PUEL IS TOUCHY ON VARDY STATS
ANTONIO CONTE has leapt to the defence of Mauricio Pochettino, insisting: It is not easy to win trophies in England.
P W D L F A Pts Man City 30 26 3 1 85 20 81 Man Utd 30 20 5 5 58 23 65 Liverpool 31 18 9 4 73 34 63 Tottenham 30 18 7 5 59 25 61 Chelsea 30 17 5 8 52 27 56 Arsenal 30 14 6 10 55 41 48 Burnley 30 11 10 9 27 26 43 Leicester 30 10 10 10 45 43 40 Everton 31 11 7 13 37 50 40 Bournemouth 31 9 9 13 37 49 36 Watford 31 10 6 15 39 55 36 Brighton 30 8 10 12 28 40 34 Newcastle 30 8 8 14 30 40 32 Swansea 30 8 7 15 25 42 31 Huddersfield 31 8 7 16 25 52 31 Crystal Palace 31 7 9 15 30 48 30 West Ham 30 7 9 14 36 57 30 Southampton 30 5 13 12 29 44 28 Stoke 31 6 9 16 29 58 27 WestBrom 31 3 11 17 24 49 20 CLAUDE PUEL claims Jamie Vardy is so deadly he only needs one touch to score.
TV pundit and former Arsenal full-back Lee Dixon slammed Vardy for “not making those runs” in England’s 1-0 win over Holland.
The Leicester striker failed to make contact with the ball in the 25 minutes he played in Amsterdam after getting on as a substitute.
Dixon’s comments came before the Italy game, when Vardy scored his seventh international goal in the 1-1 draw, while he has struck 17 times in 34 games for Leicester this season.
Foxes boss Puel (right), whose side are at Brighton today, believes Holland got off lightly.
“It’s a good thing for the opponent because when he touches the ball, he scores!” said the Frenchman.
“Jamie can take the space and make good moves and good opportunities like he did in that first game. “I know he did not touch the ball, but he was important for the team because he gave good options for his team-mates by making good moves and being available. “It’s always so difficult to mark him.” Puel has given Samurai warrior Shinji Okazaki fresh hope that he can make the World Cup. Okazaki failed to even make the squad for Japan’s recent friendlies against Mali and Ukraine. But Puel believes the former Stuttgart forward can still make the plane for Russia. He added: “It’s not finished – I hope he can participate in the World Cup and we won’t know until the end of the season. “I hope he can show his quality for us and try to persuade the Japan manager to take him.”