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Claude Puel often talks about progress and development when he maps out his plan for Leicester City.

That is why we have seen an evolution of City’s playing style and personnel.

However, the only way growth as an individual or as a team is possible is if you learn from your mistakes, and there were plenty of lessons to be learned at the Vitality Stadium, both for his players and for Puel.

The City boss spoke after his side’s emphatic 4-2 defeat to Bournemouth stating the result was not a fair reflection of the game.

The statistics may have backed up his claim as City had more possession, more shots on and off target and forced more corners than the Cherries, but the reality is Leicester were left totally exposed at Bournemouth.

Like the ships that drift past the seaside town, defensively City were all at sea and while the performance of each individual can be picked apart, dissected and critiqued, the way Puel set up his side contributed to their bad afternoon at the office.

Of course, Puel can’t be blamed for Harry Maguire having a very rare off day when he looked off the pace of the game against the speed and strength of underrated Cherries strike duo Joshua King and Callum Wilson.

Maguire has played a huge amount of football for both club and country with just a three-week break between seasons, and he looked jaded.

Maguire could have been sent off before half an hour was on the clock after being booked for two clumsy challenges. The second, on the touchline right in front of the Bournemouth bench, sparked furious protests from the hosts who demanded his dismissal.

Maguire survived, but his central defensive partner Wes Morgan was less lucky later in the game.

Like Maguire, Morgan was having a torrid time against King and Wilson. He was harshly booked for wrestling with Wilson to win a header before half-time and could feel aggrieved that his strong tackle on Adam Smith, who milked the moment dramatically, led to his dismissal.

It brought an unhappy afternoon for the skipper to a merciful end.

Ryan Fraser, the diminutive Scottish winger who scored the first two goals, spoke to reporters after the game and revealed how they had planned to push Wilson and King on Morgan and Maguire, explaining they knew the City pair liked a physical battle but believed they couldn’t handle the pace of Wilson and King. It was a game plan that had worked to perfection.

Bournemouth have a reputation for playing through midfield, but they went direct to their front two at every opportunity whenever a City attack broke down.

With Ricardo Pereira and Ben Chilwell still bombing forward, as Puel asks them to do, City were constantly left two versus two at the back. It was a risky gambit from Puel not to change it, not to identify the problem and either call his full-backs to sit in for a while or drag Wilfred Ndidi back to screen the back two.

He must have had huge confidence that Morgan and Maguire could handle the pair, but they were never going to win every ball and every duel, and needed some support.

It was tactically naive.

If the front two weren’t enough of a handful, Fraser tortured Pereira down City’s right flank.

Puel first worked with the Portuguese player when he was a winger and converted him to an attacking full-back. At the Vitality Stadium he looked every inch the winger playing out of position.

(Image: Warren Little/Getty Images)

Time after time he vacated his position to bomb forward with reckless abandon and Fraser revelled in the freedom afforded to him.

He was drawn to the ball when King held off Chilwell for the first goal and despite Morgan and Maguire in attendance, Pereira rushed inside to challenge King, leaving acres of space behind him for Fraser to collect a simple pass to score.

He was nowhere to be seen when Fraser raced through again for the second, although Fraser was played onside by Chilwell, and was well beaten by the Scotland international to the byline to pull the ball back for the fourth.

Periera also conceded the penalty for Bournemouth’s third goal when the ball struck his arm. He pulled it out of the way and by the letter of the law, which refers to intent to handle, he could claim it was harsh, but in modern football they are given. There was little protest.

City look like a side that opponents can get at, a team that is vulnerable, and Puel must address that or all the promising attacking play will count for nothing.

It can seem difficult to pick out positives from such an afternoon, but there were some, most notably the link-up play between James Maddison and Jamie Vardy, who did cause problems and forced Asmir Begovic into a fine double save.

Puel may cling to the number of chances created for his crumb of comfort, but his focus must be on the negatives.

Those lessons must be learned.