2018/2019 From Despair to Hope

The season 2018/2019 has been a contrasting season, a season filled with some serious lows but some shoots of hope for the future. Leicester City again fired their manager, but when Brendan Rodgers walked into the KP, the sense of optimism rose tremendously. City started the season with Claude Puel, the drab, uninspiring Frenchman who somehow had survived the pathetic run of form that was the end of 2017/2018.  By February, Khun Top had had enough of Puel and replaced him with Celtic's Brendan Rodgers at the cost of some £9 million. As Rodgers entered the building a sense of optimism entered the building, new managers often give the clubs a kick after they enter and Rodgers certainly did that.  The body language of the players changed and seemingly the grey cloud of Puel was purged from City.

The summer transfer window was highlighted by Riyad Mahrez finally leaving for Manchester City for a record transfer fee of £60 million.  It was Manchester City's record transfer fee paid for a player and Leicester City's record received fee, it finally put an end to his sulking. Since City had won the league in 2015/2016, Mahrez rarely had hit those heights again. Ben Hamer was allowed to leave on a free transfer for Huddersfield Town; it was almost cruel on Huddersfield to give them him on free transfer. Robert Huth retired, he never was likely to figure in Puel's plans, for the three years of the four he had been at City, he had been a no nonsense centre half that belied his German roots, he was almost a throwback to a Norman Hunter style of centre half. Ahmed Musa left for Al-Nassr of the Saudi league for an undisclosed fee, once the record signing for Leicester; he never adapted to life in England and was unable to dislodge Jamie Vardy. He was played on the wing, and while could run as fast as the wind blows, he didn't seem to offer a lot else. The goal against Barcelona in a friendly seemed to be a long way away from the player that couldn't control the ball on the sideline at West Ham. Leonardo Ulloa left for Pachuca in Mexico, another former record signing; he is a player of a bygone era. Big but not very mobile, he had scored some crucial goals for Leicester but never was going to figure under Puel. Islam Slimani also again went out on loan; his spell at Newcastle had been interrupted by injury and suspension. Now like Diabate he was trying to regain his form and reputation in Turkey for Fenerbahce. While Jamie Vardy is at the club, strikers will always struggle to play for Leicester.

There were of course quite a few transfers in, Claude Puel brought in Rachid Ghezzal, he was described as the poor man's Riyad Mahrez, although just how poor was that man? Seemingly bankrupt judging by Ghezzal's performances. A left footed Algerian right winger his career in France had been middling to average. But Puel liked what he saw and paid up to twelve million pounds for him! Madness in any era, the Monaco fans laughed as the transfer went through. Despite having decent technical ability and a good shot, he seemed to replicate a deer in a head lights, I don't think he could or will ever adapt to the pace of the Premier League. James Maddison was brought in from Norwich City; he was a positive signing for Leicester. Mahrez's creative side would be missed but Maddison looked to have a spark that would be a good replacement for it. Ricardo Pereira was brought in to replace Danny Simpson, Ricardo (as he goes by), was a Portuguese right back that suited Puels system where the full backs push on. Despite a shaky start he improved massively and towards the end of the season was Leicester's player of the season. Puel's time at Leicester was poor at best BUT Pereira was a massive positive. Puel personally only selected three players, Ghezzal, Ricardo and Diabate. Ricardo was the only one worth anything. After West Brom's relegation, City activated Jonny Evan's release clause and found themselves a bargain at three and a half million pounds for a classy centre half. Danny Ward, a goalkeeper was brought in from Liverpool for twelve and a half million pounds. City also brought two younger centre halves, Filip Benkovic and Caglar Soyuncu, Benkovic was loaned out to Celtic for the season and Soyuncu had to wait to make his debut due to his lack of English.

The season started at Manchester United on a Friday night, Leicester playing the Puel way looked a nice footballing side but not threatening. After Maguire and Vardy's efforts at the World Cup, Vardy was left on the bench whilst Maguire started. City ended up losing which wasn't the ideal start to a season but playing a team like Manchester United first, a loss wasn't unexpected, but Daniel Amartey's hand ball didn't help the start of the season. Why was Amartey at right back any way? Ricardo was brought in as a full back to push forward from full back which was what Puel wanted but instead he played Amartey there. I'm still not convinced Amartey is ethier a midfielder or full back. He plays centre half at international level yet here he was playing at right back. He always puts a shift in but isn't good enough for the Premier League. Goals from Pogba and Luka Shaw gave United the win. Jamie Vardy's scored an oddball consolation goal later on in the match.

Wolves followed in the match, City's first game saw them play the newly promoted Wolves, and somehow City came out with a two nil win. But the performance was bad, Wolves should have won but a Matt Doherty own goal and a wonderful Ricardo solo goal sealed a Leicester win. Jamie Vardy was sent off in the 66th minute. Frustrated at his lack of service he lashed out and saw a straight red. Worrying signs were there for City, Puels system blunted Vardy and the speed of City's build up was slow and turgid. Puel had had a whole pre-season and seemingly nothing had changed, seemingly another walloping like the one City had received at Crystal Palace in April of the previous season was surely just around the corner.

