French reports casting doubt on the future of Claude Puel have seemed premature in recent weeks. On Wednesday the Southampton manager was linked with taking over at Saint Etienne in the summer, and if he’s thin skinned then a return to France could be appealing around about now.
Southampton lost 2-0 to Arsenal on Wednesday evening, and some fans of the South Coast club were furious with their manager.
When Southampton tweeted a post match interview with Puel, in which he said he felt his team deserved more, some supporters were left fuming.
Comments such as ‘We feel saints deserve more too. A better manager for starters!’ and ‘Loved Nigel, loved MoPo, loved RoKo but just can’t like this guy. He is a boring guy making us into a boring team’ and ‘get rid of him guys. He’s taking us backwards’ were sent in reply.
That’s just a small sample among many, and of course the #PuelOut hashtags.
Over the past year Southampton have sold players including Sadio Mane, Graziano Pelle, Victor Wanyama, and Jose Fonte. It can often take time for new players to settle in, especially when they’ve had injury issues, like Sofiane Boufal and Manolo Gabbiadini.
Nathan Redmond was never likely to walk in and immediately fill Mane’s place, and it was asking a lot of 21 year old Pierre-Emile Højbjerg to hit the ground running.
The vitriol towards Puel seems a little over the top.
