CLAUDE Puel’s radical tactical approach has “opened” the minds of his Saints squad, according to Ryan Bertrand.

Puel wasted little time in scrapping the successful previous playing systems of his predecessors Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman, writes Peter Howard.

It took some time for Saints to fully adapt, with their play looking rather clunky and rigid early on and positive results not forthcoming.

But, after five months under Puel’s stewardship, a fluid and effective system – that doesn’t put too much emphasis on traditional playing positions – has emerged.

“He hasn’t changed my view [on football], but has opened minds to a few different aspects,” said Bertrand.

“It’s different, but it’s a pleasure because it’s another way of playing.

“It’s new tactics. As a player it’s always good to learn. It’s good to learn different parts of the game, which perhaps you didn’t know before.

“You always want to learn and progress and we’re doing that under Claude. If you keep learning like that you’ll improve as a player.”

A lot has been made of the juggling act Saints have had to perform to balance playing across three competitions - in the EFL Cup, Europa League and Premier League.

He has been successful in that Saints are through to their first League Cup semi final for almost 30 years, and will also progress to the knockout stages of the Europa League if they beat Hapoel Be’er Sheva at St Mary’s next Thursday.

With the games coming thick and fast, Puel has rotated continually to keep players fresh.

Bertrand, however, doesn’t buy into the idea that it’s a “big thing” for Saints to be battling on several fronts.

“I don’t think it’s a big thing,” he said. “I hear a lot about this being like ‘it’s big, we’ve got Europa League’, but it’s not different to the Champions League to be honest.

“It [the club] has little experience in Europe, but the club is full of international footballers,” he added.

“Everyone has been involved in European competition in some capacity before. The good majority of us have, so for the club it maybe new but for the players it’s not.”

The 27-year-old England international praised Puel’s rotation system, but admits that it has been hard to build consistency in his game because of the regular chopping and changing.

The former Chelsea man, who has spent time on the sidelines with minor injuries this term, has mainly been used in the Premier League, although made his first appearance outside the league in the 2-0 win at Arsenal in the EFL Cup quarter-final.

“That’s the only aspect of it, the increased number of games, but the rotation is normal,” he said.

“You look at the teams that want to succeed and strive to be right at the top of their leagues and European football, having 50-plus games a season is the norm.

“It’s good, but you want to play as many games as you can.

“You don’t want to be in-out in-out because you don’t get to build that consistency in your game. But it’s important to rest when right the times are.”

Although, despite the tinkering and difficulties of finding consistency amid regular personnel changes, Bertrand states that the Saints team has gelled well.

“There’s a maturity that we’ve shown as of late and it’s about keeping that and using that to our advantage,” he said.

“We know each other – we’re gelled very well as a team, so we can take into most games.”