Three wins from seven games followed, all against the lesser and poorer sides in the Premier League, Southampton, which was a horrible performance only saved by Harry Maguire’s speculative thirty yard shot. A win against Huddersfield, which saw Leicester start with ten men as Ghezzal showed just how poor he was. Huddersfield even took the lead, Puel took Ghezzal off for Albrighton and Albrighton changed the game. Leicester ended up winning 3-1 in the end, Kelechi Iheanacho, James Maddison and Jamie Vardy all scored for Leicester to save Puel's blushes. Then a two nil victory followed against an extremely poor Newcastle, the other four games were losses. Despite the victories, something didn't seem right, an absolute mauling by Bournemouth which saw Wes Morgan sent off in a 4-2 loss. Despite the score ending 4-2 at one point City were four nil down and playing terribly, Bournemouth ripped City to shreds, Morgan couldn't handle the pace of the Bournemouth attack. When his second yellow card came in the 69th minute it was merciful, Bournemouth really exposed City's weaknesses. There was a home loss to Liverpool but Ghezzal managed to score after an Alison (the Liverpool goalkeeper) blunder. Another Wes Morgan sending off in a loss to Everton and finally a loss to Arsenal saw worrying signs for Leicester. Claude Puel had had a whole pre-season with the team to coach them into playing the way he wanted. But what was he actually coaching? Vardy looked isolated, Mendy and Ndidi looked ineffective in the midfield. Mendy has been singled out in particular for abject performances but Ndidi was no better. For as long as Ndidi has been at Leicester, there has been one inescapable fact; he needs a footballer next to him. Whether it is Danny Drinkwater (who now gets paid by Chelsea to post on instagram) or Vicente Iborra, he needed someone who could and would put his foot on the ball and control the game a little. Mendy has been compared to Claude Makelele but that's like comparing Mahrez to Ghezzal. Mendy proved useless alongside Ndidi. It had to be one of the other. But Puel ignored this and ostracized Iborra and Adrien Silva to keep his preferred ineffective partnership together. Ghezzal was shocking and often came on looking lost like he was an imposter of a footballer. The idiots pointed to Leicester being 7th in the league but who had we beat? And when had played well? Patience was being asked for as Claude Puel was changing the style, but O'Neil changed City's style and it worked mid-season (not to say that wasn’t painless cause it absolutely was at times), but then again he seemed to find players that would do a job for him, what job exactly was Ghezzal doing for him?

The 27th of October, Leicester played West Ham at home, I was in Cleveland at my brother in laws, the match was on NBC so it was on normal TV, five minutes into the game, NBC switched to a news flash, Donald Trump was talking about the latest shooting and despite him saying nothing, it was more important than Leicester's game. When they did switch back to the Leicester game it was the typical Puel performance, West Ham scored and looked like winning until Wilfred Ndidi's deflected shot rescued a lucky point for City. It was another poor performance calls for Puel's head were growing louder, it wasn't just the odd person now, it was more and more fans. But events took a turn that made performances on the pitch irrelevant.

Khun Vichai had been at the game, the owner regularly attended Leicester City games. Khun Vichai had owned Leicester City for roughly eight years and in that time span had over saw some amazing moments, winning the Championship in dominant style in 2013/2014, the great escape in 2014/2015, winning the Premier League in 2015/2016 and the run to the quarter finals of the Champions League in 2016/2017. Khun Vichai and his family had taken Leicester City to heart, loving the club, although they would never move to Braunstone or maybe Oadby Grange, unlike many foreign owners he took an interest in Leicester as a community, regularly contributing to local hospitals and charities. Billionaires are often viewed as rich egotistical morons (well maybe that's one in particular) but Khun Vichai wasn't, generous, kind and loving. He thought nothing of buying the local hospital a new machine or giving the fans gifts to celebrate his birthday, to describe him a beautiful soul is maybe an understatement. His helicopter often landed on the pitch, ascending and descending through the middle of the stadium countless times after matches taking Vichai back to London. As the stadium emptied, the players changed, Vichai prepared to go back to London getting on the helicopter, the helicopter went through its usual routine. As it rose into the October night an audible crack happened and the helicopter began its plummet to earth. The pilots were the hero's, whilst all five in the helicopter died, if it hadn't been for the pilots more could have. Khun Vichai, Kaveporn Punpare, Nusara Suknami, Eric Swaffer and Roza Lechowicz all perished in the crash, Sibbo text me as soon as he knew; I replied was Puel flying the helicopter? The graveness of the situation wasn't one for jokes, Puel wasn't aboard, not that I had wished him to be, the loss of life was shocking. For the first time in my life time, Leicester City was a club to be admired because of Vichai, when he died. It was a moment that affected every Leicester fan deeply, fighting off tears was impossible, a great man and four innocent people had died due to a mechanical failure.

