Puel sets sights on taking Leicester to new levels
By James Lassey
Having watched City win the Premier League two years ago, manager Claude Puel hopes to emulate similar success this campaign but expects a long road ahead.
The Frenchman has enjoyed a near perfect to his Leicester life with following his win over Everton and a 2-2 draw to Stoke, but it was the style of play that bought a breath of fresh air to the Foxes camp.
They attacked from the off and the performances of wingers’ Demarai Gray and Riyad Mahrez acclaimed special praise. Now the former Southampton boss wants his new look Leicester to relive the joys of the past.
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"“This club has seen the best, they won the Premier League to everyone’s surprise,” he told the French newspaper L’Equipe. “It was beautiful and it created a lot of ambition, everyone hopes that the club can relive this kind of emotion, one day.“The will is to move forward and continue to grow.“If you think you have to be champions coming to Leicester, it’s better not to come.”"
The Foxes sit in twelfth place, five points off the relegation zone and Puel is hoping to shift Leicester’s footballing nous away from the style of play his predecessor’s Claudio Ranieri and Craig Shakespeare embarked.
"“We’ll see where we come from. My goal is to offer other solutions to the team,” he added. “Leicester became champions with a qucik game, a game of counter-attacks; but opponents can adapt quickly and you can be tactically defeated by other teams. It is up to me to bring other answers. However, the path will be long.“In Southampton, I had a pre-season, friendlies and weeks to evolve my game. I could be more directive. Here, in Leicester, it’s different, I have to accompany the players, preserve their confidence, not ruffle their habits and their achievements.“We must not heckle them too much, we must not want to change everything in a very short period of time.”"
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During the title-winning campaign of 2015, Leicester were renowned for the threat they posed on the counter-attack and the direct balls which were used to infiltrate that.
In the games against Stoke and Everton, the Foxes possessed large amounts of the ball, something which Puel is looking to introduce.
"“I am trying to emphasise the quality of controls, the passes, the sequences, the availability around the ball carrier, the simple things that were not necessarily in a game focused on the counter-attack and the game direct,” he explained."
One of the aspects Puel was keen to address on his arrival, was his desire to extend many player’s contracts and to give his side a sense of stability.
Puel spoke about the sudden inclusion of winger Gray and the reasons behind why he started to include the 21-year-old in his starting eleven.
"“Gray plays a little more with me, but it’s evolutionary. And then I was not going to change as the team stayed on a good result at Swansea (Michael Appleton’s last game in charge with a 2-1 win over the Swans)."
Leicester City host league leaders Manchester City at the King Power on Saturday in a bid to extend their unbeaten run to six.