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OPINION: Southampton were right to terminate Claude Puel’s contract

By Chris Hughes

MIDDLESBROUGH, ENGLAND - MAY 13: Claude Puel, Manager of Southampton arrives at the stadium prior to the Premier League match between Middlesbrough and Southampton at Riverside Stadium on May 13, 2017 in Middlesbrough, England. (Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)
MIDDLESBROUGH, ENGLAND - MAY 13: Claude Puel, Manager of Southampton arrives at the stadium prior to the Premier League match between Middlesbrough and Southampton at Riverside Stadium on May 13, 2017 in Middlesbrough, England. (Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images) /
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Yesterday Southampton made their move by removing Claude Puel from his position as manager after just one year in charge. It was the RIGHT decision.

This year plucky old Southampton made the EFL Cup final and finished eighth in the league, despite spending half the season with their best defender and top scorer injured in Virgil van Dijk and Charlie Austin respectively. A fantastic season? Wrong.

Southampton’s eighth-placed finish in the Premier League greatly flattered what was a poor season for the side under Puel. They were closer to Watford in 17th than they were Everton one place above them. They scored 18 less league goals and conceded seven more.

The claim could be made the Saints lacked the finishing touch that they had with a fit Austin and with Graziano Pelle and Sadio Mane in the campaign before, as there was several occasions where Southampton dominated on chances but couldn’t convert.

However the way Puel set up did not encourage the Saints to go out and challenge teams. They failed to beat one of the top six in the league and my strongest memory of playing them was the game against Liverpool where we had the chance to counter-attack late on, but at the risk of conceding no players got forward after a wasted LFC corner.

Jack Stephens, Nathan Redmond, Oriol Romeu and Maya Yoshida among others all took leaps and bounds within their own game under Puel, but there was just as many players who suffered.

Shane Long, Jay Rodriguez, Dusan Tadic and bench players like Jordy Clasie all enjoyed sub-par campaigns, partly due to Puel’s insistence of patient, deep-sitting football which failed to play to the strengths of the players at the club.

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Puel’s high rotation saw the Saints crash out of the Europa League despite having a relatively easy group, to the extent his side failed to register and away goal in the competition.

What’s more, and arguably most importantly, Puel lost the support of his dressing room. Players didn’t like his tactics, his poor subsitutions left the team disillusioned and succumbing to player-power with the Dusan Tadic saga will have almost certainly negatively effected the players who had to make way for him.

I wish Puel all the best in the future but his style of football did not fit the Southampton brand, and no matter what people say it was the right decision to instead look for the manager who can match the ambition of the club he is at.