The club postponed its League Cup fixture (and all other fixtures for other Leicester City sides) that was to be played on the Wednesday against Southampton, the club needed to grieve and whilst football is almost everything. People’s minds were far away from anything to do with football. Kasper Schmeichel was possibly the deepest affected by the tragedy, rushing out of the stadium to see the burning wreck of the helicopter and Vichai inside it. He had been one of the early King Power era signings; he'd had a bad at time at Leeds United before arriving at City. With his surname, it was almost impossible to not be in his father's shadow but when he arrived at Leicester. Vichai filled him with love and confidence. In the history of Leicester City goalkeepers, Schimeichel is certainly top 5 and some of that has to owe to Vichai because of his love and welcoming nature. The outpouring of grief and love for Vichai was immense, the outside of the King Power stadium became a shrine to the loss of Vichai and the others lost in the accident. Moving tributes followed, a reef was laid in the centre circle on the King Power pitch, watching it on facebook, crying wasn't an option; it was the only thing to do. Top Vichai (Khun's son) was understandably grief stricken as he laid the reef whilst the players and staff watched on. He hugged every one of the players and staff; it was touching to say the least. The Wednesday game was postponed, but the Premier League fixture at Cardiff wasn't, it was away at Cardiff, football is a game of emotion, mainly it’s screaming as something happens like David Beckhams free kick against Greece in 2001, Eden Hazard equalizing for Chelsea against Spurs in 2016 or Jamie Vardy scoring a sensational volley against Liverpool. Rarely is love combined with grief in such a visual way. The Premier League as a whole had a minutes silence for the helicopter accidents victims. Cardiff to their unending credit as a club and a community paid their respects to their visitors Leicester City in the best possible way. It was emotional; I had to watch it on Match of the Day because I had to work that Saturday morning. But still the emotion of the moment was raw and uninterrupted. The game itself ended with a Leicester City victory Demari Gray scoring from a Ben Chilwell cross, as he scored he ran to the away fans pulling off his shirt to show his undershirt saying for Vichai. The whole team on mass celebrated in front of the Leicester fans, Vichai's name was chanted and the unity showed by the squad was amazing. During this whole period, Claude Puel, for all that was wrong with his footballing philosophy, for all that was wrong with his team selection conducted himself with extreme dignity and compassion. He couldn't have handled the moment any better.

The next weekend was my birthday, November 10th, and City played Burnley at the KP for the first time since the accident. City battered Burnley but just couldn't score, no matter what way they tried, they failed to score. At the end of the game, a lap of thanks was undertaken by Top, his family, the squad and the managers that worked for Khun Vichai. It spoke volumes for Khun Vichai that despite firing Nigel Pearson (mainly for Pearson's son racist abuse of a Thai prostitute), Claudio Ranieri (for an awful title defence in 2016/17) and Craig Shakespeare (for a bad start to 2017/18, despite him likely being out his depth). They all came back to take part in the lap, again watching Top and his family's reaction to the fans was beautiful. Crying wasn't an option it was compulsory, Top had lost his father, and the fans showed the utmost respect for Top. Thankfully for once NBC didn't have one of their experts cut in to give their view, they just let the pictures tell a very touching story.

In the wake of the helicopter accident, the usual Puel era performances followed a win against Watford, highlighted by a sublime James Maddison goal and two disappointing draws against Fulham and Brighton teams reinforced the odd nature of Puels tenure. The Brighton game saw Jamie Vardy dropped for Shinji Okazaki, after going down to ten men after James Maddison second caution for diving, Vardy was brought on to save the day. What did Puel think that Okazaki would do? He hadn’t scored in the Premier League for over a year? He was as threatening as a toddler. Shane Duffy and Lewis Dunk had an easy time containing him. The Fulham game saw Diabate play 55 minutes for City and would only reinforce my view of him. Diabate was loaned out in the January transfer window, he was recommended to Leicester by Claude Puel’s son. Whilst techanically a very good player, the pace of the Premier League seemed to bewilder him, was he good enough? From the evidence of the 15 games he had played for City in the Premier League absolutely not. He had scored twice on his debut but that was against League One Peterborough United in the FA Cup but since then had looked less then threatening. Soyuncu finally made his debut in Leicester shirt, showing promising flashes of the player he could be.

The 8th of December saw Leicester play Spurs late on a Saturday, it was 2:45 here but 7:45 in England. Whatever time it was, it was the straw that broke the camels back for me when it came to Puel. I think by this point I'd had enough, the Palace home game in December of the previous season had made me think we should move on but this poor performance convinced me Puel had to go. The week later Leicester travelled to London to play Crystal Palace, a dreadful performance which saw James Maddison replaced with Ghezzal for no other reason that Puel thought Ghezzal would off more, saw futher frustration. A Luka Milivojevic goal secured City's fate, neither Mendy nor Ndidi closed him down and he rifled a goal past Schmeichel in the City goal. Two dreadful performances, Twitter, Facebook and the majority of the fans were turning against Puel. HE HAD TO GO.

Christmas is a time associated with miracles, the birth of a child to a virgin was the most obvious miracle that comes to mind at Christmas but Puel produced something of his own miracle. Going to Chelsea was a daunting task, whilst the Mauricio Sarri lead Chelsea wasn't the team it had been under Antonio Conte two seasons before it was still dangerous. Any team with Eden Hazard stands a chance; Hazard is one of Puel's successes. Of the players he's meant to have developed, he's one of the few. When the team sheet came out, it included a change of formation to 4-3-3, Demari Gray was dropped for Hamza Choudhury. Choudhury is a combative midfielder but didn’t see much game this season but never disgraced himself and always put 100% in. The three up front was formed by Marc Albrighton, Jamie Vardy and James Maddison. In the first half City encountered a battering, Chelsea hit the wood work at least once but half time saved City. The feeling was grim going into the second half but then in 51st minute, James Maddison released Jamie Vardy and Vardy does what he does best. City took the lead, despite not really being in the game in the first half; Chelsea got more and more anxious to score but couldn't break City down. The last few minutes[i] where nerve racking, when would the final whistle be blown but eventually when it went, the relief was huge! How had Puel pulled off some sort of tactic miracle or just got lucky? It was hard telling, but another question that got asked, was how did he leave Choudhury out for most of the season? Mendy or Ndidi hadn't offered anything like what Choudhury's performance had been. But still, the 22nd of December offered some rest bite for Puel. The Boxing Day fixture saw City face the Champions Manchester City. Manchester City had a wobble the week before losing to Crystal Palace and the goal of the season. But that was a blip, in the rest of the season they had looked the same team that won the Premier League with 100 points the season before. If City got embarrassed by Manchester City at home, what would that mean for Puel? Could it be the end, surely Top was reaching the end of his tether with the drab underperforming Frenchman? In the 14 minute Bernardo Silva scored for Manchester City in a typical Manchester City goal but then in the 19th minute City broke quickly and Jamie Vardy cross found Marc Albrighton at the back post, who had lost Fabian Delph and nodded across home to equalize for City. From that point on, City stood toe to toe with the Champion's looking every bit the Champions they had been just two seasons earlier. Choudhury enjoying a great game went close himself, but it took till the end of the second half for City to find a break through. Riccardo drove home with a thunderous strike after a poor Leroy Sane clearance. How had Puel done this? He'd unusually selected the same side for two games in a row, Hamza Choudhury had stood out in both games and City had played in the second half of the Chelsea game and all of the Manchester City game. Had Puel found a remedy? Was there actually improvement or was this a fluke? I hoped it was an improvement in both Puel and the tactics he employed but deep down, flukes happen in football and especially during the busy Christmas period.

