Sacked from Southampton after just a year in charge despite taking the club to a Carling Cup final they probably should have won, Claude Puel took less than six months to land back on his feet and is now in charge at Leicester City.
Charged with the task to turn things around at King Power Stadium after Craig Shakespeare’s poor start to the season, the French manager kicked things off impressively with a 2-0 win over Everton at the weekend.
A relatively shy person, Puel doesn’t often do interviews, and kept rather quiet about his St Mary’s dismissal, but on Thursday evening, he opened up to Christophe Dugarry on RMC Sport, who asked him if he felt the Leicester job was a chance for revenge.
Puel said: “No, no, not at all. Like I said, the English league is very tough. Clubs aren’t necessarily looking to build, to thinking long-term, but are more looking for results.
“There is a certain frustration because when you invest yourself in a club, and I do that a lot on a daily basis, whether it is the academy or the first-team. It would have been nice to continue. I would say that if you’re a manager in England, you have to accept that kind of thing”.
Criticised by fans for playing rather ‘boring’ football, Puel said that reason was not put forward by the club when it came to their decision, and defended his philosophy, stating they were 6th or 7th when it came to chances created, but 20th when it came to converting them.
As for Leicester, he knows he’s taking over a team who have been quite direct in recent years, and is looking to evolve their game over the course of the year rather than try and implement his style straight away.
Either way, he’s determined to succeed, and the Everton result was a good start.
Next up, Stoke away.
