Leicester City started off their Premier League campaign in the worst possible manner as Manchester United beat them pretty comfortably at Old Trafford. Paul Pogba and Luke Shaw scored for the Red Devils while the Foxes were able to pick up a consolation goal via Jamie Vardy in the 92nd minute of the match.
Looking at the current scenario, manager Claude Puel seems to have taken no lessons from the late disappointment of the last term. Though it is early days in the Premier League, it seems like the Foxes lack the vigour to make it big this season as well. It is not that the French gaffer’s squad lacks talent or are not good enough to take on the top teams in the league, but somewhere they lack the ambition that Puel, unfortunately, has not been able to put into his players.
The way Manchester United, who looked far from their best in the first match of the campaign, took the Foxes down, should be a matter of concern for Puel. A team that has players like Vardy, Harry Maguire and Kasper Schmeichel, should be aiming for greater glory like competing in Europe but an inconsistency in performance seems to be their bane.
Last season, the Foxes started the campaign in disappointing fashion as well and dropped a lot of points in the beginning. However, after Puel took charge, Leicester City had a mini-revival and started getting positive results. At one point in time in the last term, it looked like they were destined to finish among the top seven teams in the league and challenge for a place in Europe.
However, their dismal show towards the end of the last season, which saw them losing five out of the last seven games, didn’t help their cause as they finished on the 9th position in the league table.
This season as well, the start has been far from ideal, and the lack of a top quality player like Riyad Mahrez seems to have affected them deeply. James Maddison has shown promise in his very first outing in the Premier League with his new side, but he has a long way to go to before he puts himself in the same category as that of the wily Algerian.
Puel needs to make decisions and control the proceedings if his team are to have any chance of qualifying for Europe this season. He would be well aware of the fact that he has a decent bunch of players at his disposal and it is up to him to make the team click. It is to be seen now whether the Frenchman can help his side take more significant strides in the following days and show the ambition to fight for a place for European qualification. Based on the current evidence though, we cannot see the Foxes qualifying for Europe.