Cardiff City followed, Cardiff was deep in a relegation battle, struggling to stay in the Premier League and looking every bit of the Championship side they were. Knowing Cardiff would play more defensively, Puel picked a more attacking side, bringing back Gray and dropping Choudhury. Cardiff settled in and City had 63% of the possession of the ball, City knocked and knocked but just couldn't get a goal, a lot of it to my eyes was the lack of pace in the buildup. City looking slow and labored, Neil Etheridge was Cardiff's man of the match pulled off save after save to keep Cardiff City in the match and then in second half stoppage time Cardiff scored, my phone went off, Oh FFS, Sibbo listening on the radio was as pissed off as everyone else watching or in attendance. The boo's rang out, the players slopped off the pitch, for all the highs of Puel’s Christmas miracle this again brought into sharp focus Claude Puel's leadership. The goodwill he had gained after the games went instantly. He still had to go.

The Cardiff game was the last game of 2018, New Year ’s Day would see City travel to Everton for a lunch time kick off (lunch time in the U.K.), Puel did his usual and dabbled with the side, the lamentable Racid Ghezzal was brought into the side, along with the impressive Choudhury. James Maddison and Demari Gray dropped to the bench. With the busy Christmas/New year’s period Puel felt compelled to rest players. Danny Simpson came in at right back and Riccardo moved to the left wing, Riccardo had been City's player of the season but was he a left winger? Ghezzal put in possibly one of the worst performances from a match fit player ever! How on earth was he ever considered a Premier League quality player? He was fucking crap! Junior Lewis rightly gets some stick for being crap but Ghezzal? I struggle to sum just how bad he was, considering he was a personal choice of Claude Puel for City to sign, I think he summed Puel up entirely. Albrighton was brought on to start the second half and just as he had against Huddersfield would change the game. Instantly he added some impetus for the City attack. In the second half Michael Keane miscontrolled the ball and Riccardo pounced, he fed Vardy. Vardy does what he does best and with his left foot beat Jordan Pickford. Another smash and grab job was on the cards. Everton huffed and puffed but couldn't find a way through. At the end of 90 minutes, City started 2019 with 3 points. Despite the win it was a relief as Everton had been equally as bad, in a football match that will not go down in the history books it was merciful that it was over. It was looking ever likely that Puel’s miracle was just a fluke.

But that was the final victory of the Puel era, in the FA Cup City faced Newport County, a Welsh team playing in League Two, Newport played on a Rugby pitch, all signs pointed towards a FA Cup set and all signs were correct. Puel sent out a team of reserves, Danny Ward, who had played in the League Cup started in goal, the defense was made up of Danny Simpson, Wes Morgan, Johnny Evans and Christians Fuchs. The midfield saw the fragile Matty James and Hamza Choudhury replace the Ndidi and Mendy partnership. The three ahead of them saw the lamentable Rachid Ghezzal on the right, Shinji Okazaki in the 10 role and Marc Albrighton playing down the left. Kelechi Iheanacho played as the striker. It wasn't a horribly weakened team but never the less it was a risk. As low on confidence as City were this could be brutal. In the tenth minute Jamille Matt for Newport scored beating Morgan with a good old fashioned powerful header. City banged on the door, for the start of the second half, Maddison replaced Okazaki, by the sixtieth minute Gray replaced Simpson. Albrighton went back to right back and then in possibly his last appearance for City (hopefully), Andy King was brought on for Matty James. It was a pedestrian for a pedestrian, both were short on first team fitness and it was obvious in each other’s performance. In the eighty second minute Ghezzal leveled the game with a very nice finish, if he has one thing it’s a decent shot on him. Finally City's blushes were looking like they were going to be saved until Albrighton handled the ball in the box. Padraig Amond stepped up and converted the penalty. City tried in the final minutes for an equalizer but it was to no avail. The stats showed yet again just how poor City had been in front of goal; they had twenty four shots, eight of which were on target. They had 71% of possession with 77% accuracy and yet despite this, Puelball managed to lose in the biggest upset of the third round. Puel truly was thin ice now, how could he allow this to happen? What was he coaching, why did the body language of the players look so down beat? He had lost the dressing room, it was glaringly obvious.

