Lessons learned from Puel’s opening Leicester City games
The Frenchman has now had two games in charge of the Foxes, but what has changed?
In his first game, he led his side to a 2-0 win at home to Everton, which he then backed up with a 2-2 draw away to Stoke.
With the international break upon us, the 56-year-old will now have time to reflect on those opening games and look on how to improve on them.
There were plenty of positives and negatives from each game, but what can Puel learn?
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Demarai Gray can be a star
Leicester have only had two real attacking threats in their team for some time now. Those being Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez but Gray looks to have surpassed them.
Now things are different, and it’s about time, Demarai Gray has been knocking on the door for long enough – his knuckles have started to bleed.
Puel surprisingly made Gray a starter over Marc Albrighton for the game against Everton and the winger didn’t let his manager down. He played a huge part in the opening goal, dribbling past several players before sliding the ball to Mahrez, who was then able to find Vardy yards from goal.
The second came from Gray identifying a mismatch on the wing and he cut inside to dispatch a deflected shot into the top corner.
Gray took men on, was always positive with his passes and got his team up the field. More importantly, he got supporters off their seats.
Fans were excited when he got on the ball and sized his marker up. A sight they have not seen since the Mahrez of 2015/16.
Puel gave Eden Hazard his debut at Lille when the Belgian was only 16, showing he can put his faith in youth, and Gray could be the next to profit from that mentality.
Gray has shown promise for the England Under-21 side and sporadically in the Premier League. It’s time for him to perform consistently for Leicester.
Leicester can defend dirty
Once Leicester’s second goal went in against Everton, the Foxes sat very deep and allowed the Toffees to dominate possession.
Leicester’s back four dropped, and Ben Chilwell became a second left-back while the two central midfielders allowed Everton’s midfield to dictate play but didn’t allow them to come close to troubling Kasper Schmeichel.
However, the defensive errors that were seen under Puel’s predecessor Craig Shakespeare are still visible. Stoke’s first goal came from Christian Fuchs picking up the wrong man, but when it came to closing the game out, Leicester came undone by a Peter Crouch header. Luckily that isn’t going to happen every week.
With Wes Morgan and Harry Maguire at the heart of defence, Leicester can fall-back when their attackers struggle to find rthythm.
They can rely on their defence to keep the scoreline down, meaning the likes of Vardy, Mahrez and Gray only have to score once to win.
Players are ready to embrace change
In the past, Leicester’s squad have been criticised for not backing Claudio Ranieri on the comedown from their title win.
However, the players seem to have learnt their lesson and look ready to listen to Puel, even though they were reportedly unhappy with the decision to sack Craig Shakespeare.
Puel has tried to change things too. He boldly took Albrighton and Shinji Okazaki out of the starting lineup in his first game. A choice which shows he has the backbone and the ideas in place to make bold alterations.
He has used different formations in both games, and looks like he is trying to stamp his fingerprint on this club, to bring a new philosophy and trademark, something Leicester should embrace.
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