Leicester City manager Claude Puel was sacked on Saturday following a 4 – 1 defeat at home to Crystal Palace.
It was the latest in a number of poor recent home results, and the team were booed off the pitch.
It was the last straw for the Leicester brass, who sacked Claude Puel shortly after.
Claude Puel has long been under fire – ever since he took the job at Leicester, in truth. His biggest crime seems to have been being boring in press conferences, leading many to wonder if his apathy seeped into the changing room as well.
According to ex-Leicester defender Robert Huth, it did. Huth has since given an extraordinary take on Puel’s management. Speaking to the BBC’s Football Daily Podcast, he said he doesn’t think any of the players will be disappointed.
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Huth’s damning indictment of Puel confirms everything we thought about the Frenchman. His lack of energy, lack of charisma, his difficulty connecting with players – all of it.
“I personally found him really hard work,” said Huth.
“We had managers before that were really energetic, with a positive vibe. You know, getting you up for games and when he came in it was pretty much the opposite.
“We had a group that played high energy football for 90 minutes and he changed it. It was almost working against the players in the sense of ‘You guys played like that for three years and now I’m gonna change it.’ It didn’t quite work. The style he promised, he didn’t do it. The games Leicester did win, it was always in the way we did it 2 or 3 years ago. So he didn’t deliver in that sense. That’s the life of the manager, you don’t perform, you get the sack.”
“If things don’t go well you need someone to point that out and be brutally honest with the players if they’re not working hard enough. And it’s all been creeping in. The performances, yesterday – weeks before that, they’ve been a bit slow and when that happens you need someone to really grab you by the back of your neck and tell you how it really is.
Quite frankly I don’t think he was the guy to do that. If you let the players underperform like they have, you’re setting them up for failure.”
Huth also revealed that Puel left it up to his staff to get the players up for the game. This could, of course, be a valid method. Not everybody is going to do it like Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola. Letting the staff motivate the players before coming in and getting down to business could work. However, according to Huth, it didn’t work for Leicester.
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“It’s mainly down to his assistants, to get the players up for games. In my opinion he didn’t really do it. Unless he changed drastically since I’ve been there – it was always up to the backroom staff. I really do think as the manager you should set the tone and the team should play the way you set them up.”
Huth didn’t mince his words when it came down to player disagreements with Puel, either. He highlighted the recent argument with Jamie Vardy as an example.
“It’s been well documented. Vardy was dropped last week for the Tottenham game. Players do know when it’s not going your way. Obviously you look at yourself and try to improve but ultimately, you need someone to set high standards for you. When things don’t go well, you need someone to pick you up and motivate you. I don’t suppose there will be too many disappointed players in the changing room today.”
