may not have done it

The fact that Chelsea are playing a back 3 is annoying. He'd absolutely suit them down to the ground.

If there is someone we can buy who is a genuine upgrade on Long, Austin and Jay Rod and is well suited to the style Puel wants then, great, let's buy them if we can. If not, I would be happy to see him given a chance. A lot of forward play is about confidence and he will be full of confidence. If we need numbers, I'd rather it was Gallagher than someone signed purely to make up the numbers. We aren't going to get a return on Austin, Long or Jay Rod so we do need to be a bit careful about our next striker move or we're going to be throwing a lot of the wage budget down the well.

I think if have a storming second half to the season (ie. win the League Cup / FA Cup or finish near top 6 again) I think he may stay for another year whilst we integrate a Fonte replacement. If we muddle through and he gets depressed with the direction of travel then I would expect him to push for a move next summer. And, quite frankly, so would I if I were him!

Cheers. So basically just "hope for the best" without actually having any plan to deliver value. A gamble essentially.

It looked to me like Ward Prowse played wider and further forward, in general, in the second half and Boufal moved inside a bit. Redmond floated around but tended to make runs on the left. So it was a sort of 4231. I definitely thought we changed shape, anyway.

Does anyone know what exactly SISU were up to? I mean, they haven't actually made any money out of Coventry have they? What was the plan? Was it all contingent on getting some sort of cushty stadium deal? They should have bought West Ham!

I know a few ST holders who didn't realise the ST window had ended. I expect there are others who were caught unawares too!

There's no way Sturridge will join us. He thinks he's way too good for us. The only way Sturridge is joining a club outside the "big 6" is if someone throws insane money at him. So, basically, I would forget Sturridge.

Haha! Very good. Certainly at home, it is annoying that we haven't scored in the first half more often.

You could have bounced all over some of their top boys, mush, then ransacked the brothels. Lads.

Is it? It feels like it might be. But is it? It means we've scored in the first half in a third of our matches. Is that unusual? What's the average number of goals scored in the first half by teams this season? How many teams have failed to score in the first half 9 times (assuming 10 is the most)?

I would choose: Forster Cedric Fonte Van Dijk Bertrand Romeu Clasie Davis Boufal Redmond Long Subs: keeper, Yoshida, Hojbjerg, McQueen, Tadic, Rodriguez, Sims You'd hope that Long's pace and Redmond's pace would give Stoke's meathead defenders some issues. If Long is having a frustrating night again then throw Rodriguez on quite early instead. I like Tadic, and would generally prefer him to Redmond, but he seemed a little tentative yesterday and I think he is slightly worried about his injury. For this match, I'd give Redmond a chance to build on his second half performance, which I thought was actually one of his best of the season. Clasie seems to be finding some form after his displays against Arsenal and yesterday and Davis is Mr Reliable.

Here are the worst performances that spring to my mind since we got promoted back to the Prem and excluding the Adkins era: - Midytylland away in the Europa - Liverpool at home in the League Cup - Sunderland away in the FA Cup - Sheff Utd away in the League Cup - Bournemouth away in the league - Ipswich home and away in the FA cup (although we won) - Aston Villa at home - Palace at home in the FA Cup Puel has not served up anything as bad as any of that.

PS. And if you're after a dire European performance, Klueless Koeman's (lolz) effort against Midjytyyland clearly takes the biscuit. A far worse performance than Prague away in every respect.

It was way better than Bournemouth away or the dire cup performances against Palace and Sheff Utd under Koeman. In those games we could barely string two passes together. In Prague we conceded from a set piece, dominated the match but lacked quality in the final third. In those Koeman matches we didn't do anything at all. Koeman seems like a laugh to have a beer with and that seems to count for a lot amongst our fan base.

Indeed. We have not, in any match this season, played as bad as our worst matches under Koeman. And who can forget, "no plan B" Pochettino. What with all the sideways passing and that. Bloody passing! Puel is getting unfair treatment.

I also thought we switched to more of a 4231 or 4222 in that second half, which was interesting.

24th match of the season. That's 9 cup games already. And we have at least 3 more. Some seasons we might play about three in total. New manager, top half of the league. I think that's decent enough. I thought Clasie had a really good game today but Boufal obviously takes the MOM vote with a great goal. He could end up being the most entertaining player we've had for a long time. Should have scored two or three but decent enough. Need to pick up some away wins now.

That sub made sense. They couldn't defend crosses. We should have done that earlier. In fact, wasn't he involved in the creation of the Yoshida header that should have won us the match?

Sign someone better than the very average Austin, would be good.

At the end of the day, if you wanted to set a team up to play the way Puel wants us to play you wouldn't choose to have Long or Austin in it. Rodriguez would be a much better fit but he's buggered. We also need to get Boufal a decent run of matches. Doubt that will happen until Feb now though. We need to sign a mobile stirrer with a decent first touch in Jan. And ideally a central midfielder with some sort of threat in the opposition box.

Agreed. It changes a league format into a two-legged cup-tie which seems perverse.