The pressure continued on Puel, a poor performance in a loss to a ten man Southampton, which many people again questioned his tactics. Why at home was he playing three holding midfielders. The tactic had worked against Chelsea and Man City during the Christmas period but why against a struggling Southampton?  Harvey Barnes was recalled from his loan at West Brom, he had been playing well and West Brom was saddened to lose him but his debut came in the loss to Southampton. Replacing Mendy after half time he put some spark into the side but side to no avail. Mendy’s error’s essentially won the game for Southampton that day, he wasn’t proving himself anything but a manager favorite cause his performances didn’t justify his selection. Barnes started against Wolves and equalized, or so he thought but it was harshly judged to be an own goal. It spoke volumes for the quality of Ghezzal when Barnes did more in 1.5 matches then he had all season.  Puel was as animated as he'd ever been during his time at City. Finding themselves 2-0 down at half time, City went for it and at least Puel allowed the players to express themselves. First coming back from two goals down to equalize and then Morgan bringing the game back to 3-3 but Wolves exposed Morgan and scored the winner. For as much as Puel was criticized for being drab and uninspiring his reaction to the events unfolding ahead of him was encouraging. After the Southampton game he had made his infamous "not my concern" response into the crowd booing his team’s performance but now he was actually showing emotion to the performance? Did he care after all? The next game was against title chasing Liverpool, City had already hurt Manchester City with an unexpected home win could they do the same against Liverpool? After one hundred and twenty one seconds Sadio Mane opened the scoring for Liverpool, an awful habit of Puel's City team was to concede in the first fifteen minutes and yet again they had. In the stoppage time of the first half Harry Maguire equalized for City. In all fairness, despite the early goal, City played well despite looking slightly toothless upfront. Wes Morgan was dropped for Johnny Evans, Morgan had been exposed badly by Wolves and Maguire looked better suited next Johnny Evans. He looked less nervous. The points that Liverpool dropped were crucial to the eventually Premier League championship.

On the 31st of January, City agreed with Monaco to loan them Adrien Silva for the rest of season with Youri Tielemans coming to Leicester. Puels midfield desperately needed someone that could pass and would promote some forward movement. Neither Ndidi nor Mendy could offer that, Choudhury rarely played enough and Puel obviously didn't fancy either Iborra or Silva to be that man. Puel essentially went as far as doing all he seemingly could to push out Silva. Silva's time at City hadn't been ideal; he wasn't allowed to play in 2017 because the club had registered him 14 seconds too late. It wasn't until 2018 when the transfer window opened that he finally was allowed to play for Leicester. But by then City were deep into the Puel led depression that sank in for 16 months. Tielemans was a Belgium and just 21, he had been playing first football since he was 16 years old and was thought to be one of the top talents in Europe. It was a great move by City although sadly not a permanent transfer it would at least give the club a period to see if he could adjust to the Premier League from the slower French League that he had been playing in for two seasons. Hopes were high, as I've stated several times before, Mendy and Ndidi just couldn't play together this was going to be a good move if he could adapt.

The next game was a Sunday afternoon game against Manchester United, United had fired Jose Mourinho since the first meeting of season and now were under club legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and he had provided the club with a lift, players like Pogba and Rashford seemed reborn. United’s form in all competitions had picked too, although still sixth in the league they were in contention for the Champions League places. Tielemans didn't start, Puel deemed him not fit enough for rigors of such an important game. Leicester hadn't won since New Year’s Day and Puel was increasingly losing the fans, but it wasn't his concern. In a dull game in which a pigeon provided more entertainment, United rolled out 1-0 winners thanks to a Marcus Rashford goal. It was as usual for a Puel side in the first 15 minutes; Riccardo played a terrible ball which was intercepted by Pogba who put Rashford through on goal. From that point on City weren't all bad just toothless, during Puels time at City he had a habit of making odd subs. His favorite sub was to bring Gray on as a striker, which reads as stupid as it is in reality and sending Kelechi Iheanacho on to play on the right wing in the 85th minute to open up the defence. It never worked and neither player looked like they could or be able to play those positions. Gray is a winger and Iheanacho a striker. Yet still Puel thought this was a genius move. As the second half unfolded Puel's genius struck again as he took off the inventive Maddison for Ghezzal. To that point in a Leicester shirt, Ghezzal had proved only the Monaco fans right. The fans booed but not Ghezzal himself but Puel. His terrible subs were a trend of his that never ever went away. In all fairness Ghezzal actually showed us something, inside of him was a decent player but why didn't it come out more than that? As the full time whistle went the clock clicked ever louder on the Puel era at Leicester City, it couldn't come quick enough in my mind.

