Claude Puel praises Pep Guardiola's football philosophy
Monday 11 December 2017 20:09, UK
Leicester manager Claude Puel says his football philosophy was influenced by Pep Guardiola's attacking style and his team ethic when defending.
Puel's successful start to his new role, winning four of his seven games in charge of the Foxes, has left many wondering what the key to his success is, and in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports News, he explained how he models his teams on Guardiola's style of play.
"I like the philosophy of Pep Guardiola: to attack together and to defend together," said Puel. "We can see his team always has a strong work ethic to recover the ball high up the pitch, always pressing and afterwards with a quality to keep possession. It's not just to keep the ball, it's to find space and create good possibilities to score."
When Puel took over from Craig Shakespeare in October Leicester were 14th in the table, one point above the relegation zone, since then they have scored 11 goals in seven games and have climbed to eighth in the league.
Puel said: "I like to have players who are comfortable with the ball. I think it is always important to control the ball and the game.
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"When my players enjoy their football they play with quality and a freedom, they always try to attack together and to score more goals, of course."
Puel spent his entire playing career at Monaco where he had the opportunity to study the managerial style of Arsene Wenger, who he describes as another advocate of attacking football.
"Arsene has been an important person for me," said Puel. "He likes technical players too but I analysed him and after a game he always had a good attitude and was always calm. I think that is very important for a manager."
Southampton are Leicester's next opponents, a team that are familiar with the Frenchman's tactics. He spent a year as their manager before having his contract terminated despite finishing Eighth in the Premier League and reaching their first major cup final in 14 years.
