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Claude Puel’s former colleague John Collins has delivered a staunch defence of the under-fire Leicester City boss.

Puel is the bookmakers’ favourite to be the next Premier League manager sacked, with recent results putting pressure on the Frenchman amid criticism of his tactics and team selection from sections of the City fanbase and national media.

But in a passionate rebuttal, Collins, who worked with Puel at Monaco in the mid-1990s, argued the positives of Puel’s reign considerably outweigh the negatives.

The former Scotland midfielder, who was offered the City assistant manager’s role by Puel in October 2017, told Talksport: “He was my fitness coach for two years so I know the type of person he is and the character he is. I feel he’s getting the biggest raw deal in Premier League history.

“People forget where they were when he took over, now they’re sitting ninth. They sold their best player in the summer, their most creative player in (Riyad) Mahrez.

“They’re sitting ninth in the league and heading across to Wolves at the weekend, everyone was saying the Wolves manager (Nuno Espirito Santo) is brilliant and is doing a great job. Leicester had had more shots on target, more possession, more shots off target, more points, more clean sheets (over the season) but poor old Claude doesn’t know what he’s doing?

“It’s disappointing when I hear it, especially from pundits who are watching football and who should know better.

“The calls seems to be getting louder every week for him to be sacked. I find it very sad and frustrating.”

Following the last-gasp defeat to Molineux, City have lost four of their last five in all competitions, but Collins still feels the criticism is harsh given the lack of judgement on Puel’s peers.

(Image: Mark Thompson/Allsport)

“You’ve got to look at the big picture, not just the small picture,” said Collins. “It seems everybody, whether you’re listening to the radio or television, he seems to be the one getting stick.

“If it was a David Moyes or a Sam Allardyce or a Roy Hodgson, and they were sitting ninth in the league, I don’t think we’d be sitting here each week saying he should be sacked.

“He’s sitting above (Manuel) Pellegrini, (Rafa) Benitez, (Marco) Silva in the league. I don’t see them getting stick week in, week out and they’re supposed to be great managers.”

City’s poor starts have come into focus with Puel’s side having conceded first in 15 of their 23 matches. However, no side has recovered more points from losing positions.

Collins dismissed suggestions Puel’s overly-long training sessions are the root of the problem – as suggested in the national media.

“If they were leggy or poorly prepared, they’d be losing a goal early in the game and then they’d be losing more goals as the game wore on,” said Collins. “But they’re coming back in games and still winning games.

“What often happens is when you change a team, when older players slide out the door or onto the bench, and younger players take over, you get a lot of disgruntled older players.

“If you ask all the young players... Where was (Ben) Chilwell this time last year? Now he’s playing week in, week out, probably worth £30million and he’s in the England squad.

(Image: Plumb Images/Getty Images)

“(James) Maddison, a young 22-year-old, (Wilfred) Ndidi’s 22, Harry Maguire went there and he’s moved into the England squad after being part of Puel’s team.

“There’s so many positives that nobody talks about at all, they seem to talk about the negatives. If you look, and you look properly, there are lots of positives. The team’s much younger than it was 12 months ago. They’re still in the top half of the league.”

Puel has struggled to ingratiate himself with some City fans because of his reserved public image and supposedly ‘boring’ football.

Collins dismissed the latter.

“I think when he does his interviews, he’s a bit dour, he says the same thing regularly, which is maybe not great for the media,” Collins said.

“But I think a manager’s got to be judged on how his team performs, gets results.

“They keep saying it’s boring. For me, boring is when you get 10 men behind the ball and have two shots in a game and the opposition has got 70 per cent possession. I would say that’s boring.

“It just seems everything is spinning against him. I just thought I would give the real news, the real facts, that there’s actually a lot of positive things going on there. It’s not all doom and gloom. You would think they were fighting relegation.

Collins concluded by saying it would be “dangerous” for the City hierarchy to sack Puel given he is one of the few managers that puts a club’s future before his own career.

(Image: Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)

“It’s a very dangerous game for the owners of Leicester,” Collins added. “If they think they can sack a manager who’s in ninth position, who’s lowered the average age of the squad dramatically in a short period of time... It’s a brave thing to do as a manager.

“A lot of managers go and buy experienced players, 28 or 29-year-olds just to keep them safe in a job for a year and a half, not caring about the future of the club. It’s easier to go and spend money on experienced players.

“But bringing in young players into the Premier League – it’s a brave manager who does that and a manager who coaches, who works with them on the training pitch.”