Spurs at Wembley were next, I felt oddly optimistic about this game, I don't know why it certainly wasn't because I had any confidence in Claude Puel, but sometimes I guess I just wake up feeling optimistic. That optimistic attitude was quickly eroded when the team sheet came out, Youri Tielemans started alongside Papi Mendy (Papi being his nickname) but upfront there was no Jamie Vardy, instead there was Demari Gray. Vardy had suffered most under Puel's lackluster leadership; Puel's glacier slow buildup had robbed Vardy of his biggest asset, his pace. While the side moved like a glacier down the pitch, defenders comprised the pitch and therefore Vardy's threat was diminished with every yard that City slowly moved. The lack of service also hurt Vardy but it was likely quality of service that was really killing him. Again against Manchester United, Vardy cut a lone frustrated figure, although he had a couple of good chances, he snatched at them. When strikers don't score much and aren't given the chance to score they become anxious and that was exactly what Vardy was. At the end of the game, Claude Puel exchanged a few words with Paul Pogba, whatever was said between the two Frenchman seemed to incense Vardy and he was caught on camera saying something that wasn't exactly so polite about it or so it was assumed. Although never confirmed in the media, it seemed a rift was forming between Vardy and Puel. Puel had been looking at Demari Gray as a striker for a while, when he was at Southampton he did the same with Nathan Redmond to most Southampton fans confusion. When at Monaco, Puel had seen a young Thierry Henry converted from a winger to a striker by Arsene Wenger. Gray and Redmond shared some qualities with Henry both have pace but neither are the player Henry is. For the Spurs game Puel started Gray as the lone forward with Ghezzal on the right, Maddison in the 10 role and Albrighton playing down the left. In all fairness City didn't actually play that badly creating many chances but before half time Spurs scored, in the 59th minute James Maddison was brought down for a penalty. At that moment Puel wanted to make a sub, almost admitting Gray had been ineffective in his alien striker role he brought on Jamie Vardy. Vardy who had been sitting on the bench for an hour missed the penalty. I've never seen a play come straight off the bench to take a penalty. Soon after Vardy's miss Erickson scored for Spurs, City genuinely were unlucky but it hadn't been for lack of chances but City just couldn't convert. Harvey Barnes had been scoring for fun at West Brom now looked like he would never score in a City shirt.  A neat move orchestrated by Youri Tielemans saw Riccardo set Jamie Vardy up who does what he does best. City had a chance at a point and kept banging on Spurs goal but in stoppage Son finished the game scoring a third for Spurs. Tielemans had shown something though, but he was new to Puel and his coaching. Maddison started off strong until Puel got a hold of him.

The next game was Puel's last as Leicester City manager; Puel tweaked his formation to more of 4-3-3 with Maddison sitting deeper, Tielemans alongside him and Ndidi holding. In all fairness for 40 minutes City bombarded Crystal Palace's goal. Palace were Puels bogey team, whatever Roy Hodgson did when it came to playing Leicester he did well. In Puel's 16 months at Leicester he inflicted a 3-0 loss at home. That game was alarming for me because how poor City were. Then at the end of that season there was a 5-0 loss which saw Marc Albrighton sent off and then during the 2018/19 season there was a miserable performance when City lost 1-0 at Selhurst Park. Puel's body language on the sideline looked like a man who was a dead man walking as City peppered City's goal the crowd grew more and more frustrated but it was Palace who opened the scoring with a deflected shot, Michy Batshuayi redirecting a long range shot. Jonny Evans equalized for Leicester in the 64th minute but from Palace took their chances while City squandered there's. Wilfried Zaha scored two and in between Luka Milivojevic scored a penalty in between. By the time the fourth went in only about a quarter of the crowd was there. Cries of discontentment rang out again but this time in a much more intense way, what had Puel done to the team? Why couldn't they score this team wasn't lacking in talent but his coaching methods and tactics were blunting the team.

