Saints legend Matthew Le Tissier says a decision on Claude Puel needs to be made

SAINTS legend Matthew Le Tissier insists a “decision one way or another” needs to be made by the club over the future of manager Claude Puel.

The Frenchman’s position at Saints remains precarious with the club currently looking at potential replacements before making a decision on the 55-year-old.

It’s now almost three weeks after the end of the Premier League season and Le Tissier wouldn’t want the situation to infringe on laying plans for 2017/18.

“You wouldn’t it to rumble on for too much longer,” he said. “There needs to be a decision one way or another because you have to start preparing for pre-season.

“If it does mean there’s going to be a change, a new manager is going to need time to assess the squad and see what areas need strengthening.

“You also have to take into account if there are any bids for the players and if they’re decent enough bids to warrant people to leave.

“There’s all that that goes on, so you’d have thought a decision sooner rather than later would be better for the club.”

Puel led Saints to eighth place in the Premier League and to the League Cup final during his first campaign at St Mary’s.

However, with only relegated Sunderland scoring fewer home goals than Saints and the conservative style of play, many fans are dissatisfied with the former Nice manager’s leadership of the team.

As a result, Puel’s job is very much under threat, although Le Tissier believes there’s still hope for the beleaguered chief.

“I don’t think it’s too late for him,” he said. “If he were to change the style of play and he started next season well, then there’s still a chance that he could change a lot of people’s minds about him as a manager.

“Instead of concentrating so much on possession, perhaps with a more positive outlook towards the games it can work.

“Possession is great but creating chances wins you football matches, not having loads of possession of the ball in areas that aren’t that dangerous.”

It wouldn’t come as a shock to the club legend, who scored 209 goals in 462 starts for Saints, to see Puel remain in the dugout in to next term.

“Given what he did last season, it wouldn’t surprise me if the club said at the start of next season ‘let’s have another go, but let’s do things a little differently’,” he explained.

“That would, looking at the eighth place finish and the cup final, be quite fair to him.

“If we were to sack him, a lot of people from the outside would view that as harsh, because they’ll look at where we finished and what we did in the cup.

“You’d have to say from an outsiders’ point of view it would look harsh.

“From within, and having watched a lot of the games this season, we’ve been used to a lot more entertainment than that.”