PUEL WAS WORKING AGAINST THE PLAYERS
Leicester legend Huth says sacked gaffer’s dourness shackled the Foxes
TITLE-WINNER Robert Huth branded Claude Puel negative after the Frenchman was sacked by Leicester.
The big German defender, who announced his retirement last month, was one of the Claudio Ranieri heroes who swept the club to Premier League glory in 2016.
But he said that Puel (right) was not a manager who could inspire pire and that his downbeat ownbeat attitude had given players little ttle belief in him.
Huth (left) eft) said: “We had managers s before who were really energetic, ergetic, with positive vibes.
“When he came in it was
LEICESTER is the place pl where a king was found buried under a car park.
No surprise then that t their football club c chucks managers under a bus without a second t thought.
Claude Puel became th the latest casualty as pow power slipped from his grasp and his reign was brought to an end end.
From the moment he was appointe appointed he was struggling, suffocate suffocated by a reputation for being, well, we boring.
More J John Major than Boris Johnson, Puel had a real job on from the start and once the players d decided they weren’t having the Frenchman, it was only a matter of time.
If cult hero Claudio Ranieri, who headed up the most audacious title triumph of all time, could get the chop, then anyone could.
And though the Foxes’ big names all baulk at the suggestion of training ground plots, the minute the likes of star striker Jamie Vardy and keeper Kasper Schmeichel showed murmurings of discontent, Puel was dead in the water.
Even England’s World Cup hero Harry Maguire ( left) has been struggling for form.
Vardy knew what he was doing when he let it be known in a TV interview that Puel’s style of football wasn’t suiting him. It was up to him, Vardy insisted, to adapt and get to grips with it. But everyone knew what the message was.
Only last week, Schmeichel’s father Peter, the legendary former Manchester United goalkeeper, was highly critical of Puel on TV and suggested that his son might want to leave.
Puel knew what was going on but to his credit, when quizzed about it, basically said he’d had words with the player, Kasper didn’t want to leave and everything was hunky-dory.
But Puel is a bright guy. If Schmeichel senior’s outburst –
Leicester have good players, they just don’t have a coach who can get the best out of them
and make no mistake, it was strong – was made without his son’s knowledge or backing, there’s some huge apologising to do in that family.
Pet er said: “Leicester City are a really good football club.
“They ’ ve got good players, they just don’t have the manager who can get the best out of them.
“Once they get everything sorted out – and I leave it to you to interpret what that means – you’ l l see Leicester maybe in fifth to eighth place where they belong.” Most sound-minded observers would ‘interpret’ that as meaning when Puel gets the bullet. A few days later that happens. The timing was right this time.
The ‘Puel Out’ party had been active for quite some time but kept hitting one stumbling block – Leicester were seventh in the table. What they needed was something to really hang it on... and it came.
Puel appeared to sacrifice the Carabao Cup with a semi-final place at stake, then crashed out of the FA Cup to Newport and suddenly the stitches were disintegrating.
A poor run of top-flight form followed and on Saturday a fourth successive home defeat to Crystal Palace was enough to put his head on the block.
Puel’s pleasant demeanour, his dignity during the difficult times of the helicopter tragedy at the club when owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and four others were killed started to take on less importance.
In true Shakespearean fashion, Puel suddenly looked like a haunted man who realised his fate was sealed and ready to offer his kingdom for a horse.
Er, there might be one over by that car park, pal.