In the morning, Khun Top had had enough, since the end of the previous season (2017-2018), the form had not been good enough, members of the team seemed to be marginalized. Jamie Vardy and Kasper Schmeichel were seemingly being pushed out, but yet the aging and ineffective Wes Morgan was declining but still Puel stuck to him. For all that Morgan has done for the club he is clearly a man in decline and City had better options sitting on the bench in the form of Jonny Evans. Claude Puel was a bad selection of manager for Leicester City but I don't know the full story as to why Jon Rudkin picked him after what had happened in Southampton and France? While his time in England wasn’t exactly thrilling he is the man responsible for ending Lyon’s championship run. Before Puel got to Lyon they had seven championships in a row and then he ended it, and it wasn’t as I pointed out to one idiot because of PSG and them buying the French League either, iIt was infact a full four years before PSG even won their first Ligue 1 title. The Puel out-side of Leicester fans often get a lot of stick for pushing out a man that was building a future at Leicester. The people that believed he built teams and developed players. He had won the French League, this is a fact he did win the French Division 1 (as it was known), but he didn’t build the team. He also lost nine games on the way to the French title, nine loses?! In 1999-2000, there were 18 teams in the French First Division and he lost 9 games? The side which won the French League title was an inherited side, taking over from Jean Tigana in January 1999; he guided a talented side to the title. For that season he could call upon players like Fabien Barthez, David Trezeguet, Costinha for example but by July 2001 his contract was not renewed and he was out of a job. For a championship winning coach that is an extremely unusual step by Monaco. His next stop at Lille saw them win the Intertoto Cup in 2004 but this was it. His next stop was Lyon, in his total of three seasons at the club, he didn’t win a trophy, he did reach the Champions League semifinal but for a club that just won seven consecutive French League titles this was scant consolation. Lyon fans hated Puel possibly even more than the majority of Leicester fans. During a French League Cup match a banner was unwrapped asking for his resignation, but this quickly became a habit for Lyon fans, supporter took to the streets of Lyon and draped 50 banners with the words “PUEL DEMISSION” (Puel resign in French). By May of 2011 the fans marched through Lyon with a banner reading “PUEL STOP”. Lyon had given him a four year contract but the fourth year never happened. At Nice however he had a nicer time (see what I did there?), the previous season Nice had finished 15^th, 17^th and 13^th. In his first season Puel took Nice to 4^th in the French League, before he departed for Southampton, the Nice fans happy with efforts left a banner saying “MERCI COACH PUEL”. His time at Southampton was just odd, at one point in a conversation with a friend we both thought Southampton must have been utterly stupid to let him go, they finished 8th the season before (2016/2017) and reached the League Cup final, yet Southampton let him go? How stupid were they? But then again his time at Southampton wasn’t so clear cut as finishing 8^th and reaching the league cup final. Ronald Koeman the season before had led Southampton to an 8^th place finish also but with 17 points more than Puels Southampton side achieved the season after. The majority of the fans never really warmed to him, it’s true that Southampton did sell two of the previous season’s best players in Sadio Mane and Victor Wanyama but they replaced them with good players in Nathan Redmond and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.  Football is essentially an entertainment business and when a fan pays his money for their season ticket or ticket. They should expect some entertainment, what breeds entertainment? Ambition, goals and wins, Southampton lacked all of these under Puels leadership, in 19 Premier League home games, fans present at St. Mary’s only saw 17 goals, on the 25^th of April 2017, Southampton fans regardless if they went to away or home games, saw their last goal of the season. For the final six games Southampton didn’t score again, if Puel had been Russel Crowes character in Gladiator he couldn’t have screamed at the Saints faithful “are you not entertained?” Puel also was accused of negative football and some puzzling tactics. Nathan Redmond is a winger and operates best on the wing but Puel remembered when he was at Monaco, the great Arsene Wenger had moved the equally great Thierry Henry from the wing to playing forward. Puel thought he could do the same with Redmond, Redmond finished that season as top scorer for Southampton with 7 league goals. Yes that’s right, a total of seven league goals…it’s safe to say Remond isn’t an out and out goal scorer. According to one Southampton’s fan account of Redmond under Puel, Puels tactics made him look like the worst player ever to wear a Southampton shirt.  On the 15^th of June, Southampton had enough and relieved Puel of his duties, obviously things that went on behind closed doors erked and annoyed the Southampton board, entertainment and ambition were lacking under Puel. When City fired Shakespeare in October 2017, I hoped for Manuel Pellegerini, the former Manchester City manager, he had been successful in every league he had managed in and knew English football but Jon Rudkin plumped for Puel. Not knowing much about Puel other than Southampton finished 8^th under him, I thought give him and a chance and Until the Crystal Palace home game in December 2017 things looked alright, his debut match against Everton saw City play some stunning football but things changed after that Palace game, slowly but surely he turned City in a turgid wasteland of pretty but ineffective football. People claim he did some good things for City about the only good thing he did was cut Andy King out of the side. I attempted to be patient with him, as a friend of a friend had said give him a pre-season to get his idea's across, it was a non-sense statement or plea on Puel's behalf. A manager as proved by Martin O'Neil and now Brendan Rodgers doesn't need a pre-season to change a team’s style and be successful. It wasn't as if Puel had been handed a bad team, he was given a good spine to a side. Schmeichel, Maguire, Ndidi and Vardy gave Puel a spine to build around. What Puel's system didn't allow this spine to do though was play effective football, At Southampton, Matt Le Tissier had coined the phrase "possession without progression" for Puel and it was just that at Leicester. Leicester was never really a long ball team but the Pearson/Shakespeare directness was replaced with a shocking bluntness. As the season went on Jamie Vardy was clearly frustrated with the lack of service, the once promising Demari Gray was reduced to a player that was ruined by Puel's dullness, Maddison lost his edge and the midfield was shambles. Favorites like Mendy and Ghezzal were constantly relied on, no matter how bad they performed in a Leicester shirt. They always seemed to be there to perform badly. It’s been a long time since anyone was so poor in a Leicester shirt than what Ghezzal was but time and time again, he was played. Puel was taking City down; the facts speak for themselves, a worse winning percentage that Peter Taylor, in a result business like football that says it all. He had to go.

Khun Top moved quickly, Brendan Rodgers had been talked about in rumors for a while, even before the season had begun. While he had won two domestic trebles in Scotland, the Scottish league in general isn't a competitive league, even more so since the demise of Rangers. As Puels reign was cut short the front runners where Raphael Benitez and Brendan Rodgers, Benitez had performed minor miracles at Newcastle keeping a cash strapped club in the Premier League, his record before that had been stellar too, whilst not playing the sexiest brand of football he did win in every country he had managed in. He won the league in his native Spain twice with Valencia, won trophies at Chelsea and Liverpool and had even won trophies with Inter Milan. He had won the English Football League with Newcastle; despite not being able to keep them up in 2015/2016 he did manage to bounce straight back up with Newcastle. His pedigree was strong and unlike Puel, it couldn't be questioned. Brendan Rodgers wasn't as decorated, he had won everything there was to win in Scotland, he had nearly broken Liverpool's title drought in 2013/14 but Manchester City managed to claw a five point league back. The sale of the incredibly talented but temperamental Luiz Suarez left a void that Liverpool struggle to fill, Mario Balotelli was brought in as his replacement but he was a flop at Liverpool. By 2015/16 after the Merseyside derby, Rodgers was sacked the heights of 2013/14 was never quite reached again and Liverpool struggled to keep leads. The Everton game had seen the Liverpool for the fifth +times in six games give up a one nil lead. Top moved swiftly, after firing Puel on Sunday morning by Tuesday, Brendan Rodgers was installed as Leicester City manager. Watching the match the atmosphere came through as reinvigorated, Puel had to go and the majority of the crowd was happy that a new man was in charge. Mike Stowell was the caretaker manager and whilst the opponents were the equally poor in form Brighton & Hove Albion, City seemed to play better. Demari Gray opened the scoring for Leicester who seemed to be playing with more tempo, Jamie Vardy added a second in the sixty-third minute but a Brighton goal in the sixty-sixth minute left a nervy twenty four minutes but City hung on for the first victory since New Year’s Day.

