After almost a full season in charge of Southampton Football Club, Claude Puel has received mixed views from supporters of the team and outsiders after a campaign of new experiences for the south coast side.
However, after Saturday’s 0-0 stalemate at home to relegation-fighting Hull City, recent calls for Puel’s head have emerged and not for the first time this season.
The Frenchman hadn’t played or managed outside of his native France before moving to Hampshire and the Premier League as manager of Southampton. In Puel’s defence, he has been victim of some unfair criticism over the season, however some of his tactical decisions have been questioned.
With repetition of comments in press conferences and stagnant movement on the touchline, Puel hasn’t been cast as a manager that excites fans such as Antonio Conte, for example.
As a club with plenty of ambition, the board of Southampton will have to decide at the end of the season whether Puel is the man that they can rely on to take the club forward as ambitious targets have been put in place for the next series of seasons or whether it would be best for the club to part ways with the 55- year old.
So, is Claude Puel the man that can take Southampton forward?
After taking Saints to a major cup final for the first time in 14 years (38 for one at Wembley), Puel will be highly praised for that achievement, especially after being behind a tactical masterclass that saw 1-0 wins at home and away against Liverpool in the semi-finals.
However, winning the trophy may have helped Puel’s case but Southampton were narrowly beaten 3-2 by Manchester United, despite having a goal wrongly disallowed and being the better team on the day. Despite the loss, Puel will still be only the third manager to have taken Southampton to a major cup final for which he deserves great plaudits.
On the other hand, one of the factors that earned Puel the job in England was his great scale of experience in European competition, having notably reached the semi-finals of the Champions League with Lyon in 2010.
Southampton were set to compete in the UEFA Europa League group stage for the first time in their history. With a squad full of experience in Europe – including two Champions League and Europa League winners – Saints seemed good enough to do well in the competition as debutantes. Unfortunately, Saints failed to reach the knockout stages of the competition after being unable to score a single goal away from home; a failure on Puel’s part with the experience he had as a manager in European competition.
Qualifying for European competition each season is where Southampton want to be. There isn’t much doubt that the club has the potential to reach those aims, but the right man has to do the job and I wouldn’t expect many fans to believe that Puel is that man after a series of poor performances and results this season.
However, when comparing Puel to previous manager Ronald Koeman, he has achieved one thing that Koeman was expected to achieve and that was confidence in playing Southampton’s youngsters.
Koeman believed that few of Southampton’s academy products were of his expected quality for a player in the first team, despite the Saints being world-famous for their youth player production. Step in, Puel, who is known for allowing the likes of Thierry Henry, Eden Hazard, and Alexandre Lacazette to flourish as youth players in his teams.
Giving regular first-team appearances to Sam McQueen, Jack Stephens, and Josh Sims has been refreshing to see and Puel has proved that he knows how to get the best out of younger players.
At the end of the day, it is the league form that counts the most and Puel has shown that his understanding of the English Premier League has improved over the course of the season but his team haven’t reached the heights of the previous three seasons under two different managers who have gone on to do exceptionally well in the Premier League after adapting.
One thing that Puel has in common with both Mauricio Pochettino and Koeman is that all three were debutante managers to English football when joining Southampton, however his two predecessors enjoyed much more success in the league during their time with the club than Puel has.
With tricky fixtures to close the season with, it is looking more and more unlikely that Saints will finish in the top half of the table.
In fairness, some of the football played this season has been remarkable but some of it has been absolutely dire and a good handful of results have been shocking.
Personally, I don’t think it is fair to judge Puel after just one season in England and with a summer window with reportedly boosted finances, him and the team may much better next season. Although, lots of aspects of Puel’s football will have to change next season if the club are going to progress.
