Puel Encouraged By Creative Foxes

- Leicester City drew 2-2 with Stoke City at the bet365 Stadium
- The Foxes were twice in front through Vicente Iborra and Riyad Mahrez
- Xhedran Shaqiri and Peter Crouch goals for Stoke ensured the game ended level
- Puel was encouragemed by the amount of chances his team created away from home

The Foxes took a lead through Vicente Iborra in the first half after a brilliantly worked set play but were soon pegged back as Xherdan Shaqiri found the bottom corner to send the teams in level at 1-1 after 45 minutes.

A moment of Riyad Mahrez magic then had the Foxes back in front with a fine break and finish but again Stoke responded with a late Peter Crouch header to ensure the fixture ended 2-2 for the third consecutive season.

Afterwards, Puel was disappointed not to have come away with the win on the balance of play but took great encouragement from the creativity shown by his team in a difficult away fixture.

“I think our first 20 to 25 minutes were not good enough,” reflected Puel. “Without the intensity of the passes and it was slow. After it was interesting to see my players correct this and we played with good fight and good attitude.

“To play with these things is very important and we had a lot of chances today. It’s a good thing of course. We were winning 1-0 and 2-1 so perhaps it’s difficult to accept this draw but I don’t know if it’s a fair result, but we could also have lost if not for a fantastic save from Kasper Schmeichel.

“It’s an encouraging game because we created a lot of chances away from home. It’s a good thing and it’s a good opportunity to work.”

While chances were flowing for the Foxes, they were made to defend and Schemeichel demonstrated his importance late on with a series of saves, but overall, the manager saw plenty of positives to take forward for his team.

He added: “Peter Crouch is difficult to defend against and of course at the end it was difficult with a direct set play and a second ball. We saw with the last chance we could have lost the game.

“It’s difficult sometimes to accept a draw and you have disappointment but I think it’s an encouraging game for us because of the good attitude and the chances we created away from home.”