Does Claude Puel deserve more credit for Leicester’s success?

Leicester City tactics and results

Taking over an ageing side still basking in the legacy of the title win was always a tough ask. Claude Puel was tasked with dismantling the ‘tried and tested’ counter-attacking style and developing a more exciting, possession-based brand of football. With many personnel still used to playing like the ‘old’ Leicester, the Foxes enjoyed relative success against bigger sides but struggled against smaller teams at home. For reference, in 2018/19 Puel oversaw 8 home games where Leicester had over 50% possession. Out of these 8, only 1 resulted in a victory, turning the King Power into a rather toxic place by the time of Claude’s exit.

When looking at why Leicester struggled to break teams down so much, this can be boiled down to slow starts and slow build-up play. In 2018/19 the Foxes goal difference for the 1st 15 minutes was -9, not something you want to see at all. Ultimately, this played a big role in Leicester’s decline as they would often concede an early goal and struggle to break down an organised defence. Teams such as Crystal Palace would then gleefully soak up pressure and then tear the Foxes apart on the counter-attack. Predictably, they were the ones to put the final nail in Puel’s coffin.

Generally at Leicester Claude set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with a heavy emphasis on the full-backs to provide attacking support. With a solid base of two DM’s, this gave Leicester solidity but often led to laboured build-up, and a lot of backwards-sideways passing.

Resultantly, Leicester were often forced to chase games and lacked (until Youri Tielemans) any creativity in central midfield. This made ball progression extremely difficult and home games rather painful to watch.