Puel: We Missed A Good Opportunity
- Leicester City defeated 2-1 by Newcastle United at King Power Stadium
- Jonjo Shelvey and Ayoze Perez score either side of half-time to give the visitors a 2-0 lead
- Jamie Vardy pulled a goal back for City but it wasn’t enough
- Claude Puel felt the Foxes were slow out of the blocks in the first half
The Foxes went behind to an early deflected strike from Jonjo Shelvey and lost midfielder Vicente Iborra to a hamstring injury in a frustrating opening 45 minutes, before Ayoze Perez doubled the lead in the second half with a lofted finish over the goalkeeper.
Puel’s men improve in the second half however and Jamie Vardy managed to pull a goal back from close range in the 84th minute when Shinji Okazaki nodded the ball into his path to finish, but they weren’t able to force the equaliser as focus shifts to next weekend’s trip to Burnley.
“I think today we didn’t play well enough in the first half and it was the same feeling as last week at Brighton,” reflected Puel at full-time. “We repeated this performance today and we have missed a good opportunity.
Claude Puel: First Half Not Enough
Claude Puel analyses a tough defeat to Newcastle United, after losing 2-1 at King Power Stadium.
“It is not finished (the race for seventh) but we have to correct this and to start well in games. It was too poor in the first half without the good tempo, the good quality and aggressiveness without the ball.
“We have to correct this aspect of our game. We have to perform from the start of the game, because after we have to keep react from going behind. We have to correct this.”
There was bad news for the Foxes when an injured Iborra was replaced with the impressive youngster Hamza Choudhury in the first half, with the manager frustrated to lose another midfielder, but pleased with the contribution of those coming into the team.
He revealed: “Iborra has a hamstring injury and we have to see. He will be examined and undergo tests tomorrow but we are unlucky at this end of the season with our midfielders. After the surgery for Matty James, the sending off which wasn’t deserved for Wilfred Ndidi, it is now Iborra.
“It is a good thing now to have a young player like Choudhury coming in though. I think he is perhaps the only satisfaction from the game today because he came into the game with good quality, aggressiveness and tempo. He worked very hard and cut out a lot of dangerous balls for us because we pushed a lot in the second half. It was a good performance from him.”