Puel’s point keeps Saints deep in mire
ON the hottest April day in 70 years, Leicester and Southampton played a game that may have needed 70 years for a goal. Hyperbolic, of course, but this was a tedious encounter. The result gave Mark Hughes his first point as Southampton manager but there was none of the urgency you would expect from a team close to relegation.
Southampton head into Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final four points from safety and that is a major gap with four matches left. Rather than press for the win, Southampton ended the contest fending off Leicester attacks and it appears the club’s six-year stay in the Premier League is ending.
This was also an unsatisfactory night for the hosts, who have slipped off the pace for European qualification. Claude Puel is dogged by unrest among his players and, though they were the better side here, they only have four wins in their last 17 Premier League matches.
Puel had said this game would mark the ‘beginning of next season’, so dropping Wes Morgan and Danny Simpson to the bench was a definitive statement.
Never before in his Leicester career had Morgan been excluded from the starting line-up of a league encounter when fit.
So it was a bold move by the French manager, who handed the captain’s armband to Jamie Vardy. Not even the Premier League title guaranteed the job security of the last Leicester manager who was at odds with senior members of his squad. And though it is too soon to suggest Puel will suffer the same fate as Claudio Ranieri, such decisions invite tension.
The sight of Morgan and Simpson talking with Southampton’s Charlie Austin while warming up during the first half gave fuel to conspiracy theorists. Austin was, of course, in the Southampton dressing room that turned against Puel last season. In his latest role, Puel is thinking long-term, declaring he is a ‘builder not a firefighter’, but that is a perspective Hughes cannot take.
The flames were high when he replaced Mauricio Pellegrino in March but three consecutive defeats prior to last night left Southampton’s Premier League status close to being burnt out.
The closest the visitors got to scoring came when Dusan Tadic caught a half-volley sweetly to send the ball whistling just past a post. Cedric Soares was much less composed when arriving on to Shane Long’s cross, slashing his volley well wide.
Saints upped the tempo after the break to force a huge chance for the lead.
Tadic’s shot deflected off Marc Albrighton to Long and, though there was a suggestion of offside, the flag stayed down so Ben Hamer’s sharp reactions were required.
Hamer, in for injured goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, rushed from his line to block Long’s shot and deny Southampton three muchneeded points. LEICESTER (4-4-1-1): Hamer 7; Albrighton 6.5, Dragovic 7, Maguire 7, Chilwell 6; Mahrez 7, Ndidi 6.5, Silva 6 (Choudhury 90min), Gray 6.5 (Barnes 90); Iheanacho 6 (Diabate 75, 6); Vardy 7. Subs not used: Jakupovic, Simpson, Morgan, Fuchs. Booked: None. Manager: Claude Puel 6. SOUTHAMPTON (3-4-1-2): McCARTHY 7.5; Bednarek 7, Hoedt 7, Yoshida 7; Soares 6, Romeu 6, Hojbjerg 6 (Redmond 88), Bertrand 6.5; Ward-Prowse 6 (Davis 58, 6); Tadic 6, Long 7 (Austin 73, 6). Subs not used: Forster, Gabbiadini, Pied, Sims. Booked: None. Manager: Mark Hughes 6. Referee: Roger East 6. Attendance: 31,160.