Watford away was to be Rodgers first game as Leicester City manager, Watford were doing well in the league but had been one of Puels last victories, Watford away was going to be exciting though. Rodgers decided to restore Wes Morgan to the side and switch the formation to 3-4-2-1. Puel had played 3 at the back once and got utterly shredded at Manchester City. It was a novel thing to do in your first game. Rodgers in his later days at Liverpool had played 3 at the back and at Celtic had regularly pushed Kieran Tierney into playing a left wing back position. Watford played a 4-2-2-2 formation, Rodgers switch to a 3 at the back was his way of attempting to counter the Watford's formation. In less than four days of working with the players it was a unique switch, Schmeichel lined up in goal, the back three consisted of Evans, Morgan and Maguire. The midfield four was made up of Ricardo, Tielemans, Ndidi and Chilwell on the left wing. If anyone could benefit from the switch of formations, Ricardo and Chilwell could have, there games suited playing as wing backs. Behind Vardy, Maddison and Barnes played as attacking midfielders. It was kind of good to see, whilst I don't like three at the back. Rodgers reasoning seemed to make sense. But the performance saw Maguire and Chilwell play poorly. Morgan allowed Troy Deeney to put Watford ahead and for the majority of the game, City played poorly not able to pass to each other but having moments when you thought well it could be good. Then in the 75th minute Tielemans again showed a growing chemistry with Jamie Vardy, putting him through and in those situations Vardy doesn't miss. City looked to have rescued a point but a poor kick and then some bad defending let Andre Gray win the three points for Watford. It was early but at times there were sparks from City to suggest Rodgers could purge Puelball from the system.

City then won four games in a row! Such marvels were unheard of under Puel, each game looking progressively better and each looking like a team that was getting away from Puel's dreadful turgid style of play. Stories had often came out about Puel's long boring training sessions were players tuned out and Puel struggled to keep a hold of their attention. Rodgers seemed to reenergize the players and they responded. Things seemed very positive all of a sudden. Vardy seemed reborn, Tielemans was looking a must buy in the summer break and Maddison found his early season form again. What had Puel done so wrong with the players it was mind boggling? Newcastle United showed up and put the brakes on the four game winning run. A one nil victory exposed the underlying problems City had, it felt like Puel was back but Newcastle took Tielemans away from City and made the game go through Wilfred Ndidi. Passing isn't a strong suit of Ndidi, he can tackle all day long and would tackle his own Grandma to get the ball back but passing he just couldn't do. He had always needed a passer alongside him, whether it was Drinkwater, Iborra or now Tielemans. Newcastle played a discplined game, Demari Gray was particularly poor and Vardy missed a golden chance to equalize, Rodgers after the game spoke honestly about how he felt the game had gone. It was refreshing to negative and almost callous responses of Puel, it was nice to hear him say he got it wrong. It was a loss and a poor game but I felt Rodgers did recognize the issues out there.

West Ham away was next, in fairness City didn't play the best but when Tielemans was needed he stepped up and allowed Harvey Barnes the chance to equalize for City. It was Barnes first City goal and what a time to score it. West Ham did the same thing to City as what Newcastle did to City they took Tielemans for the majority of the game but the moment he needed to shine, he shone for City.

City finished the season with a win against with a three nil win against Arsenal, I've never seen City dominate a team like they did Arsenal did that day. It was aided by an early Arsenal dismal but still even before that early red card City was playing really well. A loss to title chasing Manchester City, which saw Vincent Kompany saw an absolute screamer to aid there title chase and then finished the season a rather boring goal less draw against Chelsea at home. The highlight of that game was the return of City playing in white shorts.

The season finished and it was a season that had seen the loss of the chairman in the worst possible way, the complete underperformance of Claude Puel, the division of the fans; those that believed in the myth of Puel and those that realized he was a fraud. The arrival of Brendan Rodgers and the reemergence of hope again, his track record in Scotland is very good, but his English record isn't as impressive but the potential is there. His coaching methods seemed to reinvigorate the players. It was often wondered if Puels methods were not just boring the players and leaving them disinterested. While managing Swansea, Brendan Rodgers Swansea teams were known as a good footballing team. If football fans want anything they want success and good football. I’m realistic to understand that 2015/16 may never happen again, but I want to see City led by a man with ambition, coaching ability and leadership. If nothing else Khun Vichai’s legacy to Leicester City Football Club should be fulfilled and I believe Rodgers will do this. We will progress under him and the likes of Ghezzal or Diabate won’t be seen at City again. I’m excited for the future because Puel has gone, I’m excited for the future because Top Vichai holds the club in the highest regard, he’s fired managers with better pedigree than Puel  and he is only interested in the growth and well-being of Leicester City how many clubs can say this? A story was circulated that Manchester United can’t sell Anthony Martial cause he is one of the chairman’s favorite players despite chronically under-performing for Manchester United. I think that says everything about the respective directions the two clubs are heading. In a little under two months the season starts and again unlike last year, I can’t wait.

Brendan Rodgers Blue and White army is coming.

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