Claude Puel is a figure that divides opinion amongst Leicester City fans. Some view him as the unsung hero who paved the way for the Foxes current success whilst others see him as an incompetent manager who bored the fans to death with negative football. Before writing this article, it was interesting to get the opinions of LCFC fans on Twitter who voted 53-47 in favour of Puel deserving more credit.
Claude Puel’s recruitment
One thing that can generally be agreed is that Claude Puel oversaw a (generally) excellent recruitment drive in his two years. Under his management, Leicester City signed players such as James Maddison, Ricardo Pereira and Caglar Söyüncü who are now the mainstays of the current first-team.
Although there were massive successes, there were also some disasters- namely Diabaté and Ghezzal. Diabaté especially is used against Puel’s reputation, especially since he was signed on his recommendation. Unfortunately, not every bargain from Ligue 2 results in a Riyad Mahrez!
Now we can see why Claude tried so long and hard to retain the services of Riyad Mahrez for as long as possible (even blocking a transfer) since he was so unable to replace him. To his defence, it’s pretty difficult to replace Mahrez’s talents though Lookman may say otherwise in the future.
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.
Management
Claude’s style of management polarised Leicester City fans although one must not be too embittered to forget the positive aspects of his reign. Throughout his managerial career, Claude Puel has a track record of developing youth talent excellently. Leicester City fans can thank Claude for the development of first Ben Chilwell and also Harvey Barnes who are both England internationals now.
One shining moment where Claude really stood out was at the time of tragedy when Khun Vichai tragically lost his life. As the club had to try to ‘continue’ to an extent, Claude provided class and steel at the most difficult time. For many, this time won Claude many fans and plaudits.
Perhaps Claude’s biggest mistake was his attempt to transition away from Jamie Vardy, which underlined the lack of connection between him and the fans. With the benefit of hindsight, you can see why he was trying to carry this out as Vardy was in his 30’s and Claude wanted to change the style of the team. Nevertheless, Vardy is Vardy and cannot be dropped- Claude didn’t fully grasp that. The fact Jamie has continued to bang in goals since Puel’s departure says it all really.
Claude’s critics will undoubtedly say that the lack of communication between him and the players/fans was also a big problem throughout his managerial spell. By no means was his grasp of English bad, it’s certainly better than most of our French! Even so, you could see Claude found it difficult to put his ideas across as he wanted due to the language barrier- and his mild-mannered persona didn’t give him that relationship with the fanbase.
By no means was his lack of charisma his fault, Puel seemed like a very nice person, but the absence of this characteristic robbed him of any significant goodwill with the fanbase. Resultantly, when things became worse there was little credit in the bank for Puel to fall back on. Actions such as not taking the cups seriously at Man City and Newport really angered an already disgruntled fanbase. By the time of the Newport defeat, it did feel like Claude was living on borrowed time.
Legacy
Whilst Claude Puel may not be fondly remembered by some Foxes fans, his successor Brendan Rodgers has benefitted from some of the groundwork laid by the Frenchman. Brendan Rodgers has managed to use many of the players signed by Puel, and transform the style into a much more exciting brand of football (generally!).
More negatively, the prosaic football the Foxes are prone to playing seems to have remained ingrained in the system- with LCFC continuing to struggle against deep blocks under Brendan Rodgers.
Ultimately, whilst Puel failed to finish the process which he started; he laid the foundations for the huge successes Brendan Rodgers and this current Leicester City side have enjoyed. For this, he must be given adequate credit rather than ridiculed like many Foxes fans have done as much of what has happened now wouldn’t have taken place without this transition period.