Claude Puel defends his team selection against Stoke City
Claude Puel has defended his team selection after Leicester City failed to win for a fourth successive Premier League game.
The Foxes were held to a 1-1 draw against Stoke City, who are now fighting for survival as they find themselves placed 19th in the table.
Coming into the game, nearly everyone had tipped Leicester City to comfortably beat the Potters, but instead, they put up a dismal display by their own high standards under Claude Puel.
A large section of the fans blamed the team selection for the performance, with the decision to play Matty James and Marc Albrighton coming under scrutiny in particular. Puel, however, can’t see anything wrong with the XI that he sent out on Saturday.
"“We picked a team for this game,” he said after the 1-1 draw. “We have competition in the team. We have different options. We will see for the next game.“It’s not a problem for me. I pick a team to win the game, and I thought that with these players and the also with the substitutes we could win this game.“We had possibilities with the different attributes of others and we will see for the future.“It’s about competition between the players. We can only play with 11 players but it’s always good to have different options for the future.“The result of this game was not just about this. The whole team needed to play with a good tempo.“The most important thing is to correct and learn for the next game.“We are playing a team (Bournemouth) who are playing in the same half of the table as Stoke and it will be important to find good consistency.”"
It’ll be quite interesting to see as to what team does Claude Puel name for Saturday’s fixture against AFC Bournemouth at the King Power Stadium.
Will he set up a more dynamic and flexible side by naming Vicente Iborra and Adrien Silva, or would he again go for a team that’s overly reliant on counter-attacks?
AFC Bournemouth are a team that likes to play regardless of who the opponent is, so that surely means that there will be space in behind for Jamie Vardy to exploit. Then again, Eddie Howe is too clever a manager to not kill the Foxes’ hopes of causing problems on the break.
Next: Alan Shearer explains how Stoke City stopped Jamie Vardy in 1-1 draw against Leicester City
Well, whatever the starting XI be, Claude Puel is being demanded a win from, and he’ll have to somehow manage to get that to ease the pressure up.