Over-trained and underwhelmed: How Leicester players and fans lost faith in Claude Puel

Leicester City manager Claude Puel reacts following Wolverhampton Wanderers's fourth goal during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City at Molineux
Leicester City manager Claude Puel reaction said it all as the Wolves management team celebrated their stoppage time winner Credit: Getty Images

Style and selection

Leicester scored three goals on Saturday at Molineux, a week after Claude Puel opted for three defensive midfielders against Southampton. 

It is the apparent lack of a coherent plan or consistent approach which infuriates Leicester supporters and begs the question – what is Puel actually trying to build? 

Predicting a Puel starting XI every week is now a futile act so how must the players feel about the constant chopping and changing? There must also be scrutiny on the recruitment - Wilfred Ndidi and Nampalys Mendy are both woefully out of form but continue to be selected, while Vicente Iborra has been sold to Villarreal and £22million signing Adrien Silva – remember him? – has suffered the deep freeze treatment.

Slow starts and over-training

When Diogo Jota scored the opening goal, it was the 15th time in 23 games - or ninth in 11 - that Leicester have fallen behind first. It is giving Puel’s players a mountain to climb every week. 

There are growing suggestions their slow starts could be down to the training regime. It is alleged that Puel opts for lengthy sessions on Fridays before games, despite player opposition, which may explain why Leicester begin so poorly. 

Leicester City Manager Claude Puel during the Leicester City training session at Belvoir Drive Training Complex on January 04, 201
Puel allegedly opts for lengthy sessions on Fridays before games, despite opposition from players Credit: Leicester City FC

Demarai Gray said: “We talked about it [the poor starts] on Friday and before the game, but we have done the same thing again and put ourselves under pressure. We can only work on it. It is game management and decision making.” 

Training sessions are also said to lack intensity and can be long and laborious, with some players not even being properly utilised.

The focus must also be on the players, too, for throwing away the game at Molineux. After recovering a two-goal deficit, and then clawing it back to 3-3, Leicester should have seen the game out or even "run down the clock". Perhaps the determination to chase a win was admirable, but it also left huge holes for Wolves to expose.

How to use Vardy

Jamie Vardy is Leicester’s leading scorer with seven Premier League goals and remains the talisman, despite the club spending over £80m on strikers since the title win. 

Last month he admitted Puel’s style of play is not suited to his strengths and, on Saturday, it was another hugely frustrating afternoon. Vardy was even running back into his own half to tackle Wolves players in the second half. The days of Danny Drinkwater’s long ball over the top may be gone, but Leicester’s slow possession-based approach often leaves Vardy totally out of the game. 

When Leicester revert to a counter-attacking style, and when opposition teams are not sitting back, Vardy is far more effective. He retired from England duty to focus on his club football but this campaign is proving difficult. 

Bad public relations

It is difficult to remember one chant for Puel, or even a request for a wave, since his appointment 14 months ago. 

Some may argue that is not important, but in football terms there is nobody more important at a club than the manager and he is the person who drives the agenda. When he launched an impassioned defence a few weeks back about reality checks and how seventh place is the best Leicester could hope for, he completely missed the point: especially after tossing away the club’s hopes of progress in the two cup competitions by fielding weakened teams. 

His comments about how the tragic death of beloved owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha has affected his squad were also awkward, as it is impossible to overlook performances before that dreadful evening, including the West Ham game. 

It may have been lost in translation, but his insistence that the fans’ reaction after the Southampton defeat was “not my concern” also went down badly.

Leicester City fan holds up a banner referencing Leicester City manager Claude Puel before the match
Leicester City fans have voiced their displeasure at Puel over the last few weeks Credit: Action Images

A daunting fixture list

Puel’s position remains under serious scrutiny and the next three games do not get any easier, with matches against Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur up next. 

Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, the club’s vice-chairman, will be reluctant to avoid more upheaval after suffering such unimaginable grief and at this stage it is difficult to imagine Puel leaving unless the club slip towards the bottom three. It appears most likely that there will be a change in the summer, with Celtic’s Brendan Rodgers a top target. 

Asked about his position after the defeat at Wolves, he said: “It’s not my concern. My concern is to keep my focus with my players and my team, so that they can play with consistency. Other things are not my focus or my priority. Against good teams we have had good consistency, focus, concentration since the beginnings of games. I hope we can find this again and to get good result. We have showed before fantastic quality against these teams.”

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