A 'Perfect' Game Required, Says Puel
- Claude Puel knows Leicester City will have to be at their very best at Etihad Stadium on Saturday
- The Foxes head to Manchester City hoping to become the first Premier League side to win at Etihad Stadium this term
- The Leicester boss has stressed that his side must improve defending set-pieces
Pep Guardiola’s runaway Premier League leaders last suffered a domestic defeat at Etihad Stadium on 3 December 2016, a record which is testament to their rapid metamorphosis under the Spaniard's direction.
The four-time English champions are 13 points clear and have been humbled just once in the league this season, at Liverpool last month, but Puel is adamant that his Foxes squad have the tools to hurt Guardiola’s men.
“We know we have to play a perfect game, of course,” he said during his weekly press conference. “It will be difficult because their performance is high on the pitch with quality together to recover the ball and strong pressing.
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“When they lose the ball, they are clinical to recover the ball, they are quick. After, with the ball, we know the qualities of their players.
“It’s interesting to see our progress from the last game… we’ll see. We will try something, of course, and it’s important to believe in our strengths, in our play and, of course, it is a good challenge against perhaps the best team in Europe in this moment.”
While Puel approaches Saturday’s encounter with optimism, the Frenchman says his side will continue to concentrate on defending set-plays.
It was a phenomenon which struck again at King Power Stadium last Saturday as Federico Fernández found the net from a corner to cancel out Jamie Vardy’s opener during a 1-1 draw with Swansea City.
However, Puel revealed that plans have been forged to remedy the issue and work has intensified on the training pitches at Belvoir Drive this week.
“We can work on different things, on different details in the training sessions,” Puel stressed. “The most important thing for me is the aggressiveness and concentration on [set-plays].
“We can defend with different possibilities, with zonal marking, but for all systems the best thing is to have good aggressiveness in the set-plays and, of course, we need to have more quality.
“Sometimes it is a pity like the last game. It was a good game with quality but, of course, it is frustrating to lose two points in these conditions.”