If Jamie Vardy did indeed get annoyed at Claude Puel for talking to Paul Pogba after Leicester City’s 1-0 loss to Manchester United at the weekend, he shouldn’t read Le Parisien on Tuesday.
We doubt he will, or that he’ll read this article, but the Foxes’ manager had many nice things to say about the France international when quizzed about the Red Devils by the French newspaper.
Asked about the reasons behind Manchester United’s recent great form under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Puel only had one in mind: Pogba.
He said: “He’s completely behind this. He’s become the team’s leader, playing higher up the pitch in a sort of number 10 role. He’s decisive with his passing and his goals. He drags the team behind him.”
Commending the Norwegian manager for ‘giving him more freedom’, Puel also praised Pogba for his ‘ability to break lines, bring the ball forward and make himself known in the box’.
However, if Paris Saint-Germain were hoping to get some insight as to how to neutralise the Manchester United star, they won’t really be getting it from the Leicester City manager, who simply could not stop talking about the 25-year-old and his qualities.
He continued: “You can’t man mark him. He’s powerful, can sniff out the right pass in the box, drives forward quickly. You can’t really stop him. It’s a near impossible physical duel. It’s a challenge to try and read what he’s about to do. He’s got great vision.
“With one or two touches, he can give amazing assists, especially over the defence (Marcus Rashford’s goal, anyone?). He sees everything quickly and is technically on point. Some players are so productive that you play around them. That’s what’s happening at Manchester United.”
As he puts it, there’s Pogba, and then the rest of the team.
While we don’t usually like going out on limbs, we are going to in this article: we have a hunch Claude Puel really likes the former Juventus star as a footballer.
Maybe even a bit too much.
