Saintly Puel
WHEN Southampton appointed Claude Puel to succeed Ronald Koeman last summer, comparisons were immediately drawn with Arsene Wenger.
Having played under and worked alongside Wenger at Monaco, it was easy to see why the softly spoken Puel had been labelled as the Arsenal manager’s protege.
But it is unlikely that Puel, 55, would ever indulge in the kind of touchline antics displayed by his mentor at the weekend.
“It is important to keep control every time. It is my job to keep calm,” said Puel when asked before tonight’s EFL Cup semi-final second leg at Liverpool to recall the last time he allowed his anger to get the better of him.
Since his arrival in the Premier League, the mild-mannered Puel’s touchline behaviour has been as uneventful as many of Southampton’s matches.
Even in the seconds after Nathan Redmond had given his side a 1-0 first-leg lead a fortnight ago, Puel was the coolest man inside St Mary’s Stadium.
Having briefly raised both arms, the Frenchman quickly regained control of his emotions – a far cry from predecessor Koeman’s victory march down the touchline after a league win over Liverpool last season.
Watching him, it is hard to believe Puel once admitted to injuring Wenger deliberately in training as revenge for being dropped.
Such a measured approach is one of the reasons Puel has yet to endear himself to the majority of Saints followers, despite guiding the club into the last four of the League Cup for the first time in more than three decades.
Even if Southampton back up their first-leg heroics by securing a ticket to Wembley – where they have won just one final, the FA Cup in 1976 – the travelling fans will probably not sing his name. But do not mistake Puel’s lack of dynamism in the technical area for a lack of desire to succeed as a manager in a country where – with the notable exception of Wenger – the majority of his compatriots have failed.
He was once described by former Monaco team-mate Glenn Hoddle as the hardest worker he had ever seen on a training pitch. Puel has taken that same ethos into his coaching career, methodically working on ways to nullify the attacking threats of opponents.
While Wenger has built his Arsenal dynasty on a freeflowing style, Puel is a throwback to the days when coaches valued clean sheets over flair.
That Southampton have managed fewer league goals than all but three of their rivals is a reflection of his approach. His defensive tactics and his constant tinkering – he has made close to 200 changes to the line-up in his 33 games in charge – have also left some of his players frustrated.
But there are others, such as rejuvenated full-back Cedric Soares, the much-improved Oriol Romeu – who yesterday signed a new four-and-a-halfyear deal – and the youngsters Sam McQueen and Josh Sims, who speak glowingly about Puel’s methods.
One of Puel’s first acts was to convert McQueen, 21, from a winger to a left-back. Puel is more at home making tweaks on the training ground than mixing with boardroom big-wigs and money men. By all accounts, he contributes little to dinnertable chats at club functions.
For someone who spent most of his career in Monaco’s millionaires’ playground there is little flashy about Puel, who apparently prefers his garden to any casino. Even his suits look like they have come off the peg from Debenhams.
While he has set up home in Southampton’s trendy Ocean