shurlock

AR-10 is full of absolute ****

They're both just recycling a Sun story - either way, doesn't seem that the player wants to leave just yet. More interestingly his wages (65K pw) are outside our budget if you believe the story.

No it wasn't. We never pressed particularly high under RK. The football was often very direct and agricultural. What redeemed Koeman, even during sticky spells, was his pragmatism. You'll find plenty of threads bemoaning our lack of creativity and lack of goals. We turned things around in the second half of the season, though that was more due to the personnel RK had at his disposal than his tactical nous or footballing philosophy.

Agree. On one level, the argument is utterly vacuous. Name me a (young) footballer who doesn't want to climb to the top of his profession and play for a top club. By default, unless you're at the top of the foodchain, every club is a stepping stone. But that ambition is a vague one. In the here and now players move because they earn more money, play at a more competitive level or restart their career (we seem to like to take punts on players who've come through prestigious academies but not quite made it). The stepping stone argument, if it is not to become a banal truism, only makes sense when a player has had real interest from bigger clubs; but has decided to trade that off for opportunities for regular football. The Clyne signing might be an example of that (contrast that with the trajectory of Zaha's career).

0.9/10. You're at your best when you take some underlying truth or hit some elementary nerve and push things to their most absurd conclusions. Here you're just making things up. This place was in meltdown over RK and our results -and the mood behind the scenes was just as bad if you believe the ITKers so much so that a change in management was being contemplated. I've been a big patron of your work -as a craft form its an endangered species- but your recent output is getting harder to defend. Perhaps festive season fatigue is setting in. Some puelesque rest and rotation in order. Come back fresh pal?

Bournemouth 3up. Been on the front foot throughout (though no doubt helped by the timing of the pen).

2.1/10 Obvious case of apples and pears. Managing Ajax is easy compared to the positions Puel's held. You're better than that.

We largely played with a single striker in the 4-2-3-1 under RK.

It's a #hipster thing. It's to football what John Cage's 4"33 is to music.

Boufal wasn't a Puel signing.

Agree with all that; plus Batman's side which isn't bad lacks pace. You can see why Redmond -for all his weaknesses- gets picked as we don't have many players who can counter and stretch sides. Long can do it but less so with the ball at his feet.

What is our best XI (granted our back four is pretty easy to pick)? Arguably there is a much of a muchness to our squad and little drop off in quality beyond our best XI.

Agree. We had a reasonable break after the Bournemouth game and have effectively played three games at 'home' (including the trip to Bournemouth).

Edit

Edit

7/10 clearly hit a nerve.

VVD apart, we failed to addres the heart of midfield (Clasie for Schneidelin) and from having arguably the best fullback combo in the country, the right back position has become a running dilemma. We also struggled to strengthen up top (Juanmi), though arguably the problem goes further back. That we've failed to fully reinvest transfer proceeds and add like the rest of the league is another matter.

Are you saying Hojbjerg's form is down to Puel? From my perspective, too many people were quick to crown him a world beater on the basis of a couple of promising performances. That's no baseline against which to assess his 'level'. He's largely flattered to deceive, granted the constant rotation doesn't help. Ultimately he's a young player with limited experience coming to a new country. Hopefully he'll flourish over time and deliver on his promise but we knew the risks involved and that it might take him time to adapt. Caveat emptor.

Very blinkered, I'm afraid. The poor recruitment goes back further than that. The summer before last was equally patchy.

So? Perhaps we've not recruited well enough and overpaid for mediocrity. That's Reed and Wilson's responsibility, not Puel's.

Keep up

Redmond's chance was a half-one at best. Moronic to say he wasted it.

Is this fact or opinion?