Can Claude Puel Achieve The Impossible In Leicester As He Once Did With Monaco?

Having led Southampton to the League Cup final and narrowly losing 3-2 to Manchester United despite coming back into the game from 2-0 down and  having the misfortune of having a goal wrongly disallowed, Claude Puel was dismissed by the Saints at the end of the season.

So what were the reasons for his dismissal? Puel had led the Saints to 8th in his one and only season but his stifled and patient possession style of football ultimately led to his sacking  as Southampton scored only 41 goals in 38 league games (17 goals in 19 league games), failed to score in six of their final seven league games as well as finishing 15 points behind 7th placed Everton and six ahead of 17th placed Watford. 

Can he turn Leicester City around following his appointment? This is a dicey question considering Leicester City appears to be back where they belong after overachieving under Claudio Ranieri (winning the league in 2016) but considering Puel's ability to work wonders under financial constraints and blooding youth players, the Foxes should be optimistic. No disrespect to Southampton but when compared on paper to Leicester (Leicester are 14th in the table one point above  relegation) , its clear that the Frenchman now has better players despite the exit of Danny Drinkwater to Chelsea as Vincent Iborra and Wilfred Ndidi have shown some early promise in central midfield since Craig Shakespeare's sacking . The list is not complete without the mention of the trio of Riyadh Mahrez, Jamie Vardy and Okazaki all players who are better when playing on a counter-attack considering their pace ans trickey which perfectly suits Puel's style and alongside talented youngsters  Kelechi Iheanacho and Ben Chillwell and you see why Puel is the right man for the Foxes at the moment. 

Despite not winning any trophy lately, Puel won the French Ligue 1 in his first season as a coach in Monaco (2000) , promoting the likes of Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet from the academy and turning them into World Beaters, taking Lyon into their one and only Champions League semi-final (2010) and finishing 4th in Ligue 1 with little known Nice with the likes of Mendy, St-Germain, Ben Arfa (2016). While he might have struggled to play Southampton's style of entertaining quick football it should be noted that he started the season without two of his main important players Victor Wanyama and Sadio Mane who were the bedrock of the Saints but sold to Spurs and Liverpool respectively. This is not all as then captain Jose Fonte decided to make the move North to West Ham in the Winter as well as the injury of new captain Virgil Van Dijk who suffered a career threatening injury in January that kept him out of the season coupled with the strains of League Cup and Europa League for a thin Southampton Squad and you find out why he struggled at the South Coast last season. 

Though it is still too early yet optimism should be expected from fans of the Foxes as Puel tries to take them back into contention for European competitions, only time will tell if this expectation is excessive